Michael Harris (producer)
Encyclopedia
Michael Harris
Michael Harris is a Seattle-based television producer and filmmaker for several network programs, most notably as a regular Contributing Producer for networks such as ABC News
, NBC News
, VH1
and MTV
. Harris has also produced original content for Yahoo!
, the largest internet company in the world, including shooting, writing and editing search trends segments seen by an estimated 9.2 million people each week on ABC World News Now and an additional 173 non-ABC stations throughout North America. As a multi-disciplined Digital Journalist, Harris is an 11-time Emmy Award
-winner, with over 45 Emmy nominations in more than 15 different categories, including as Producer, Writer, Editor, Photographer, Director of a Live Production, Composer and On-Camera Host/Moderator.
He is also a well-known conservationist, most notably as President of Orca Conservancy,http://www.orcaconservancy.org an all-volunteer organization that was central in the rescue of a stranded orca at Dungeness Spit, WA in January 2002 and a month later would initiate the campaign and help raise the funds needed to save the orphaned orca Springer
, the first-ever successful rescue and translocation of a wild orca back to its family. Springer's remarkable story would go on to captivate the world. Harris's organization was also a Petitioner and later prevailing litigant in an historic U.S. District Court case that led in 2005 to the first-ever federal protection for the Southern Resident Community of orcas in Puget Sound under the Endangered Species Act. Harris has also served as Northwest Spokesperson for the Free Willy-Keiko
Foundation and has lent his expertise to a number of other efforts, making him one of the most familiar wildlife advocates in the Pacific Northwest. His non-broadcast, non-profit clients in past have included Paul G. Allen, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
, cell phone pioneer Craig McCaw
, Mel Brooks
, Tony Award-winning Broadway Producer Margo Lion
and Seattle's 5th Avenue Musical Theatre
. He graduated with honors from the University of Washington
in Seattle in 1987.
Talent Scouts Show in 1953 and went on to work for CBS
Television during the time that Edward R. Murrow
was there. His grandfather was a bandleader and had his own radio program. His father Chris Harris
is a former Sports Director for WHIO (AM)
Radio (CBS Dayton) and was the longtime "Voice of the Flyers," play-by-play radio announcer for the University of Dayton
men's basketball team. Chris Harris is also the first player from England to compete in the American NBA
.
(PBS) in 1987, and went on to staff positions at KCTS Television (PBS Seattle), KING Television (NBC
Seattle) and KOMO Television (ABC
Seattle), but his most acclaimed work has come as an independent producer, editor and writer. Harris was Writer/Editor of "Popular Science With Dean Stockwell
" (Discovery Channel
/The Learning Channel), which went on to win a National Emmy Award and a Broadcast Designers Association Award for its open and title design, and International Monitor Awards for "Best Tape-Originated Series" and "Best Editing Team." The youth version of that series, "PopSci for Kids," was nominated for a Cable Ace Award for "Outstanding Youth Series or Special, Educational" and for several years was one of the highest-rated series on Discovery Channel Kids. Harris has gone on to produce award-winning science and wildlife series all over the world with such celebrities as Olivia Newton-John
, Jean-Michel Cousteau
, champion fighter/actor Bob "The Beast" Sapp
and Nancy Wilson
of the rock group, Heart.
, traveling to spectacular locations all over Alaska, Hawai'i, the Pacific Northwest, California, Arizona and Mexico, encountering wildlife such as humpback and gray whales, brown bears, Brooks Range wolves, sea otters, Porcupine caribou, even getting into the water with great white sharks. In the fall of 2010, Harris was the first U.S. network news producer to secure permission to shoot on "The Forbidden Island" of Ni'ihau. For Viacom
's VH1
and MTV
, Harris has been hired to produce for such pop-culture programs as "The Week in Rock," "100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock," "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders," "The Great Debate" and "Black to the Future." His exclusive music interviews have included Bob Dylan
, Carlos Santana
, Nirvana
, Pearl Jam
, Soundgarden
, Sir Mix-a-Lot
and 50 Cent
. His other network clients have included NBC
TODAY Show, CBS Evening News
, HDNet
's "Dan Rather Reports
," ESPN
's "Baseball Tonight
" and "Sportscenter
," and E! Entertainment's "True Hollywood Stories."
to fulfill its legal obligations toward the cleanup of Prince William Sound
. That special is a part of a broadcast/vocational series for national public television entitled THIS IS INDIAN COUNTRY. Harris also was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Coverage of a Live Event (Non-News or Sports)" for his 2008 special, "High School Musical Awards!" and again in 2009 for "High School Musical Awards!" Also in 2009, Harris won an Emmy for "Dairyman Blues," his short investigative documentary on factory dairy farms in Eastern Washington, in the coveted category of "Outstanding Advanced Media -- News Programming."
Michael Harris is a Seattle-based television producer and filmmaker for several network programs, most notably as a regular Contributing Producer for networks such as ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
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....
. Harris has also produced original content for Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
, the largest internet company in the world, including shooting, writing and editing search trends segments seen by an estimated 9.2 million people each week on ABC World News Now and an additional 173 non-ABC stations throughout North America. As a multi-disciplined Digital Journalist, Harris is an 11-time Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winner, with over 45 Emmy nominations in more than 15 different categories, including as Producer, Writer, Editor, Photographer, Director of a Live Production, Composer and On-Camera Host/Moderator.
He is also a well-known conservationist, most notably as President of Orca Conservancy,http://www.orcaconservancy.org an all-volunteer organization that was central in the rescue of a stranded orca at Dungeness Spit, WA in January 2002 and a month later would initiate the campaign and help raise the funds needed to save the orphaned orca Springer
Springer (orca)
Springer , officially named A73, is a wild killer whale from the Northern Resident Community of whales which every summer frequent the waters off the northern part of Vancouver Island, British Columbia...
, the first-ever successful rescue and translocation of a wild orca back to its family. Springer's remarkable story would go on to captivate the world. Harris's organization was also a Petitioner and later prevailing litigant in an historic U.S. District Court case that led in 2005 to the first-ever federal protection for the Southern Resident Community of orcas in Puget Sound under the Endangered Species Act. Harris has also served as Northwest Spokesperson for the Free Willy-Keiko
Keiko
-Possible meanings:As with many Japanese names, Keiko can be written using a number of different kanji. Some of the most common ways of writing Keiko are:* 恵子 — "lucky/blessed child"...
Foundation and has lent his expertise to a number of other efforts, making him one of the most familiar wildlife advocates in the Pacific Northwest. His non-broadcast, non-profit clients in past have included Paul G. Allen, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
, cell phone pioneer Craig McCaw
Craig McCaw
Craig McCaw is a Seattle-area businessman and entrepreneur who achieved success as a pioneer in the cellular phone industry. He is the founder of McCaw Cellular and Clearwire Corporation.-Early life and cable TV beginnings:Craig is the second of four sons of Marion and John Elroy McCaw...
, Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
, Tony Award-winning Broadway Producer Margo Lion
Margo Lion
Margo Lion is a producer for plays and musicals both on Broadway and off-Broadway. She is known for her role in producing the stage and screen hit Hairspray. Combined, the works Lion produced have won 20 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.-Biography:...
and Seattle's 5th Avenue Musical Theatre
5th Avenue Theatre
The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmark theater building located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926. The building and land is owned by the University of Washington and was once part of the original campus...
. He graduated with honors from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle in 1987.
Background
The seventh of 10 children, Harris' career dates back to working as a child actor and later producer for his family's advertising agency in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, and in fact is third-generation show business—his mother, the former Barbara Rettig, won the Arthur GodfreyArthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
Talent Scouts Show in 1953 and went on to work 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...
Television during the time that Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
was there. His grandfather was a bandleader and had his own radio program. His father Chris Harris
Chris Harris (basketball)
Christopher R. Harris is a retired sports broadcaster and professional basketball player. A 6'3" guard, he was the first player from England to compete in the American National Basketball Association ....
is a former Sports Director for WHIO (AM)
WHIO (AM)
WHIO is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Dayton, Ohio, USA, the station serves the Cincinnati and Dayton area...
Radio (CBS Dayton) and was the longtime "Voice of the Flyers," play-by-play radio announcer for the University of Dayton
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton is a private Roman Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio...
men's basketball team. Chris Harris is also the first player from England to compete in the American NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
.
Career
Harris' first television position in the Pacific Northwest was as Associate Producer for the Northwest Bureau of the McNeil/Lehrer NewsHourNewshour
Newshour is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs programme, which broadcasts twice daily: at 1400 and 2100 each edition lasting one hour. It consists of news bulletins on the hour and half hour, international interviews and in-depth reports of world news...
(PBS) in 1987, and went on to staff positions at KCTS Television (PBS Seattle), KING Television (NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Seattle) and KOMO Television (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...
Seattle), but his most acclaimed work has come as an independent producer, editor and writer. Harris was Writer/Editor of "Popular Science With Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
" (Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
/The Learning Channel), which went on to win a National Emmy Award and a Broadcast Designers Association Award for its open and title design, and International Monitor Awards for "Best Tape-Originated Series" and "Best Editing Team." The youth version of that series, "PopSci for Kids," was nominated for a Cable Ace Award for "Outstanding Youth Series or Special, Educational" and for several years was one of the highest-rated series on Discovery Channel Kids. Harris has gone on to produce award-winning science and wildlife series all over the world with such celebrities as Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, Jean-Michel Cousteau
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Jean-Michel Cousteau is a French explorer, environmentalist, educator, and film producer. The first son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, he is the father of Fabien Cousteau and Celine Cousteau.-Biography:...
, champion fighter/actor Bob "The Beast" Sapp
Bob Sapp
Robert Malcolm "Bob" Sapp is an American kickboxer, mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, actor, comedian and former professional American football player. Sapp currently has a combined fight record of 21–21–0, mostly fighting in Japan...
and Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson may refer to:* Nancy Wilson , American jazz singer and actress* Nancy Wilson , American singer and guitar player, member of the band Heart...
of the rock group, Heart.
Contributing Network Producer
Harris has covered a wide range of subject matter for his network television clients. Beginning in 2002 he was retained by ABC News as an on-camera Wildlife Specialist and Producer, focusing on marine mammal issues. Since 2005 he has produced 25 HDTV "Weekend Windows" for ABC News Good Morning AmericaGood Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, traveling to spectacular locations all over Alaska, Hawai'i, the Pacific Northwest, California, Arizona and Mexico, encountering wildlife such as humpback and gray whales, brown bears, Brooks Range wolves, sea otters, Porcupine caribou, even getting into the water with great white sharks. In the fall of 2010, Harris was the first U.S. network news producer to secure permission to shoot on "The Forbidden Island" of Ni'ihau. For Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
's VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
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....
, Harris has been hired to produce for such pop-culture programs as "The Week in Rock," "100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock," "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders," "The Great Debate" and "Black to the Future." His exclusive music interviews have included Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
, Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
, Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
, Sir Mix-a-Lot
Sir Mix-a-Lot
Anthony Ray , better known by his stage name Sir Mix-a-Lot, is an emcee and producer based in Seattle, Washington. The founder of the Nastymix record label, he debuted in 1988 with Swass...
and 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
. His other network clients have included NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
TODAY Show, CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
, HDNet
HDNet
HDNet is a men's interest television channel in the United States, broadcasting exclusively in high-definition format and available via cable and satellite television...
's "Dan Rather Reports
Dan Rather Reports
Dan Rather Reports is a weekly news television show hosted by former CBS news anchor Dan Rather that airs on HDNet. After being broadcast, episodes are available on DVD and in the iTunes Store. Like all HDNet programming it is broadcast in high definition....
," ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's "Baseball Tonight
Baseball Tonight
Baseball Tonight is a program that airs on ESPN. The show, which recapitulates the day's Major League Baseball action, has been on the air since 1990.-Air times:...
" and "Sportscenter
SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
," and E! Entertainment's "True Hollywood Stories."
Independent Films
The broadcast films of Michael Harris have covered diverse topics and have been seen by millions, and have garnered him numerous industry awards. His wildlife documentaries have brought viewers face-to-face with wild Borneo orangutans, killer whales, Stellar sea lions, walruses, bald eagles, great blue herons, sea otters, the famed and friendly fauna of The Galapagos Islands, even the mysterious creatures living at the depths of his hometown Puget Sound. His groundbreaking treatment of the migratory farmworker issue through his half-hour film in 2002 entitled iSi Se Puede! Connecting Farmworker Communities won a Northwest Regional Emmy for "Outstanding Public Affairs Special" and an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Photography, Program Length" (Kevin Ely).http://www.kevinely.com Harris' diverse journalistic repertoire also includes indigenous issues—his feature documentary in 2008 called "The 3rd Trustee: Native Alaska & The Big Spill" won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding On-Air Host or Moderator" (Billy Frank Jr.)http://www.nwifc.org and garnered an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Photography" (Kevin Ely). The film also was a co-recipient with the Berman Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Washington for a National Clinical Legal Association" Award of Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project" for their combined efforts to provide legal assistance and help in photo-documenting the successful campaign of 187 tribes in Native Alaska to push the State and federal government to call on ExxonExxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
to fulfill its legal obligations toward the cleanup of Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound is a sound off the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System...
. That special is a part of a broadcast/vocational series for national public television entitled THIS IS INDIAN COUNTRY. Harris also was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Coverage of a Live Event (Non-News or Sports)" for his 2008 special, "High School Musical Awards!" and again in 2009 for "High School Musical Awards!" Also in 2009, Harris won an Emmy for "Dairyman Blues," his short investigative documentary on factory dairy farms in Eastern Washington, in the coveted category of "Outstanding Advanced Media -- News Programming."