Michael Piller

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Michael Piller (30 May 1948 – 1 November 2005; age 57) was a writer and Executive Producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and co-creator of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. He is probably best known for co-writing "The Best of Both Worlds" and the pilots of both Deep Space Nine and Voyager ("Emissary" and "Caretaker", respectively). A 24th century chemical element, Pillerium, was named for him.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Star Trek
- 1.2 Later Works
2 Writing Credits
3 External links

[edit] Biography

Piller, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, began his career as a news producer for CBS News in New York. He would later produce news programs in North Carolina and Chicago, eventually winning 2 Emmy awards for news journalism. In the late 1970s, he moved to Los Angeles and became a censor in the CBS television docudrama unit. His creative writing career began in the early 1980s, when he wrote numerous teleplays for hit shows, including Simon and Simon and the innovative Miami Vice. He also produced (or co-produced) many of the episodes he wrote.

Following a long illness, Piller died of head and neck cancer in his home in Los Angeles in 2005. He is survived by his wife Sandra, and his children Brent and Shawn.

[edit] Star Trek

Written by Michael Piller (1998)

In 1989, Piller's long-time friend Maurice Hurley called upon him to script a few episodes for Star Trek: The Next Generation. His stories were widely acclaimed, and Piller eventually became an Executive Producer of the series. His tenure is noted for its character development, rather than for exploiting sci-fi gadgetry of the future. In 1992, Piller (along with Rick Berman) began the creation of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and he contributed to the series' writing, casting, and budgetary direction, all the while continuing his duties as executive producer of TNG. Piller was an avid baseball card collector, reportedly with a collection numbering in the hundred-thousands (hence Benjamin Sisko's affinity for the game). After two seasons with DS9, Piller left the show to help create Star Trek: Voyager, which launched in 1995 as the "flagship vessel" of the newly-created UPN (United Paramount Network). He left the staff of Voyager in 1996 after seven continuous years with the Star Trek franchise, but remained a "creative consultant" for Voyager. He subsequently returned to write and co-produce Star Trek: Insurrection in 1998.

[edit] Later Works

During his Star Trek years, Piller only made one major venture outside the franchise. The result, the unusual sci-fi western series Legend (co-starring John de Lancie), had a very brief run on UPN in 1995.

In 2002, Piller co-created (with his son Shawn) the television series based upon the Stephen King novel The Dead Zone. That series features DS9's Nicole de Boer and TNG guest star David Ogden Stiers.

Piller wrote a screenplay called "Oversight," which he described as a Washington-based thriller that is not a big action movie but rather a "small personal character story." The screenplay has yet to be produced.

In early 2005, he created and produced a new television series, the family drama Wildfire, that stars DS9's Nana Visitor.