On September 6th, 2019, Star Trek Discovery writer, Walter Mosley, wrote an opinion piece on The New York Times titled Why I Quit The Writers Room.
Contents
Mosley’s Background
Walter Mosley is an acclaimed writer of crime fiction, science fiction, afrofuturism, non-fiction politics, mystery, plays, young adult, erotica, and others. His awards include the Edgar Award for Best Novel Down the River Unto the Sea, (2019), a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes for Richard Pryor’s …And It’s Deep Too! (2001), and a Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Literary Award for RL’s Dream (1996), amonst others. He was given an honory doctorate from from the City College of New York.
His educational background involves dropping out of Goddard College, a liberal arts college in Plainfield, Vermont. He received a political science degree at Johnson State College. After dropping his doctorate in political theory, he started work programming computers. This is a fellow who “learned to code” during the 70s. During the 80s, after taking a writing course at City College of New York, while still working, he jumped into writing at age 34, publishing in 1990.
Arguably his most famous work, Devil in a Blue Dress (1990), was made into a film of the same name, featuring Denzel Washington (1995)
He identifies strongly as African American and Jewish. Despite being a black author, he prefers to call himself a novelist. Not sure if he’ll associate himself as a Star Trek Discovery writer anymore (or should anyone, for that matter. Hey, a job’s a job, right?)
Certain writers get uncomfortable
Mosley apparently used the n-word in telling a story in the writer’s room.
I have to stop with the forward thrust of this story to say that I had indeed said the word in the room. I hadn’t called anyone it. I just told a story about a cop who explained to me, on the streets of Los Angeles, that he stopped all niggers in paddy neighborhoods and all paddies in nigger neighborhoods, because they were usually up to no good. I was telling a true story as I remembered it.
Someone in the writers room (apparenltly a writer) felt uncomfortable, and contacted H.R. This started a conversation with a representative from H.R. telling him he couldn’t use the word in normal conversation; he could use it in his writing, however.
To the average reader, or person who is aware of loaded words, this request would seem reasonable. However, to a black author who is not only familiar with the term, but using it to share a story simply told by him (not used by him), is deplorable. A writer’s room is a place for writers to share ideas and argue; not to be reprimanded for being “too honest” or “too literal.” This rule of speaking the truth is shared by writers, journalists, detectives and (hopefully) all public servants in a free society. Entire genres of music would cease to be if H.R. departments were in control of peoples speech.
Apparently, Star Trek Discovery writer’s room is only for writing, not talking.
Star Trek Discovery writers are allowed freedom of speech, just not in the writers room.
In this case, Mosley simply repeated a story of another person’s dialogue, that so happened to use a culturally loaded term. He wasn’t calling someone that term, or using it negatively. For a show like Star Trek: Discovery to have a main black female character, raised to be a Vulcan, you would imagine common parlance of stories in general — using loaded uncomfortable words or otherwise — would be a non-issue.
But quite the opposite in this hypersensitive, politically corrected world.
It comes down to more production delays
The 3rd season of Star Trek Discovery won’t be out until 2020. This is the same for the latest Picard show. This means any kind of editing, change of Star Trek writers or scripts won’t be seen for years to come. While this is plenty of time for H.R. or the Star Trek Discovery writers to recover from this loss of talent, this will get mixed up and lost in the production stage of making an episode.
If writing is supposed to be a focus, why is the story full of special effects and explosions that takes months to produce? Why is Star Trek becoming a space opera, and constantly looked down upon by fans? Yet, Star Trek Discovery writers can’t share a story in the writer’s room without being sent to H.R.
STD is a pox upon writing, or writers, for that matter.
The whole point of raising an opinion, or being a writer, is to write something meaningful. That meaning usually has an uncomfortable effect on an audience. Emotionally, intellectually, ideologically, etc. Sometimes that involves using loaded words. Sometimes that involves politics, religion, persecution, destruction, and almost always, the topic of death. Why would any reader or consumer of media want to consume any story that isn’t stimulating?
We don’t read stories just to go into happy fantasy lands where the future is bright and cheery. We need dark, troubled characters to identify with. We need to see their struggles. And those struggles require flaws that need to be overcome.
However, this isn’t even about that. This is a story of an accomplished writer, working as a Star Trek Discovery writer, sharing a story in “the writer’s room”, and getting chastised for using a word that’s maybe just a touch unsavory. While H.R. has its own policies, and editors have their own checks, none of this was necessary.
A writer who gets uncomfortable in the writers room? That’s what I call good writing.