Berman Working With McCluggage on Trek XI

A former head of Paramount Television, a producer of Disney's Inspector Gadget movies and a screenwriter new to the franchise are working with longtime Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman to develop the eleventh Star Trek feature film, a trade newspaper has revealed.

"You can only squeeze so many eggs out of a golden goose," Berman told Variety, stating that the concept of Star Trek has been overexposed and needs to be reinvented. Berman told reporter Dave McNary that another Star Trek television series is at least three years away, and that, if the proposal for the eleventh film goes forward, it will not focus on already-established TV characters.

Berman's partners in development are said to be Jordan Kerner, a producer of over 30 films who has not previously worked on Star Trek; former Paramount Television president Kerry McCluggage, who has been cited by many Star Trek actors and producers as a strong supporter of the franchise; and a screenwriter named Eric Genderson.

"Each time we started something else, we were competing against the previous shows so as the number started to accumulate, we started to see franchise fatigue," Berman admitted. "You could see it with the performance of the last film, which was a wonderful movie." Variety noted that the studio is in "a time of uncertainty" with two new execs, Viacom co-president Tom Freston and Paramount head Brad Grey, more focused on developing films for younger audiences than long-time Star Trek fans.

Director Roger Nygard of the Trekkies documentaries noted that he believes a hiatus is logical, "like after you've eaten Thanksgiving dinner, you really don't want any more turkey", but he was confident that, as fans predicted in Trekkies 2, Star Trek would still be around in another 50 years. He added, "It's worth noting that Star Trek didn't really begin toflourish until it had been off the air for awhile the first time."

The original article is at Variety.

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