Rick Berman didn’t want actors directing their Star Trek shows

Rick Berman allowed Jonathan Frakes to direct an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and that started the ball rolling for other actors.

Jonathan Frakes was determined to direct, and when he asked Rick Berman if he could, Berman instructed him to go to school. According to a quote in  “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams,” edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Frakes then spent over 300 hours in the editing room and on the dubbing stage and learning about that side of directing. Berman final gave him “The Offspring” to direct.

After that, other actors began asking to direct and Berman wasn’t happy about it.  As Slashfilm reports, Berman considered directing a gift, and he didn’t feel it was something he owed the actors.

"“My feeling was that this was a gift and not something that, as far as actors are concerned, that I owed them. There were some actors during the course of the four series who were not necessarily perfectly behaved in terms of being prepared, being on time, not giving grief to various people that they were working with on the set. I had no interest in giving those people the gift of a directing assignment, but there were others like Gates, LeVar, and Michael Dorn who did direct.”"

Rick Berman did let more of the actors direct, but he wasn’t comfortable with it.

A particular problem arose on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine when a lot of the actors wanted to direct. Berman said it was hard when these actors were asking to direct as one in particular was a fine actor but did a “very mediocre job at directing.”

"“On ‘Deep Space Nine,’ a lot of people wanted to direct. And it kept going. Sometimes it was very hard because one of our finest actors, and I’m not going to say who, did a very mediocre job at directing and, in fact, there was more than one. There were maybe two or three actors over the course of the shows who didn’t do a great job of directing, and I had no interest in giving them a second assignment. Which was very hard, because these were people I was working with and dealing with on a daily basis.”"

Though Berman didn’t specifically name the actor who wasn’t adept at directing on Deep Space Nine, many of that series’ actors did direct at least one episode of the show. Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Michael Dorn, Andrew Robinson, and Alexander Siddig all directed episodes of the series.

Frakes was grateful that Berman had given him a chance with Star Trek: The Next Generation, but even he acknowledges that it started a firestorm.

"“I thank Rick for giving me the opportunity, which I’m sure he regretted since everyone in the world beat down his door. He’s given editors, A.D.s, actors their shot, and it came back to haunt him. I heard the caterer was looking to direct an episode.”"

Some of the actors have gone on to have lucrative directing careers, and they owe their start to Rick Berman. I’m guessing they didn’t know at the time that Berman wasn’t too thrilled with handing over the reins to an actor who didn’t have much directing experience.