- For two years, he was the Film Handler for Amos Vogel's Cinema 16, before the library was sold to Grove Press in 1966.
- During the CCNY 1967-68 academic year, he shared Apt. 1RE at 544 W. 50th St. with Gary Hoffman, future CBS executive and TV Movie producer. Hoffman was enthused by "Bonnie and Clyde;" Shamamian liked it but said "Cool Hand Luke" was better.
- Upon graduating from Stuyvesant HS in 1963, where he studied under Nat Werner, Shamamian received the NYC Art Chairman's Association Award.
- In 1971, he became a Fellow at the AFI's Center for Advanced Film Studies and was invited to describe his experience in the 41st Anniversary Edition of the Hollywood Reporter.
- When the CCNY Film Institute (founded by Robert Flaherty) was closed in 1965, Shamamian was one of its last few matriculating undergraduates. Including Film, Theatre, and Writing, his major was approved as "Theatrics.".
- He was the only child of Annette Zemanian, who, during the Great Depression, studied under Madame Daykarhanova and then, for two years, was a scholarship student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she was voted "Best Crier." (William Tracy was "Best Laugher.").
- While he was a Fellow at the AFI/CAFS, Shamamian was an assistant to James R. "Jim" Silke, the Editor of "Discussion" and was then employed by its successor publication, "Dialogue on Film," edited by Jim Powers.
- Powers, having read Shamamian's first script, asked, "Do you love these people?" and recommended him to then literary agent Peter Fleming, who pointed to a picture of his daughter on his desk and said, "I don't want my daughter to see this movie!".
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