Richard Christian Matheson is the son of sci-fi master Richard Matheson

Alan White is a hot young writer-producer looking for the one hit every Hollywood writer dreams of - and so few get. He thinks he's found it with his idea for a new pilot. He calls it "The Mercenary" and the networks have never seen anything like it.

The show pours state-of-the-art death and dazzle all over the competing networks. Full frontal nudity. Geysers of blood. Shocking sexuality. The violence is beyond unsettling. It's traumatizing. Soon the ratings are through the roof - the show burns a fifty share on its first airing. America is riveted. The ratings are ready to pop the ozone. Sixty share. Eighty share. It's the biggest Nielsen juggernaut that ever opened its mouth and swallowed America's prime-time attention span.

Alan's made it, enjoying success beyond his wildest dreams. But something is going wrong - life is beginning to mimic art with horrifying result. The morning headlines start to read like a grisly rerun of last night's episode of The Mercenary. Then it gets worse. Plots that Alan hasn't yet written or spoken of have begun to blood-blossom into reality.

Suddenly the truth becomes chillingly clear. Alan is scripting a nightmare - and it's real. Now he must cancel "The Mercenary" before it cancels him. Created By explores the darkest recesses of human nature, where the meridian between reality and make-believe is as deceptive as a television screen, and the single difference between the two is that on the other side terror doesn't break for commercials.