Ira Steven Behr (born October 23, 1953) is an American screenwriter and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

, best known for his work on '' Star Trek'', especially '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', on which he served as showrunner and executive producer. He was the executive producer and showrunner on '' Crash'', executive producer on Syfy's '' Alphas'', and a writer and co-executive producer on '' Outlander''.

Biography

Behr was born in New York City to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. He studied at Lehman College in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. After graduating, Behr moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

to pursue a screenwriting career. He intended to pursue a career writing comedies for television and film. Behr married Laura Feder. Laura Feder Behr is credited as choreographer on three episodes of ''Deep Space Nine'' and one episode of ''Voyager''.

Career

Early work

Behr's first writing job was on the dramatic series ''

Bret Maverick ''Bret Maverick'' is an American Western television series that starred James Garner in the title role, a professional poker player in the Old West. The series aired on NBC from December 1, 1981 to May 4, 1982. It is a sequel series to the 1957- ...

.'' Behr continued to work on television dramas, throughout the 1980s, among them: * ''

Jessica Novak ''Jessica Novak'' is an American drama television series that aired on CBS from November 5 until December 3, 1981 and was written by Ira Steven Behr. The cast includes Helen Shaver, Kip Gilman, Erik Kilpatrick, and Lara Parker. The series was can ...

'' (1981, story editor) * '' Fame'' (1982, writer and producer) * ''

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' is a 1954 American musical film, directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and choreography by Michael Kidd. The screenplay, by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Do ...

'' (1982, writer) * '' Bring 'Em Back Alive'' (1982, writer) * ''

Once a Hero ''Once a Hero'' is an American action-adventure television series that aired on ABC from September 19 until October 3, 1987. The series stars Milo O'Shea as Abner Bevis, a down-on-his-luck comic book artist whose life is turned upside down when h ...

'' (1987, writer and producer) * '' The Bronx Zoo'' (1987, writer)

''Star Trek''

After several years writing and producing television, and while still a staff writer at '' Beyond Reality'', Behr was hired as a producer during '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''s third season. Behr felt there were too many rules and regulations and felt creatively trapped, so he left ''The Next Generation'' after a year. He remained good friends with

Michael Piller Michael Piller (May 30, 1948 – November 1, 2005) was an American television scriptwriter and producer, who was best known for his contributions to the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Early life and career Piller was born to a Jewish family in Po ...

and wrote the season 4 episode Qpid as a freelance writer. Piller persuaded him to join the new series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' as a supervising producer. At the start of the second season, Behr was promoted to co-executive producer. The following year, co-creator

left to produce the next ''Star Trek'' series, '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and Behr replaced him as showrunner and executive producer. As showrunner, Behr reported to head executive producer and franchise chief

Rick Berman Richard Keith Berman (born December 25, 1945) is an American television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as the executive producer of several of the '' Star Trek'' television series: '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', ...

. Although they would disagree on many things, Behr said they had a good working relationship. Behr went on to write a total of 53 out 176 '' Deep Space Nine'' episodes, more than any other writer. As executive producer, Behr was largely responsible for the

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vid ...

of the show, from Bajoran politics to the Dominion War. This complex serialized story was a departure from the traditional ''Star Trek'' episodic format, and the war narrative was a break from the typically hopeful ''Star Trek'' vision of the future. Behr wrote or co-wrote some of the most important episodes in the

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...

arc, including "

The Jem'Hadar "The Jem'Hadar" is the 26th and final episode in the second season of the syndicated American science fiction television series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', the 46th episode overall. It introduces the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta, two species o ...

", "

The Search ''The Search'' is a 1948 American film directed by Fred Zinnemann that tells the story of a young Auschwitz survivor and his mother who search for each other across post-World War II Europe. It stars Montgomery Clift, Ivan Jandl, Jarmila Novotn ...

", " The Way of the Warrior", " Broken Link", " Apocalypse Rising", " In Purgatory's Shadow", " By Inferno's Light", " Call to Arms", " Sacrifice of Angels", " Tears of the Prophets" and the final episode, " What You Leave Behind".

Developing the Ferengi

Behr also had a significant role in the development of the Ferengi alien race during his work on ''Deep Space Nine''. Although the Ferengi were first introduced in the first season of ''The Next Generation'' as a potential major antagonist, they proved unsuccessful, and in subsequent seasons became an occasional source of

comic relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

. But it was not until ''Deep Space Nine'', which included a Ferengi character in its regular cast, that the Ferengi were truly explored in any depth. Behr was involved with most of the early Ferengi-related episodes, and introduced the concept of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition and wrote most of the rules which appeared on the show. These rules were later published as ''The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, by Quark as told to Ira Steven Behr'' (). Along with fellow ''Deep Space Nine'' producer

Robert Hewitt Wolfe Robert Hewitt Wolfe (born 1964 in Waterbury, Connecticut) is an American television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as a writer on ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and for developing and producing the series '' Gene Rodde ...

, Behr also co-wrote ''Legends of the Ferengi'', a collection of short stories involving the Rules of Acquisition.()

Documentary

Behr is the driving force behind the documentary '' What We Left Behind''.

Post-''Star Trek''

Behr left ''Star Trek'' following the completion of ''Deep Space Nine''s seven season run in 1999. He again worked with René Echevarria on season two of '' Dark Angel'' (2000) as a consulting producer. Behr served as writer and executive producer on the short lived series '' Bob Patterson'' (2001) which was created by and starred Jason Alexander. He returned to Paramount for the revival of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

'' (2002) as writer and executive producer. It aired on

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

directly after

Star Trek: Enterprise ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on Uni ...

, and ran for a single season of 42 episodes. Behr described the fast production turnaround as insane but despite the difficulty he found the camaraderie and the dedication in the writer's room rewarding and said that almost all of the writers would have been willing to do it again for another season if they had been given the chance. He thought

did not really want the show, and that it was not a good fit for the network. He also worked as writer and consulting producer on the series '' Dr. Vegas'' (2004). René Echevarria created the series '' The 4400'' (2004–2007) which Behr joined as a writer and took over as executive producer. The series ran for four seasons, and Behr enjoyed the experience and thought "we did some really good episodes." In 2017 Behr produced the feature film Lucky starring

Harry Dean Stanton Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor, musician, and singer. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), ''Kelly's Heroes ...

''Crash: Season 2''

In February 2009, Behr was named head writer for the Starz TV series '' Crash'' (based on the Paul Haggis film) as it headed into Season 2, which aired in the fall of 2009. After his disappointment at the cancellation of "The 4400" people were surprised that Behr chose to join the struggling show. He saw it as an opportunity as that they would be more open and willing to do things differently than if it had been a more successful show. Lead actor Dennis Hopper died in May 2010 and the series was not renewed for a third season.

''Alphas''

In December 2010, Behr was appointed head writer, show runner, and executive producer for Syfy Channel's '' Alphas'', for which a pilot, written by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow and directed by Jack Bender, had been produced. Behr oversaw the remaining 10 episodes of the 11 episode first season order.

''Outlander''

From 2014 to 2016 Behr served as writer and co-executive producer on '' Outlander'', alongside fellow ''Deep Space 9'' contributor Ronald D. Moore.