Product Code Database
Michael Piller (May 30, 1948 – November 1, 2005) was an American television screenwriter and producer, who was best known for his contributions to the Star Trek franchise.
Piller attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity.Pi Lambda Phi 2010 membership Directory He married Sandra in 1981; they had three children.
In 1987, together with Van Gordon Sauter, he developed a reality/medical series for MGM/UA Television called Group One Medical. He later teamed with him again in the following year on Hotline, a game-show designed to have interactive elements with the home audience.
The Next Generation ran for seven years and garnered increasing critical recognition, culminating in an Emmy Award nomination in its final year for Outstanding Drama Series. Piller was personally responsible for many popular episodes, including "The Best of Both Worlds", Parts 1 & 2, which are frequently identified as the best episodes of The Next Generation, and the two-part fifth season "Unification", which saw the appearance of Spock, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role on the original series.
In late 1991, when The Next Generation executive producer Rick Berman was asked by Paramount Pictures to create a new Star Trek series, he turned to Piller to help him create the new show. debuted in January 1993 with "Emissary", the pilot episode written by Piller, to the highest-ever ratings for a syndicated series premiere. Like The Next Generation, the series ran for seven years, with Piller serving as showrunner for its first two seasons.
He was succeeded as showrunner on The Next Generation by Jeri Taylor after the series’ fifth season. In 1994, Berman was again asked to create another new Star Trek series for Paramount's new UPN television network. As before, Berman teamed with Piller, developing along with Taylor. When Voyager began its first season, Piller transferred fully to Voyager and was replaced as showrunner on Deep Space Nine by Ira Steven Behr, who served as showrunner for that series' remaining years. Piller served as showrunner and head of the writing staff for Voyagers first two seasons, with Taylor serving as his deputy. Piller left Voyager and retired from the franchise after its second season with Taylor succeeding him for the third season. According to Piller, his departure from Voyager followed the breakdown of his relationship with the writers on the show. At the same time, Piller developed another series for UPN called Legend. the series was cancelled after only 12 episodes. Piller continued as a creative consultant on Deep Space Nine and Voyager, sending in notes on scripts as they were being prepared for production.
In 1993, Piller had been approached to write one of two prospective scripts for the first Next Generation feature film, with the other written by The Next Generation staff writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga but he declined. In 1997, he was approached again to write a Next Generation feature film, collaborating with Rick Berman to write .Nemecek (2003): p. 334 While writing the treatment for this film, he documented the entire process in the book Fade In, though it remained unpublished. Following Piller's death in 2005, the book was published on the internet. His wife, Sandra, has subsequently sought to have the work published in bound form. She described in an interview in 2013 that the studio was surprised by his honesty about the writing process and production of Insurrection and paraphrased the response of the executives at Paramount Pictures, saying, "We can't let the public know what we do here; what goes on behind the scenes!"
Piller formed a production company with Shawn in 1999 called Piller². They signed a two-year deal with the WB Television Network which covered one guaranteed production, along with three orders for pilots. The WB ordered scripts for all four productions, and looked to be moving ahead with Day One, a post-apocalyptic serial based on the UK television mini-series The Last Train. However, the series never went into production.
In 2001, Piller was approached by producer Lloyd Segan to adapt Stephen King's novel The Dead Zone for television. The series, co-developed with Shawn and starring Anthony Michael Hall and Deep Space Nines Nicole de Boer, debuted June 16, 2002 on USA Network with 6.4 million viewers, the biggest premiere ever on that channel. Viewership remained steady through four seasons, before a dip in ratings saw it canceled in its sixth season. USA Network Pulls Plug on The Dead Zone, The 4400, Broadcasting & Cable
In 2005, Wildfire, another series that Piller² developed, debuted on the ABC Family channel. The show ended in 2008 after four seasons.
He has been subsequently credited with giving The Next Generation its "soul" by Star Trek writer Paula Block, while Terry J. Erdmann felt that the complex characters of Deep Space Nine were entirely formed from Piller's imagination. Likewise, TNG cast member Wil Wheaton said that Piller was "more responsible than anyone else for Next Generation transforming itself into the amazing show it became in ". Eric Stillwell, who worked as Piller's executive assistant on Insurrection and later became Vice President of Operations at Piller Squared, said that Piller's greatest gift was his ability to nurture new writers and help them develop their talent. He felt that this would be Piller's enduring legacy.
Notes
(1994). 9780671874308, Pocket Books. ISBN 9780671874308
External links
Categories: 1948 Births, 2005 Deaths, American Male Screenwriters, American Television Executives, Television Producers From New York, American Television Writers, Burials At Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Deaths From Cancer In California, American Showrunners, People From Port Chester, New York, University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill Alumni, American Male Television Writers, Jewish American Screenwriters, Screenwriters From New York, 20th-century American Male Writers, 20th-century American Screenwriters, 20th-century American Jews, 21st-century American Jews
|
|
