One of the greatest sci-fi TV writers of our time, Ron Moore made a pit stop from his TV domination to head to WonderCon. Moderated by Mary Anne Butler, we took a grand tour through Moore’s career and got some fun advice along the way.
Getting His Start
Ron’s start to his career is wild, even by early Hollywood standards. He was a big fan of Star Trek and during the filming of Next Generation, he was dating a girl who had previously been a PA on the show. The show was doing set tours once a week and was able to get him on one. The night before he typed up a spec script and brought it with him. He formed a good rapport with the tour guide and gave him the script. Nothing happened for 7 months while his script was on the slush fund pile, but then he got a call from the new EP who asked him to buy the script. And then gave him another one. And then one day he got another call asking him to replace a staff writer the next day. Truly an amazing journey and something you could never replicate today.
Don’t Be a Whore
One of my favorite stories Ron spoke about was during his time of trying to bring Dragonriders of Pern to the screen. He was in a battle with the studio over his script versus a re-write from another writer. While on a panel with Harlan Ellison, the man himself gave this piece of advice to a question from the audience “Don’t be a whore,” emboldening them to not give away their talent if their heart wasn’t in it. On the next conference call Ron had for his series, he walked away from the project. This key point allowed Ron to establish himself as someone who would walk away from a project if it wasn’t right and also that he knew where his limits were
What Makes Science Fiction
As someone who has worked on Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and even worked alongside George Lucas to develop his Star Wars TV show that never aired, Ron has been able to delve into the genre like few have. What makes the genre so special is the fact that it allows everyone to sort of put aside their real world issues and forces them to think beyond the current reality. It’s not that sci-fi doesn’t go deep, but that it is going to challenge you in a unique way.
For All Mankind
One of Moore’s most recent shows For All Mankind got a bit of spotlight before the end of the panel. Moore went into detail about the development of the show and learning about the space race from former NASA astronauts. We also got a very fun question from the audience asking about how gravity works indoors on the show. The technical aspects of the show are incrediblely detailed and just the simple act of taking a shower or walking across the room in zero G are decisions that not only impact the budget, but the performers themselves.