Phil Pirrello

Los Angeles

Writer at Freelance

WGA TV/Film writer. 2021 Disney TV Fellowship Finalist. Spielberg once asked me for a donut.

Articles

Lost’s Damon Lindelof on Writing the Pilot and Why ABC Killed the Show (But Changed Their Minds)

Sep 23, 2024 | shorturl.at | Phil Pirrello

“There was a 48-hour period where we were dead.”That two-day window in early 2004 that Lost cocreator and coshowrunner Damon Lindelof speaks of is all that separated ABC’s popular sci-fi drama from active greenlight to another casualty of development hell. It’s fitting that a show about fate had its own changed once a new network regime discovered there was potential worth exploring in a serialized show that mixed Twilight Zone–esque “mystery box” plots with character-first action.
J.J. Abrams Unpacks Some of Lost’s Most Memorable Scenes (Exclusive)

Sep 20, 2024 | emmys.com | Phil Pirrello

An eye blinks open. It belongs to a disoriented doctor who awakens with a jolt, on his back, in a jungle, wearing a suit and tie. Once he gets his bearings and spots a dog that we will come to know as Vincent, the doctor soon finds himself racing onto a desert island’s beautiful sandy beach. There, he discovers the terrifying whine of a downed 747 engine and the equally terrifying screams of plane crash survivors.
ER's Noah Wyle on Meeting Michael Crichton and Appearing on Friends With George Clooney (Exclusive)

Sep 20, 2024 | emmys.com | Phil Pirrello

In the role of Dr. John Carter, actor Noah Wyle had one of the most impressive characters arcs on ER. From acting as the audience’s sympathetic point-of-view character into the medical drama’s visceral world of big emotional stakes and jargon-heavy traumas, Carter became an instant fan favorite.
ER at 30: The Oral History of Making the Pilot

Sep 19, 2024 | emmys.com | Phil Pirrello

For television audiences in 1994, there was life before and life after watching the pilot for ER. When NBC’s landmark series premiered 30 years ago on September 19, 1994, with the two-hour pilot “24 Hours,” the network forever changed both what a prime-time medical show could do and the medium that made it. From the pilot’s opening scene — where the earnest Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) awakens from one of his many all-too-brief naps — to supervisor Dr. David Morgenstern (William H.
Patrick Stewart Knows How Important Star Trek Is to You (Exclusive)

Jun 12, 2024 | emmys.com | Phil Pirrello

It’s ironic (and somewhat fitting) that the last scene filmed for Star Trek: The Next Generation’s series finale involved the beginning of life on our planet. TNG’s two-part finale, “All Good Things…,” centered on Captain Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) attempts — across three different time periods — to save the galaxy from a spacial anomaly made of anti-time.
William Shatner on His Classic TV Roles, From Twilight Zone to Star Trek

Apr 24, 2024 | emmys.com | Phil Pirrello

William Shatner's decades-long relationship with fame began on the theatrical stage as a young Canadian actor before American television helped turn him into one of the medium's most noteworthy stars. With roles like the traumatized airline passenger aboard the classic Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," and, of course, his most famous part — Star Trek's Captain James T. Kirk — Shatner would spend more than five decades becoming a load-bearing column of pop culture.
SYFY Official Site

Apr 15, 2024 | syfy.com | Phil Pirrello

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Jericho Mile at 45: Michael Mann on the Making of His Landmark TV Movie (Exclusive)

Mar 18, 2024 | rb.gy | Phil Pirrello

“I usually remember every moment of every film I’ve shot. That’s kind of my chronology.”Michael Mann has a vivid memory. One that allows the 81-year-old filmmaker to effortlessly recall (in exacting, “you are there” detail) behind-the-scenes moments from all of his iconic works — from TV’s Miami Vice to his cinematic crime epic Heat.
Sonequa Martin-Green on Star Trek Discovery's Original Pitch and Working With Michelle Yeoh (Exclusive)

Feb 28, 2024 | emmys.com | Phil Pirrello

"I never sat in the chair until it came time for my character to."The chair Sonequa Martin-Green speaks of is the captain's chair on the bridge of the titular starship from Star Trek Discovery, where the actor plays the intrepid Captain of that vessel, Michael Burnham. Her character's journey to the center seat will be coming to a blockbuster-sized end with the start of Discovery's fifth and final season, which premieres April 4 on Paramount+.
The 21 best football movies of all time

Feb 9, 2024 | yahoo.com | Phil Pirrello

Sure, you can prep for Super Bowl Sunday like everybody else, by stocking up on seven-layer dip, nachos, wings, and overpriced microbrews. Or you can ready yourself the way film fans have been doing it for decades—by digging into Hollywood’s extensive catalog of football movies. Which is where The A.V. Club comes in, by providing you with a handy playbook to guide you through Hollywood’s greatest gridiron offerings.