Michael Piller was an American television scriptwriter and producer, who was best known for his contributions to the Star Trek franchise.
21 Facts About Michael Piller
2.
Michael Piller planned to be a scriptwriter from an early age, but a college lecturer discouraged him, and Piller started out in television working as an Emmy Award-winning journalist for CBS News in New York, WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina, and WBBM-TV in Chicago, Illinois.
3.
Michael Piller attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity.
4.
Michael Piller married Sandra in 1981; they had three children.
5.
Michael Piller later teamed with him again in the following year on Hotline, a game-show designed to have interactive elements with the home audience.
6.
In 1989, a call to Maurice Hurley, a friend who had led the writing staff of Star Trek: The Next Generation through its second year, led to Piller co-writing an episode with Michael Wagner called "Evolution".
7.
When Wagner dropped out of leading the writing staff for the show's third year, Michael Piller was invited to assume the showrunner position, reporting to executive producer Rick Berman, as of the fifth episode of the third season, "The Bonding".
8.
Michael Piller moved the focus away from "alien-of-the-week" or "situation-of-the-week" stories to ones that developed the main characters and their relationships, which many point to as the turning point for the series.
9.
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 Michael Piller to help him create the new show.
10.
Michael Piller was succeeded as showrunner on The Next Generation by Jeri Taylor after the series' fifth season.
11.
When Voyager began its first season, Michael 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.
12.
Michael Piller served as showrunner and head of the writing staff for Voyagers first two seasons, with Taylor serving as his deputy.
13.
Michael Piller left Voyager and retired from the franchise after its second season with Taylor succeeding him for the third season.
14.
Michael Piller continued as a creative consultant on Deep Space Nine and Voyager, sending in notes on scripts as they were being prepared for production.
15.
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.
16.
In 2001, Michael Piller was approached by producer Lloyd Segan to adapt Stephen King's novel The Dead Zone for television.
17.
Michael Piller was teacher, mentor, and guide to so many Star Trek writers that it can truly be said that he imprinted ST story telling in a way that will endure forever.
18.
Michael Piller was a man of principle and character, a good and decent person who always tried to do what was right.
19.
Michael Piller 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.
20.
Likewise, TNG cast member Wil Wheaton said that Michael Piller was "more responsible than anyone else for Next Generation transforming itself into the amazing show it became in season four".
21.
Michael Piller felt that this would be Piller's enduring legacy.