| Brannon Braga | |
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Braga at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2011. |
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| Born | August 14, 1965 Bozeman, Montana |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Television producer Screenwriter |
Brannon Braga (born August 14, 1965)[1] is an American television producer and screenwriter, currently working as showrunner and executive producer on Terra Nova.[2] Braga is probably best known for his work with the Star Trek franchise, having worked on three of the four 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.
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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.
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:
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:
The two would say years later that they had repaired their friendship.
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 completed.
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'.[5]
Brannon Braga served as an executive producer on the Fox real time action/drama series, 24, writing episodes in the seventh and eight seasons.
Brannon Braga shared a "Created for Television" credit with David S. Goyer and was an executive producer of the ABC science fiction series FlashForward, which was adapted from the Robert J. Sawyer novel of the same name. The series debuted on September 24, 2009. Braga co-wrote the pilot episode "No More Good Days" with fellow executive producer Goyer, and he, Goyer, and Sawyer shared a Hugo Award nomination in the Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form category for that episode.[6] 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.[7] Braga remained contractually tied to 24 and was not available to work as a senior writer for FlashForward once it was ordered to series.[8] On May 13, 2010, it was reported that FlashForward would not be renewed for a second season.[9] The show was canceled due to critical and commercial struggles.[10][11]
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.[12][13] Responding to accusations from Star Trek fandom that he was responsible for Star Trek's declining ratings and eventual cancellation, Braga commented:
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