A native of Utica, New York, Steven Brill studied film, theater and acting at Boston University. It was there that he became a student of acclaimed, Nobel Prize winning poet and playwright, Derek Walcott. Brill became a part of Mr. Walcott's first theater group in Boston, Playwright's Theater, where he wrote and directed original plays.Brill continued to write plays and moved to Los Angeles where he began auditioning as an actor and writing screenplays as well. In his spare time, Brill would go skating at public ice rinks - which proved a fortuitous hobby. One day while watching a Pee Wee hockey practice, he was struck by the idea for The Mighty Ducks.Brill scripted the film, recalling his own youth hockey experience, and sold it to Walt Disney Pictures. Emilio Estevez was cast as Coach Gordon Bombay in the 1992 release. One year later, "The Mighty Ducks" of Anaheim entered their first NHL season. Brill next wrote and executive produced the 1995 sequel "D2-The Mighty Ducks Are Back" an