While attending film school at the University of Southern California, Kazanjian met a young George Lucas and they soon became friends, as well as Delta Kappa Alpha cinema fraternity brothers.

In 1968, while working as a second assistant director for Francis Ford Coppola's film Finian's Rainbow, Kazanjian and Lucas (who was working as a favor to Coppola as his production assistant) crossed paths again.

Kazanjian continued his work as an assistant director on such memorable films as The Wild Bunch (1969), The Great Bank Robbery (1969) and Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot. He also worked as the assistant director on the popular TV series "The Rockford Files" (1974).

It wasn't until he teamed up again with Lucas on More American Graffiti (1979) that Kazanjian began to take a new direction as a producer. He later worked with Lucas again to produce Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, as well as Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.

Kazanjian continued his role as a producer for the award-winning TV drama "JAG" (1995) and various films including The Rookie (1990) starring Clint Eastwood and Demolition Man (1993) starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.

Recently, Kazanjian produced The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2004) starring Robert De Niro, Kathy Bates and Harvey Keitel.