Anthony Zuiker
Creator and Exec Producer, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"
Exclusive Representation by Greater Talent Network
"The police and I are in this motel room searching for evidence when an officer lifts up the bed skirt. All I see is a pair of eyes before she leaps from beneath the bed clawing at my face. And I thought, 'There's a show here.'"
...And thus it was a dingy motel room that inspired executive producer Anthony Zuiker to create "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," one of the most critically acclaimed and highest-rated dramas in television history. Since debuting in 2000, "CSI" and its screen siblings "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: New York" have taken up regular residence in Nielsen's weekly Top 10 broadcast ratings. Co-produced with Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue, the "CSI" franchise earned 28 Emmy nominations from 2001-06.
Zuiker's trek to the peak of the TV world is as unorthodox as was the impetus for his show. While driving a tram for Las Vegas' famed Mirage hotel in the late '90s, he compiled a translation guide to greet Vegas' international guests in their respective tongues. These efforts caught the attention of Mirage-developer Steve Wynn, earning Zuiker a promotion to the hotel's advertising division.
"If you follow your passion, the money will follow. Success, in my opinion, involves sheer luck, hard work and humility."
Zuiker's next stop was Hollywood to script monologues for friends' casting auditions-- one of which morphed into the 1999 feature film "The Runner" (Courtney Cox, John Goodman). His writing eventually found its way to famed-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who inquired of Zuiker's interest in scripting television. A month of crime-scene ride-alongs later--including one especially intriguing motel visit--an award-winning career was born into the TV world of forensic science.
"The human body is a perfect specimen, so much so that skin, hair, blood, DNA--everything biological--is designed to speak for a person who cannot."
With gaming his first obsession, Zuiker in 2006 partnered with Specialty Board Games (SBG/b) to launch a multi-sensory challenge requiring the skills utilized by actual investigators; he also introduced a "CSI" version of multi-platform entertainment in which viewers use mobile technology to predict the shows' outcomes (for cash prizes). In 2007, Zuiker incorporated the online community Second Life into a CSI: NY storyline. Gary Sinise's character downloaded an avatar and chases a killer into the virtual community. Viewers were then encouraged to follow the character into Second Life and visit a CSI lab, solve a murder in a game designed by Zuiker called "Murdered by Zuiker," and become CSI investigators with field kit and tools, the ability to interview subjects and solve the murder.
Zuiker is the leader of "cross platform" storytelling in Hollywood and is expert in the art of shifting the audience from multiple devices while maintaining a narrative which deepens the viewer experience. He excels in the understanding of new media's role in the "attention economy" of the viewer in terms of how a commercial audience consumes content from television to web to mobile to gaming and essentially back to television. Zuiker also offers creative insight into multi-platform campaigns that are "non-television" from a corporate America standpoint - highlighting their roll in the shifting behavior of their ever changing consumer.
AT A GLANCE: Anthony Zuiker is the creator and executive producer of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," one of the highest-rated dramas in television history. Along with "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: NY," the franchise has taken up regular residence in Nielsen's weekly Top 10 broadcast ratings and earned 28 Emmy nominations.
A native of Blue Island, Ill., Zuiker today splits residence between Las Vegas and Los Angeles with his wife and three sons.
Interested in booking Anthony Zuiker to speak at your next event?
...And thus it was a dingy motel room that inspired executive producer Anthony Zuiker to create "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," one of the most critically acclaimed and highest-rated dramas in television history. Since debuting in 2000, "CSI" and its screen siblings "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: New York" have taken up regular residence in Nielsen's weekly Top 10 broadcast ratings. Co-produced with Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue, the "CSI" franchise earned 28 Emmy nominations from 2001-06.
Zuiker's trek to the peak of the TV world is as unorthodox as was the impetus for his show. While driving a tram for Las Vegas' famed Mirage hotel in the late '90s, he compiled a translation guide to greet Vegas' international guests in their respective tongues. These efforts caught the attention of Mirage-developer Steve Wynn, earning Zuiker a promotion to the hotel's advertising division.
"If you follow your passion, the money will follow. Success, in my opinion, involves sheer luck, hard work and humility."
Zuiker's next stop was Hollywood to script monologues for friends' casting auditions-- one of which morphed into the 1999 feature film "The Runner" (Courtney Cox, John Goodman). His writing eventually found its way to famed-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who inquired of Zuiker's interest in scripting television. A month of crime-scene ride-alongs later--including one especially intriguing motel visit--an award-winning career was born into the TV world of forensic science.
"The human body is a perfect specimen, so much so that skin, hair, blood, DNA--everything biological--is designed to speak for a person who cannot."
With gaming his first obsession, Zuiker in 2006 partnered with Specialty Board Games (SBG/b) to launch a multi-sensory challenge requiring the skills utilized by actual investigators; he also introduced a "CSI" version of multi-platform entertainment in which viewers use mobile technology to predict the shows' outcomes (for cash prizes). In 2007, Zuiker incorporated the online community Second Life into a CSI: NY storyline. Gary Sinise's character downloaded an avatar and chases a killer into the virtual community. Viewers were then encouraged to follow the character into Second Life and visit a CSI lab, solve a murder in a game designed by Zuiker called "Murdered by Zuiker," and become CSI investigators with field kit and tools, the ability to interview subjects and solve the murder.
Zuiker is the leader of "cross platform" storytelling in Hollywood and is expert in the art of shifting the audience from multiple devices while maintaining a narrative which deepens the viewer experience. He excels in the understanding of new media's role in the "attention economy" of the viewer in terms of how a commercial audience consumes content from television to web to mobile to gaming and essentially back to television. Zuiker also offers creative insight into multi-platform campaigns that are "non-television" from a corporate America standpoint - highlighting their roll in the shifting behavior of their ever changing consumer.
AT A GLANCE: Anthony Zuiker is the creator and executive producer of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," one of the highest-rated dramas in television history. Along with "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: NY," the franchise has taken up regular residence in Nielsen's weekly Top 10 broadcast ratings and earned 28 Emmy nominations.
A native of Blue Island, Ill., Zuiker today splits residence between Las Vegas and Los Angeles with his wife and three sons.
Interested in booking Anthony Zuiker to speak at your next event?
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