Michael Lazarou
Encyclopedia
Michael Lazarou is an American
film
and television
writer
/producer.
and the one-hour drama The Untouchables
. He wrote the screenplays for the TV movies Heat Wave and Possessed, and for feature films Take the A Train and Satin Doll.
He adapted his semi-autobiographical novel Criminal Law into a film for HBO. This was followed up with The Stanford Prison Experiment, originally developed for television for HBO, but later acquired by Artisan Entertainment
as a motion picture.
Lazarou, is dyslexic and dysgraphic and was unable to read or write until he was nearly ten years old. He is a graduate of UCLA, New York University and the AFI Center For Advanced Film Studies.
After a four-year career absence due to a near-fatal kidney ailment, he returned to establish High Road Productions with wife Charisse McGhee, a former Vice President of Primetime Series at NBC
and Lifetime Television
.
, Lazarou won the Writers Guild of America
(WGA) Paul Selvin Award, and was nominated for the WGA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Long Form.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
/producer.
Biography
Lazarou began his career as story editor for the half-hour television comedy Doogie Howser, M.D.Doogie Howser, M.D.
Doogie Howser, M.D. is an American television comedy-drama starring Neil Patrick Harris as a 16-year-old doctor who also faces the problems of being a normal teenager. Created by Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley, ABC aired the show from 1989 to 1993 for four seasons totaling 97 episodes.-Plot:Dr....
and the one-hour drama The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1993 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama series that aired for two seasons in syndication, from January 1993 to May 1994. The series portrayed work of the real life Untouchables federal investigative squad in Prohibition-era Chicago and its efforts against Al Capone's attempts to profit from the...
. He wrote the screenplays for the TV movies Heat Wave and Possessed, and for feature films Take the A Train and Satin Doll.
He adapted his semi-autobiographical novel Criminal Law into a film for HBO. This was followed up with The Stanford Prison Experiment, originally developed for television for HBO, but later acquired by Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...
as a motion picture.
Lazarou, is dyslexic and dysgraphic and was unable to read or write until he was nearly ten years old. He is a graduate of UCLA, New York University and the AFI Center For Advanced Film Studies.
After a four-year career absence due to a near-fatal kidney ailment, he returned to establish High Road Productions with wife Charisse McGhee, a former Vice President of Primetime Series at NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
.
Personal life
Lazarou was married to Melissa Tucker in 1981. They divorced in 1983. In 1991 he married Charisse McGhee. Lazarou and McGhee have since had four children together.Awards
For his script for Heat Wave, a fact-based drama about the 1965 Watts RiotsWatts Riots
The Watts Riots or the Watts Rebellion was a civil disturbance in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California from August 11 to August 15, 1965. The 5-day riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, and 3,438 arrests...
, Lazarou won the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
(WGA) Paul Selvin Award, and was nominated for the WGA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Long Form.
Sources
- Michael Lazarou videography at Niad Management
- Michael Lazarou articles at VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...