Chris Cassel
Christopher 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, Discovery Health, and The Travel Channel, as well as DVD 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 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.
In 2008, Chris created, wrote and supervised Apocalypse How?, a two-hour special for Discovery that explores eleven scenarios in which our world might end. It was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animation.
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. Chris' latest project, Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero (2011), is a character-driven 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. Chris is Supervising Producer and writer, with Steven Spielberg as the Executive Producer.
Chris' creative home from 1998-2011 was KPI, a New York-based production company where he most recently served as VP, Creative. Prior to joining the company, he worked as a production assistant at CBS News Productions, and as a beat reporter for The York Dispatch. He holds a B.A. in Communication from York College of Pennsylvania.
