Michael S. Chernuchin

Michael S. Chernuchin (born 1954) is an American television writer and producer. He has worked on the NBC crime dramas Law & Order and Brooklyn South. He has won a Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award and an Edgar Award.

Biography

Educational background He has a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College, an M.A. degree in English from the University of Michigan, and a J.D. degree from Cornell Law School.

1990s Chernuchin began his television career as a staff writer of the short-lived series Eddie Dodd in 1991.

He was also hired as a writer for the first season of Law & Order in Spring 1991. The series was created by television producer Dick Wolf. Chernuchin contributed to three episodes of the season as a writer. He wrote the teleplay and co-wrote the story (with Michael Duggan) for the two part episode "The Torrents of Greed". He co-wrote the teleplay for the season's penultimate episode "Sonata for Solo Organ" with Joe Morgenstern based on a story by Morgenstern and Duggan. Chernuchin and Morgenstern were nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Episode in a TV Series in 1992 for writing "Sonata for Solo Organ". He wrote the teleplay for the season finale "Smoke" from a story by Dick Wolf. He wrote or co-wrote five episodes of the thirteenth season.

Also in 2002, he worked as a consulting producer and writer on the Law & Order spin-off series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The series was created by Dick Wolf and developed by Chernuchin's frequent co-writer René Balcer. Chernuchin co-wrote the story for the episode "Malignant" with Balcer and Balcer wrote the teleplay.

He remained an executive producer and writer for the series fourteenth season of Law & Order in 2003. He co-wrote the story for the season opener "Bodies" with William N. Fordes, Fordes also wrote the teleplay for the episode. He wrote the episode "Bounty". He co-wrote the episode "Blaze" with Aaron Zelman and Marc Guggenheim. He co-wrote the episode "Ill-Conceived" with Noah Baymlin and Zelman. He co-wrote the story for the episode "Vendetta" with David Nahmod, Nahmod wrote the teleplay. Chernuchin wrote or co-wrote five episodes of the fourteenth season. In 2004, he was nominated for the WGA award for best episodic drama for the episode "Bounty". He left the production staff (for the second time) after the fourteenth season but continued to occasionally write for the series. In Spring 2006, he wrote the sixteenth season Law & Order episode "Thinking Makes It So". In Fall 2006, he wrote the seventeenth season Law & Order episode "Home Sweet". In 2007, Chernuchin wrote the seventeenth season Law & Order episode "Talking Points".

Later in 2007, Chernuchin co-wrote and executive produced the television feature Fort Pit for NBC. His co-writer was Peter Tolan. The project focused on a precinct of police officers in New York and was devised as a pilot for a series. NBC did not order a series based on the pilot but aired it as a feature.

In 2008, he served as a consulting producer and writer for the legal drama Canterbury's Law. He wrote the episode "What Goes Around".

In 2009, he returned to Law & Order: Criminal Intent as a co-executive producer (and then subsequent show runner sharing the duties with L&O veteran writer Ed Zuckerman, as Robert Nathan had departed) and writer for the eighth season. He wrote the episodes "Folie a Deux", "Lady's Man", "Passion" and "Revolution". Also in 2009, he received credit for three episodes of the British Law & Order spin-off Law & Order: UK. He was credited with providing the basis for the UK episodes "Unloved" (from his episode "Born Bad"), "Alesha" (from his episode "Helpless") and "Sacrifice" (from his episode "Sonata for Solo Organ").

Chernuchin served as showrunner of Chicago Justice, which lasted one season ending in May 2017, after which he became showrunner of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He is currently at work on a limited TV series Aztecs, about the last two decades of the Aztec Empire.