The Writer Speaks: D.C. Fontana

One of the greatest minds behind STAR TREK, D.C. Fontana, chats about her career as a writer. Dorothy Fontana (aka D.C. Fontana) was a television writer most known for her vital creative contributions to the original Star Trek series. In this interview, she discusses growing up in New Jersey and her first jobs as secretary at Screen Gems in NY and Revue Studios in LA. With access to scripts, she taught herself TV structure and began to write freelance episodes for westerns, a genre she loved. She discusses adopting the gender-blind pen name D.C. and working for Gene Roddenberry during the development of Star Trek. which premiered in 1966. With Roddenberry’s encouragement, she pitched ideas, wrote episodes, and was hired as the story editor. She also discusses her work on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: The Animated Series. Besides specific Star Trek episodes and western TV episodes, Fontana shares about her involvement on the board of the Writers Guild of America in the 1980s and her work on the Women’s Committee in the 1970s. She also tells stories of how she met her husband Dennis Skotak, and what it was like working as a woman in a mostly male profession. Regarding craft, she shares how she pitches, how she takes events from history and turns them into story hooks, and her basic advice for writers: just write. Interviewed by Elias Davis for the video series The Writer Speaks. Filmed on May 11, 2012. 00:00 Growing up in New Jersey and supporting herself as a secretary so she could write at night 4:50 Educating herself about TV writing by reading and typing scripts 12:30 Earning her first few freelance writing credits on The Tall Man and Ben Casey 20:40 Adopting the gender-neutral pen name D.C. to avoid being stereotyped 23:33 Working with Gene Roddenberry in crafting the first season of Star Trek, particularly the Spock character 36:40 Leaving Star Trek and returning to freelance television writing 37:00 Joining the WGA Board and the importance of the WGA's Womens's Committee 43:10 Describing how great Star Trek fans were and making the animated series 51:50 Using history for storytelling inspiration and finding the story hook 57:00 Describing her pitching and character development experiences 1:08:53 Her experience serving on the WGA board and the gains of the 1988 Strike 1:13:30 Offering simple advice to writers - just write