Rod Roddenberry's Involvement

[CoveTom]

I notice that Rod Roddenberry is getting an executive producer credit on Picard, as well as pretty much all of the current Trek series. (Now, granted, there are approximately 47 different executive producers credited on Picard, taking up a full half of the opening credits, but still...)

I'm wondering just how much involvement he actually has in the making of these shows. Is he actually involved in the production? Or are they just cutting him a check and using his name to add some Roddenberry legitimacy to the current Trek efforts?

 

[KennyB]

I’m sure it’s for a courtesy and they would listen if he was opposed to things…..but day to day I don’t think Rod is there overseeing anything. Think he has a little more to do than just cash checks.

 

[Tuskin38]

Roddenberry Entertainment is involved some how. Not exactly sure in what capacity

 

[Mad Mike]

I think that Paramount is just paying for the privilege of slapping the Roddenberry name on things. Not that they need it, but why not?

 

[The Wormhole]

Or are they just cutting him a check and using his name to add some Roddenberry legitimacy to the current Trek efforts?

Probably that. Half the time you see a notable name involved in a TV show as a producer, they don't actually have any direct day to day involvement with the show. Like with the series The Last Ship, which listed Michael Bay as an Executive Producer. All he did was provide some funding and allow the show to use the market value of his name in the promotional material.

 

[CoveTom]

Probably that. Half the time you see a notable name involved in a TV show as a producer, they don't actually have any direct day to day involvement with the show. Like with the series The Last Ship, which listed Michael Bay as an Executive Producer. All he did was provide some funding and allow the show to use the market value of his name in the promotional material.

I think that's true of feature films too. Whereas many other credits -- writing, directing, cinematography, etc. -- are regulated by respective labor union agreements, the producing credits never have been. So it's where they slapped in the name of anybody they cut some kind of deal with. It's also why the Producers Guild of America has been trying to wrestle back some legitimacy for those credits with the "p.g.a." designation that supposedly only goes to producers who are actually actively involved in the production aspects of the film.

That's largely why I suspected the Executive Producer credits on Picard were not legitimate. As I said, there are a ridiculous number of them and they take up probably half the opening credits. It's not like the old days of Trek when there were 2 or 3 at maximum.

 

[Lord Garth]

I think Rod Roddeberry is a name and a rubber stamp. If Rod Roddenberry were acting more like Gene Roddenberry, especially Latter-Day Gene Roddenberry, then only Star Trek that's like TMP and the first five seasons of TNG would make it through.

 

[dupersuper]

I think Rod Roddeberry is a name and a rubber stamp. If Rod Roddenberry were acting more like Gene Roddenberry, especially Latter-Day Gene Roddenberry, then only Star Trek that's like TMP and the first five seasons of TNG would make it through.

Assuming he has the exact same sensibilities, sure...

 

[CorporalClegg]

If Rod was acting like his dad of later years, he'd have been metooed by 2016.

 

[Lord Garth]

Assuming he has the exact same sensibilities, sure...

"If" being the operative word.

If Rod was acting like his dad of later years, he'd have been metooed by 2016.

Really probably Gene Roddenberry at any point after his balls dropped, his voice started changing, and a peach-fuzz mustache began to grow in.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I thought his company with Trevor Roth helped finance the shows, but I could be entitely wrong.

 

[Noname Given]

Roddenberry Entertainment is involved some how. Not exactly sure in what capacity

He's receiving a paycheck so they can use his name in the credits.

 

[fireproof78]

He's receiving a paycheck so they can use his name in the credits.

He accepts money?

*something, something, Gene rolling over in his grave**

 

[dupersuper]

He accepts money?

For the record every one: I also accept money.

 

[Quinton]

For the record every one: I also accept money.

Executive Producer
dupersuper

 

[JRoss]

The Producer stuff is always crazy stupid on any of the shows produced by that clique of writer/producers that orbit JJ Abrams. Ever watch the later seasons of Fringe? They just add more as time goes on. Current producers get bored/lazy and really move on to newer projects, so they bring in their friends to do the work, while still keeping their names on the show, and collecting a paycheck.

When I noticed Goldman's name on the credits I really lost hope for the season. He's the most inconsistent of that group. He can hit greater heights than any of the rest of them (A Beautiful Mind) but also some very bad lows (Transformers, Batman & Robin, and a bunch of forgettable stuff). Looks like this year we have "Good Akiva."

As far as Rodenberry goes, I really doubt he does a lot on this show, or on the others. He is an acquaintance of one of my best buds, and I know that his big passion is scuba diving. Looks as if he no longer runs that company that he had (Roddenberry Adventures) so maybe he does do something as a day job now.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Most shows have a boat load of producers these days. Especially with multiple studios, production companies and networks financing. Each one has a set of "producers" in the credits. Writers and directors can also get producer credits. If the show is on long enough, actors start popping up in the producer credits. Even folks no longer involved a show can retain a producer credit for "legal" reasons. Most just cash a check and that's it.

 

[dinzy]

Why aren't there rules about this? Actors and writers have unions and they are very particular about how their names appear in credits and intros. Doesn't having the names of 53 Executive Producers who don't produce anything eating up credits and intro time cheapen the prestige of the Actors' and Writers' credits and intro times? Shouldn't most of these people be Special Thanks or something that really is unofficial instead of making it seem like they are all in charge of financials or day to day production?

 

[plynch]

Enough rules. The proliferation affects me not at all. It’s their show.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Why aren't there rules about this? Actors and writers have unions and they are very particular about how their names appear in credits and intros. Doesn't having the names of 53 Executive Producers who don't produce anything eating up credits and intro time cheapen the prestige of the Actors' and Writers' credits and intro times? Shouldn't most of these people be Special Thanks or something that really is unofficial instead of making it seem like they are all in charge of financials or day to day production?

As opposed to the hundreds of VFX people who appear in the closing credits.
Yeah, there are probably rules. As for "financials" some of these folks are the people who do the actual financing. They run the production companies.
The actors, writers and directors get their credits, usually up front and in big fonts. They aren't suffering because twenty people get a producer credit.