Re: This one line...
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 4:54 am
Every episode was also written by a different writer -- it's basically like one big round robin, the only difference being they get paid for it. That's why you had such a wide gradient between something like "A Night in Sickbay" written by ...Mike Sussman, I think? Also wrote "Twilight" ? Probably an AinTer; and someone like Manny Coto. Showrunner or not, everybody writes their own episode.
When this whole thing came about at TrekBBS -- the leak from Quills about the finale and the incredible uprising about it -- there was a telephone calling campaign to Paramount Studios in which we complained about it and I actually took part and called. We weren't out to harass anyone, but we had a list of questions we asked the telephone receptionist. I asked something about whether Manny Coto had had any creative input on the finale or if Braga wrote it all and I remember her telling me that in situations like this where one writer in particular gets an episode to write, it's like a matter of professional respect that the other writers don't interfere or insert themselves. In other words, if Mike Sussman is writing it, Mike Sussman gets to say what goes in it; if Brannon Braga gets to write it, Brannon Braga gets to decide what goes in it. Another one of the reasons they seemed to go back and forth, it's basically like a power struggle in the writers' room. Kind of a drag when you want to analyze the character reasons, but, it's kind of the big picture, as Alelou said.
When this whole thing came about at TrekBBS -- the leak from Quills about the finale and the incredible uprising about it -- there was a telephone calling campaign to Paramount Studios in which we complained about it and I actually took part and called. We weren't out to harass anyone, but we had a list of questions we asked the telephone receptionist. I asked something about whether Manny Coto had had any creative input on the finale or if Braga wrote it all and I remember her telling me that in situations like this where one writer in particular gets an episode to write, it's like a matter of professional respect that the other writers don't interfere or insert themselves. In other words, if Mike Sussman is writing it, Mike Sussman gets to say what goes in it; if Brannon Braga gets to write it, Brannon Braga gets to decide what goes in it. Another one of the reasons they seemed to go back and forth, it's basically like a power struggle in the writers' room. Kind of a drag when you want to analyze the character reasons, but, it's kind of the big picture, as Alelou said.