Christopher Cassel

'Christopher Cassel' (qv) is a Primetime Emmy Award winning director, writer and producer based in New York City, and President of Castle Pictures, a recently established film and television production company. Chris' credits have ranged from character-driven TV series to historical docudramas to biographical profiles of well known public figures. He has created programming for Discovery, History, Animal Planet, Bravo, A&E, Discovery Health, and The Travel Channel, as well as DVD projects for retail distribution.Chris earned his first directing credit for "Rome: Engineering an Empire," produced for History. When it premiered in September 2005, it drew one of the network's highest ratings ever - and it also won two Primetime Emmy 'Awards' (qv), including Outstanding Nonfiction Special. His follow-up, "Egypt: Engineering an Empire," premiered on The History Channel in 2006, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Art Direction.Since then, Chris has directed, written and produced three more specials for History. "The Dark Ages" (2007) traces Europe's lost centuries between the fall of Rome and first Crusade. "Clash of the Cavemen" (2008) follows two groups of humans - Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals - through an Ice Age winter. "The White House: Behind Closed Doors" (2008) features an exclusive all-access tour of the White House with Laura Bush, and Chris' own interviews with the President and First Lady.Also in 2008, Chris created, wrote and supervised "Apocalypse How?," a two-hour special for Discovery that explores the various ways our world might end. It was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animation.In 2009, Chris completed production on "Clash of the Gods," and ambitious ten-part series on mythology he co-created, wrote and directed for History. It was shot on location in Morocco and Lithuania, and features visually groundbreaking accounts of the myths of Zeus, Hercules, Medusa and Thor, among others. Chris' latest project is "Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero" (2011) a character-driven six-part series for Discovery Channel that follows the rebirth of the World Trade Center through the eyes of the builders, architects, politicians and 9/11 family members who are making it happen. Chris is Supervising Producer on the series and the writer of three episodes. Steven Spielberg is the Executive Producer.Chris' creative home from 1998-2011 was KPI, a New York-based production company where he most recently served as VP, Creative. Prior to joining the company, he worked as a production assistant at CBS 'News' (qv) Productions, and as a beat reporter for The York Dispatch. He holds a B.A. in Communication from York College of Pennsylvania.::Castle Pictures, Inc.