Reel and full credits available at www.chriscassel.comChristopher Cassel is a Primetime Emmy Award-winning producer and President of Castle Pictures, a film and television production company based in New York City. Chris’ credits have ranged from character-driven TV series to historical docudramas to biographical profiles of well-known public f... Read More

Reel and full credits available at www.chriscassel.comChristopher Cassel is a Primetime Emmy Award-winning producer and President of Castle Pictures, a film and television production company based in New York City. Chris’ credits have ranged from character-driven TV series to historical docudramas to biographical profiles of well-known public figures. He has created programming for Discovery, History, Animal Planet, Bravo, A&E, Weather Channel, American Heroes Channel, HLN and The Travel Channel, as well as independent projects for retail distribution.Chris earned his first directing credit for Rome: Engineering an Empire, produced for History. When it premiered in September 2005, it drew one of the network's highest ratings ever, winning two Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Nonfiction Special. His follow-up, Egypt: Engineering an Empire, premiered on The History Channel in 2006, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Art Direction.Chris has directed, written and produced three more specials for History. The Dark Ages (2007), tracing Europe's lost centuries between the fall of Rome and first Crusade; Clash of the Cavemen (2008), following two groups of early humans - Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals - through an Ice Age winter; The White House: Behind Closed Doors (2008), featuring an exclusive all-access tour of the White House with Laura Bush, and Chris' interviews with the President and First Lady. Rise of the Superbombs (2018) reveals the most fearsome future weapons in the world’s major military arsenals, and features the inside perspectives of senior officers in the Army, Air Force and Navy.In 2009, Chris completed production on Clash of the Gods, a visually compelling ten-part series on mythology he co-created, wrote and directed for History. Shot on location in Morocco and Lithuania, it explores newly discovered truths behind the myths of Zeus, Hercules, Medusa and Thor. In 2010-2011, Chris supervised, directed and wrote Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero (2011), a six-part series for Discovery Channel that follows the rebirth of the World Trade Center through the eyes of the builders, architects, politicians and 9/11 family members. Steven Spielberg presided as the Executive Producer.In 2012, Castle Pictures gained traction as its own full-service production company. As President and Creative Director of the company, Chris conceived and executive produced a science series for Weather Channel, Hacking the Planet, a fun exploration of the ways mankind can influence Mother Nature. That led to a highly-rated special featuring the same talent called The Truth About Twisters.In 2015, Castle Pictures delivered season two of its Wild West docudrama series Gunslingers, for Discovery’s American Heroes Channel. The previous year, Season One garnered the highest rating in the network’s 10-year history. Chris served as the director, senior writer and executive producer of the series, which has twice been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Scenic and Lighting Design.Since Gunslingers, Castle Pictures has delivered three high profile specials for National Geographic Channel. The Explorer special Bill Nye’s Global Meltdown follows Bill Nye the Science Guy as he explorers the “five stages of climate change grief,” from Denial to Acceptance, with some help from his “therapist,” Dr. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another episode of Explorer called What Would Teddy Do? examines today’s politics through the lens of Teddy Roosevelt’s life and words, and will premiere on October 26th, 2016 – one week before the Presidential election.Of all the projects Cassel has been involved with, he is most proud of Pope V. Hitler (2016) – a two-hour docudrama that delves into the fascinating, little-known story of the Vatican’s cooperation with German Resistance agents who set out to assassinate Adolf Hitler.Prior to beginning his long form television career, Chris worked as a production assistant at CBS News Productions, and as a print journalist for The York Dispatch. He holds a B.A. in Communication from York College of Pennsylvania. Read Less