Power is Ephemeral

William Shatner :

Power is an ephemeral;

it's What is Perceived. 

In order for Power to exist it 

has to be acknowledged by the 

people who are involved in

The Work. 

What I began to see 

was Gene Roddenberry, 

The Creator of Star Trek, 

aging and in diminishing 

health trying desperately 

to hold on to his creative vision, 

his legacy, and ultimately, 

His Power. 

Hurley:

Roddenberry had an incredible Loyalty, 

he was very loyal to his friends. 

David Gerold :

No, Gene screwed over all his friends 

as well as his enemies. 

You know, he had a lot of demons. 

He was very perceptive, 

had a high IQ. 

Gene was a Historical Revisionist. 

Creative and contributive

and collaborative. 

Very intimidating guy.

His good nature. 

He could be a bully. 

But he was a nice man and 

was a generous man. 

Gene had a way of making you feel really good about yourself. 

He could inspire people to do better than they believed they were capable of. 

Sir Patrick Stewart :

I just found him a decent man. 

And had a lot of worldly experience. 

A bomber pilot in the Pacific, decorated 

Pan-Am pilot world wide. 

I had great arguments about philosophy 

and all sorts of things. 

He was a really remarkable man, I thought. 

Gene was fun... but then later as things were 

not going as well I think he got sour. 

There's this twenty years

in The Desert for Gene. 

He's the forgotten man. 

D.C. Fontana:

The things that didn't happen 

were disappointing 

and very saddening.

 

His wife Majel would go to the conventions 

and they would sell memorabilia 

and make some money that way 

and that money helped sustain him. 

When you're out of work as a writer 

in Hollywood and you can't find it,

it's a difficult life. 

I guarantee you he had a difficult life 

between Star Trek and the first movie — 

We get back together for Next Gen and for him 

it's like he's been called back 

out of The Desert and given 

A Position of Power again. 

At the time Gene Roddenberry was considered 

somewhat of a pain in the neck, 

he was kind of a blustery guy 

who was not very agreeable. 

Everybody else forgot him after

Star Trek : The Motion Picture, this epic disaster. 

Every aspect of it got out of hand, 

this was a runaway train. 

He wasn't trusted with anything. 

He had been relegated to being 

the executive consultant on the movies. 

They paid him very well. 

I think that may have been enough. 

He had a big corner office in the Hart building. 

He pretty much spent his days in correspondence with people 

from all over the world who had become Star Trek fans. 

So they gave him this emeritus status, 

and he was a Has-Been.

Your So-Called Life

Q: 

The Borg is The Ultimate User.

 They're unlike any threat your Federation has ever faced. 

They're not interested in Political Conquest, Wealth or Power as you know it. 

They're simply interested in Your Ship, 

its Technology. 

They've identified it as something they can consume.

RIKER: 

You brought us here, 

you exposed us to Them, 

and you cost us the lives 

of our shipmates 

Q: 

Oh, please. 

PICARD: 

Number One —

Eighteen of Our People have died. 

Please, Tell Us this is 

one of Your Illusions.

Q:

Oh, no. This is as real 

as your so-called 

“Life” gets.

(And he vanishes) 

In the revised final draft of the script, in the scene in the observation lounge where Riker confronts Q about how he exposed the Enterprise to the Borg, which led to the deaths of eighteen crewmembers, his temper flares and he moves to assault Q, who warns Riker to stop or he would kill him. 

In the final aired version, Q merely dismisses Riker's comments with an "Oh, please." 

This is the only Q episode that Maurice Hurley wrote. Melinda M. Snodgrass commented, "Maurice Hurley always thought Q was here to teach us a lesson, to guide and instruct us."

….because You are Trying to Have Heaven without God

“Now, Post-Modern Theology is quite a proposition — because you’re saying you want to have Theology without God.”

Shatner :

Did you realize that The Next Generation, 

it was possible to characterize it as 

Gene Roddenberry's 

Dream of Heaven? 

Branon Braga :

I would never have thought that at the time, 

but now that we're talking,  

with his conception of The Future 

and Human Beings in The Future, 

and Q — Q is God. 

I mean, just look at the character, 

look at everything about 

the character. 

Shatner :

Gene was a well-known Atheist, 

but he invents Q. 

Q. :

Typical, so Typical. 

Savage Life Forms 

never follow even 

Their OWN Rules.

Ronald D. Moore :

As I sit here it's pretty startling — 

God's a character, a LITERALISED character, 

on Star Trek : The Next Generation. 

Shatner :

By An Atheist. 

Ronald D. Moore :

By An Atheist. 

Very interesting.

Hurley: 

Gene's IDEAS about 

The Future and about Man  — 

are wacky doodle. 

He sees Us now in Our Infancy 

where we just gather and accumulate 

like a three-year-old in a crib,

‘That's Mine, that's mine, 

give me this, you can't have that 

I need this, I need that.’

He believed that Mankind in the twenty-fourth century had •resolved• ALL Conflict between themselves.

Dorothy Fountuna : 

That developed between the first Star Trek 

and the second Star Trek. 

David Gerrold : 

Back in the 60's, Gene wanted 

to be The Womaniser and always 

gets the beautiful woman and always 

punches out The Bad Guy 

and always wins. 

And in 1986, Gene is not going to be 

down there on the front lines punching, 

but he WILL be The All-Seeing ADVISOR, 

The WISE Man.

Shatner: 

The real Trouble in Year One

is the dictums, how to 

get a good script OUT. 

If you tell A Writer that the characters can't have conflict between them, you're just cutting his legs off. 

Some writers really chaffed against 

Gene's Vision of A Better Future 

where there was No Conflict —

The ESSENCE of Drama is Conflict.

“There was No Evil.”

“There's No Money anymore. 

There was No Jealousy. 

There's No Fighting anymore. 

No separate Individual 

GOALS or IDEAS — 

We just negotiate. 

No Tension, what?”

Branon Braga :

I liked the Dramatic Constraints 

it put on ME as A Writer.”

Shatner : 

Really? 

Branon Braga :

Well, I had to find new ways 

to tell stories.”

“When you look at The Original Series 

there's a LOT of Conflict between 

those characters, they argue a lot, 

and crewmen on The Enterprise 

are YELLING at each other — 

If Our People are Perfect and have No Conflicts 

or Problems between them, 

there is no STORY here. 

We would walk around in each others' offices going, 

"I don't know how to write about that, 

I don't know how to write about Perfect People." 

Hurley :

That was Gene's vision of 

Star Trek: The Next Generation, take it or leave it 

and work within it or DON’T.

I don't think you can sustain a show 

where the characters are not 

accessible to the audience. 

Where you don't see somebody 

over coming A Flaw, 

if there's no Conflict and no tension 

between people, then there's no relationship 

between people and that show will wither. 

And that's what was happening. 

I tried to make it sustainable, 

I wanted to create this new adversary, The Borg, 

I want the Federation to form allies against this OVERWHELMING, awesome adversary. 

At the end of the first season 

there's an episode called ‘The Neutral Zone’, 

which was the arc for the second season, 

and the arc for the second season was going to be 

“Here come The Borg.”

At the end of the second season 

they DEFEAT The Borg.”

Shatner : 

Then what happened? 

Hurley :

Writers Strike. 

End of the first season, 

Writers Strike begins. 

Couldn't talk to The Writers, 

couldn't talk to Roddenberry. 

And the hiatus dragged on and on and on, 

it was five and a half months

“Patrick kept saying the trouble with the show is 

there's not enough f-ing and f-ing. 

Fighting and Fornicating.”

Patrick Stewart : 

And I said I have a feeling Our Audience 

might like to see Our Captain just getting 

blown away by meeting Somebody New.

Ira Stephen Behr :

The Writers were real excited. 

Well Rick says, ‘You've got to 

go in to see Gene.’ 

So I go in and he's very nice but he says, 

‘I like the idea of The Pleasure Planet 

and I want it to be a place where 

you see women FONDLING and 

KISSING other women, 

and men HUGGING and 

holding hands and KISSING 

and we can imply that 

they're having SEX 

in the background.’ 

Huh? Really? 

I'm going, "Oh, man, I'm in 

The freakin' Twilight Zone." 

I go back to Rick, he goes, 

‘Pft, pay no attention to that, 

just get The Captain laid."

Shiny

Maurice Hurley :

“I get a call from Paramount saying 

‘Come and meet Roddenberry, 

we want to consider you as a writer 

for Star Trek: The Next Generation’ 

I said that's A Joke, that's a JOKE. 

But I want to meet Roddenberry. 

Who wouldn't wanna meet Roddenberry? 

I was coming off two cop shows. 

I was coming off Miami Vice, very good show. 

Equalizer, very good show. 

So he gives me the first episode to rewrite. 

We pass each other in the hallway four or five times a day, 

he won't look at me.

Dorothy Fortuna : 

Apparently Gene didn't like 

What He Wrote. 

It was probably the first time 

we heard them battle.

Hurley :

And he raises up behind his desk, 

this great bird-like creature 

and he points his finger at me like this 

and he says, 

"YOU don't know the difference 

between SHIELDS 

and DEFLECTORS!." 

And that went on for weeks.”

Shatner :

What did that say to you about 

What You Were Confronting? 

Hurley :

He didn't want ME,  

Hurley, The Writer. 

He didn't want me to write Me, 

he wanted me 

to write HIM…

You cannot have 

A Protagonist 

without Desire.

It doesn't make any sense.

Any fucking sense.

You follow? Good.

Anyone else?

Yes?

Kuafman :

What if A Writer is attempting to create 

A Story where nothing much happens?

Where people don't change,

they don't have any epiphanies.

They Struggle and are Frustrated,

and nothing is resolved.

More a reflection

of The Real World.

Lektor :

The REAL World?

Kaufman : 

Yes, sir.

Lektor :

The Real fucking World.

First of all, you write a screenplay

without Conflict or Crisis,

you'll bore your audience to tears.

Secondly, Nothing Happens

in The World?

Are you out of your fucking mind?

People are murdered every day.

There's Genocide, War, Corruption.

Every fucking day,

somewhere in the world,

somebody sacrifices his life

to save somebody.

Every day, someone somewhere

takes a conscious decision

to destroy someone else.

People find love.

People lose it.

A Child watches A Mother beaten

to death on the steps of a church.

Someone goes Hungry.

Somebody Else Betrays His Best Friend 

for a Woman.

If you can't find that stuff in life,

then you, My Friend,

don't know crap about Life!

And why the fuck are you wasting my two precious hours with your movie?

I don't have any use for it!

I don't have any bloody use for it!

Okay, thanks.

Thank you. You're welcome.

No. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. McKee.

This course makes you look at

writing in a whole different way.

Mr. McKee. 

Yes?

I'm the guy you yelled at this morning.

….I need more.

I'm the one who thought

things didn't happen in life.

Ah. Right. Okay.

Nice to see you. 

I need to Talk.

Mr. McKee, my even standing here is very scary.

I don't meet people well.

But what you said this morning

shook me to the bone.

It was bigger than my screenwriting choices.

It was about my choices as 

A Human Being. Please.

Yeah.

Well, you know, I could

sure use a drink, My Friend.

"...but a little fantastic

and fleeting and out of reach."

Then what happens?

Well, that's the end of the book.

I wanted to present it simply without big character arcs or sensationalizing the story.

I wanted to show flowers as God's miracles.

I wanted to show that Orlean never

saw the blooming ghost orchid.

It was about disappointment.

I see. That's not A Movie.

You gotta go back,

put in The Drama.

I can't go back. I've got pages of

false starts and wrong approaches.

I'm way past my deadline.

I'll tell you a secret.

A last act makes a film.

Wow them in the end,

and you got a hit.

You can have flaws, problems,

but wow them in the end

and you've got a hit.

Find an ending. But don't cheat.

And don't you dare bring in

a deus ex machina.

Your characters must change and The Change 

must come from them.

Do that and you'll be fine.

You promise?

Mr. McKee.

Have you taken my course before?

My Brother did.

My Twin brother, Donald.

He's the one who got me to come.

Lektor :

Twin screenwriters? 

Yeah.

Lektor :

Well, Julius and Philip Epstein,

who wrote Casablanca,

they were twins

You mentioned that in class.

Lektor :

Finest screenplay ever written.

Great writers' residence.

Donald.

Hey, how's your trip going?

You getting it on with that

lady journalist, you dog, you?

Yeah.

Listen, I'm just calling to say

congratulations on your script.

Isn't that cool? Marty says he can

get me high-sixes against a mil-five.

That's great, Donald.

I want to thank you

for all your help.

I wasn't any help.

Come on,

you let me stay in your place.

And your integrity

inspired me to even try.

It's been a wild ride.

Catherine says

she wants to play Cassie.

Oh, please! Ha, ha, ha.

Please, Donald?

Catherine Keener?

Catherine Keener's in my house?

Yeah, we're playing Boggle.

She's great. You should really

hang out with her, Charles.

Yeah. Um, look...

I've been thinking.

Maybe you'd be interested in hanging

out for a few days in New York.

Oh, my God, yes.

Yeah?

I was gonna show my script

to some people,

and, well, maybe you could

read it too, you know, if you like.

Of course. I'd be flattered.

Okay.

Thanks, Charles.

Okay, bye.

So, like, what would you do?

The script kind of

makes fun of me, huh?

I'm sorry. I was trying something...

Hey, I don't mind. It's funny.

Good. Okay.

So, what would you do?

You and me are so different,

Charles. We're different talents.

Charlie Kaufman :

I know. Just for fun...

How would the great Donald

end this script?

Heh, heh. Shut up.

"The Great Donald."

I feel like you're missing something.

All right. Like what? 

Look. I did a little research

on the airplane.

"Sometimes this kind of story

turns out to be something more, some glimpse of life that expands

like those Japanese paper balls you drop in water and they bloom into flowers and the flower is so marvelous you can't believe there was a time all you saw was a paper ball and a glass of water."

First of all, that's inconsistent.

She said she didn't care about flowers.

For God's sake, it's just a metaphor.

No, it’s NOT, it’s a Similie.

Well, but for what?

What turned that paper ball into a flower?

It's not in the book, Charles.

I don't know. You're reaching.

Maybe.

But I think you actually need to

speak to this woman. 

To know her.

Charlie Kaufman :

I can't. Really. 

I'll go. I'll pretend I'm you.

I want to do it, Charles.

We'll get to the bottom of this.

We're gonna fix your movie, bro.

Charlie Kaufman :

But you've gotta be exactly me.

I have a reputation to maintain.

You can't be a goofball.

Can't be an asshole.

The Donald :

I'm not an asshole.

Charlie Kaufman :

You know what I mean.

No flirting. No bad jokes.

Don't laugh How You Laugh.

The Donald :

I'm not gonna laugh.

I get to have people think I'm you.

It's an honor.

******

The Donald :

So I guess I'll bring out

the big guns now.

Do you keep in touch with Larouche?

I felt I detected an attraction to him

in the subtext. 

Care to comment?

Uh...

Well, our relationship was strictly reporter-subject.

I mean, certainly an intimacy does

evolve in this kind of relationship.

By definition, I was so interested in everything he had to say.

But the relationship ends

when the book ends.

Mendacious deceit. 

What?

Nothing.

I just have one more question.

If you could have dinner with one

historical personage, living or dead, who would it be?

Uh, well, I would have to say...

Einstein.

Or Jesus.

Very good.

Interesting Answer.

The Donald :

She's lying. 

Charlie Kaufman :

What do you mean?

What happened?

Nothing. She said everything right.

Too right.

Well, maybe because they're True.

Did you embarrass me?

People who answer questions

Too Right are liars.

Everybody says Jesus and Einstein.

That's a prepackaged answer.

"Jesus and Einstein"?

Listen, Charles, I have an idea.

You'll need to buy me

a pair of binoculars.

What's "Jesus and Einstein"?

Come on.

Sing with me.

What the hell do you need binoculars for?

Let's go, let's go.

She hung up the phone.

She's upset.

Stop watching her.

Leave her alone.

She's crying.

She's at her computer.

This is morally reprehensible.

United to Miami.

Eleven fifty-five a.m. Tomorrow.

Thought she was done with Larouche.

Her parents live in Florida.

That was no parent phone call,

my friend.

Don't say "My Friend."

A guy entering.

Handsome.

Must be her husband.

She's acting weird with him, though, right?

Don't you think?

What's she hiding from him?

Maybe she's a lesbian

and doesn't know how to tell him.

What do you think?

Have you checked out Laroche's porn site?

No. I'm trying to read.

Anyway, I'm gonna look at the porn site. Research.

Don't tell my old lady.

You mean Mom?

No, I don't mean Mom.

Still say we should go

to Miami tomorrow.

Forget it.

Some of these chicks look okay.

Hey, guess what.

We're going to Miami tomorrow.

I said, no.

I said, oh, yeah, baby. Come here.

What I came to understand

is that Change is not A Choice.

Not for a species of plant,

and not for me.

It happens, and you are different.

Maybe the only distinction

between the plant and me

is that afterward,

I lied about my change.

I lied in my book.

I pretended with my husband

that everything was the same.

But something happened

in The Swamp that day.

Hey, look —

I told you I'd find

the jewel of the Fakahatchee.

It's A Fower.

Just A Flower.

Well, might as well grab it.

Long as I'm here.

Oh, man.

Boy, my porn site's gonna be big.

Look, something I didn't tell you that 

I want to tell you about The Ghost. Okay?

I think it might help you.

I'd just started at the nursery.

And I went back one night

to pick up something.

They wanted The Ghost

just to extract the drug.

It had been a ceremonial thing,

but the young guys, you know,

they liked to get stoned.

So Matthew?

He was one of the guys who...?

Sure.

Matthew lived on that shit 

till they ran out.

Because there was this one day

he was fascinated by me.

By my hair and my sadness.

Yeah, well, it does that.

That's what I wanted to tell you.

I mean, I think you'd like it, Susie.

It seems to help people 

be fascinated.

I can extract it for you.

I know how. I watched.

I'm probably 

the only white guy who knows.

I want to do this, Susie.

I'm done with orchids, Larouche.

Hello?

Hi.

It's John.

Did you get my package?

John?

John!

Johnny.

Hey, John? Yeah?

Very happy now.

Well, I'm glad.

Very happy.

Um, John? Hm?

Will you go like this...?

No. Keep going.

No. No.

I'm trying to make a dial tone.

And you have to sustain.

And then I will join you, and together...

See, I can't do it by myself.

Which one do you want me to do?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Here we go.

That's it. We got it.

We got it. That's fucking amazing.

The Writer, Susan Orlean :

Do you ever get lonely 

sometimes, Johnny?

John Larouche, 

The Orchid Thief :

Well, I was a weird kid.

Nobody liked me.

But I had this idea...

If I waited long enough, someone 

would come around and just,

you know, understand me.

Like my mom.

Except Someone Else.

She'd look at me and

quietly say, "Yes."

Just like that.

And I wouldn't be 

alone anymore.

The Writer, Susan Orlean :

Oh, I wish I were an ant.

Oh, they're so shiny.

John Larouche, 

The Orchid Thief :

You're shinier than 

any ant, darling.

The Writer, Susan Orlean :

That's the sweetest thing

anybody has ever said to me.

John Larouche, 

The Orchid Thief :

Well,

I like you, that's why.