As a young man, Ironton native Mickey Fisher loved movies and television. He particularly liked movies made my producer-director Steven Spielberg.

“My creative DNA was programmed by Spielberg movies,” he said. “When I was young I went to the Midtown Cinema in Ashland and watched ‘E.T.’ over and over after it came out.”

Fast-forward to 2013 and Fisher, 40, is getting his big break in the screenwriting industry alongside the person he had idolized since his youth.

Fisher penned “Extant,” a 13-episode futuristic thriller about a female astronaut who struggles adjusting back to her family after a year in space and whose experiences changes the course of human history.

The television series will be co-produced by Fisher, Spielberg’s production company, Amblin Entertainment, and CBS.

Fisher has been writing screenplays since he was in fifth grade, but it wasn’t until he moved to Los Angeles from New York two years ago that he started learning to write for television.

“Some of the best stories being told right now are on television,” Fisher said. “My series ‘Extant’ was actually the second TV pilot I have written. I have written screenplays most of my life and writing for TV is really much different, so it was a learning process.”

Fisher entered “Extant,” his second TV script in the Tracking B TV Pilot Contest, and although he did not win, he was a finalist and people started taking notice.

“As a result of the contest, I got a manager and representation from talent agency William Morris Endeavors,” Fisher said. “The script was sent to Spielberg and he loved it. It is an incredible honor for my work to be recognized and picked up by a man I grew up admiring.”

According to thewrap.com, multiple agencies sought to sign Fisher after the “Extant” script began circulating. WME won the battle to sign Fisher, who is managed by the person who discovered him, Brooklyn Weaver.

Fisher has come a long way from the stages at West Ironton Elementary and the Paramount. The University of Cincinnati alumnus who majored in musical theater says he is still learning about the business of which he is now a big part.

“The script sold to CBS and since then I have been learning on the fly,” he said, although he could not disclose for how much the script sold. “There is an amazing team put together. I hope this show has a long healthy life.”

One of Fisher’s first projects, “The King of Iron Town” was shot in Ironton.

Fisher plans to continue writing movie scripts in hopes one of them will get sold, too, he said. He lives in Orange County, Calif.

“Extant” will air on CBS in the summer of 2014.