Brannon Braga

Brannon Braga
Braga speaking at an atheist conference in 2006
Born	August 14, 1965 (1965-08-14) (age 45) Bozeman, Montana
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television producer Screenwriter

Brannon Braga (born August 14, 1965) is an American television producer and screenwriter, currently working as executive producer on 24^[1] and the science fiction series FlashForward, where he is also credited as co-creator. Braga is probably best known for his work with the Star Trek franchise, having worked on all the modern Star Trek television series since 1990 and two of the Star Trek feature films, as well as being co-creator and an executive producer of Star Trek: Enterprise. In fact, he has more writing credits than anyone else associated with the franchise. He was also creator and producer of the short-lived alien invasion drama Threshold. Braga received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Kent State University Stark in 2005.

Career

Star Trek: The Next Generation

In 1990, Braga received an eight-week internship from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, joining the writing team of Star Trek: The Next Generation. His first assignment was rewriting a script called "Reunion" with staff writer Ronald D. Moore, then doing a solo rewrite on a spec script titled "Identity Crisis". This led to a staff position in 1991 as a script-writer, resulting in credits for a number of popular episodes including "Cause and Effect", "Frame of Mind" and "Parallels".

At the start of The Next Generation's final season, Braga (now a co-producer) and Moore (whom he had worked with a few times in the intervening four years) were picked to write a script for the first cinema appearance of The Next Generation crew, Star Trek Generations, which they developed over the final year. They were again picked to write the script for the series finale "All Good Things...", for which they won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Star Trek: Voyager

After The Next Generation concluded in 1994, Braga joined the creative staff on Star Trek: Voyager as a producer. In 1996, Braga and Moore collaborated again, on the second The Next Generation film, Star Trek: First Contact, which received the second highest gross of all the Star Trek films. After the departure of Jeri Taylor at the end of Voyager's fourth season in 1998, Braga became an executive producer and was effectively running the show on Voyager. Series lead Kate Mulgrew responded positively to the change, in particular liking the direction he was taking her character:

The scripts I think are terrific this season; Brannon is incredibly smart, and dark and creative and funny in a way that I love ... It's rather naughty and mischievous, which is just so provocative and fascinating. He knows Janeway's voice and Mulgrew's voice, and has married them very nicely. ... Janeway in seasons one, two, and three was a little goody-two-shoes for my taste, not really who Mulgrew is as Janeway. Brannon has watched me closely as an actress in the last four years, so he knows where I can go, and what my strengths are.^[2]

Braga and Moore again collaborated in 1999, on the Mission: Impossible II screenplay. Although their draft was not the final one used, it did earn them a story credit in the film. They were approached to do a third Star Trek film starring The Next Generation cast, but declined.

When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended in 1999, Moore transferred over to the creative staff of Voyager as a co-executive producer, but quickly departed citing problems working with his old writing partner, Braga:

I have very hurt feelings about Brannon. What happened between he and I is just between he and I. It was a breakdown of trust. I would have quit any show where I was not allowed to participate in the process like that. I wasn’t allowed to participate in the process, and I wasn’t part of the show. I felt like I was freelancing my own show. ... I was very disappointed that my long-time friend and writing partner acted in that manner, that crossed lines to the point where I felt like I had to walk away from STAR TREK, which was something that meant a lot to me for a very long time, from my childhood right through my entire professional career.^[3]

The two would say years later that they had repaired their friendship.

Star Trek: Enterprise

When Voyager concluded in 2001, Braga developed Star Trek: Enterprise with Rick Berman. From the series debut in September 2001 until the end of the third season in May 2004, Braga was the executive producer in charge of the day to day running of the show, handing over the reins of the writing staff to Manny Coto for season four. However, due to declining viewing figures, Enterprise was canceled by UPN during season four, which was allowed to complete.

Threshold

Before the cancellation of Enterprise, Braga started developing a new science fiction series for CBS called Threshold, which debuted in September 2005. Braga formed his own production company, Braga Productions to facilitate this project. Set in the modern day, the series focuses on a group of experts who are investigating an alien craft discovered in the Atlantic Ocean. The series was first shown on Friday nights, but was moved to Tuesday in an attempt to improve its ratings. This effort did not succeed, and CBS cancelled the series on November 23, 2005.

The concept of Threshold was created by David S. Goyer (co-writer of Batman Begins, writer or co-writer of the Blade films, director of Blade: Trinity) and David Heyman (producer of the Harry Potter films). Threshold did earn some good reviews during its run, including four out of four stars from 'USA Today'.^[4]

24: (Season 7-8)

Brannon Braga also currently serves as Executive Producer on the Fox Network real time action/drama series, 24. He worked on episodes 3, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 21, and 24 in season 7 and episodes 2, 6, 10, 13, 16 and 19 in season 8.

FlashForward

Brannon Braga is co-creator and Executive Producer of the ABC science fiction series, FlashForward starring Joseph Fiennes which debuted on September 24, 2009. Braga co-wrote the pilot episode "No More Good Days" with fellow executive producer David S. Goyer.^[5] Goyer and a third executive producer, Marc Guggenheim, co-wrote the teleplay for the series second episode "White to Play" based on a story Goyer co-wrote with Braga.^[6] Braga remained contractually tied to 24 and was not available to work as a senior writer for Flashforward once it was ordered to series.^[7] On May 13, 2010, it was reported that FlashForward would not be renewed for a second season.^[8] ABC confirmed on May 14, 2010 that the show has been cancelled due to its struggling both critically and commercially.^[9][10] This is Braga's second show to fail in its first season following his departure from the world of Star Trek.

Criticism

Along with Star Trek franchise head and Enterprise co-creator Rick Berman, Braga has often been the subject of heated fan criticism, especially with regards to his showrunning duties on Voyager and Enterprise.^[11][12] Responding to accusations from Star Trek fandom that he was responsible for Star Trek's declining ratings and eventual cancellation, Braga commented:

It's not a pleasant thing to think of yourself [as] to blame. There are other factors involved with Star Trek losing its audience appeal over the years, but [...] I will take my share of the blame creatively. It's almost impossible for me to sit here and say 'yes, I did this, that, and this wrong' and I'm certainly not going to get on the internet and look at what the fans think, because that would be too painful. But give it a little more time [and] I'm sure I can look back and figure out what the fuck I did wrong."^[13]

A number of episodes bearing Braga's name have received vastly different opinions from the same critics. Some works (such as "All Good Things...") have been widely praised, while others (such as Voyager's "Threshold") have been widely condemned. (In regards to "Threshold," Braga himself has repeatedly denounced the episode.)

References

External links

• Brannon Braga - profile on the official Star Trek site.
• Brannon Braga at the Internet Movie Database
• Brannon Braga - profile on TV.com
• Brannon Braga at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)