Rick Berman
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Producer of educational TV turned studio executive who earned a permanent place in pop culture history as the new behind-the-scenes wagonmaster on what creator Gene Roddenberry originally conceived as a "'Wagon Train' to the Stars." Berman has supervised the billion-dollar-plus "Star Trek" franchise for Paramount, serving as executive producer and creator of the spin-off TV series--"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager"--as well as producing the reinaugurated feature series beginning with "Star Trek: Generations" (1994).
Berman was overseeing the development of TV-movies, miniseries and specials as the vice president for longform and special projects for Paramount Network Television when Roddenberry tapped him to help produce the first series revival, "Star Trek: The Next Generation." A fast learner, Berman advanced from producer to supervising producer to co-executive producer over the course of one month. His new series proved to be a huge success that ran for seven seasons before Paramount decided to shut down weekly production in favor of the potentially more lucrative business of making "ST:TNG" movies.
Before the gold rush, Berman was senior producer on the Emmy award-winning children's series "The Big Blue Marble" (PBS, 1977-82). He spent the next two years as an independent producer working on projects including "What on Earth," an informational series on HBO, and "The Primal Mind," a PBS special. Berman next segued into a series of executive positions in TV beginning as director of dramatic development at Warner Bros. He joined Paramount in 1984 as director of current programming, watching over the likes of "Cheers," "Family Ties," and "Webster." Before a year had passed, Berman was executive director of dramatic programming. He would climb one more rung up the ladder before being tapped to board the Enterprise.
Filmography
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Film Production - Main (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1977
Served as senior producer on the Emmy-winning children's series, "The Big Blue Marble"
1984
Became director of current programming at Paramount Network Television
1985
Named executive director of dramatic programming (date approximate)
1986
Promoted to vice president, longform and special projects, for Paramount Network Television
1986
Selected by "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry to join him in producing the syndicated TV series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (date approximate)
1987
Advanced from producer to supervising producer to co-executive producer on the new series
1994
Feature producing and writing debut (received story credit), "Star Trek Generations"
1998
Provided story and produced the film "Star Trek: Insurrection"
Family
Companions
