Page 2
Wayne Community College
9 •
March 6, 1969
Mr. Shatner; Oh, yes, I've written
scripts and, in fact, whenever I'm not
working as an actor, I try to do some
thing in the area of creating a script.
And by that, I mean, I have, in the past,
sat down and written shows—either a
finished screenplay or a story idea—
and in the past three years, I tried to
put together a film by either buying a
property, a book, or a script that I
think can be improved, or by one means
or another, putting together a film.
I've tried on three separate occasions
to have a screenplay in a finished form
of such value that somebody would be
willing to invest money. I haven't
succeeded in three tries, but that
won't stop me,
Mr. Nicholson; "Star Trek" and the
show you did before that, as well as the
one before that, all had pretty good
critical reviews. They made points;
they had a point of view that they were
expressing.
Mr. Shatner; Social commentary.
Mr. Nicholson; Right. This brings the
question to my mind: Is this general
approval of the point of view reached
through discussion with writers and the
entire staff, or is it representative
of the official decision of just one or
two people?
Mr. Shatner; Well, in the case of the
series you're talking about before,
"For the People," the same group that
produced "The Defenders," Herb Brodkln
of Plaudls Productions— Well, to go
back even further—I had been asked to
do "The Defenders" and I turned it down,
wanting to make a career in theater and
movies. Subsequently, some foiu* years
later, I chang^ my mind and Brodkln
called me and said, "We have a show
ready to go. We've got a pilot; we're
on the waiting period, ready to go on
the air, and its point of view will be
that of the opposite, the other table,
than 'The Defenders.'" In other words,
"The Defenders" was defending the crim
inal against the machinations of the
law. This program, "For the People,"
would be defending the people against
the aberrations caused by defence law-
* yers, so that the people, themselves,
* would be protected against the criminals,
* in order to prosecute the criminals, put
* the criminals away. And I, at this point,
* had kind of adhered to that point of view
* anyway, you know. I mean, much had been
* written about the defense of the individ-
^ ual and the pendulum has just begun to
* swing back the other way and say, "Walt a
* minute! It's all very well to say his
* mother didn't like him and that's why he
* miirdered that person, but what about that
* murdered person and his family?" which is
* the other point of view.
* So I selected to do the show for a
* number of reasons and one of them being
* that the point of view did not offend
* me. On "Star Trek," we take a very
* himanistic point of view and that's part
* of my philosophy as well. If I encountered
* a situation whereby a script offended me
* and I was tied by contract with the neces-
* slty of doing it, uh.... I think at this
* point now, I would object. Whether I
* would have when I was in a less "strong"
* position, I don't know, (small laugh)
*
* Karen: Have you ever changed the dialogue
* in a script that you didn't think went
* with the character?
*
* Mr. Shatner; Oh, yes! These scripts are
* written so hastily! The author of a par-
* ticular script will conceive an idea or
* get an idea from the producer of the show
* and he'll go home and write it in two or
* three weeks. An hour is an act and a
* half of a play. He'll bring it in as a
* first draft and he's tied by contract, the
* writer's contract, to do a second draft.
* Sometimes, the thing is so bad that they
* say, "OK," and they pay him off and the
* story editor of the particular program
* will give it to another guy to rewrite or
* in some instances, they'll give it back
* to the original writer and say, "These
* scenes are terrible; this construction is
* bad, let alone the dialogue!" They don't
* even talk about dialogue; they talk about
* construction!
* Then he'll hack it up for another week
* and if he spends more than two or three
* weeks on a script, he is not going to
* make as much money as he could if he
* didn't, you see. And a lot of these
* writers, as everybody else, get themselves
* into a bind of a standard of living and