Bryce Zabel is a writer, producer and novelist best known for creating five primetime network television series, including NBC's Emmy Award-winning Dark Skies. He has written for numerous television shows and developed feature films and television projects for major Hollywood studios and networks, working with industry legends such as Steven Spielberg and Stan Lee.
Born in Hillsboro, Oregon, Zabel attended Hillsboro High School before graduating from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism. Early in his career, he worked as a CNN correspondent and held positions at KVAL-TV and KZEL-FM in Eugene, Oregon. He later taught a graduate-level producing class at the University of Southern California (2006–07).
Zabel has written and produced many films and miniseries, including Pandemic, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Blackbeard and The Poseidon Adventure. He also wrote SyFy's first original movie, Official Denial, which is now being developed as a feature film reboot. In television, he has created or developed such series as Kay O'Brien (CBS), M.A.N.T.I.S. (FOX), The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (Syndicated) and E.N.G. (CTV). His work extends to projects such as Steven Spielberg's Taken, L.A. Law, Life Goes On and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Following September 11, 2001, Zabel was elected Chairman/CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the first writer to hold the position since Rod Serling. For his career, he has worked with ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, HBO, Showtime, SyFy, Sony, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount, Hallmark and USA.
His journalism and screenwriting have been nominated for awards from the Environmental Media Association, the Mystery Writers of America, and the Golden Mike, Gemini, and Emmy Awards.
Zabel is also a successful novelist. His debut book, A.D. After Disclosure (2012), was a Barnes & Noble "New & Noteworthy" selection. In 2014, his novel Surrounded by Enemies: What If Kennedy Survived Dallas? won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and he won a second Sidewise Award in 2018 for Once There Was a Way, an alternate history novel about the Beatles.
Bryce Zabel, a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and Writers Guild of America (WGA), continues to work in film, television, and publishing. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and creative partner, Jackie Zabel.
Photo credit: X @BryceZabel