 After graduating from Harvard in 1973, Stillman began working as an editorial assistant at Doubleday in New York City, followed by a stint as a junior editor at "The American Spectator", a conservative magazine.Stillman has subsequently distanced himself from his work for the "Spectator," describing himself in 2012 as "apolitical".He was introduced to some film producers from Madrid and persuaded them that he could sell their films to Spanish-language television in the U.S.