Star Trek: 10 Biggest Takeaways From Open A Channel: A Woman's Trek

7. Keeping The Writers Away From The Actors

Star Trek Deep Space Nine Ira Stephen Behr
CBS Media Ventures

In today's Trek, the writers will often sit with the actors to help plan season arcs for their characters. This was something Visitor discovered when interviewing the women of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

However, this is a new development in the franchise's history. In the days of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, Visitor revealed that the writers were actively instructed to stay away from the actors. The reasoning was that an actor could affect the way the writer approached their character (seen as a strength in 2024), though this caused a division on the lot between the two camps.

One writer who seemed to flout this rule was Ira Stephen Behr, who would of course go on to executive produce Deep Space Nine. 

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Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"