Michael Piller, best known to television viewers
around the world as the executive producer/co-creator of more than
500 hours of Star Trek, lost his long battle with an
aggressive form of head & neck cancer on Tuesday, November 1, 2005
at 4:51 AM at his home in Los Angeles. He was 57. He is survived by
his wife Sandra, daughter Brent and son Shawn.
Michael served as creative consultant for Star
Trek: Voyager, which he co-created, until the series concluded
in May 2001. He also co-created Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
and served as executive producer on Star Trek: The Next
Generation (1989-1994), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(1992-1995) and Star Trek: Voyager (1994-1996). During the
1994-95 television season, Michael also co-created and executive
produced the UPN network series Legend.
In 1998, he wrote and co-produced Star Trek:
Insurrection, the ninth installment in the enormously successful
Star Trek feature film franchise for Paramount Pictures.
In 1999, Michael partnered with his son Shawn Piller
to form Piller2, Inc., a Hollywood-based production
company where they developed and produced new television and motion
picture properties. The father/son duo are also the co-creators of
USA Network’s top-rated cable drama series “The Dead Zone”, and the
ABC Family Channel’s “Wildfire.”
Michael, in addition to serving on the Advisory Board
for the Department of Communications Studies at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, gave a major grant to his alma mater
to help launch a nationally distinctive screenwriting program.
With Michael Piller at the helm of Star Trek: The
Next Generation, the show became the first syndicated series in
the 90’s to receive an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine continued the success of the
franchise during its seven seasons on the air. Star Trek: Voyager
is in its seventh and final season.
An Emmy Award-winning journalist, Michael began his
broadcasting career with CBS News in New York. He subsequently
served as managing editor of the WBTV-TV News in Charlotte, North
Carolina, and assistant news director at WBBM-TV, the CBS affiliate
in Chicago.
His first position in entertainment television was as
a censor in the CBS docudrama unit. Piller then spent two years as a
programming executive before leaving CBS to write full-time.
Michael’s credits as a writer-producer include the
series Simon & Simon, Cagney & Lacey, Miami Vice,
Probe, and Hard Time on Planet Earth. In addition, he
co-created and executive produced the syndicated series Group One
Medical.
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