Chris Carter (screenwriter)

Christopher Carl Carter (born October 13, 1956) is an American television and film producer, director and writer who gained fame in the 1990s as the creator of the Fox science fiction supernatural drama series The X-Files.

Chris Carter
Carter at the July 2008 London premiere of
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Born
Christopher Carl Carter[1]

(1956-10-13) October 13, 1956
Bellflower, California, U.S.
Alma materCalifornia State University, Long Beach
OccupationWriter, director, producer
EmployerTen Thirteen Productions
Known forCreator of The X-Files
Spouse(s)
Dori Pierson
​
(m. 1987)​

Born in Bellflower, California, Carter graduated with a degree in journalism from California State University, Long Beach before spending thirteen years working for Surfing Magazine. After beginning his television career working on television films for Walt Disney Studios, Carter rose to fame in 1993 for creating The X-Files. The show earned high viewership ratings, and eventually led to Carter's being able to negotiate the creation of future series.

Carter has his own television production company, Ten Thirteen Productions, wherein he went on to create three more series for the network—Millennium, a doomsday-themed series which met with critical approval and low viewer numbers; Harsh Realm, which was canceled after three episodes had aired; and The Lone Gunmen, a spin-off of The X-Files which lasted for a single season. Carter's film roles include writing both of The X-Files' cinematic spin-offs—1998's successful The X-Files and the poorly received 2008 follow-up The X-Files: I Want to Believe, the latter of which he also directed—while his television credits have earned him several accolades including eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations.[2]

Early life

Chris Carter was born on October 13, 1956 in Bellflower, California.[3][4] His father worked in the construction industry.[5] Carter has described his childhood as "fairly normal", and was fond of both Little League Baseball and surfing;[6] his surfing stance is goofy footed.[7] He attended California State University, Long Beach in Long Beach, graduated with a journalism degree in 1979. An avid surfer, he began writing for Surfing Magazine, a San Clemente-based journal, eventually becoming its editor at the age of 28. Carter would work for the magazine for thirteen years, and credits his tenure there for teaching him how to run a business. It was also at this time that Carter began taking an interest in pottery, making "hundreds of thousands of pieces" of dinnerware as a hobby. He has compared the process of making pottery to Zen meditations, although he has since thrown out most of his work.[6]

Personal life

In 1983, Carter began dating Dori Pierson, whom he had met through a cousin of hers who worked with him at Surfing Magazine.[8] The couple were married in 1987,[9] and live in Santa Barbara.[10]

Career

Starting in television

Pierson's connections at Walt Disney Studios led to chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg hiring Carter on a standard contract.[11] Carter began writing television films for the studio, penning The B.R.A.T. Patrol in 1986 and Meet the Munceys in 1988. These scripts led to Carter being associated with contemporary youth comedy at the studio, and although he enjoyed the work he felt that his real strengths and interests lay in serious drama instead.[6]

Carter met the then-president of NBC, Brandon Tartikoff, at a company softball game in Brentwood, California. Tartikoff and Carter began talking between innings, and when Tartikoff eventually read some of Carter's script work, he brought him over to write for the network. There, Carter developed a number of unproduced television pilots—Cameo By Night, featuring Sela Ward; Brand New Life, which has been described as being similar to The Brady Bunch; Copter Cop, a science fiction series that was hampered by Tartikoff's injuries after a car accident; and Cool Culture, influenced by Carter's passion for surfing and experience with Surfing Magazine.[12] During this time Carter would also work as a producer on Rags to Riches, a job he accepted in order to learn more about producing a series.[13]

Peter Roth, at that time the president of Stephen J. Cannell Productions, obtained a copy of Carter's pilot script for Cool Culture, and although the series was never picked up, Roth was interested in hiring Carter to work on the CBS series Palace Guard. However, Roth would soon leave CBS to work for Fox as the head of its television production wing. Carter was among the first wave of new staff hired by Roth in 1992 to develop material for the network,[14] and he began work on a series based on his own childhood fondness for The Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.[13]

The X-Files and success
Carter in July 2013

Carter's new series would take its stylistic inspiration from Kolchak, while thematically reflecting his experiences growing up during the Watergate scandal. Carter also drew inspiration from his friend John E. Mack's survey of American beliefs in ufology, which indicated that three percent of the population believed they had been abducted by aliens.[15] Roth warmed to the idea upon hearing of the influence of Kolchak, believing that vampires—one of the central antagonists of the original series—would be popular with audiences given the interest being shown in the upcoming film Interview with the Vampire, although Carter insisted on an extraterrestrial-focused series.[16] However, Carter had never been interested in science fiction before this point, professing to have briefly read one novel each by Ursula K. Le Guin and Robert A. Heinlein.[17] Basing his characters instead on those found in the English television series The Avengers, Carter took an eighteen-page treatment for his new project—by now titled The X-Files—to a pitch meeting at Fox, where it was soon rejected.[18] With the help of Roth, Carter was able to arrange a second pitch meeting, at which the network reluctantly agreed to greenlight a pilot for the series.[19]

After finding the series' two starring leads in Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny,[17] Carter was given a budget of $2 million to produce a pilot episode.[20] The series aired on Friday nights on the Fox network, being broadcast in tandem with The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. in what was perceived to be an unpopular timeslot. The series earned relatively impressive Nielsen ratings for its Friday timeslot, and was given a full twenty-four episode order.[17] The series' popularity and critical acclaim built over the course of its second and third seasons, and saw it earning its first Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama and breaking the record for highest price paid by a network for rights to air re-runs, fetching $600,000 per episode from Fox's sister network FX.[21] After Carter's initial three-year signing for Fox had ended, the success of the series allowed him to negotiate a five-year contract with several additional perks, including the guarantee of a feature film adaptation to be produced by the parent company's film studio, and the greenlighting of Carter's next television project.[22] In March 2015, it was confirmed that Carter was set to executive produce and write for the revival of The X-Files,[23] which was set for a six-episode event series.[24] In 2017 it was announced that The X-Files would return to Fox with a ten-episode season 11, with Carter set to executive produce and write.[25] Both Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny returned, as well as veteran writers Glen Morgan, Darin Morgan, and Jim Wong, and newcomers Gabe Rotter, Benjamin Van Allen, and Brad Follmer.[26] The eleventh season has received generally positive if somewhat lukewarm reviews from critics,[27] but ratings fell dramatically, and Gillian Anderson has stated she will not play Scully again.[28]

Millennium

Carter began work on a new series, Millennium.[29] The genesis of this new project stemmed from "Irresistible", a second-season episode of The X-Files which Carter had written, which focused on a sexually motivated serial killer with none of that series' usual supernatural trappings.[29] Carter fleshed out the basis of the new show's protagonist, Frank Black, and travelled to Seattle for inspiration for a new setting. Influence was also drawn from the works of Nostradamus, and the increasing popular interest in eschatology ahead of the coming millennium.[30] The central role of Black was eventually filled by Lance Henriksen, and the series began airing in the Friday timeslot formerly occupied by The X-Files.[31] "Pilot", the début episode, was heavily promoted by Fox, and brought in over a quarter of the total audience during its broadcast.[32]

The series also attracted a high degree of critical appraisal, earning a People's Choice Award for "Favorite New TV Dramatic Series" in its first year.[33] At the beginning of the second season, Carter handed over control of the series to Glen Morgan and James Wong, with whom he had previously worked on both Millennium's first season and several seasons of The X-Files.[34] Despite its promising start, however, ratings for Millennium after the pilot remained consistently low, and it was cancelled after three seasons.[35]

Feature films

During the production of the fourth season of The X-Files, work on the first feature film adaptation of the series began. Also titled The X-Files, Carter initially began a treatment for the script over Christmas holidays in Hawaii in 1996. Series producer Frank Spotnitz collaborated on the story outline at this time. Carter would later return to Hawaii for a ten-day stint in 1997 to begin fleshing out the finished script.[36] Carter appointed frequent series director Rob Bowman as director of the film,[37] which went on to feature many of the series' regular cast, including Duchovny, Anderson, Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis.[38]

The X-Files premiered on June 19, 1998, eventually making a worldwide gross of $189,176,423.[39] The film currently holds a rating of 60 out of 100 on review aggregation website Metacritic, based on their weighted average of 23 reviews.[40] Fellow review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes rates the film 64%, based on their analysis of 69 reviews.[41]

Ten years after the success of the first film, and six years after The X-Files final season had finished, Carter would both write and direct a second feature film, titled The X-Files: I Want to Believe.[42] Filmed in British Columbia,[43] I Want To Believe was released on July 25, 2008;[42] eventually grossing $68,369,434 worldwide.[44] The film was received poorly by critics, holding ratings of 32 and 47 on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic respectively.[45][46]

Other work

Carter has made several brief cameo roles as an actor—first appearing in The X-Files' "Anasazi" as an FBI agent;[47] before portraying a member of a film audience in "Hollywood A.D.", a later episode of the same series.[48] Carter also made a brief appearance in "Three Men and a Smoking Diaper", an episode of The Lone Gunmen.[49]

In 1999, Carter began adapting the comic book series Harsh Realm as a television show. Carter's friend and frequent collaborator Daniel Sackheim had optioned the comics for adaptation in 1996. However, when the series first aired on October 8, 1999, the comics' writers Andrew Paquette and James Hudnall were given no writing credits for the work; the two then filed suit against Fox to be credited for their work.[50] Harsh Realm received disappointing viewing figures,[50] and was cancelled after only three episodes had been broadcast.[51]

Two years later, Carter launched a spin-off of The X-Files titled The Lone Gunmen, a series centred on three minor characters from the former series.[52] The Lone Gunmen was cancelled after thirteen episodes, later receiving a coda in the form of a crossover episode with The X-Files.[53] Carter has since been involved with writing and directing the as-yet unreleased film Fencewalker, set to feature Natalie Dormer and Katie Cassidy.[54] In 2011, he began working to develop Unique, a police thriller television series;[55] the project was eventually dropped before completion.[56]

Carter next began work on the Amazon Studios television series The After.[57] The pilot episode was made available for viewing on February 6, 2014;[58] the series was green-lit the following month, but finally cancelled on January 5, 2015, without another episode beyond the pilot being shot.[2][59]

Accolades

Carter's work has earned him several accolades over his career, including eight nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards.[60] Carter has also received award nominations for the Directors Guild of America Awards,[61][62][63] the Edgar Awards,[64] and the British Academy Television Awards.[65]

Award Year Category Work Result Ref
Emmy Awards 1995 Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series "Duane Barry" Nominated
Outstanding Drama Series The X-Files Nominated
1996 Outstanding Drama Series The X-Files Nominated
1997 Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series "Memento Mori" Nominated
Outstanding Drama Series The X-Files Nominated
1998 Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series "The Post-Modern Prometheus" Nominated
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series "The Post-Modern Prometheus" Nominated
Outstanding Drama Series The X-Files Nominated
Directors Guild of America Awards 1995 Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series "The List" Nominated
1998 Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series "The Post-Modern Prometheus" Nominated
1999 Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series "Triangle" Nominated
British Academy Television Awards 1999 Best International Programme or Series The X-Files Nominated
Edgar Awards 1995 Best International Programme or Series "The Erlenmeyer Flask" Nominated

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role
1986 The B.R.A.T. Patrol Writer
1988 Meet the Munceys Writer
1998 The X-Files Writer, producer
2008 The X-Files: I Want to Believe Writer, producer, director, actor

Television
Series As creator As director As writer As actor
Rags to Riches — 1 episode 2 episodes —
The X-Files All episodes 10 episodes 72 episodes 2 episodes
Millennium All episodes — 7 episodes —
Harsh Realm All episodes — 4 episodes —
The Lone Gunmen All episodes — 2 episodes 1 episode
The After All episodes — 1 episode —
The X-Files All episodes 5 episodes 5 episodes —

Footnotes
  1. "Summary Bibliography: Chris Carter". www.isfdb.org. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  2. Ng, Philiana (July 12, 2014). "Chris Carter Modeling Amazon's 'The After' With 99-Episode Goal". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  3. Lovece 1996, p. 2.
  4. "Search results for Christopher Carter". California Birth Index. Archived from the original on April 20, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  5. Lowry 1995, p. 7.
  6. Edwards 1996, p. 9.
  7. Spencer, Russ (April 28, 2000). "A close encounter with Chris Carter". Salon. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  8. Buchanan, Jason. "Chris Carter - Movie and Film Biography and Filmography". Allmovie. Allrovi. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  9. Gliatto, Tom. "X-Ellence". People. Meredith Corporation. Archived from the original on December 23, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  10. Welsh, Nick. "Chris Carter Still Wants to Believe". www.independent.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2019. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
  11. Lovece 1996, p. 3.
  12. Lowry 1995, pp. 8–9.
  13. Edwards 1996, p. 10.
  14. Lowry 1995, p. 9.
  15. Edwards 1996, p. 11.
  16. Lowry 1995, p. 10.
  17. Lovece 1996, p. 4.
  18. Lowry 1995, p. 11.
  19. Lovece 1996, pp. 3–4.
  20. Lovece 1996, p. 47.
  21. Lovece 1996, pp. 6–7.
  22. Lovece 1996, p. 7.
  23. ""The X-Files" Returns w/ Gillian Anderson & David Duchovny?". Bloody Disgusting!. Archived from the original on July 12, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  24. "A Plea to Make the New "X-Files" Limited Series Amazing -". Bloody Disgusting!. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  25. "'The X-Files' Revived Again for 10 New Episodes at Fox". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
  26. "The X-Files: Some of Your Favorites Are Coming Back to Write Season 11 | TV Guide". TVGuide.com. June 26, 2017. Archived from the original on January 15, 2019. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
  27. The X-Files, archived from the original on November 5, 2018, retrieved January 15, 2019
  28. "Gillian Anderson Confirms She's Exiting Fox's 'The X-Files,' Starz's 'American Gods'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 4, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  29. Order in Chaos, 00:03–00:45
  30. Order in Chaos, 00:48–01:51
  31. Genge 1997, pp. 8–9.
  32. Adalian, Josef (October 11, 1998). "High-profile dramas skid on Fox, ABC". Variety Magazine. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  33. "People's Choice Awards 1997 Nominees". Procter & Gamble. Archived from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  34. Soloman, Harvey (September 18, 1997). "Fall Watch; 'Millennium' takes new turn". The Boston Herald. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2012. (subscription required)
  35. Wen, Howard (September 9, 1999). "It's not the end of the "Millennium," after all". Salon. Salon Media Group. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  36. Duncan 1998, pp. 4–5.
  37. Duncan 1998, pp. 5–6.
  38. Duncan 1998, p. 18.
  39. "The X-Files (1998)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on March 31, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  40. "The X Files Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  41. "The X-Files - Fight the Future". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on June 26, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  42. Wheeler, Jeremy. "The X-Files: I Want to Believes - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". Allmovie. Allrovi. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  43. Schaefer, Glen (March 12, 2008). "Filming of the X-Files sequel wraps". Vancouver Province. Archived from the original on August 23, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  44. "The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  45. "The X-Files: I Want to Believe". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  46. "The X Files: I Want to Believe Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  47. "X Cyclopedia: The Ultimate Episode Guide, Season 2". Entertainment Weekly. November 29, 1996. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  48. Shapiro 2000, p. 241.
  49. Brian Spicer (director); Chris Carter (writer) (March 23, 2001). "Three Men and a Smoking Diaper". The Lone Gunmen. Season 1. Episode 5. Fox.
  50. Rutenberg, Jim; Bogdanovich, Peter (October 18, 1999). "Comic Book Geeks Fight Chris Carter Over Harsh Realm". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2012. (subscription required)
  51. Adalian, Joseph (June 7, 2004). "Carter series in Fox realm". Variety. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2012. (subscription required)
  52. Moore, Frazier (March 16, 2001). "Conspiracy of One". Post-Tribune. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2012. (subscription required)
  53. Fraga 2010, pp. 218–219.
  54. "Report: Carter Helming Secret Film". Entertainment Weekly. June 25, 2008. Archived from the original on November 18, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  55. Rose, Lacey (September 29, 2011). "'X-Files' Creator Chris Carter Plots Return to TV With Police Thriller". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 30, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  56. Jeffrey, Morgan (April 20, 2012). "'X-Files' creator Chris Carter's 'Unique' series 'not going forward'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  57. O'Neal, Sean (October 4, 2012). "X-Files creator Chris Carter trying again with another new sci-fi show that sounds like a lot of other sci-fi shows". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  58. O'Neal (February 6, 2014). "Amazon has put up 10 new pilots for your enjoyment and judgment". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  59. Grow, Kory (March 14, 2014). "Amazon Greenlights TV Shows by Jason Schwartzman, 'X-Files' Creator". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  60. "The X-Files | Emmys.com". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  61. "Awards / History / 1995 - 48th Annual DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America. Archived from the original on August 3, 2013. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  62. "Awards / History / 1998 - 51st Annual DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  63. "Awards / History / 1999 - 52nd Annual DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America. Archived from the original on January 11, 2013. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  64. "Edgar Award Winners and Nominees Database". Mystery Writers of America. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2012. Note: Database does not allow direct linking to results. Use the drop-down menus to select "Best Episode in a TV Series" with the "Winners & Nominees" field checked for results. Results can be filtered by year, using "1995" for both year fields will narrow results to the precise year.
  65. "Awards Database - The BAFTA Site". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved July 21, 2012.

References
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