Michael Cassutt
Encyclopedia
Michael Joseph Cassutt is an American television producer
, screenwriter
, and author
. His notable TV work includes producing or writing, or both, for The Outer Limits
, Eerie, Indiana
, Beverly Hills, 90210
, and The Twilight Zone. In addition to his work in television, Cassutt has written over thirty short stories
, predominately in the genres of science fiction
and fantasy
. He has also published novels, including the 1986 The Star Country, the 1991 Dragon Season, the 2001 Red Moon and the 2011 Heaven's Shadow, in collaboration with David S. Goyer. In addition, Cassutt contributes non-fiction articles to magazines and is the author of the non-fiction book, Who's Who in Space.
, Cassutt was raised in Hudson, Wisconsin
, where he graduated from high school. He attended the University of Arizona
in Tucson
, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in radio-television. He then worked as a disc jockey and radio program director and as a network television executive for CBS
. During his time at CBS he contributed freelance scripts to such television series as Alice
and The Twilight Zone.
series on ABC
, and writer-producer for the CBS series TV 101
.
In the early 1990s Cassutt worked as a writer and producer for WIOU, an ensemble drama starring John Shea
and Helen Shaver
, and then for Eerie, Indiana
. From 1992 to 1993 Cassutt was producer and writer for the ABC police drama Sirens
; he later wrote the two-part premier of the show's syndicated version with series creator Ann Lewis Hamilton
.
Following his tour on The Outer Limits
, Cassutt was co-executive producer for the Fox
drama Strange Luck
and consulting producer on Beverly Hills, 90210
and Seven Days.
More recently he was executive consultant for USA Network's The Dead Zone
. Cassutt's first episode, "The Mountain", was the highest-rated episode of the show's 2003 season; his second, "Total Awareness," which premiered in July 2004, was the only episode of the show ever review by People
magazine.
He has contributed freelance scripts to seaQuest DSV
, Stargate SG-1
, Farscape
, Andromeda
, and Odyssey 5
. He has developed scripts based on classic Science Fiction
works by writers such as Arthur C. Clarke
, Robert A. Heinlein
, Clifford Simak, and Philip Jose Farmer
. Among other projects are pilot scripts for Nickelodeon
and MTV
; a TV movie remake of the 1978 thriller film, Capricorn One
; and Time's Eye, a Hallmark Channel
and Sci-fi Channel miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
.
Cassutt has also appeared on camera in two History Channel documentaries, Disasters in Space, in 1999, and Star City, in 2002, as well as a 2002 BBC
special about astronauts and test pilots. He appeared on the History Channel series The Universe
first in November 2008 episode and again in October 2009.
, "A Second Death," was publish in the June 1974 issue of Amazing Stories
. Since that time he has published over thirty other pieces of short fiction, many in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
and in Asimov's Science Fiction
magazine. He also contributed stories to the annual collection, The Year's Best Science Fiction, in the fourteenth and nineteenth editions, and to Year's Best SF 15.
He has authored a science fiction novel, The Star Country, published by Doubleday in 1986, and a fantasy novel, Dragon Season, published by Tor Books
in 1991. With Andrew M. Greeley, he co-edited an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories with Catholic themes, entitled Sacred Visions, also published by Tor in 1991.
Working with screenwriter and director David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Blade, The Unborn) Cassutt is currently writing an SF trilogy. The first volume, Heaven's Shadow, was published by Ace (publisher) in July 2011. The second, Heaven's War, is scheduled for July 2012.
In addition to science fiction and fantasy, Cassutt has written thrillers with spaceflight settings, beginning with Missing Man, published in September 1998, to praise from such diverse sources as Publishers Weekly
, Analog
magazine, and the NASA Watch website. A sequel, Tango Midnight, dealing with an accident aboard the International Space Station
, was published in 2003.
His historical thriller, Red Moon, a novel of the dark side of the space race between America and the Soviet Union, appeared in March 2001 and became the subject of an entire article in Asimov's Science Fiction, written by novelist Norman Spinrad
.
Cassutt is also an experienced writer of non-fiction, not only contributing articles to such magazines as Space Illustrated, Space World, Air & Space and books such as Magill's Survey of Science: Space Exploration Series, but as the author of the biographical encyclopedia, Who's Who in Space. The book contains biographies and photos of seven hundred astronauts and cosmonauts from around the world, for which Cassutt conducted dozens of interviews over a period of ten years.
His monthly column about science fiction television and film, “The Cassutt Files,” appeared on SciFiWire.com from 2000 to 2009. He also teaches at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, and at the University of Oregon.
with his wife, Cindy, and two children, Ryan and Alexandra.
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. His notable TV work includes producing or writing, or both, for The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that originally aired on Showtime,the Sci Fi Channel and in syndication between 1995 and 2002...
, Eerie, Indiana
Eerie, Indiana
Eerie, Indiana is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1991 to 1992 and then on syndication on Fox from 1997 to 1998. The series was created by José Rivera and Karl Schaefer, with Joe Dante serving as creative consultant.-Premise:...
, Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
, and The Twilight Zone. In addition to his work in television, Cassutt has written over thirty short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
, predominately in the genres of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
. He has also published novels, including the 1986 The Star Country, the 1991 Dragon Season, the 2001 Red Moon and the 2011 Heaven's Shadow, in collaboration with David S. Goyer. In addition, Cassutt contributes non-fiction articles to magazines and is the author of the non-fiction book, Who's Who in Space.
Early life
Although born in Owatonna, MinnesotaOwatonna, Minnesota
Owatonna is a city in Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 25,599 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Steele County. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fairgrounds, which hosts the Steele County Free Fair in August....
, Cassutt was raised in Hudson, Wisconsin
Hudson, Wisconsin
Hudson is a city in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 18,937, making it the principal and largest city of the Minneapolis - St. Paul metropolitan area . The Hudson area however had a population of 39,713...
, where he graduated from high school. He attended the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
in Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in radio-television. He then worked as a disc jockey and radio program director and as a network television executive for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. During his time at CBS he contributed freelance scripts to such television series as Alice
Alice (TV series)
Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to July 2, 1985 on CBS. The series was based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job...
and The Twilight Zone.
Television
A full-time writer since 1985, Cassutt was staff writer for the 1985 revival series, The Twilight Zone, story editor for the acclaimed Max HeadroomMax Headroom (TV series)
Max Headroom is a British-produced American science fiction television series by Chrysalis/Lakeside Productions that aired in the United States on ABC from March 1987 to May 1988. The series was based on the Channel 4 British TV pilot Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future...
series on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, and writer-producer for the CBS series TV 101
TV 101
TV 101 is an American drama series that aired on CBS from 1988 until 1989. The series starred Sam Robards, Brynn Thayer, Leon Russom and Andrew Cassese. Other notable cast members include Stacey Dash, Teri Polo, Alex Désert and Matt LeBlanc...
.
In the early 1990s Cassutt worked as a writer and producer for WIOU, an ensemble drama starring John Shea
John Shea
John Victor Shea III is an American actor and director who has starred on stage, television and in film. He is best known for his role as Lex Luthor in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also starred in the short lived 1990s TV series WIOU as Hank Zaret...
and Helen Shaver
Helen Shaver
Helen Shaver is a Canadian actress and film and television director.-Early life:Shaver was born and raised in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, a small city located near London, Ontario, with five sisters...
, and then for Eerie, Indiana
Eerie, Indiana
Eerie, Indiana is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1991 to 1992 and then on syndication on Fox from 1997 to 1998. The series was created by José Rivera and Karl Schaefer, with Joe Dante serving as creative consultant.-Premise:...
. From 1992 to 1993 Cassutt was producer and writer for the ABC police drama Sirens
Sirens (TV series)
Sirens is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC in 1993, and then in syndication from 1994 to 1995.-Synopsis:Sirens focused on the work and lives of three rookie female Pittsburgh Police officers...
; he later wrote the two-part premier of the show's syndicated version with series creator Ann Lewis Hamilton
Ann Lewis Hamilton
Ann Lewis Hamilton is an American television producer and writer. She worked in both capacities on Thirtysomething. She was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 1991 for her work on the show; one for Outstanding Drama Series and one for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for her episode "Second...
.
Following his tour on The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that originally aired on Showtime,the Sci Fi Channel and in syndication between 1995 and 2002...
, Cassutt was co-executive producer for the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
drama Strange Luck
Strange Luck
Strange Luck is an American television series that aired on FOX, created by Karl Schaefer and starring D. B. Sweeney in the role of Chance Harper, a freelance photographer afflicted with a bizarre tendency to always be in the wrong place at the right time. As Chance himself says, "If I go to a...
and consulting producer on Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
and Seven Days.
More recently he was executive consultant for USA Network's The Dead Zone
The Dead Zone (TV series)
The Dead Zone, aka Stephen King's Dead Zone is an American-Canadian science fiction/suspense series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma...
. Cassutt's first episode, "The Mountain", was the highest-rated episode of the show's 2003 season; his second, "Total Awareness," which premiered in July 2004, was the only episode of the show ever review by People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine.
He has contributed freelance scripts to seaQuest DSV
SeaQuest DSV
seaQuest DSV is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It originally aired on NBC between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was renamed seaQuest 2032. Set in "the near future", seaQuest mixes high drama with realistic scientific fiction...
, Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
, Farscape
Farscape
Farscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series filmed in Australia and produced originally for the Nine Network. The series was conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment...
, Andromeda
Andromeda (TV series)
Andromeda is a Canadian-American science fiction television series, based on unused material by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry. It starred Kevin Sorbo as High Guard Captain Dylan Hunt...
, and Odyssey 5
Odyssey 5
Odyssey 5 is a Canadian science fiction series that first ran in 2002 on Showtime in the United States and on Space in Canada.In the United States, the initial run of the series ran for 14 of the 20 episodes, leaving the six remaining episodes unaired for a period of roughly two years...
. He has developed scripts based on classic Science Fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
works by writers such as Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
, Clifford Simak, and Philip Jose Farmer
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
. Among other projects are pilot scripts for Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
; a TV movie remake of the 1978 thriller film, Capricorn One
Capricorn One
Capricorn One is a 1977 science fiction thriller movie about a Mars landing hoax. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. It stars James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O. J...
; and Time's Eye, a Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
and Sci-fi Channel miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...
.
Cassutt has also appeared on camera in two History Channel documentaries, Disasters in Space, in 1999, and Star City, in 2002, as well as a 2002 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
special about astronauts and test pilots. He appeared on the History Channel series The Universe
The Universe (TV series)
The Universe is an American documentary television series that features computer-generated imagery and computer graphics of astronomical objects in the universe plus interviews with experts who study in the fields of cosmology, astronomy, and astrophysics...
first in November 2008 episode and again in October 2009.
Other Writings
Alongside his career in television, Cassutt has also pursued a career in writing fiction, especially science fiction and fantasy. His first short storyShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, "A Second Death," was publish in the June 1974 issue of Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
. Since that time he has published over thirty other pieces of short fiction, many in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
and in Asimov's Science Fiction
Asimov's Science Fiction
Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy and perpetuates the name of author and biochemist Isaac Asimov...
magazine. He also contributed stories to the annual collection, The Year's Best Science Fiction, in the fourteenth and nineteenth editions, and to Year's Best SF 15.
He has authored a science fiction novel, The Star Country, published by Doubleday in 1986, and a fantasy novel, Dragon Season, published by Tor Books
Tor Books
Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
in 1991. With Andrew M. Greeley, he co-edited an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories with Catholic themes, entitled Sacred Visions, also published by Tor in 1991.
Working with screenwriter and director David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Blade, The Unborn) Cassutt is currently writing an SF trilogy. The first volume, Heaven's Shadow, was published by Ace (publisher) in July 2011. The second, Heaven's War, is scheduled for July 2012.
In addition to science fiction and fantasy, Cassutt has written thrillers with spaceflight settings, beginning with Missing Man, published in September 1998, to praise from such diverse sources as Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
, Analog
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
magazine, and the NASA Watch website. A sequel, Tango Midnight, dealing with an accident aboard the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
, was published in 2003.
His historical thriller, Red Moon, a novel of the dark side of the space race between America and the Soviet Union, appeared in March 2001 and became the subject of an entire article in Asimov's Science Fiction, written by novelist Norman Spinrad
Norman Spinrad
Norman Richard Spinrad is an American science fiction author.Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco,...
.
Cassutt is also an experienced writer of non-fiction, not only contributing articles to such magazines as Space Illustrated, Space World, Air & Space and books such as Magill's Survey of Science: Space Exploration Series, but as the author of the biographical encyclopedia, Who's Who in Space. The book contains biographies and photos of seven hundred astronauts and cosmonauts from around the world, for which Cassutt conducted dozens of interviews over a period of ten years.
His monthly column about science fiction television and film, “The Cassutt Files,” appeared on SciFiWire.com from 2000 to 2009. He also teaches at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, and at the University of Oregon.
Awards and recognition
In 1989, Cassutt won the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award of the Center for Population Options for a three-part episode, “First Love,” on the series TV 101, although the series itself was not a success and ran for only thirteen episodes.Personal life
Cassutt lives in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with his wife, Cindy, and two children, Ryan and Alexandra.
External links
- http://scifiwire.com/2010/02/whats-next-for-flashforwards-david-goyer-aliens-meteors.php