Christopher Carl Carter (born October 13, 1956) is an American television and film producer, director and writer who gained fame in the 1990s as the creator of the Fox science fiction supernatural drama series The X-Files.

Carter has his own television production company, Ten Thirteen Productions, wherein he went on to create three more series for the network—Millennium, a doomsday-themed series which met with critical approval and low viewer numbers; Harsh Realm, which was canceled after three episodes had aired; and The Lone Gunmen, a spin-off of The X-Files which lasted for a single season.

[10] Pierson's connections at Walt Disney Studios led to chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg hiring Carter on a standard contract.

These scripts led to Carter being associated with contemporary youth comedy at the studio, and although he enjoyed the work he felt that his real strengths and interests lay in serious drama instead.

There, Carter developed a number of unproduced television pilots—Cameo By Night, featuring Sela Ward; Brand New Life, which has been described as being similar to The Brady Bunch; Copter Cop, a science fiction series that was hampered by Tartikoff's injuries after a car accident; and Cool Culture, influenced by Carter's passion for surfing and experience with Surfing Magazine.

Carter also drew inspiration from his friend John E. Mack's survey of American beliefs in ufology, which indicated that three percent of the population believed they had been abducted by aliens.

[15] Roth warmed to the idea upon hearing of the influence of Kolchak, believing that vampires—one of the central antagonists of the original series—would be popular with audiences given the interest being shown in the upcoming film Interview with the Vampire, although Carter insisted on an extraterrestrial-focused series.

[16] However, Carter had never been interested in science fiction before this point, professing to have briefly read one novel each by Ursula K. Le Guin and Robert A.

[17] Basing his characters instead on those found in the English television series The Avengers, Carter took an eighteen-page treatment for his new project—by now titled The X-Files—to a pitch meeting at Fox, where it was soon rejected.

[19] After finding the series' two starring leads in Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny,[17] Carter was given a budget of $2 million to produce a pilot episode.

[20] The series aired on Friday nights on the Fox network, being broadcast in tandem with The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. in what was perceived to be an unpopular timeslot.

[26] The eleventh season has received generally positive if somewhat lukewarm reviews from critics,[27] but ratings fell dramatically, and Gillian Anderson has stated she will not play Scully again.

[31] The genesis of this new project stemmed from "Irresistible", a second-season episode of The X-Files which Carter had written, which focused on a sexually motivated serial killer with none of that series' usual supernatural trappings.

[32] The central role of Black was eventually filled by Lance Henriksen, and the series began airing in the Friday timeslot formerly occupied by The X-Files.

[47][48] Carter has had several brief cameo roles as an actor — first appearing in The X-Files' "Anasazi" as an FBI agent;[49] before portraying a member of a film audience in "Hollywood A.D.", a later episode of the same series.

[55] Carter has since been involved with writing and directing the as-yet unreleased film Fencewalker, set to feature Natalie Dormer and Katie Cassidy.

[2][61] As well as The Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Carter has spoken about the influence on his work of Frankenstein (both the Whale film and the Mary Shelley novel),[62] The Wizard of Oz (1939),[63] Spielberg films (specifically citing E.T., Schindler's List and Munich),[64] and Twin Peaks, about which he has said, "I could have watched that show every night of the week, that's how much I loved it.