DRUG CRAZY
How We Got INTO THIS MESS & How We Can GET OUT

Mike Gray Mike Gray

Like several other Hollywood realists, Mike Gray comes from a documentary film background. His Chicago-Based Film Group chronicled the political violence of the 1960's, including the award-winning feature documentaries, American Revolution II and The Murder of Fred Hampton.

Gray grew up in the small farm town of Darlington, Indiana, and after graduating from Purdue University with an engineering degree in 1958, he worked in New York as an editor for Aviation Age.

In 1965 he joined with Jim Dennett and John Mason to form The Film Group, a Chicago based production company. Their work in TV commercials provided the foundation for a series of theatrical and television documentaries. The three men have worked together on more than fifty film and television projects over the last two decades.

After moving to Hollywood in 1973, Gray began writing the screenplay that was to become the eerily prophetic China Syndrome. His years of research were confirmed less than two weeks after the movie's release by the accident at Three Mile Island.

Gray went to Harrisburg to cover the TMI story for Rolling Stone magazine and collaborated on  The Warning, (W.W. Norton) a definitive account of the accident based on 200 hours of exclusive interviews and 50,000 pages of transcripts from 5 government inquiries.

In 1981 Gray wrote and directed the theatrical feature, Wavelength, a science fiction thriller starring Bobby Carradine and Keenan Wynn (New World).

John Mason also rewrote the screenplay for Code of Silence (Orion), and a pilot for ABC based on the film Starman. They were hired by Columbia as writer-producers for the Starman series (1986-87) and Gray directed the pilot and three of the 22 episodes.

In 1988 Gray and Mason were hired as writer/producers for the Paramount "Star Trek" series.

Gray's second book, Angle of Attack, Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon, (W.W. Norton) was used as a source for Tom Hanks' TV series, From the Earth to the Moon.

After six years of research and writing, Gray's latest book, DRUG CRAZY: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out (Random House, 98) has already had a major impact on the drug war debate. The paperback was released in the spring of 2000.

Gray's next book,The Death Game : Criminal Justice and the Luck of the Draw, will be released next spring.

Mike Gray lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Carol, a reporter for public radio. Their son, Lucas, is an animator for The Simpsons.



CREDITS

AMERICAN REVOLUTION II (1970 ) Documentary - Camera: Mike Gray and Howard Alk. Sound: John Mason. Produced by Mike Gray and Howard Alk.

THE MURDER OF FRED HAMPTON (1971) Documentary - Camera: Mike Gray and Howard Alk. Sound: John Mason. Produced by Mike Gray and Howard Alk.

THE GIFT (1973) Documentary on Marc Chagall - Camera: Mike Gray. Sound John Mason. Produced by Chuck Olin.

THE CHINA SYNDROME (1979) Feature - Columbia - Original story and screenplay by Mike Gray. Academy Award nominee.

WAVELENGTH (1980) Feature - New World - Written and Directed by Mike Gray.

THE WARNING - Accident at Three Mile Island (1982) Book - W.W. Norton & Co. - by Mike Gray & Ira Rosen.

CODE OF SILENCE (1985) Feature - Orion - Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack screenplay - rewritten by Mike Gray & John Mason.

STARMAN (1986-7) - One hour television series - ABC/Columbia - Conceived by Mike Gray and John Mason with Henerson-Hirsch. Mason & Gray were writer-producers of the series pilot and 22 episodes, writing two episodes, with Gray directing the pilot and three episodes.

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (1988-9) One hour television series - Paramount - writer producers

ANGLE OF ATTACK: Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon (1992) - Book - W.W. Norton & Co. - by Mike Gray (1994) - Paperback - Penguin Books

THE FUGITIVE (1995) - Feature - Warner Bros. - second unit director

CHAIN REACTION (1995 ) - 20th Century Fox - production rewrite by Mike Gray

DRUG CRAZY: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out (1998) Book - Random House - by Mike Gray

THE DEATH PENALTY GAME: Criminal Justice and the Luck of the Draw (2001) Book - Common Courage Press



Updated: 26 Sep 2007 | Accessed: 19202 times