Stojanovich's father, Chester Stojanovich, was an
entomologist with a doctorate from Stanford and his mother, Martha Stojanovich, was one of the first women to work at the
Centers for Disease Control. Martha was diagnosed with
schizophrenia shortly after he was born. As a teenager, Stojanovich became an avid photographer, saving his money to buy an expensive
Hasselblad camera and getting his own
darkroom in his father's barn in
Campbell, California. At the age of 13 he won the respect of and began collaborating with photographer
Graham Nash. At 16, he dropped out of high school and started taking film-making classes. His interest in policing began while attending high school in
San Jose, often listening to his
police scanner and subscribing to a
CHP magazine. In 1973, at 17, Stojanovich met San Jose Police Officer Nate Jaeger who allowed him to ride along with him on patrol. Stojanovich filmed Jaeger's assignments on
Super 8 film. That same year, Stojanovich produced his first
16mm short film:
Two Bits featuring Jaeger. Stojanovich later filmed Jaeger's friends at the
Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Narcotics unit; the film became the
Emmy award–winning documentary
Narco. Stojanovich then spent a few years working as a cameraman for then
NBC affiliate
KRON. At KRON, he met one of his heroes, photographer
Ansel Adams, who was particularly interested in the workings of his video camera. He also worked as a field producer for the
ABC News magazine
20/20 and was creative consultant on
Oliver Stone's film
Natural Born Killers. After serving as a field producer for the reality show
COPS in 1989 and then producing and creating the ABC series
American Detective, Stojanovich served as executive producer on a series of crime reality shows, including ''
World's Scariest Police Chases and Ultimate Police Challenge''. The
Beaverton, Oregon Police Department made Stojanovich an Honorary Special Reserve Officer. ==Death==