Bryan Fuller Stepping Back From Showrunner Role on ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
- Thread starter donners22
- Start date
Wow, bad day?
Well I work in TV and in my 15 years of working production side on shows like Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, The L Word etc. a project being pushed back from it's original start date and then the show runner 'stepping back' is never a good sign. You know how much money a push back and renegotiating Fuller's contract is likely going to cost CBS - granted they'll make it back but studios HATE spending a penny more than they have to on anything.
This generally points to a serious issue of creative differences behind the scenes. CBS wants the show out by May and are not willing to settle for any further delays and if Fuller was asking for additional extension to complete other projects, based on the Variety report, CBS likely told him either you commit to Discovery full time or there's the door. I'm not saying this is the case but my betting money is that while Fuller is still staying on as an EP (like to reassure fans), he'll be gone before season 1 is over.
I'd be more likely to be even slightly concerned, if only a few months back I hadn't been hearing very similar prophecies of DOOM! about Westworld's behind-the-scenes woes and its inevitable tanking.
And not gonna lie - if this means Fuller has more time to focus on American Gods, I'm not going to complain.
And not gonna lie - if this means Fuller has more time to focus on American Gods, I'm not going to complain.
Yes. Working on 90s Star Trek is not a qualification that would normally be greeted with cheers, but we know Fuller was a great choice because of what he did AFTER Star Trek.
For me the big question now is will Fuller come back at some point? It will really depend on studio perceptions: "Did the show succeed (or tank) despite him or because of him?"
They have the arc, and Fuller wrote the first two eps, BUT now someone else will be overseeing the tone (crucial to any Fuller project), approving guest actors, 'spotting' the music with the composer, and approving or rejecting the scripts. That was his job, the job he has stepped away from. He was showrunner, now he's not, so it's nonsense to say nothing changes.
Actually Goldsman is a much more prestigious name than Fuller in the industry. Fuller has produced a handful of acclaimed and short-lived shows. Goldsman has an Academy Award and lots of big budget movies as well as some TV shows to his name.
The panic here is really amusing. Practically for no reason whatsoever.
I see a new big-name producer, a newly revealed huge budget and lots of support from the studio. All the casting is finished save the main character. It films in November as it was announced. I see very few changes here and mostly plusses.
RAMA
I see a new big-name producer, a newly revealed huge budget and lots of support from the studio. All the casting is finished save the main character. It films in November as it was announced. I see very few changes here and mostly plusses.
RAMA
Exactly. I couldn't care less that Fuller worked on Voyager. I care because, imo, Wonderfalls, Pushing Dasies, and Hannibal are three of the best and most unique shows of the last 15 years*. Even his Munsters reboot was hugely entertaining for the one episode they made. He's probably my favourite TV writer / producer.
I'd be disappointed if Fuller was let go from any program - Star Trek just happens to be the one it happened on this week. If he was fired from American God's I'd be just as disappointed and I don't know that source material. I just know it's a Fuller show starring Ian McShane (a favourite actor of mine).
*I'm not including Dead Like Me because he was fired after they pilot but it was a damn good pilot (and show, although the movie sucked).
I thought Fuller left after season 1? I'd be grateful if you could point me to a source.
The movie would have been okay if only they hadn't recast Daisy. That was constantly jarring.
I googled it, we're both wrong. He lasted five episodes before getting the boot.
I couldn't stand the movie. Did not work for me at all.
I understand the panic. Beyond, essentially, did badly at the box office and now a Star Trek series lost its show runner, is months behind schedule and still hasn't announced a cast nor started shooting. On top of that, you have the garbage teaser trailer that made it look like a new Babylon 5 Lost Story rather than a Trek promo. I'm almost sceptical about CBS's streaming service, which seems to be the main reason behind a new series. Can it reach a new audience there? It is on Netflix everywhere else in the world.
People don't want to see Trek shelved for another decade.
But, it might be necessary for the product. Beyond is apparently considered a failure, so that puts a sequel in question. DSC is unproven so we will have to wait and see.
Personally, if Trek gets shelved for another decade, that might be a good thing. I don't necessarily want it to be, but I also don't want a show produced with a gun to the head of a producer demanding that they make "XYZ" and make money.
Star Trek is for making money and if it won't do that, then CBS should move on. There is not special treatment.
While this is disappointing, I don't think it's spells the end of the world for the show.
Bryan Fuller was named show-runner of Star Trek: Discovery back in February of this year. That was before it was even called Discovery. At that point in time, only producer Alex Kurtzman (who has co-written and worked on the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek films) was on-board and no other details had been finalized. When Fuller was brought on-board, he was brought on-board to conceptualize and theoretically run the new Trek show. In that time, he’s brought on-board writers (many of whom are Trek alumni, such as Nicholas Meyer), producers and essentially helped choose the entire production team behind the new show. He’s written two episodes of the first season and according to Variety’s article, he will continue to map out the story arc for the first season and the mythology of the new show. So, in short, Discovery is still Fuller’s brainchild even if he’s not running the show anymore. The people currently running the show, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, have worked with Fuller before on Pushing Daisies. It’s not like CBS is bringing back Rick Berman & Brannon Braga. They essentially promoted two of Fuller’s most trusted producers to step in and takeover. If anyone can fulfill Fuller’s vision of the show and uphold it, it is likely these two.
Yes, there's been some negative press regarding the hiring of Akiva Goldsman, the “wonderful” writer behind that “classic” film Batman & Robin. I will admit when I first heard Goldsman was being brought-on in a “top creative role”, I was pretty upset. It was like experiencing the Enterprise-D crashing into Veridian III and then witnessing one of your favorite characters die – oh, wait. While I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about Goldsman – who butchered Mark Protosevich’s fantastic script for I Am Legend and turned Lost in Space into something utterly unwatchable – he did win an Oscar for writing A Beautiful Mind and not many Star Trek writers or producers can say that. We don’t know if Goldsman will actually write any episodes of the show. At this point in time, it is safe to assume most of the first season is either mapped out or written. He’s probably being brought-on because Berg & Haberts have never run a show before and CBS obviously doesn’t want to screw this up. There’s a lot riding on this show being successful – it’s going to be the flagship of CBS’s new All-Access streaming service, it’s the first Star Trek show in 12 years and the apparent price tag is $6-7 million an episode. That is a pretty hefty price tag, more than double what they spent on the last Star Trek show, Enterprise, and close to what HBO spends on Game of Thrones. So it makes sense that CBS would bring someone like Goldsman on-board to help facilitate things and make sure this ship runs smoothly.
It is also possible Fuller, who is also executive producing American Godz for STARZ and revitalizing Amazing Stories for NBC, will come back in a more direct leadership capacity for the second season. Many of the articles reporting on Fuller’s reduced role cite him stretching himself out too thin essentially running three shows at once. This was probably bound to happen, as Fuller committed himself to American Godz & Amazing Stories before he decided to take on the Star Trek job. Unless Discovery completely tanks in its first season (in which case Fuller has nothing to worry about), there will be plenty of time for Fuller to come back inhabiting the role he once had. While Star Trek: Discovery has had somewhat of a bumpy start out of Starbase, with the premiere date being pushed back from January to May (which, really, was only a good thing), this isn’t like Maurice Hurley running things into the ground with the first couple seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
So for all intents and purposes Discovery is still steady as she goes. At the very least, the first couple episodes will be very much creatively driven by Fuller, even if he’s not overseeing everything from now until the first season wraps.
Bryan Fuller was named show-runner of Star Trek: Discovery back in February of this year. That was before it was even called Discovery. At that point in time, only producer Alex Kurtzman (who has co-written and worked on the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek films) was on-board and no other details had been finalized. When Fuller was brought on-board, he was brought on-board to conceptualize and theoretically run the new Trek show. In that time, he’s brought on-board writers (many of whom are Trek alumni, such as Nicholas Meyer), producers and essentially helped choose the entire production team behind the new show. He’s written two episodes of the first season and according to Variety’s article, he will continue to map out the story arc for the first season and the mythology of the new show. So, in short, Discovery is still Fuller’s brainchild even if he’s not running the show anymore. The people currently running the show, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, have worked with Fuller before on Pushing Daisies. It’s not like CBS is bringing back Rick Berman & Brannon Braga. They essentially promoted two of Fuller’s most trusted producers to step in and takeover. If anyone can fulfill Fuller’s vision of the show and uphold it, it is likely these two.
Yes, there's been some negative press regarding the hiring of Akiva Goldsman, the “wonderful” writer behind that “classic” film Batman & Robin. I will admit when I first heard Goldsman was being brought-on in a “top creative role”, I was pretty upset. It was like experiencing the Enterprise-D crashing into Veridian III and then witnessing one of your favorite characters die – oh, wait. While I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about Goldsman – who butchered Mark Protosevich’s fantastic script for I Am Legend and turned Lost in Space into something utterly unwatchable – he did win an Oscar for writing A Beautiful Mind and not many Star Trek writers or producers can say that. We don’t know if Goldsman will actually write any episodes of the show. At this point in time, it is safe to assume most of the first season is either mapped out or written. He’s probably being brought-on because Berg & Haberts have never run a show before and CBS obviously doesn’t want to screw this up. There’s a lot riding on this show being successful – it’s going to be the flagship of CBS’s new All-Access streaming service, it’s the first Star Trek show in 12 years and the apparent price tag is $6-7 million an episode. That is a pretty hefty price tag, more than double what they spent on the last Star Trek show, Enterprise, and close to what HBO spends on Game of Thrones. So it makes sense that CBS would bring someone like Goldsman on-board to help facilitate things and make sure this ship runs smoothly.
It is also possible Fuller, who is also executive producing American Godz for STARZ and revitalizing Amazing Stories for NBC, will come back in a more direct leadership capacity for the second season. Many of the articles reporting on Fuller’s reduced role cite him stretching himself out too thin essentially running three shows at once. This was probably bound to happen, as Fuller committed himself to American Godz & Amazing Stories before he decided to take on the Star Trek job. Unless Discovery completely tanks in its first season (in which case Fuller has nothing to worry about), there will be plenty of time for Fuller to come back inhabiting the role he once had. While Star Trek: Discovery has had somewhat of a bumpy start out of Starbase, with the premiere date being pushed back from January to May (which, really, was only a good thing), this isn’t like Maurice Hurley running things into the ground with the first couple seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
So for all intents and purposes Discovery is still steady as she goes. At the very least, the first couple episodes will be very much creatively driven by Fuller, even if he’s not overseeing everything from now until the first season wraps.
Well said and I agree on all counts.
Personally, the news of Fuller stepping back and his chosen two taking over show running would have been disappointing, but I would have gone with it. It was the news of Akiva joining the team in a "top creative role" that felt like a punch to the gut.
This certainly wasn't the news I expected in October. Since Fuller was one of the main reasons that I was optimistic about this show, I am now wary. It seems to me like everything may be off the table, including the show being set in the prime timeline.
Eh, I'm not too worried about it.
The press release is basically PR-speak for "he was just working too damn slow with all his other projects, but we already sold a series, now we have to deliver the product ASAP". It puts a big emphasis on that they are still talking with each other.
Compare that with the press release from when Robert Orci was booted from Star Trek 3, which behind all the "have a long history of great work together" basically summed up to "we fired his ass and will never call him again", and you can see the difference.
Besides, the show has a clear direction now, and is helmed by the people hand-picked by Fuller to co-run it with him. It'll be fine. It might not be 100% Fullers' vision anymore, but since none of us know what that was, it's hard to complain. And a bit of pressure sometimes is very good for the arts - I would be more worried if everything worked like clockwork, because that usually spells "bland generic Hollywood product".
The press release is basically PR-speak for "he was just working too damn slow with all his other projects, but we already sold a series, now we have to deliver the product ASAP". It puts a big emphasis on that they are still talking with each other.
Compare that with the press release from when Robert Orci was booted from Star Trek 3, which behind all the "have a long history of great work together" basically summed up to "we fired his ass and will never call him again", and you can see the difference.
Besides, the show has a clear direction now, and is helmed by the people hand-picked by Fuller to co-run it with him. It'll be fine. It might not be 100% Fullers' vision anymore, but since none of us know what that was, it's hard to complain. And a bit of pressure sometimes is very good for the arts - I would be more worried if everything worked like clockwork, because that usually spells "bland generic Hollywood product".
With Fuller gone, I'd say blandness is more likely now.
I’d been waiting for an update on the show for awhile now, but this is not the kind of new I wanted (or expected).
Fuller leaving is a major letdown for me. His hiring was the reason I got excited for this show in the first place. I was very surprised CBS hired him in the first place, I’m not accustomed to them making good creative decisions. But, it appears as if that has come to an end. I’m very skeptical of the “official” reason they gave for his departure. While I’m sure his schedule and overextension played a factor, it also seems like maybe he didn’t get on very well with CBS. Maybe another delay would’ve been necessary to ensure the show never sacrificed quality for expediency, but the studio was unwilling to accept further delays. Maybe Spielberg and NBC allowed him greater freedom, especially since Amazing Stories isn’t even far along in pre-production. American Gods would also require more time since there down to the wire in completing the show (now that shooting has wrapped) before the airdate. But a lot of that is just speculation on my part, a gut feeling. I’m just more willing to grant Fuller the benefit of the doubt than I am CBS or any studio.
Having lots of money riding on Star Trek is what worries me. Big budgets mean more at stake for the studio, which means more interference. Look at Deadpool. Whether you liked that movie or not, the filmmakers were able to stick to their vision because it cost a relatively small amount of money, compared to other tentpole blockbusters. The problem is that this is not a show with a proven track record. It already would’ve been a big gamble putting that large of a budget on Fuller’s shoulders. But now, the show isn’t even out yet and he’s been replaced, meaning the studio is going to be even more wary and hands-on, and I have no faith in CBS to know what makes a good show.
The reason why the Kelvin-verse never caught on with the general public was because the studio tried to force it, instead of letting it come naturally. Star Trek was never going to be a billion dollar franchise, rivaling Star Wars or the Marvel Studios movies. By having such large budgets, that meant the execs were more involved, trying to make the story appeal to as a large an audience as possible, replacing philosophy & character with action and cheap jokes. If Goldsman really was on the quality-control/approval committee for Skydance (which would be bad enough, since they make terrible movies outside of True Grit and the first Jack Reacher), then that concerns me even more. That means he was okay with all of the nu-Trek movies and thinks that those are a decent representation of Star Trek.
As cool as it would be to have a Star Trek show that can rival Game of Thrones in production value (the real estimates are $6-7 million per episode, not 9), that’s not what Star Trek is about, or what it does best. With Fuller out of the picture, I’m worried the new showrunners will be nothing more than yes-men, afraid to risk their new jobs by disagreeing with CBS, instead of doing what is best for the show (whatever that may be).
I have no doubt that Discovery will eventually be released. They’ve signed distribution contracts (which have already made the show profitable) and sunk far too much time and money into it to stop this train now. But, that doesn’t mean the show is going to be worth it.
I’m not so much a stickler for continuity, I just want a good series with solid storytelling. I would hate for a new Star Trek show to come out only for it to be a disappointment. All that said, I’m still cautiously optimistic. Right now the first few episodes are already written by Fuller & Meyer and ready to shoot, so as long as they are tampered with we’ll at least have a few good episodes. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the season holds up.
Fuller leaving is a major letdown for me. His hiring was the reason I got excited for this show in the first place. I was very surprised CBS hired him in the first place, I’m not accustomed to them making good creative decisions. But, it appears as if that has come to an end. I’m very skeptical of the “official” reason they gave for his departure. While I’m sure his schedule and overextension played a factor, it also seems like maybe he didn’t get on very well with CBS. Maybe another delay would’ve been necessary to ensure the show never sacrificed quality for expediency, but the studio was unwilling to accept further delays. Maybe Spielberg and NBC allowed him greater freedom, especially since Amazing Stories isn’t even far along in pre-production. American Gods would also require more time since there down to the wire in completing the show (now that shooting has wrapped) before the airdate. But a lot of that is just speculation on my part, a gut feeling. I’m just more willing to grant Fuller the benefit of the doubt than I am CBS or any studio.
Having lots of money riding on Star Trek is what worries me. Big budgets mean more at stake for the studio, which means more interference. Look at Deadpool. Whether you liked that movie or not, the filmmakers were able to stick to their vision because it cost a relatively small amount of money, compared to other tentpole blockbusters. The problem is that this is not a show with a proven track record. It already would’ve been a big gamble putting that large of a budget on Fuller’s shoulders. But now, the show isn’t even out yet and he’s been replaced, meaning the studio is going to be even more wary and hands-on, and I have no faith in CBS to know what makes a good show.
The reason why the Kelvin-verse never caught on with the general public was because the studio tried to force it, instead of letting it come naturally. Star Trek was never going to be a billion dollar franchise, rivaling Star Wars or the Marvel Studios movies. By having such large budgets, that meant the execs were more involved, trying to make the story appeal to as a large an audience as possible, replacing philosophy & character with action and cheap jokes. If Goldsman really was on the quality-control/approval committee for Skydance (which would be bad enough, since they make terrible movies outside of True Grit and the first Jack Reacher), then that concerns me even more. That means he was okay with all of the nu-Trek movies and thinks that those are a decent representation of Star Trek.
As cool as it would be to have a Star Trek show that can rival Game of Thrones in production value (the real estimates are $6-7 million per episode, not 9), that’s not what Star Trek is about, or what it does best. With Fuller out of the picture, I’m worried the new showrunners will be nothing more than yes-men, afraid to risk their new jobs by disagreeing with CBS, instead of doing what is best for the show (whatever that may be).
I have no doubt that Discovery will eventually be released. They’ve signed distribution contracts (which have already made the show profitable) and sunk far too much time and money into it to stop this train now. But, that doesn’t mean the show is going to be worth it.
I’m not so much a stickler for continuity, I just want a good series with solid storytelling. I would hate for a new Star Trek show to come out only for it to be a disappointment. All that said, I’m still cautiously optimistic. Right now the first few episodes are already written by Fuller & Meyer and ready to shoot, so as long as they are tampered with we’ll at least have a few good episodes. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the season holds up.
I really love Bryan Fuller's work, especially Pushing Daisies and Hannibal but he has never done a show that was actually successful. So maybe him stepping back isn't such a bad thing, he got it off the ground, mapped out the story arc and wrote the first two episodes and now others take over to maybe make it a bit more accessible?
As sad as it is, looking at Fuller's track record Discovery had a big chance to end early, his shows seemed to find dedicated audiences but not enough people to sustain the shows long term.
As sad as it is, looking at Fuller's track record Discovery had a big chance to end early, his shows seemed to find dedicated audiences but not enough people to sustain the shows long term.
I'm pretty sure "Trek show which got Fuller's full attention" would be the best possible option.
But I much prefer "Trek show that got some other people's full attention" over "Trek show that is half-assed by Fuller".
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