Did a Mail Room Worker Write a ‘TNG’ Episode? It’s Complicated.

When it comes to Star Trek: The Next Generation, there was just as much drama and excitement behind the scenes as there was on the screen. Everyone loves an underdog story, and there’s no better underdog story from the TNG backlot than this. One of the fan-favorite episodes of ‘TNG’ came from an unexpected source: a mail room employee. Well, sort of. The story of who wrote this episode, who ultimately got credit for it, and how it went from story idea to full script is a complicated one. Here are the details on how this episode came to life.

Bryan Stewart Worked His Way Up From the Mail Room

for @StarTrek i wrote about my dad’s hidden star trek legacy, how the series bonded us, and why it’s so hard to grasp that our parents are people too https://t.co/ktxaccePAB

— sophia stewart (@smswrites) February 1, 2021

Details about how a guy from the mail room ultimately got a writing credit on Star Trek: The Next Generation recently came to light thanks to the man’s daughter. StarTrek.com published a piece by Sophia Stewart, daughter of writer Bryan Stewart. In her essay, Stewart recounted details she had recently confirmed with her father, Bryan, who is still alive and “lucid”.

“For a short time prior to my birth, as a freshly graduated 23 year old, he worked in the mailroom at Paramount Pictures, sorting, stamping, and delivering the studio’s mail for minimum wage,” Stewart wrote in her essay, entitled “My Dad Helped Carve Out a Place for Jack Crusher”.

In a chance meeting while working his “regular route” sometime in 1989, Stewart happened upon a woman typing up a screenplay. Her name was Susanne Lambdin, and this chance meeting would result in both Lambdin and Stewart getting credit for their contributions to a key episode of the series. The two decided to pair up and write a teleplay together, on spec.

A “spec” script is a script for TV or film that is written on speculation, meaning the writer hasn’t been paid or negotiated a deal for future payment upon completion. In other words, the writer completes a project, and hopes to get paid for it at a later date…but nothing is guaranteed. Unfortunately for the pair, their first script submitted to TNG was rejected.

However, many other writers were successful in their spec script submission process. Perhaps most notable of all was Ronald D. Moore, who started writing for the show on spec in 1988, joined the staff as a script editor the following year, and ultimately went on to work on Battlestar Galactica and Outlander.

Stewart Got a Second Shot After a Special Lunch Meeting

YouTubeJack Crusher as he appeared in “Family”.

In fact, it was Ron Moore himself who was able to give Stewart a second shot at success on the show. According to Sophia Stewart, by 1990, her father had been promoted into Paramount’s publicity department. At that time, he was able to schedule a lunch with Ron Moore to get insights on what kind of writing the show was looking for. It turned out that Moore remembered the script Stewart and Lambdin had submitted, and after a bit of discussion, the two men agreed the script could be resubmitted after being revised.

Given that, by 1990, Stewart was no longer working in the mail room, it’s not accurate to say he was a mail room employee when he got his break. That being said, he did work on an early version of the script with Susanne Lambdin while still employed in the mail room, so it’s a little bit of a gray area for some fans.

The Episode Doesn’t Credit Stewart as the Writer

YouTubeA scene from the episode “Family”.

According to Sophia Stewart, “My dad and Susanne were paid $1000 to split between them.” It’s not clear whether they split their earnings 50/50, though that seems a fair assumption given the credit on the episode reads: “Based In Part On A Premise By Susanne Lambdin & Bryan Stewart”. In the world of scriptwriting, a credit that uses an ampersand, as opposed to “and”, is meant to indicate that the shared credit was the result of a closer partnership.

If this assumption is correct, that means each writer took home $500, pre-tax. Adjusting for inflation using the US Bureau of Labor Statistic’s calculator tool, that $500 in 1990 is roughly equivalent to $1000 in 2020 dollars. The BLS calculator was not capable of calculating or displaying estimated values for 2021 at the time of publication.

While elements from the duo’s story were used in the final shooting script for the episode Family, other writers also contributed story elements. The “Written By” credit on this episode was given to Ronald D. Moore. The episode aired in the show’s fourth season. It was the second episode of the season, but the first “new story” of that season, given that the season opener was The Best of Both Worlds: Part II, the conclusion of a two-part arc.

Writer credits are a complex issue, and are governed by the Writer’s Guild. Crediting best practices have evolved over television history. These days, a credit for “Based In Part On A Premise By” isn’t a common way of crediting a TV writer. According to the current WGA West TV Credits Manual, “Written By”, “Story By”, “Television Story By”, “Teleplay By”, or “Adaptation By” are the Guild-Approved crediting conventions these days, with no variant of “Premise By” featured in the manual.

The manual goes on to explain: “Any form of credit not expressly described in this Manual shall be used only upon receipt of a waiver from the Guild. Fewer names and fewer types of credit enhance the value of all credits and the dignity of all writers.”

Stewart Didn’t Brag After the Episode Aired

Jack Crusher’s Holosim Card from Star Trek: TNG by Cmdr.Kerner. Thread: https://t.co/nUrJ6IcsQh #StarTrek #TNG #Prop #CraftYourFandom pic.twitter.com/GkwGq7hqMp

— the RPF (@therpf) January 3, 2018

According to Sophia Stewart, her father didn’t brag much about his contributions to Star Trek. In fact, when she spoke with her father while preparing her essay to check a few details, he revealed he wasn’t entirely happy with how his story was interpreted for the screen.

“I was surprised when he expressed some disappointment about how Jack and Wesley’s meeting ultimately manifested onscreen,” she wrote in her essay. “Because of the final product’s deviation from his original vision, he didn’t tell anyone when the episode aired, even though the credits featured his name.”

One big “deviation”? Apparently, in the original spec script, Wesley discovers the recording from his father by accident. In the final version of the episode that aired, Dr. Crusher gives the recording to Wesley directly. Stewart apparently felt that small change “robbed the moment of some of its intimacy and wonder.”

For his part, Moore has reminisced about fighting for this episode to make it to air. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Moore stated of the episode, “Gene [Roddenberry] didn’t want to do it. Rick Berman didn’t want to do it. Looking back, I’m really grateful we pulled it off.”

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