As I started up the steps of the Hart Building, the butterflies in my stomach resumed their fluttering. A deep breath, then open the door. Inside, a long hall with a dozen doors. As I passed each door, the simple nameplates were a roll-call of the some of the biggest writers in Trekdom - Jeri Taylor, Ira Stephen Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Peter Allan Fields. Up four flights of stairs at the end of the hall, then I stopped again to take another deep breath, even more nervous now. It was still hard to believe. Here I was, in Hollywood, at Paramount Pictures Studios, with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - to try to sell story ideas to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!
 | It is probably the dream of most Star Trek fans to write a Star Trek script. Trek is the only show on television that accepts unsolicited scripts from non-agented writers - amateurs like you and me. I was no different. I have a background in the television industry. I've also been a Trek fan since I saw my first original episode in 1966 at the age of 10. This made me, like over 15,000 others before me, try my hand at writing a Star Trek episode. |
For several years, I worked off and on (mostly off) at two different scripts, only half finishing both. Then, in August of 1993, the word came that this would be the last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I realized I'd need to get busy if I was ever going to finish one of these scripts. So, for almost a month and a half, I wrote every single day at lunch. By the first week of October, I had the first draft completed. After letting three fellow Trekkers critique the script, I revised it and mailed it the second week of October. Later, I found out I was just in time - TNG stopped accepting spec (speculative) scripts in November.
Like most other writers, I thought the script was pretty darn good, but realistically, I expected absolutely nothing to come from it. Soon November became December, then January, and daily I was nervously awaiting the manila return envelope with the "sorry, we're not interested" letter inside. It was now February and it still hadn't come. "What did that mean?" I wondered on my daily trek to the mailbox. Then, on February 11th, as I was home recovering from a bout with the flu, I got a phone call. Expecting a salesperson, my mind did a double take when the woman identified herself as Nell from Deep Space Nine. After recovering from the initial shock and exhilaration, I thought "Deep Space Nine? Why would someone from DS9 be calling me?" I did manage to stammer a hello. As Nell continued, the disbelief (and excitement) increased. "We have your script here, and though we can't use it, we did think the writing was pretty good. We'd like to invite you out here to pitch some story ideas for Deep Space Nine!"
The hall on the fourth floor looked much like the one on the first. Door after door with more simple nameplates. I walked down that hall slowly, the nervousness increasing with every step. Then, the door. Room 405. The office of writer/producers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. Ron Moore, the author of the great Klingon sagas and almost too many other episodes to count. Brannon Braga, my favorite writer, author of "Cause and Effect," "Frame of Mind" and "Parallels" to name a few. And together, the series finale "All Good Things..." and the big screen "Star Trek: Generations." |  |
Butterflies again! "Here goes," I thought, and entered the office. My contact, April, was not there. Duffy, an assistant across the hall, asked if he could help. I said I had a 5:00 appointment for a pitch session. He suggested I help myself to a drink in the small office refrigerator and said someone will be with me in a few minutes. I had talked to April earlier in the day, and my session was to be with Ron Moore or Rene Echeverria. I sat on the small couch sipping my can of Lipton tea and looked around. A box on the floor was labeled "Next Generation Articles." On a shelf above the desk were several notebooks with various titles on them. Future DS9 episodes? On the bulletin board was a DS9 letterhead with "Pitch Schedule" in bold letters at the top. There, across from Thursday June 16, was my name. Through the office door behind me, I could hear the voice of Ron Moore, dictating, I presumed, to April. "Odo stares at the light," I heard, but most of the rest was muffled by the wall and the noise of the air conditioner in the window beside me. (Several months later, watching the season premeire episode "The Search, Part I," I realized I heard him working on the last scene of that episode!)
So how did I find myself sitting here in this office? According to an article in the February/March 1994 Star Trek Official Fan Club magazine, when a script is submitted, it is logged in the computer, then given to a paid reader. The reader then writes a "coverage" - a two page synopsis of the script plus comments on the writing style. The coverages are then given to Executive Producer Michael Piller. Based on the coverages, Piller picks several scripts to read per week. From those, about one of every 20 writers are invited to pitch. This was the process that brought me to the Star Trek offices.
After about 25 minutes (I was early, not wanting to risk LA traffic), a figure appeared in the doorway and extended his hand. "Hi, Rene Echeverria," he said warmly. I introduced myself and we went into his office across the hall. Rene is another of Star Trek's most prolific writers. His Trek career began with a spec script that was turned into an episode entitled "The Offspring" - where Data created his daughter, Lal. At the time, he was a waiter/writer living in New York. Rene went on to write, freelance from the Big Apple, such episodes as "Transfigurations," "The Mind's Eye," "The Perfect Mate," and "I, Borg." As Deep Space Nine geared up, the Next Generation needed additional writers, so Echeverria was offered the job. He served as a story editor for seasons six and seven, and now is on the Deep Space Nine staff.
His office was much larger than I expected - about the size of a large family room. In one corner was a couch and a water cooler. In another corner stood and antique "Joust" game. In front of me was a huge oval table, oak I think, that served as his desk. Just behind the desk was a modest computer table. And, in the back corner, on both walls, were two four-by-eight foot dry erase marker boards. Scrawled across both boards was a breakdown of an episode he was evidently working on. At the top was "Teaser" in red, followed by several story events in orange. Then "Act One" in red, with further story events. Both boards were completely full. I wish I had had time to examine the board fully...
After we talked about how I got my pitch invitation and what I did for a living, etc., he asked if I'd ever pitched before. I told him no. He went on to relate what they wanted in my pitch - broad story lines, not a scene-by-scene breakdown or too many details. If they like what they hear, he said, they'd ask for more. I had written a one and a half page outline of each of my four ideas, striving for a well-structured story with some detail, and had nearly memorized them word for word. This seemed somewhat like what they didn't want, so I changed things around a bit and started from scratch, telling the story in more broad terms. I probably could have followed my original plan, but I didn't want to be rejected for too much detail or wordiness.
My first idea had an unethical scientist experimenting with the transporter and reality perception, putting Sisko in alternate realities of his past life events. Sisko would relive parts of his past, however with one altered event that changed the course of things. In the end, he would have to go back to the Saratoga and choose whether to rescue Jake or his wife Jennifer. Rene thought for a moment, then explained that stories like that didn't work very well because there is no real danger to the character. Even if we don't find out until later, there is a letdown when the audience realizes Sisko hasn't ever been in danger. He even mentioned the Next Generation episode "The Nth Degree," where Barclay is transformed into a supercomputer. Here, he explained, the race who transformed him was only studying the Enterprise, and the ending was not very satisfying. That made sense, so I went on with my next idea.
In this story, Odo has to shapeshift into Sisko, who is on a highly classified mission. This idea was rejected on the grounds that the face Odo has is the best he can do, and Sisko's face would be impossible (even though I had a fake holosuite baseball injury woven in to explain Odo's failure to "get the face right.") Rene also said that having Odo shapeshift into any of the other characters might cause many story problems for future episodes. Again, his points made sense.
 | Next I started on my third story idea, which was about Odo jumping forward in time and seeing the destruction of DS9. After I finished, Rene, who was leaning back in his chair with his feet on his desk, stared at the wall for what seemed like hours. "What??" I was thinking. After about five seconds, he smiled slightly and said, "cool." "Cool?" What did he say?? Did I hear that right? "Cool?" I never thought that a single word could have created so much excitement (though I was trying to remain calm and professional)? Wow! He liked my idea! |
We started discussing various points about the story, he asking an occasional question and me filling in the details. After about a minute of this, he started taking notes (nothing written can be accepted in a pitch session) on a yellow legal pad. I made sure he got certain points right, then he smiled again. "This is a really unique idea," he said. "I've never heard anything like this. It's very original." These few sentences, as you can imagine, made the hours of writing, the months and months of nervous of waiting, and the expense of the plane fare, car rental and hotel room all worth it!
"What's the normal procedure now?" I asked.
He smiled. "The normal procedure," he said, "is no, no, no, no." He was tapping on his legal pad as though rejecting a list of four pitch ideas. "It's very rare that we find an idea we like." You can imagine how that made me feel!
After a few more questions on my part, he related the process. First, he would write the idea into a two page memo outlining the idea. Then, he'd take it to Writer/Co-Executive Producer Ira Stephen Behr. If he liked it, the idea would go on to Executive Producer Michael Piller. Then, they'd ask for a sample of my writing (my Next Generation spec script plus an unsuccessful DS9 spec script). If the writing is good enough (Rene said it probably would be, since I'd gotten the invitation to pitch based on the writing), then I'd write the 7 page story outline, which is indicated in the episode credits as "Story by..."
My fourth idea was about Dax's symbiont becoming ill and going to Trill for the cure. It interested him, but he said there was a script in progress that was very similar, and unless things in that story changed drastically, they couldn't use it. This turned out to be the episode "Equilibrium," which Rene wrote.
We talked a little further. I asked him how he came to be a writer at Star Trek, he asked about my plans in LA. He is a very personable man. He said it would take about two weeks to get the idea to Behr and Wolfe (as you can imagine, they're very busy), and he'd call me. As I left his office, his final, extremely appreciated comment was "Good job."
Thirteen days later...
I walked in the house after an errand and my wife said, "Rene from Star Trek called - it doesn't sound good." I listened to the message on the answering machine and the dry, calm tone of voice made me tend to agree. I immediately called back, but he was at lunch. So, here was the worst hour wait of my life - the not knowing, and fearing the worst - rejection.
Rene, however, is a very low-key person, so the tone of his voice, I hoped, didn't have anything to do with his message. One hour and fifteen minutes later, sitting nervously on the back porch with the cordless phone in my lap, I jumped when the phone buzzed. It was Rene - they liked it!! I couldn't believe it! In his words - "I had only said three or four sentences when their (Behr and Wolfe) eyes lit up. They really liked the idea. They said it had the structure and dynamics to be a very suspenseful episode." Excellent! What now? Rene said he would write a two page memo to Michael Piller, relaying the idea and the fact it was approved by Behr and Wolfe. If he approves it, he said, the episode is officially put into production! If you had told me one year ago that I would finish my spec script, be invited to pitch, and sell a story, I would have thought you were crazy!
One week later...
The waiting game continues. Will Michael Piller like and approve my idea? After a week of nervously wondering about this, Rene finally called. "I know it's hard," he said, "but we're going to have to wait a while longer." More waiting?? He went on to explain. Since my idea involves the manipulation of time, and time and time travel stories are the hardest sell for Piller, Rene and Ira Behr have decided to wait a month or so to pass my idea on to him. The reason is that they have another time travel story in the works - completely different from mine and no threat to mine being accepted - but they want to work out the details of this story and get approved, then give Piller some "breathing room" before hitting him with my idea (this other story became the two part episode "Past Tense"). This sounded disappointing at first, but then I realized that Rene and Ira Behr like my idea enough to take the necessary steps to see that it is approved! Rene's last comment was, "your idea has a very good chance of becoming an episode." That made me feel better. Now if I can only survive the next two months of waiting...
It is now two months later. I phoned Rene to check on the progress of my story for the third time since June. This time, I didn't get the "no news, just hang in there." He said Ira had asked for the 2-page memo yesterday. It seems that, during a story conference, Michael Piller said, "now we need to do a unique, bizarre science fiction story." Evidently, this was finally the right time...
Well, maybe not. Labor day came and went. Star Trek: Voyager began production. Voyager's captain quit after two days of shooting. Things were decidedly hectic on the Paramount lot. Since there were several scripts already in the "pipeline," there was no rush on my idea. So, the waiting game continues...
Then...
October 5, 1994, 9:07pm CST. The phone rings. Expecting another call, I was totally unprepared for the news that was on the other end of the line. "Hi, this is Rene from Star Trek. Congratulations! You've sold your story!!"
I was in shock, to say the least. After all this waiting, the word finally came, and I couldn't believe it. We talked for about fifteen minutes about writing the 7 page story, contracts, money(!) and various other things. The first thing he would do would be to send me the 2 page memo he wrote for the producers, plus several samples of stories that were made into episodes. I would use these as references to complete the first draft of my story. Nearly one year after I put my original spec script in the mail, things were finally starting to happen.
I received the packet from Rene a few days later, and immediately set out to write my story. Since the story was about time travel and jumping back and forth in time, I used about 100 small post-it notes and categorized my ideas into plot, time jumps, reality and character moments. Then, I started putting the story elements together, moving the time-jumping events constantly until the story came together. This took an entire weekend, locked in the house alone, with my wife and two kids at her mother's so I could concentrate. Monday morning, I faxed the story off to Paramount.
Several days later, I got a call from Writer/Producer Ron Moore. He said Rene was busy with a teleplay and he'd be working with me on the story. He gave me about 20 minutes worth of notes. First, my bad guys, the Nauusicans, weren't familiar enough, he said. He wanted someone more closely related to DS9 - perhaps Bajorans or Cardassians. Next, he wanted more of a mystery, something meatier to investigate than some missing supplies (which Rene had written into his two-page summary). So, since most of my plot elements needed changing, I had to start over with the plot. So, another weekend was spent with another 100 post-it notes, re-working the story. I decided on a Klingon-Romulan plot, with the Romulans having a secret agenda - namely destroying the wormhole.
After sending the second draft of the story, I waited about a month before I heard anything further. As an interesting coincidence, Ron Moore finally called me the very day his "Generations" movie opened in theaters. He said they had made a few changes, mainly changing the main character from Odo to O'Brien, but most of the story elements remained exactly as I had written them. But, they had decided to go ahead with my story. My episode, "Visionary," was officially in production!
From there, they gave the teleplay to a free-lance writer, John Shirley. Shirley was a friend of Ira Behr's and had co-written the screenplay for "The Crow." At this point, what happened with the story and the episode was out of my hands. I was a little disappointed, but I never really expected to be able to do the whole script - not this time, at least. And, even though I didn't get to write the teleplay, I still had the satisfaction of knowing I had made a permanent contribution to the Star Trek universe...