Michael Joseph Cassutt (born April 13, 1954) is an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. His notable TV work includes producing or writing, or both, for '' The Outer Limits'', '' Eerie, Indiana'', ''

Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...

'', and ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

''.Sci-Fiction bio
/ref> In addition to his work in television, Cassutt has written over thirty

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, predominately in the genres of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

. 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, ''The Astronaut Maker,'' a biography of NASA legend George W. S. Abbey (2018).

Early life

Although born in

Owatonna, Minnesota Owatonna ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,420 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fairgrounds, which hosts the Steele County F ...

, Cassutt was raised in

Hudson, Wisconsin Hudson is a city in and the county seat of St. Croix County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 14,755. It is part of the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. History Several Li ...

, where he graduated from Hudson High School. He attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

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 Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

'' and ''The Twilight Zone''.

Career

Television

A full-time writer since 1985, Cassutt was staff writer for the 1985 revival series, ''

'', story editor for the acclaimed '' Max Headroom'' 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 Helen Shaver (born February 24, 1951) is a Canadian actress and film and television director. After appearing in a number of Canadian movies, she received a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress for her performance in the romantic drama '' In P ...

, 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 premiere of the show's syndicated version with series creator

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 Outstan ...

. Following his tour on '' The Outer Limits'', Cassutt was co-executive producer for the Fox drama '' Strange Luck'' and consulting producer on ''

'' and '' Seven Days''. 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 reviewed by ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' magazine. Cassutt was co-executive producer for SyFy Channel's '' Z Nation'' for five seasons, from 2013 to 2018, contributing ten scripts. He worked on its spinoff, '' Black Summer'' as well. He has contributed freelance scripts to ''

seaQuest DSV ''SeaQuest DSV'' (stylized as ''seaQuest DSV'' and also promoted as simply ''seaQuest'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon for NBC. It aired between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was re ...

'', ''

Stargate SG-1 ''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrig ...

'', ''

Farscape ''Farscape'' is an Australian-American Science fiction on television, science fiction television series conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, originally for the Nine Network. It prem ...

'', '' Andromeda'', and ''

Odyssey 5 ''Odyssey 5'' is a Canadian science fiction television series, which was shown in 2002 on Space in Canada and on Showtime in the United States. The premise involves five space travelers who witness the destruction of the Earth; they are given ...

''. He has developed scripts based on classic

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 Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

; a TV movie remake of the 1978 thriller film, ''

Capricorn One ''Capricorn One'' is a 1977 thriller film in which a reporter discovers that a supposed Mars landing by a crewed mission to the planet has been faked via a conspiracy involving the government and—under duress—the crew themselves. It was wri ...

''; and ''Time's Eye'', a

Hallmark Channel Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. ...

and Sci-fi Channel miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. In 2018 and 2019 he worked on two potential ''Wild Cards'' series for Hulu; neither effort was produced. 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 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

special about astronauts and test pilots. He appeared on the History Channel series '' The Universe'' first in the November 2008 episode and again in October 2009. His adaptation of Howard Waldrop's Nebula Award-winning novelette ''The Ugly Chickens'' was filmed as a short starring Felicia Day and directed by Mark Raso in Toronto, Summer 2023.

Other writings

Alongside his career in television, Cassutt has also pursued a career in writing fiction, especially science fiction and fantasy. His first

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, "A Second Death," appeared in the June 1974 issue of ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is 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. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...

''. 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'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

'' and in ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...

'' 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 is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

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 wrote an SF trilogy. The first volume, ''Heaven's Shadow'', was published by Ace (publisher) in July 2011. The second, ''Heaven's War'', appeared in July 2012. The trilogy concluded with ''Heaven's Fall'' in August 2013. 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'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', '' Analog'' magazine, and the ''NASA Watch'' website. A sequel, ''Tango Midnight'', dealing with an accident aboard the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

, 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 Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author, essayist, and critic. His fiction has won the Prix Apollo Award, Prix Apollo and been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hugo Award and multiple N ...

. 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 has also taught TV writing at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, and at the University of Oregon. More recently, Cassutt has published several new short stories, in ''Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine'', on Tor.com, and in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' and ''Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact''.

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 Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with his wife, Cindy, and two children, Ryan and Alexandra.

Bibliography

Novels

*''The Star Country'' (Doubleday, 1986) *''Dragon Season'' (Tor, 1991) *''Missing Man'' (Forge, 1998) *''Red Moon'' (Forge, 2001) *''Tango Midnight'' (Forge, 2003) ;Heaven's Shadow series # # #

Short fiction

;Anthologies (edited) *''Sacred Visions'' (Tor, 1991, anthology edited with Andrew M. Greeley) ;Stories , - , * "A Second Death" – " Amazing Science Fiction", June 1974 * "The Streak" – " Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine", January 1977 * "Hunting" – " Universe 8", 1978, ed. Terry Carr * "The Squeeze" – " Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine", January 1981 * "The Free Agent" – "

", August 1981 * "The Holy Father" – " Best of OMNI 6", 1983, ed. Don Myrus * "Stillwater, 1896" – "

Shadows A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensiona ...

7", 1984, ed. Charles L. Grant * "A Star is Born" – "

Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...

", July, 1984 * "Legend" – " Wild Cards IV", 1988, ed.

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948) also known by the initials G.R.R.M. is an American author, television writer, and television producer. He is best known as the author of the unfinished series of Hi ...

* "Passages" – " Synergy 4", 1989, ed. George Zebrowski * "Mules in Horse's Harness" – " What Might Have Been, Vol. 2", 1989, ed.

Gregory Benford Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is professor emeritus at the department of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is a contributing editor of ''Reason ...

and Martin H. Greenberg * "At Risk" – "

", July 1990 * "Curious Elation" – "

", September 1990 * "Extraordinary Measures" – "

", July 1991 * "The Last Mars Trip" – "

", July 1992 * "Perpetual Light" – " Grails (anthology)" 1992, ed., Ed Kramer, Richard Gilliam & Martin H. Greenberg * "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" – "

Wild Cards ''Wild Cards'' is a series of science fiction superhero shared universe anthologies, mosaic novels, and solo novels. They are written by a collection of more than forty authors (referred to as the "Wild Cards Trust") and are edited by George R. ...

", 1993, ed.

* "The Folks" – "

", July 1993 * "Night Life" – " Borderlands III", 1993, ed. Thomas F. Monteleone * "The Longer Voyage" – "

", July 1996 * "Generation Zero" – " Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine", October/November 1996 * "Jinx" – "

", July 1997, as "Leo Kenden" * "More Adventures on Other Planets" – " Sci.Fiction", January 10, 2001 * "Beyond the End of Time" – " Sci.Fiction", June 20, 2001 * "Storming Space" – "

", 2002, ed.

* "Skull Valley" – "

", October/November 2007 * "Captain Cathode and the Secret Ace" – " Wild Cards IV", 2010, ed.

. This story was not in the 1987 edition of ''

'' * "Pitching Old Mars" - " Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine", March 2013 * "The Big Bleed" - "

", Tor 2014, ed. George R. R. Martin & Melinda M. Snodgrass * "The Sunset of Time" - " OLD VENUS", Random House anthology 2015, ed. George R. R. Martin & Gardner R. Dozois * "Timewalking" - "

", November/December 2017 * "Unter" - " Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine", June/July 2018 * "The Vetting" - "

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

", September 18, 2019 * "Banshee" - "

", January 2020 * "Have Spaceship, Will Travel" - "

", Tor 2021 ed.

* "Luna Incognita" - " Joker Moon as "Leo Kenden" * "Aurora" - " Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine", novelette, March/April 2022 * "Kingsbury 1944" - " Analog Science Fiction & Fact Magazine", novella, September/October 2022 * "Flicker" - " Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine", November/December 2022 * "Proxima Centauri Blues" - " Analog Science Fiction & Fact Magazine", November/December 2023 * "The Scalar Intercepts" - " Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine", January/February 2024

Non-fiction

*''Who's Who in Space: The First Twenty-five Years'' (G. K. Hall, 1987) *''Who's Who in Space: The International Space Year Edition'' (Macmillan, 1993) *''Deke! U.S. Manned Space from Mercury to the Shuttle'' (Forge 1994, with Donald K. "Deke" Slayton) *''Who's Who in Space: The International Space Station Edition'' (Macmillan Gale, 1999) *''We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race'' (Smithsonian, 2002, with Thomas P. Stafford) *''The Astronaut Maker: How One Mysterious Engineer Ran Human Spaceflight for a Generation'' (Chicago Review Press, 2018)

Critical studies and reviews of Cassutt's work

;''Heaven's Fall'' *

Notes

Television credits

* '' Gloria'' (1982) * '' Love, Sidney'' (1982) * ''

'' (1983) * '' It’s Not Easy'' (1983) * ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' (1985) * '' Misfits of Science'' (1985) * ''

'' (1985-1987) * ''

Simon & Simon ''Simon & Simon'' is an American crime drama television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981, to September 16, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS, and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two disparate brothers who ope ...

'' (1986) * '' The Centurions'' (1986) * '' Max Headroom'' (1987) * '' The Wizard'' (1987) * ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'' (1988) * '' TV 101'' (1988) * '' WIOU'' (1990) * '' Eerie, Indiana'' (1992) * '' Sirens'' (1993) * ''

'' (1993) * '' Strange Luck'' (1995) * '' The Adventures of Sinbad'' (1996) * '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (1996) * ''

'' (1997) * '' Seven Days'' (1999) * ''

'' (2000) * ''

'' (2000) * '' Andromeda'' (2002) * ''

'' (2003) * '' The Dead Zone'' (2003-2004) * '' Transformers: Prime'' (2013) * '' Z Nation'' (2014-2018)

References

External links

* *
The Michael Cassutt Papers
(31.72 linear feet) housed at th
Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy
of the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

Libraries. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassutt, Michael 1954 births Living people American television writers Asimov's Science Fiction people American male television writers People from Hudson, Wisconsin People from Owatonna, Minnesota University of Arizona alumni Screenwriters from Wisconsin Screenwriters from Minnesota Screenwriters from Arizona Television producers from Minnesota