Beltran Turns His Hand To Writing

You may be seeing Robert Beltran's (Chakotay) name in a different position in the credits in the near future, as the actor has decided to devote some time to creating his own projects.

Asked about his future plans at the Holodiction convention held in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday, Beltran expressed his desire to pen film scripts. "What do I want to be doing? Screenplays. Ideally, work on my own projects," he told the audience, according to a report by Lynda at Sydney Trek.

"I just want to do some small film. And theatre. Maybe audition for films," he continued, grinning. "A lot, I hope. I want to do things that will attract me. There's too many idiots in Hollywood."

Since Voyager ended, Beltran has been busy working on two screenplays, as well as a stage play. The actor hopes to produce and direct a small independent film by the end of the year. Unfortunately, he was not able to give a release date for the project due to the uncertainty of the film industry. "Maybe I should come back and show you all my low budget film," he said, which was met by a great cheer from the audience. In response to this he cried "All right!"

When quizzed by the audience about his kiss with Seven of Nine in 'Endgame,' Beltran tried to play innocent. "It was just a kiss," he said, smiling. Asked how many takes it took to get the scene right, the actor delighted in teasing the crowd. "Now I have to admit, I just kept goofing it up," he said, in mock shame. "I guess it was 30. The studio is not conducive to romantic feelings."

Turning serious, Beltran talked about his criticism of Voyager in interviews and at other conventions. "The writers don't like me very much," he said slowly, adding that if there was to be a Voyager film, he didn't think that he'd be asked to appear. The actor acknowledged that if he was in the writers' shoes, he probably wouldn't be very happy with him either. However, he feels that the criticisms he made of the series were right, and he stands behind them. Beltran said that it was up to him to work on his own projects now, something that he has pursued since the series ended.

Many thanks to Lynda for this!

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