Michael Lent is a mixed media writer and producer based in Los Angeles. He is best known as the co-writer of ''On Thin Ice'', the memoirs of Hugh Rowland, one of the stars of the long-running series

Ice Road Truckers ''Ice Road Truckers'' (commercially abbreviated ''IRT'') is a reality television series that aired on History Channel from 2007 to 2017. It featured the activities of drivers who operated trucks on ice roads crossing frozen lakes and rivers, i ...

Career

Michael Lent received a BA in American Studies from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

, and an MFA in Screenwriting and Film from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

. Lent began his career interning in the On-Air Promotions Department at

MTV Networks Paramount Media Networks is the division of Paramount Global that oversees the operations of its television channels and online brands. The division was originally founded as MTV Networks in 1984, named after MTV. It would be known under this ...

where he worked with producers

Ted Demme Edward Kern Demme ( ; October 26, 1963 – January 13, 2002) was an American director, producer, and actor. Early life Demme was born in New York City, the son of Gail (née Kern) and Frederick Rogers Demme. He grew up in Rockville Centre, New Y ...

Mark Pellington Mark Pellington (born March 17, 1962) is an American film director, writer, and producer. Life and career Pellington was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Bill Pellington, an All-Pro linebacker who played American Football, football with t ...

, John Payson, and

Abby Terkuhle Abby or Abbie is a given name, most often a shortened form of Abigail and Albert. Notable women * Abbie Betinis (born 1980), American composer * Abby Binay (born 1975), Filipino politician * Abbie Boudreau (born 1979), American television ...

. From 1997-2007, he was a featured columnist and contributing editor for ''Creative Screenwriting Magazine''. In 2004, Lent's book ''Breakfast With Sharks: A Screenwriter's Guide to Getting the Meeting, Nailing the Pitch, Signing the Deal, and Navigating the Murky Waters of Hollywood,'' on the business side of screenwriting, was published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. The introduction to ''Breakfast With Sharks'' is by

Mike Medavoy Morris Mike Medavoy (born January 21, 1941) is an American film producer and business executive. He co-founded Orion Pictures and currently serves as chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures. He previously held leadership roles at TriStar Pictures a ...

, American film producer and executive. The book was a best-seller in the category of film books, and is used in film programs in colleges and universities around the world. In 2006, Lent co-produced the feature film ''Hard Scrambled'', starring

Kurtwood Smith Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in ''RoboCop'' (1987), Robert Griggs in '' Rambo III'' (1988), and Red Forman in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) and '' That '90s Show' ...

Richard Edson Richard Edson (born January 1, 1954) is an American actor and musician. Personal life Edson was born in New Rochelle, New York to a Jewish family. He has one brother, Steven, who resides in the Boston area, and two sisters, Andrea, who resides ...

Beth Grant Beth Grant (born September 18, 1949) is an American character actor, character actress. Between 2012 and 2017, she was a series regular on the television comedy ''The Mindy Project'' in the role of Beverly Janoszewski. She is also known for her ...

, and

Alanna Ubach Alanna Ubach (born October 3, 1975) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Serena McGuire in ''Legally Blonde'' (2001) and ''Legally Blonde 2'' (2003), Isabel Villalobos in ''Meet the Fockers'' (2004), Maria in '' Sister Act 2: Ba ...

. The film was awarded the Best Narrative Film Award by the

Garden State Film Festival The Garden State Film Festival is a film festival in the United States held in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Asbury Park and Cranford, New Jersey, Cranford, New Jersey, which debuts more than 200 independent films annually over four days each spring. ...

and the Best Director award at the

Phoenix Film Festival Phoenix Film Festival is a festival that celebrates feature films, documentaries, short films and their creators. Started in 2001, the annual celebration takes place in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. The Festival is run under the umbrella of the 5 ...

. Lent also produced the feature film ''Witches' Night'' in 2007, starring

Gil McKinney Mark Gilbert McKinney, known professionally as Gil McKinney, (born February 5, 1979, in Houston, Texas) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Paul Grady on '' ER'', Derek Bishop on '' Friday Night Lights'', ...

and

Betsy Baker Betsy Baker is an American actress, best known as playing Linda in the film ''The Evil Dead'' (1981). Early life Baker was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa - a middle child - and grew up in St. Joseph, Michigan. She started piano lessons at the age o ...

. In 2007, Lent's holiday humor book ''Christmas Letters from Hell: All The News We Hate From The People We Love'', was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. The book is a parody of "self-absorbed, aggrandizing" family letters sent out every holiday season; Lent writes from the imagined perspective of Satan and his family. It moved to #2 on Amazon's bestseller list for holiday books. Lent was then part of the Authors@Google series, in which he travelled to

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Headquarters to discuss ''Christmas Letters From Hell''. Also in 2007, Lent created and co-wrote ''Prey: Origin of the Species'', a graphic novel published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

and Dabel Brothers Publishing.Michael Lent – Comic Book DB
/ref> He is the co-writer of ''On Thin Ice,'' published by Hyperion Books in 2010, based on the life of Hugh Rowland, one of the stars of

and

IRT Deadliest Roads ''Ice Road Truckers'' (commercially abbreviated ''IRT'') is a reality television series that aired on History Channel from 2007 to 2017. It featured the activities of drivers who operated trucks on ice roads crossing frozen lakes and rivers, in ...

on the

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

. In 2008, Lent worked as a writer on the video game '' Vigilante 8: Arcade,'' produced by

Isopod Labs Luxoflux Corp. was an American video game developer founded by Peter Morawiec and Adrian Stephens in January 1997, and based in Santa Monica, California. History Luxoflux was founded in January 1997 by former Sega Technical Institute developers ...

. Lent was also a writer on the video game ''SCAPS Agent,'' published in 2011 by Slime Sandwich. He is the co-creator and co-writer, with Brian McCarthy, of the ''Brimstone'' comic book series published by

Zenescope Entertainment Zenescope Entertainment is a comic book and graphic novel publisher headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania, United States, cofounded by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco in 2005. Zenescope publishes full-color action, fantasy and horror titles. Under ...

in 2011-2012. A film based on the series is currently in development with producer Brett Donowho. Lent and McCarthy also co-authored a series of graphic bios of

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

JRR Tolkien JRR may refer to: * J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973), English writer, poet, philologist and university professor * Jaime Robbie Reyne (born 1985), Australian singer * Jay Robinson Racing, a racing team * Jiru language * Jackie Robinson Jack R ...

, and

Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between ...

that are published by Bluewater/Orbit Productions. The Stephen King bio is in its third printing as of 2015. Lent executive-produced the 2014 film ''If You’re Serious'', which was nominated for the Verna Fields Award by the

Motion Picture Sound Editors Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) is an American professional society of motion picture sound editors founded in 1953. The society's goals are to educate others about and increase the recognition of the sound and music editors, show the arti ...

. In 2015, Lent produced the film ''2021'', written and directed by David Ash, which is premiering at the Twin Cities Film Festival. He is the author of ''TMS: The Machine Stops'', a graphic novel series published by Alterna Comics in 2015. The story is adapted from the classic

E.M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author. He is best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910) and '' A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous shor ...

science fiction short story ''

The Machine Stops "The Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in ''The Oxford and Cambridge Review'' (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's '' The Eternal Moment and Other Stories'' in 1928. A ...

''. Lent has taught or lectured at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California, United States. Encompassing eleven colleges, the university is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The school maintains its foundi ...

, the

, and

Santa Barbara City College Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is a public community college in Santa Barbara, California. It opened in 1909 and is located on a campus. History Santa Barbara City College was established by the Santa Barbara High School District in 1909, m ...

. For more than two years, as part of the UCLA Extension Arts Reach Program, he taught writing to inmates at the

Chino Men's Prison California Institution for Men (CIM) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Chino, San Bernardino County, California. It is often colloquially referenced as "Chino". In turn, locals call the prison "Chino Men's" or just "Men's" to av ...

References

External links

*
Michael Lent
Facebook page
Page devoted to Brimstone that Lent and Brian McCarthy founded
Facebook group
Lent on author site/database Red Room
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lent, Michael Living people American male writers Film producers from New York (state) American comics writers Hamilton College (New York) alumni University of Miami School of Communication alumni American video game writers Year of birth missing (living people)