Michael Piller (May 30, 1948 â€" November 1, 2005) was an American
television scriptwriter and producer, who was best known for his
contributions to the Star Trek franchise.Piller was born to a Jewish
family in Port Chester, New York. With parents who were both involved
in writing; Gene Piller, his father, was a Hollywood screenwriter and
his mother, Ruth Roberts, was a songwriter. He 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. However, he then
moved to Los Angeles, California and the entertainment side of
television in the late 1970s, working as a censor and then a
programming executive for CBS. While at the network, he became
director of dramas based on fact and program practices. He began
writing scripts for television, and after selling a script to Cagney &
Lacey and another to Simon & Simon, he was offered a staff writing
position on Simon & Simon, where he stayed for three years, becoming a
producer.Piller attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He
married Sandra in 1981; they had three children.In 1987, together with
Van Gordon Sauter, he developed a reality/medical series for MGM/UA
Television called The Doctor's Office. He later teamed with him again
in the following year on Hotline, a game-show designed to have
interactive elements with the home audience. Michael Piller Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter