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Michael got his start by fearlessly calling Earl Hamner Jr., creator and narrator of The Waltons (1972) and urged him to give him and his then-partner a shot. It was a true Hollywood story, as the series was about a wannabe writer, and Michael and his partner were hired to pen three episodes.
After writing for The Streets of San Francisco (1972) and Little House on the Prairie (1974), Michael and his partner went their separate ways. Michael continued an eclectic career, branching into comedy with classics such as Barney Miller (1975) and Family Ties (1982). He then moved into the soap arena, working on Dynasty (1981), Knots Landing (1979), and Santa Barbara (1984).
Michael has also been working abroad, mostly in Europe, writing screenplay stories and TV Formats. In 2005, he co-wrote a TV pilot, "In Ewigkeit. Amen?" with a German TV series star. He has also completed a novel, "Hollywood on the Danube," about his adventures writing a Hungarian soap opera in Budapest.
Russnow is working on film and TV concepts, as well as continuing to write screenplays and stage plays in addition to professional script consulting through his company Ram Productions International.
He was for ten years (2008-2018) a contributing writer to the prestigious on-line publication The Huffington Post on subjects ranging from the Writers Guild strike to politics to movie reviews and anything that particularly strikes his fancy.
In 2011, he fulfilled a childhood dream of becoming a professional actor, joining AFTRA and then, in 2012, the merged SAG-AFTRA. As such, he has appeared in a feature and a number of short films, including the 2015 award-winning Speedwriting (2015), which he wrote, directed, co-produced and in which he co-starred.
