Writer Marc Bernardin joins Star Trek: Picard as a supervising producer

Marc Bernardin on Instagram

Star Trek: Picard has got itself a new supervising producer.

On Instagram on Monday, writer Marc Bernardin posted a picture of the title page of a Star Trek: The Next Generation spec script, titled “Past Present”, and a story to go along with it. In the picture’s caption, Bernardin explained that in his junior year of college, he entered a screenwriting contest, where the requirement was to write a spec script for a currently-airing series. There was one show he loved, he said, and it was an obvious choice. “It was Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Bernardin explained. “And it was the very first time I wrote words that were coming out of existing characters’ mouths. The first thing that looked anything like a screenplay.”

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When I was in my junior year of college, a film professor pointed me to a screenwriting contest for undergrads and suggested that I enter. The lone requirement was, you had to write a spec episode of a currently airing TV show. At the time, I didn’t watch a ton of TV — I was a nerd and, back in the early 90s, there weren’t a lot of options. But there was one show I loved, and knew inside and out, so I wrote an episode of that one. It was Star Trek: The Next Generation. And it was the very first time I wrote words that were coming out of existing characters’ mouths. The first thing that looked anything like a screenplay. Because I loved that show, even its daffier episodes. And it had some daffy AF episodes. But I loved the Enterprise, I loved the aliens, I loved the characters, and I loved Captain Jean-Luc Picard. It’s a particular fantasy — one I would later revisit with Ben Sisko and William Adama — to want to be led by a competent person. (Also, a particularly relevant fantasy.) By someone who would endeavor to do the right thing. Who has flaws, but because of them can bring the best version of him or herself to bear. Who will go down with the ship — but not before fighting for it to the last. So I wrote a TNG episode and won the contest. (That’s a whole different story.) It took a long time for me to fulfill the promise of that very early career victory, but here we are. Today was my first day as a supervising producer on Star Trek: Picard. All good things come to those who wait.

A post shared by Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) on Mar 9, 2020 at 5:32pm PDT

Bernardin went on to explain what he loved about Next Gen: the Enterprise, the aliens...and Captain Picard. Spoiler alert: he won the contest, and while he says it took a long time to live up to that early win, it paid off. Bernardin concluded: “Today was my first day as a supervising producer on Star Trek: Picard. All good things come to those who wait.”

Bernardin boasts a varied, but nonetheless rich list of qualifications. According to Wikipedia, Bernardin is a TV and comic book writer as well as a prolific entertainment journalist. He currently hosts the Fatman Beyond podcast with friend Kevin Smith. And early in his career, he was an intern on...wait for it...Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.