Berman Memoirs

[Wowbagger]

I remember reading that Rick Berman had started his memoirs after eighteen years of Trek. That was several months ago, though.

Anyone heard anything about this since then? I've been looking forward to this book for a while now.

 

[Christopher]

It takes more than several months to create a book. I'd think a memoir could take quite a long time, given all the research and so forth. And if Berman is still working in TV production at all, that could leave him relatively little time for working on the book. So at this point, there's no way of telling when it will be out, but no reason to doubt that it's still underway.

 

[OmahaStar]

All we know at this point is that it's called "We are all Very Pleased".

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm far more interested in Harve Bennett's autobiography. He's read from it twice at Farpoint -- first in 2006, then in 2007 -- and I can't wait to read the whole thing for myself.

 

[Steve Roby]

Hell, I wish someone would publish Michael Piller's book.

 

[Christopher]

Piller wrote a book?

 

[Steve Roby]

Piller wrote a book?

He said he'd written one on Star Trek Insurrection: "With the approval of Viacom Consumer Licensing and Pocket Books, I wrote a book during the writing of Star Trek: Insurrection which was meant to be a text book for screenwriters. My pitch to the publisher was to take the reader through the entire process of the development of the film, starting with the idea and showing how changes, problems, opinions, studio requests, financial considerations, would effect the final product. And, in essence, to see if the reader would make the same decisions that Rick and I made as the script evolved. The book was by no means critical, nor did it burn any bridges, it just showed an insight into the behind-the-scenes of making a Star Trek movie that had never been told before. For reasons I won't go into here, decisions were made at a very high level not to publish the book, which was greatly disappointing to me." (trekgalaxy)

A blogger named Sebastian Prooth ran a couple of excerpts from what he says was a manuscript of a book by Piller before getting a cease and desist notice; I don't know how credible he is, though.

 

[KRAD]

"The book was by no means critical, nor did it burn any bridges, it just showed an insight into the behind-the-scenes of making a Star Trek movie that had never been told before. For reasons I won't go into here, decisions were made at a very high level not to publish the book, which was greatly disappointing to me."

Given the way "high level" people in Hollywood on both sides of the camera tend to behave, I suspect that Piller's belief that the book wasn't critical and burned no bridges was not a belief shared by everyone. *wry grin*

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Pity about Piller's book. I, too, would love to read it.

 

[David R. George III]

He said he'd written one on Star Trek Insurrection: "With the approval of Viacom Consumer Licensing and Pocket Books, I wrote a book during the writing of Star Trek: Insurrection which was meant to be a text book for screenwriters. My pitch to the publisher was to take the reader through the entire process of the development of the film, starting with the idea and showing how changes, problems, opinions, studio requests, financial considerations, would effect the final product. And, in essence, to see if the reader would make the same decisions that Rick and I made as the script evolved. The book was by no means critical, nor did it burn any bridges, it just showed an insight into the behind-the-scenes of making a Star Trek movie that had never been told before. For reasons I won't go into here, decisions were made at a very high level not to publish the book, which was greatly disappointing to me."

Michael did indeed complete such a book, with precisely the intentions outlined above. One thing to note about Michael is that he was scrupulously honest. Not everybody, though, was particularly comfortable with the truth being revealed about the process leading to the making of Insurrection. For those interested in Star Trek, the creative process in general, and the making of movies in particular, the decision not to publish the book was, to my mind, an unfortunate one.

 

[number6]

All we know at this point is that it's called "We are all Very Pleased".

Amazing how that joke never gets old.

 

[Christopher]

Indeed unfortunate. Behind-the-scenes books about the production process are always intriguing, and Star Trek has certainly played its role in that genre. I think The Making of Star Trek may have been one of the first major entries in the genre, though that's just an impression. I've just recently obtained and read ST: Voyager: A Vision of the Future by the same author (although going by Stephen Edward Poe instead of Stephen E. Whitfield), and that was quite enlightening too.

Actually, in reading the acknowledgments for that book, I got the impression from reading between the lines that maybe Berman was reluctant to allow a behind-the-scenes book about Voyager or participate in it as actively as others in the production did. And that's consistent with the lack of insider info in the VGR Companion and the lack of an ENT companion book altogether. Not to imply anything negative about Berman; one thing that's clear from Poe's book and other sources is that he was a very involved, hard-working producer, active with every level of the production, so maybe he just saw interviews and behind-the-scenes books as a distraction from the work itself. So it's a bit surprising that he's now writing such a book himself. Perhaps he's doing it now because he's not active in TV production anymore and can afford the distraction.

In any case, given his deep involvement in so many aspects of Trek production, and given the relative dearth of documentation on that process on the shows he was most actively involved with (DS9 being more Ira Behr's baby most of the way), a memoir by Berman would be a valuable addition, no doubt revealing a lot of fascinating insights into the production process. Oh, I'm sure there will be controversial aspects, claims that some find questionable, but it's not as if Roddenberry didn't generate a lot of controversy or conflicting accounts of events. And I'm more interested in the production insights than the personalities and politics. I'm hoping that'll be Berman's focus in the book as well.

 

[Wowbagger]

Piller wrote a book?

He said he'd written one on Star Trek Insurrection: "With the approval of Viacom Consumer Licensing and Pocket Books, I wrote a book during the writing of Star Trek: Insurrection which was meant to be a text book for screenwriters. My pitch to the publisher was to take the reader through the entire process of the development of the film, starting with the idea and showing how changes, problems, opinions, studio requests, financial considerations, would effect the final product. And, in essence, to see if the reader would make the same decisions that Rick and I made as the script evolved. The book was by no means critical, nor did it burn any bridges, it just showed an insight into the behind-the-scenes of making a Star Trek movie that had never been told before. For reasons I won't go into here, decisions were made at a very high level not to publish the book, which was greatly disappointing to me." (trekgalaxy)

A blogger named Sebastian Prooth ran a couple of excerpts from what he says was a manuscript of a book by Piller before getting a cease and desist notice; I don't know how credible he is, though.

I've never heard about this book. That would've been incredible. Man. That's tragic.

Where's Piller live? I have a house to case.

On a (cough) serious note, I'm 99% certain that Prooth is legit. I know him from the audio drama he runs (www.continuingmission.com... huh. For once, I'm not plugging my own show), and he recently ran some fascinating TMP-era interviews with Gene Roddenberry that were credible enough to survive TrekMovie.com's (in)famously strict fact-checking process and run there as a story. He was also interviewed in December by CNN regarding Continuing Mission. So, yeah, if he has excerpts, I believe him. Tizzite.

 

[KRAD]

Where's Piller live? I have a house to case.

Erm, Piller's been dead since November 2005.

 

[Broccoli]

Y'know...at the risk of sounding morbid, but now that Piller has passed on, could the book be published by his family? Or would "they" take it out on his son?

 

[David R. George III]

Tragically, Michael died on 1 November 2005 from cancer. For me, who had the good fortune not only to know Michael through Star Trek, but to socialize with him and his wife, Sandra, Michael was one of the good guys. He kept to a high ethical standard, and to a high writing standard as well. He once joked with me that his middle name was "About Something," a characteristic he strived to give to all his work. I never heard Michael say a bad word about anybody, and he constantly sought to allow new writers into Hollywood; it was at Michael's behest that the modern Star Trek series maintained an open submission policy, something generally unheard of in series television. I have no doubt that his book about the creative process behind Insurrection would fascinate fans and readers, but I do doubt that it will ever see the light of day.

 

[SebastianProoth]

Re: Michael Piller

Hello all,

Seeing as you guys were talking about the chapters of Michael's book I had posted on my blog before I was ordered to stop, I thought I would chime in here.

Michael Piller's book would be a fantastic resource for fans of Star Trek and students of the business of film writing and production. It is a shame that I was forced to stop publishing the book as it was one of Michael's final requests of a mutual friend of ours.

I too doubt the book will ever see the light of day under the current Paramount climate. Piller is unfortunately gone and can't give his input as I know he would love to. He read the Star Trek forums, including this one, often.

Thanks Wowbagger for the plug for Star Trek: The Continuing Mission and the support.

All the best,

Sebastian Prooth

 

[Therin of Andor]

I've never heard about this book. That would've been incredible.

I first learned of Piller's proposed book from a reference to it in Joe Nazzaro's book, "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy Television":

Piller is quoted: "I've written a whole book about it, which unfortunately Pocket Books chose not to publish after a barrage of telephone calls from the studio. The irony is that the people at the studio who complained about it hadn't even read it. It's basically a book for young screenwriters about how an idea turns into a movie, and all the changes that you go through. I talk about the notes from Patrick Stewart, the notes from the studio, a first draft of the story that we threw out and started over..."

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Science-Fiction-Fantasy-Television/dp/1840233834

 

[js]

Oh, what I would have given to read Michael's book on writing.

Such a loss - he and his work.

 

[JD]

I wish there was some way that this could be published now, because I would love to read this. I've never really read any of the behind the scenes stuff for the Trek series/movies, but this probably would have been the first.

I still might check out Berman's when it comes out though, because it would certainly be interesting to hear his side of things after hear so much about him.