As Star Trek: The Next Generation was ending, the cast was already gearing up for the first movie which would start filming only two weeks after "All Good Things" aired. Of course the studio wanted all of the actors onboard for the movie as it wouldn't be The Next Generation without them. And the roles certainly couldn't have been recast for a major motion picture. Brent Spiner, in an interview with Michael Rosenbaum on his Inside of You podcast [via Fandomwire], said he knew that gave him some leverage.
The actor asked for two things from the studio, which, given the success of The Next Generation wasn't surprising. Spiner not only wanted a set amount of money, but he wanted to be in another movie that wasn't related to Star Trek. If Paramount Pictures couldn't find him another movie role outside of the Star Trek franchise, they had to agree to pay him what Spiner calls "some nice figure."
"In the first movie, I felt I had some leverage, which actors rarely have, particularly actors of my stature rarely have. But they had a contract, they had it all worked out… and I knew we had to start shooting immediately because the script was already written. We finished the series and two weeks later started the movie. So the negotiations got really intense, really fast.Brent Spiner
Basically, I said, look I’m not doing it unless I make x amount of money, and more importantly, I get another role. I only did that once – that there has to be something that’s not Star Trek that Paramount Pictures is doing right now… There was a clause in it that if they didn’t find another movie for me to do, they had to pay me off some nice figure."
But after Star Trek: Generations, a second The Next Generation movie was greenlit, and that was followed by two additional movies. That either didn't give Paramount Pictures time to find another movie to put Spiner in or the studio didn't want to waste the time hunting for one. Either way, they ended up paying him the sum he'd asked for, which worked out perfectly for Spiner.