David Weddle is an American
television writer
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
and
producer known for episodes of ''
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1996–1999), ''
The Twilight Zone
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...
'' (2002–2003), ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...
'' (2004–2009), ''
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (2009-2011), ''
Falling Skies
''Falling Skies'' is an American science fiction television series set in a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic era, created by Robert Rodat and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, executive produced by Steve ...
'' (2011-2013), and ''
The Strain
''The Strain'' is a 2009 vampire literature, vampire horror fiction, horror novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It is the first installment in ''The Strain Trilogy'', and was followed by ''The Fall (del Toro and Hogan novel), The Fal ...
'' (2014-2017) with writing partner
Bradley Thompson
Bradley Thompson is an American television writer and producer known for episodes of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1996–1999), ''The Twilight Zone'' (2002–2003), ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004–2009), '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' ...
. They are currently writing for the series ''
For All Mankind'', which debuted on
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...
on November 1, 2019. They also wrote for the short-lived series ''
Ghost Stories'' (1997) and ''
The Fearing Mind
''The Fearing Mind'' is an American horror television series that aired on the Fox Family Channel from October 21 until December 2, 2000.
Premise
Bill Fearing, a famous writer of suspense thrillers, gets his ideas from things that happen in his ...
'' (2000).
Biography
Weddle graduated from the USC School of Cinema, as did writing partner Bradley Thompson, whom he first met in an acting class.
David Weddle reached out to comedian
Marty Feldman
Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was known for his exophthalmos, prominent, strabismus, misaligned eyes.
He initially gained prominence as a writer with Barry Took on th ...
and they collaborated on a script about Feldman's idol
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...
.
A UK published biography of Feldman makes note of “his mentoring of an eternally appreciative David Weddle, who has gone on to write and produce episodes of Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica, and CSI.”
After
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received two Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Instit ...
's death in 1984, Weddle used Peckinpah's production files and correspondence that had been given to the library of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
to write a
biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...
of the director. This biography, ''If They Move... Kill 'Em!: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah'' was released in 1994.
It was the biography that brought Weddle to ''Deep Space Nine'' and later to ''Battlestar Galactica''.
Ira Steven Behr
Ira Steven Behr (born October 23, 1953) is an American screenwriter and television producer, 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 th ...
invited Weddle to
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
. This enabled Weddle and Thompson to pitch stories to the show. The two joined the writing staff for ''DS9''s final seasons. They also met and worked with producer
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore (born July 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Star Trek,'' as well as on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, for which he won a Peabody Awar ...
on the show.
Weddle and Thompson wrote twelve episodes of ''Deep Space Nine.'' Weddle can be seen in the background of the scene set at
Vic Fontaine's Lounge in the final episode, "
What You Leave Behind". He later wrote a
DS9 novel set after the series with Jeffrey Lang. Entitled "
Abyss
Abyss may refer to:
Religion
* Abyss (religion), a bottomless pit, or a passage to the underworld
* Abyss (Thelema), a spiritual principle within the system of Thelema
Film and television
* ''The Abyss'' (1910 film), a Danish silent film s ...
", it focused on
Section 31, the
Federation's secretive intelligence service.
Weddle considers "
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
" to be the best ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' episode he and Bradley Thompson wrote, for showing "that the
Federation
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
, as perfect as it seemed, had to resort to unsavory tactics and work
black bag operation
Black bag operations or black bag jobs are covert or clandestine entries into structures to obtain information for human intelligence operations.
Some of the tactics, techniques, and procedures associated with black bag operations are lock p ...
s to keep their world safe and pristine".
Weddle and Thompson were invited by Ron Moore to work on the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica''. They served as story editors on the first season of the show and became co-producers in the second season. Their responsibilities as producers increased during the third season, and they achieved supervising producer status for the fourth season. During the fourth season, however, Weddle stated that he felt the story didn't adhere to the structure detailed in
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
's ''
Poetics
Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...
'', and was thus "too difficult to follow."
On the 2006 Special Edition DVD release of San Peckinpah's 1969 film ''
The Wild Bunch
''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang ...
'', Weddle is part of a group of Peckinpah scholars who provide the commentary track. Weddle describes a 2004 pilgrimage to
Parras,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, one of the locations for the film's production.
In 2008, Weddle and Thompson joined the staff of ''CSI: Las Vegas'' midway through Season 9 as writers and supervising producers. As of Season 10, they became co-executive producers. An episode they wrote for the 11th season, "Fracked", won the
Environmental Media Association
The Environmental Media Association (EMA) is a non-profit organization which was founded in 1989 by Cindy Horn and Lyn Lear. EMA works with the entertainment industry to encourage green production and raise the public's environmental awareness. T ...
's 21st Annual
Environmental Media Award for Television Episodic Drama.
In 2011, Weddle and Thompson joined the writing staff for the second season of the
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
alien-invasion drama ''
Falling Skies
''Falling Skies'' is an American science fiction television series set in a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic era, created by Robert Rodat and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, executive produced by Steve ...
'' on
TNT
Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...
. In 2012, they acted as co-executive producers for the TV movie ''
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome'' and the pilot for the TV series ''
Defiance'', both on
Syfy, and in 2013 they began writing for the first season of an
FX adaptation of ''
The Strain
''The Strain'' is a 2009 vampire literature, vampire horror fiction, horror novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It is the first installment in ''The Strain Trilogy'', and was followed by ''The Fall (del Toro and Hogan novel), The Fal ...
'', a horror novel by
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, Gothic fiction, gothicism and horror fiction, horror often blending the genres ...
and
Chuck Hogan, which concluded with the fourth season in 2017. They were two of the series' eight executive producers.
In 2018, Thompson and Weddle re-teamed with Ron Moore, with whom they had worked on ''Battlestar Galactica'', to write for the Apple TV+ series ''For All Mankind''. They are two of the co-executive producers on the show.
Credits
''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''
* "
Rules of Engagement"
* "
The Assignment"
* "
Business as Usual"
* "
Sons and Daughters"
* "
One Little Ship"
* "
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
"
* "
The Reckoning"
* "
Time's Orphan"
* "
Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
* "
Prodigal Daughter"
* "
'Til Death Do Us Part"
* "
Extreme Measures
''Extreme Measures'' is a 1996 crime thriller film based on Michael Palmer's 1991 novel of the same name, dealing with the ethics of medical sacrifices. The film was directed by Michael Apted and starred Hugh Grant, Gene Hackman, Sarah Jessica P ...
"
''Ghost Stories''
* "
Back Ward"
* "
Beware the Muse"
''The Fearing Mind''
* "Upgrades"
* "Call of the Wild"
* "Maximum Security" (originally unaired)
* "On the Road" (originally unaired)
''The Twilight Zone''
* "
Harsh Mistress"
* "
Fair Warning"
* "
Homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States and Canada.
United St ...
"
''Battlestar Galactica''
* "
Act of Contrition"
* "
The Hand of God
"The Hand of God" () was a goal scored by Argentine footballer Diego Maradona during the Argentina v England quarter finals match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The goal was illegal under association football rules because Maradona used his hand ...
"
* "
Scattered"
* "
Valley of Darkness"
* "
Flight of the Phoenix"
* "
Scar
A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrosis, fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other Organ (anatomy), organs, and biological tissue, t ...
"
* "
Downloaded"
* "
Exodus"
* "
Rapture
The Rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Chr ...
"
* "
Maelstrom
Maelstrom may refer to:
* Maelstrom (whirlpool), a powerful whirlpool
** originally the Moskstraumen in English
Amusement rides
* Maelstrom (ride), a former log flume dark ride attraction in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort ...
"
* "
He That Believeth in Me"
* "
Revelations"
* "
Sometimes a Great Notion"
* "
Someone to Watch Over Me"
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''
* "
The Grave Shift"
* "
Kill Me If You Can"
* "
A Space Oddity"
* "
Family Affair
''Family Affair'' is an American sitcom starring Brian Keith and Sebastian Cabot that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966, to March 4, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do engineer and bachelor Bill Davis (Keith) as he attempt ...
"
* "
The Lost Girls"
* "
Irradiator"
* "
Shock Waves
In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...
"
* "
Fracked"
* "
Targets of Obsession"
''Falling Skies''
* "
Shall We Gather at the River"
* "
Molon Labe"
* "A More Perfect Union"
* "Collateral Damage"
* "Be Silent and Come Out"
* "Journey to Xilbalba"
* "Saturday Night Massacre"
''The Strain''
* "The Box"
* "For Services Rendered"
* "Last Rites"
* "By Any Means"
* "Intruders"
* "Fallen Light"
* "Bad White"
* "The Battle of Central Park"
* "Do or Die"
''For All Mankind''
* "Into the Abyss"
* "Bent Bird"
* "Pathfinder"
* "Triage"
* "Game Changer"
* "Coming Home"
* "Have a Nice Sol"
* "Legacy"
* "Brazil"
Video games
*''
Aliens: Colonial Marines''
Nonfiction
*''"If They Move... Kill 'Em!": The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah'', a 1994 biography of noted film director
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received two Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Instit ...
References
External links
*
*
David Weddle interviewInterview with David WeddleCSI Note
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weddle, David
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American science fiction writers
American male screenwriters
American television producers
American male novelists