Michael Nankin
Michael Nankin (born December 26, 1955) is an American film and television writer, director and producer. He has been nominated for the Humanitas Prize for his writing. Career. Nankin's film career began in 1976 with a short film called "Gravity". Nankin co-wrote and co-directed the project with David Wechter. The pair followed this up with another short, "Junior High School". They produced their first feature-length project in 1980, a comedy called "Midnight Madness". Nankin scripted a horror film called "The Gate" which was released in 1987. The film marked the acting debut of Stephen  Dorff. The same year he received a screenplay credit for "Russkies". In 1989 he wrote a sequel to "The Gate" entitled "". Nankin became involved in television as a director, writer and producer on "Life Goes On" in 1990. The series was created by Michael Braverman and focused on a Chicago family. He joined the series in its second season as a producer. He was promoted to supervising producer for the third season. He was promoted to co-executive producer for the fourth season. He scripted nine episodes of the series before its cancellation in 1993. He also directed eight episodes  of the series. Nankin also wrote for "Picket Fences" in 1992. In 1994 Nankin became a consulting producer, writer and director for "Chicago Hope". Nankin was nominated for a Humanitas Prize in the 60 minute category for his work on the "Chicago Hope" episode "Shutt Down" (co-written with Michael Braverman). He returned to "Picket Fences" as a director and producer in 1995, directing a single episode. He also wrote the story for a pilot episode for a new version of "Flipper" but was not involved with the ongoing series that followed. Nankin worked as a writer and director for  American Gothic in 1995 and 1996. He wrote and directed the episode "Potato Boy" and directed a second episode. He also directed episodes of "Moloney" and "Early Edition" in 1996. Nankin served as a co-executive producer on the action series "Roar" in 1997. Nankin wrote one episode and directed one episode of the series, which starred Heath Ledger. Only 13 episodes were produced and the second half of the series did not air until 2000. In 2000 Nankin directed episodes of "Strong Medicine" and "". In 2001 he directed the TV movie "The Agency" and several episodes of the series  that followed the film. In 2002 Nankin directed the pilot episode for a series called "Septuplets". Nankin was also credited as an executive producer. The pilot was not picked up by a network. He also directed episodes of "Monk" that year. In 2004 Nankin served as a consulting producer for the short lived WB family drama "The Mountain". He wrote one episode of the series. He directed episodes of "" and "Invasion" in 2005. He worked as a regular director for the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica". His involvement with the series began in 2005 with the second season and he directed eight  episodes before its conclusion in 2009. He often worked alongside writing team Bradley Thompson and David Weddle and five of his eight episodes were scripted by the pair. While working on "Battlestar Galactica", Nankin also directed episodes of "The Dresden Files", "", and "Eureka". He also directed the TV movie "Break-In" in 2006. In 2009 Nankin followed Thompson and Weddle from "Battlestar Galactica" to "" and he directed their script for the twentieth episode of the ninth season. In 2020, he directed an episode on "The Good Lord Bird".