Ken Atchity, ‘The Meg’ Producer and Literary Agent, Dies at 82 — SkimNews
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- Kenneth Atchity produced over 30 films, including 'The Meg' series with business partner Chi-Li Wong, and held credits on titles such as 'Gambino' and 'The Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes'.
- Kenneth Atchity wrote more than 20 books and published hundreds more through his imprint, Story Merchant Books, while negotiating major publishing and entertainment deals.
- Kenneth Atchity served as a professor of English and comparative literature at Occidental College for 17 years, earning tenure and later becoming a Fulbright professor at the University of Bologna.
- Kenneth Atchity earned a PhD from Yale, where his doctoral dissertation won the John Addison Porter Prize and was published with an introduction by novelist John Gardner.
- Kenneth Atchity worked as a communication engineer at AT&T Long Lines, designing the Green Network that connected NASA’s 26 research centers before transitioning to entertainment.
Why it matters: Atchity’s multifaceted career bridged academia, technology, and Hollywood, demonstrating rare cross-domain influence—his shift from engineering NASA’s network to producing mainstream films reflects an unconventional trajectory that expanded access to storytelling across media, impacting both literary and cinematic landscapes.
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