Bartel was in much demand from other directors at New World to play small parts in their pictures: he appeared in "Eat My Dust" (1976) for Ron Howard, "Hollywood Boulevard" (1976) for Joe Dante and Alan Arkush (quite a large role, as a director, which Bartel credited for really kicking off his acting career), "Mr Billions" (1977) for Jonathan Kaplan (not a New World film but Bartel met Kaplan at the company), "Grand Theft Auto" (1977) for Howard, "Piranha" (1978) for Dante, and "Rock 'n' Roll High School" (1979) for Arkush.