Who is the Star Trek: Picard Showrunner?

[eschaton]

So, to the best of my knowledge, there are eight executive producers for Star Trek: Picard: Alex Kurtzman, James Duff, Akiva Goldsman, Michal Chabon, Trevor Roth, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry, and Aaron Baiers. Although Kirsten Beyer is involved, she is not an EP - actually the only one in the writer's room who isn't.

The odd thing to me is it hasn't been announced who exactly is the showrunner. It has to be one of the EPs right? And they have to already have a showrunner.

Even though Kurtzman has been the "public face" of the show, I don't think he's the actual showrunner. He's been backing off Discovery and has a lot of other shows to help get through production. Kadin and Baiers are production-side people, not creatives, and Roddenberry and Roth are obviously more or less ceremonial - involved due to running Roddenberry Entertainment.

That leaves us with - realistically - one of Duff, Goldsman, and Chabon. I believe Duff briefly ran the writer's room for Discovery after Berg and Harberts were fired, which would make him seem to be the most likely candidate. But I've seen nothing in the media about this at all.

I have to admit it does make me a little concerned. Shows without a single or tight-working pair of showrunners typically do not fare very well.

 

[F. King Daniel]

They don't have a single showrunner, and are taking a communal approach. Kurtzman explained it in a recentish interview but I can't find it...

 

[Lord Garth]

I feel like they should have at least one older writer. Not necessarily someone who wrote for Star Trek in the Old Days, but someone who's closer to Patrick Stewart's age, who could give their perspective.

 

[eschaton]

I feel like they should have at least one older writer. Not necessarily someone who wrote for Star Trek in the Old Days, but someone who's closer to Patrick Stewart's age, who could give their perspective.

The writer's room on Picard is pretty old. Not Stewart old, but old compared to Discovery, which has a lot of 20somthings and 30somethings

Kurtzman is 45
Chabon is 55
Goldsman is 56
Duff is 63

Beyer's age isn't public, but she first pitched stories for Voayger back in 1998, so she's likely in her mid 40s at minimum.

 

[Krandor]

I though Chabon was supposed to be running thing for picard. I thought I read that somewhere

 

[eschaton]

I though Chabon was supposed to be running thing for picard. I thought I read that somewhere

If Chabon is running things I will be so friggin thrilled. It's so rare to get a top-notch literary fiction writer who both understands speculative fiction and is willing to work in TV.

 

[Krandor]

If Chabon is running things I will be so friggin thrilled. It's so rare to get a top-notch literary fiction writer who both understands speculative fiction and is willing to work in TV.

Of the people in the writers room he is the most qualified.

 

[Lawrence B]

They don't have a single showrunner, and are taking a communal approach. Kurtzman explained it in a recentish interview but I can't find it...

Here it is from the LA Times:

"In a shift from more traditional series development with a showrunner at the helm, [Star Trek: Picard] is “being shepherded by a communal effort,” Kurtzman says, rattling off six names, including his own along with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon.

“It’ll be very different than ‘Discovery.’ It’ll be slower, more meditative. It speaks to the rainbow of colors we’re playing with in all these different shows."

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

“It’ll be very different than ‘Discovery.’ It’ll be slower, more meditative. It speaks to the rainbow of colors we’re playing with in all these different shows."

That word "meditative" is going to be heavily scrutinized for the snore factor. I think they'll find a good balance, though.

 

[Lawrence B]

Of the people in the writers room he is the most qualified.

If you mean to say Chabon is the most qualified to be the Showrunner, he's actually the least qualified as he has virtually no experience in television writing or producing except for "Calypso". A Showrunner isn't simply responsible the direction of the story, they manage the writers room including assigning episodes, work with the other creative departments on the look and feel of the show and often manage the budget. As great a novelist as Chabon is, that's not the sort of thing you hand off to someone with no prior television experience. Kurtzman, Duff and Goldsman are far more versed in the day-to-day running of a series. No doubt, Chabon likely has a big say in putting together the season's story arc and episodes, but it wouldn't make sense for him to be the Showrunner at this point.

 

[Krandor]

If you mean to say Chabon is the most qualified to be the Showrunner, he's actually the least qualified as he has virtually no experience in television writing or producing except for "Calypso". A Showrunner isn't simply responsible the direction of the story, they manage the writers room including assigning episodes, work with the other creative departments on the look and feel of the show and often manage the budget. As great a novelist as Chabon is, that's not the sort of thing you hand off to someone with no prior television experience. Kurtzman, Duff and Goldsman are far more versed in the day-to-day running of a series. No doubt, Chabon likely has a big say in putting together the season's story arc and episodes, but it wouldn't make sense for him to be the Showrunner at this point.

That is a good point. He would probably be good as head writer though.

 

[Kelso]

It's smart to load the show up with showrunners- that'll increase the chances of one or more of them actually making it to the end of the season.

 

[Rahul]

That's an, uh, interesting approach. But coud work. If there are multiple people running the show, I hope they compartmentalize the showrunning to a degree - one more figuring out the overarching plot stuff, others more for production/filming, and people overseeing the day-to-day business.

They seem to be very confident they get along ver well, splitting up "boss duties" can be a dangerous thing when egos clash. OTOH I personally have the opinion that Kurtzman (technically the boss) is probably more too soft (e.g. respects other opinions too much), but if the other people are very social, that can maybe work really well. Depends on the people and egos involved.

 

[BillJ]

It's smart to load the show up with showrunners- that'll increase the chances of one or more of them actually making it to the end of the season.

I hope it works, but leadership by committee has plenty of potential pitfalls.

 

[Krandor]

I hope it works, but leadership by committee has plenty of potential pitfalls.

Yeah I'm not a fan of show runner by committee. It helps to have something in charge. Though in the case of this show, I'm not so sure Patrick Stewart may not be the one really in charge.

 

[Qonundrum]

They don't have a single showrunner, and are taking a communal approach. Kurtzman explained it in a recentish interview but I can't find it...

Oh goody. Another ensemble group - which can end up being hit or miss... Speaking of, look up that movie from 1967 that had so many different writers and directors... I believe the title was... "Casino Royale". Among other things, usually ensemble teams can strengthen scripts, if the ensemble is really solid and running on all cylinders and not running around in a dozen different directions that can't agree on... like squirrels that just ate nuts spiked with crystal meth. In other words, that poor broth always gets spoiled by too many chefs...

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I’m surprised Sir Patrick doesn’t have an EP credit or hasn’t beeen listed as a producer by Chabon. I’m sure he had some measure of script approval to get him to do this show.

Mark

 

[Cyrus]

Kristin Beyer seems to be the lowest ranked member of the writing staff, but she is the one that supposedly came up with the basic concept for the series. It would be interesting to see if she gets a co-creator credit or not (probably not).

 

[Noname Given]

That word "meditative" is going to be heavily scrutinized for the snore factor. I think they'll find a good balance, though.

It just means the Director was instructed not to yell "Cut" (and to keep rolling) if Patrick Stewart nods off in the middle of a scene. (And that they will still use the footage. )

 

[Galaxy]

That word "meditative" is going to be heavily scrutinized for the snore factor. I think they'll find a good balance, though.

Talkative scenes do not need to be boring if written well. In fact they can be great. Look at the very first Game of Thrones Episode.