Michael Hickey, originally of Manhasset, New York, is a

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

best known for the screenplay of the horror film ''

Silent Night, Deadly Night ''Silent Night, Deadly Night'' is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Charles E. Sellier, Jr., and starring Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Linnea Quigley, Britt Leach, and Leo Geter. The story concerns a ...

''. Hickey's controversial screenplay focused on a

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

who, disguised as

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

, takes the lyric "He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake" rather too literally.New York Times
/ref> Hickey also authored the stage play ''Murrow'' about the life of newscaster Edward R. Murrow, which premiered at the Bristol Riverside Theater in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Hickey directed a production of the play at the Producers Club in New York City under the title ''A Question of Loyalty'' in 1998. Hickey received a screen credit ("special thanks") on the restored version of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

's 1958 " Vertigo" in recognition of his contribution to the 1998 restoration of the film performed by Robert Harris and James Katz for

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. Hickey lives in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

References

External links

* * Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male screenwriters People from Manhasset, New York Writers from Palm Springs, California Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from New York (state) {{US-screen-writer-stub