Screenwriter, director, and producer Christopher Gambale says he has succeeded because he has been surrounded by successful and passionate people all his life.

Mr. Gambale grew up in Brooklyn, a far cry from cinema’s heart of Los Angeles, but at the doorsteps of the NBC studio where Judy Garland and Andy Williams taped their shows. It was at that studio, in the 1950s and ’60s, that Mr. Gambale got his first real paying job. “At 15, I was the youngest intern ever at NBC,” he told The New York Sun. While attending the School of Visual Arts in New York, he worked part time as Bill Cosby’s assistant. Others in NBC Studios influenced Mr. Gambale’s career choice from that point as well, including Jay Sandrich, the director of the “Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

His dream to write and direct led Mr. Gambale to try his hand at moviemaking for the first time in college. He took the senior prize for his 98-minute spoof on “The Godfather,” which came out as “Godfather III” hit the theaters. He devoted two years to the production of the film, working along side Joe Spinell, who was cast in the original “Godfather.” “Our student film was the last one he did before he died” Mr. Gambale told the Sun.

He made “six figures” as a location manager and production assistant for films with Woody Allen and Bette Midler, until the production boycott hit New York in the early 1990s. Mr. Gambale tried his hand at being an agent at the renowned talent agency ICM, but sported his Armani suit working in the mail room reading scripts for movies. “Sometimes you have to take a few steps back to end up where you want to be,” Mr. Gambale said.

Not long after starting at ICM, he met Harvey Weinstein and ran his office for four years. Mr. Gambale calls Mr. Weinstein his “greatest inspiration” because of his dedication as a teacher and mentor. By allowing him to listen and sit in while deals were made, he submerged Mr. Gambale in the business, giving him the tools he needed to thrive. Mr. Gambale met Martin Scorsese on a private jet while working for Mr. Weinstein, and he was hired to write “Deuces Wild,” which came out in theaters in 2002.

Mr. Gambale does not deny that a lot of his success is a result of circumstance, so he calls it “50% luck and a lot of talent.”

“A lot of talented people out there do not work because they are not lucky,” he said. “Only 3,000 out of approximately 100,000 scripts sent to studios are so much as read each year. To be successful, one’s material has to be timely, and appeal to the upcoming trends and demands of the box office.”

Mr. Gambale himself has written 15 scripts, one of which has been produced. Mr. Gambale attributes his luck and success to something he learned from Mr. Weinstein: “To have persistence, never settle, stick to what you know and do it well, and be able to let things go when they don’t work out.”

This year Mr. Gambale is writing, directing, and producing two movies, “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Knights of Turquoise,” through Cineful LLC, his production company. “The Girl from Ipanema” is a romantic comedy to be shot in Rio de Janeiro and New York City. Mr. Gambale calls “Knights of Turquoise” a kind of “Trainspotting meets Goodfellows,” a film based on a true story. He also plans to produce an hour-long TV show later in the year with Judith Regan, the publishing magnate.

Like a true New Yorker, Mr. Gambale understands that to succeed “You have to forge good relationships in the right community, and you do that by selling yourself. Once you become part of that community it works itself.”

“Writing is something you could do anywhere – all you require is your trusty PowerBook and a rough draft,” he said.

But with hard work, luck, and connections, Mr. Gambale has made it happen.