Piller’s Lost STAR TREK Book

Update: The manuscript was removed from TrekCore at the request of Piller’s family.

Writer Michael Piller was one of the guiding voices of the Star Trek franchise almost immediately from his joining Star Trek: The Next Generation during the show’s third season through helping create the Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Additionally, Pillar was the scripter for 1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection and he wrote a book that very candidly explored the process of bringing the film to the screen. Never heard of it? That’s because it was never published. Reportedly, Trek studio Paramount Pictures found the book a bit too candid and had it suppressed.

And while Piller sadly passed away in 2005 and it is improbable that any publisher would be interested in putting out a book that tied into a 12-year old movie, you still have a chance to read Piller’s FADE IN: From Idea to Final Draft, The Writing of Star Trek: Insurrection thanks to the people over at TrekCore.com.

This link will take you a Word file of the book’s rough draft. I’ve not had a chance to read the whole thing yet, but what I’ve skimmed through is a fascinating look at the process that went in to making the film and includes copies of studio notes, excerpts from script treatments and drafts and letters from actors, some of whom had script approval. Even without reading the full manuscript, I can already recommend it as something for not only Trek fans but for anyone who wants a really good sausage factory look at how films get made.