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## Production Realities: The Scripts, the Budgets, the Tensions
The production of *Star Trek* across its three seasons was characterized by consistent tension between creative ambition and financial constraint, and by the specific dynamics of a production led by a creator — Roddenberry — whose vision was clear but whose execution style created friction.
Roddenberry’s approach to scripts was to solicit them from as wide a range of sources as possible: experienced television writers, science fiction novelists who had not previously written for television, and his own office staff. His secretary Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana was among those who submitted scripts; she eventually became one of the show’s most significant writers, contributing episodes that are considered among the series’ best and later serving as the story editor.
The challenge with the script development was that many television writers were unfamiliar with science fiction as a genre, and many science fiction writers were unfamiliar with the specific requirements of television production — the budget constraints, the production schedule, the need to write stories that could be realized on a television budget rather than a film budget. Scripts came in that called for effects that were either impossible or prohibitively expensive. Scripts came in that ignored the established character relationships or the established logic of the fictional universe.
Roddenberry’s response was to rewrite extensively. His account of this period — and the accounts of writers who worked with him — suggests that he rewrote nearly every script that reached production, adding philosophical content, sharpening the character voices, and sometimes substantially reworking the plot. This rewriting practice created tension with the credited writers, some of whom felt that their work was being appropriated, and it also created production delays that added to the cost overruns.