When Michael Piller first told his agent he was going to write an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation back in 1989, Piller said his agent begged him not to. "He was afraid it would hurt my reputation as a staff writer," recalls Piller, "but I liked the series and wanted to do it. And it got me into [Gene] Roddenberry's office."

When he became Executive Producer of ST:TNG, Piller eventually inherited Roddenberry's office. As Executive Producer and Co-Creator of both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, and screenwriter of the last movie, "Star Trek: Insurrection," Piller left an indelible mark on the Star Trek franchise with over 450 hours of programming under his belt. Now as head of his own Hollywood production company called Piller² (Piller Squared), the former Star Trek vet will attempt to leave his mark on a brand new science fiction universe.

Piller² --a partnership between father Michael and son Shawn -- is currently in production on the pilot for a new series called Day One for the Warner Brothers Television Network. The show is an hour-long action-adventure about survivors awakening 60 years after a massive cataclysmic event has altered the surface of the earth. Shot earlier this year in Vancouver, the pilot will be available as a possible mid-season replacement next year. Day One is just one of several film and television projects that Piller² is developing.

While Star Trek fans have no doubts about Piller's ability to produce high quality science fiction, the writer/producer admits he had no strong sci-fi credentials when he first met the legendary Roddenberry. "I had called Maurice Hurley about a reference for a writer who had worked on Star Trek," recalls Piller. "Maurice and I had worked on Simon & Simon together. I was already a big fan of TNG. It was a show I could watch with my family and we watched it every week. I told Maurice how impressed I was with the show and he invited me to meet Gene and Rick [Berman]."

Hurley was about to leave ST: TNG and thought Piller might make a good staff replacement. By the time Piller had his first lunch with Roddenberry and Berman, however, they had already hired another writer named Michael Wagner, with whom Piller had worked on a show at Universal called Asimov's Probe. "That show had been a disaster," says Piller, "but Mike asked me to write an episode for TNG. It was the only script they were all very happy with and it had a little baseball speech in it that really hit Berman where he lived."

The script was the third season opener, "Evolution," where Wesley Crusher accidentally releases nanites into the U.S.S. Enterprise computer system. Piller's script also had to serve another purpose by explaining the return of Gates McFadden's Dr. Beverly Crusher, who had left the show after Star Trek: The Next Generation's second season. The script got Piller invited back into Roddenberry's office, this time under scrutiny for a permanent staff job. Piller's new role on ST: TNG, starting with the third season, led to that show's stability and even helped to contribute to the long-term strength of future Star Trek shows.

"I was scared to death when I went back into Roddenberry's office," says Piller. "I said I don't know anything about sci-fi but I can help your characters evolve. I can make them better and more interesting and tell stories about them, but in terms of sci-fi I don't have anything in my pocket. I didn't feel like I could say I was a sci-fi writer then, but now I can't get out. I can't write anything else!"

Piller grew up in the suburbs of New York in a creative family. His mother was a Tin Pan Alley songwriter, penning "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" for Buddy Holly as well as the theme songs for the Dodgers and Mets baseball teams. Piller's father was also a Hollywood screenwriter, whose career ended the night he hit a very well known producer in Chase's. "He didn't like his notes apparently," quips Piller.

"I was very influenced as a kid by Rod Serling," says Piller of his own early interests. "Twilight Zone was a date that I never missed. I just loved the connection of social conscious and imagination and fantasy that Twilight Zone offered."

Writing since childhood, Piller had every intention of being a television and film writer until he was so completely discouraged by a teacher in college he put his dreams on hold. He made the transition to journalism and later became a news anchor in Chicago. Piller even ended up doing a stint as a CBS censor in Los Angeles.

Eventually, Piller would reclaim his creative inspirations and make the transition from production back to writing, working on shows like Cagney & Lacey and Simon & Simon. For Piller, writing for television is less about genre and more about character. "As a writer I feel a very strong obligation to explore the human condition, to entertain but also to enlighten. I'm not attracted to stories that are simply there to thrill or shock. The core of all of my work is a character in conflict who must face an ethical and moral dilemma. Ultimately the character will triumph or not, but I want the character to explore his or her own integrity and strength through the story's elements."

Day One will give Piller and his burgeoning staff a chance to do just that. Based on a British sci-fi mini-series, the show explores the conflicts faced by a group of people emerging from accidental suspended animation 60 years after an asteroid's collision with Earth develops a kind of "nuclear" winter.

There's lot of sci-fi experience in-house at Piller² besides Michael's. In addition to independent film producing, Piller's son and producing partner, Shawn, cut his chops on ST: TNG when he came up with a story idea for Wesley Crusher's series exit in the seventh season episode "Journey's End." He later sold stories to Star Trek: Voyager for season two's "Death Wish" and season three's "The Q & The Grey."

Many fans know another Star Trek alum at Piller² very well. Working as the Script Coordinator and Production Assistant for Piller², Eric Stillwell was originally one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's script coordinators. He and writing partner Trent Ganino sold the third season ST: TNG story for what would become one of the most popular Star Trek episodes of all time, "Yesterday's Enterprise" (second only to the number-one favorite penned by boss Michael, "The Best of Both Worlds.") During Star Trek: Voyager's first season, Stillwell and writing partner David R. George III sold the reverse Prime Directive story "Prime Factors." Stillwell and George also teamed with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Armin Shimerman to write the Pocket Book Ferengi novel "The 34th Rule."

In addition to working on other television and film scripts and concepts, Piller says he hopes to use Piller² as a lab for developing new writing talent. "We want to show the networks that there are writers out there who can deliver," says Piller.