Jeri Cecile Suer (June 30, 1938 – October 24, 2024), known professionally as Jeri Taylor, was an American television scriptwriter and producer who wrote many episodes of the '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Star Trek: Voyager'' series.

Early life

Jeri Cecile Suer was born in Evansville, Indiana, on June 30, 1938. She attended Indiana University Bloomington, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. Taylor also received her M.A. in English from California State University, Northridge in 1966.

''Star Trek'' screenwriting

Taylor wrote scripts for television series like '' Little House on the Prairie'' and '' The Incredible Hulk'', then served as a producer and director on '' Quincy, M.E.'' and '' Jake and the Fatman''. While working on ''Jake and the Fatman'', Taylor and her producer partner David Moessinger hired J. Michael Straczynski (who would later go on to create ''

Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...

'') as an executive story consultant, giving him his first experience working on an hour-long show. Taylor was recommended to the producers of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' by Lee Sheldon, with whom she had worked on ''Quincy''. Taylor joined ''The Next Generation'' staff at the beginning of the fourth season as a supervising producer, co-writing the second episode to go into production, " Suddenly Human". After two years, Taylor became co-executive producer with Rick Berman and Michael Piller and served as executive producer/showrunner for the (final) seventh season of ''The Next Generation''. During this time, she received credit on a number of episodes, including Wil Wheaton's final episode as a regular character, " Final Mission"; the episode that introduced the Cardassian race, which featured heavily in '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', " The Wounded"; the first of a two part episode featuring Spock, " Unification", and the script she has said she was most proud of, " The Drumhead". During the last year of ''The Next Generation'', Taylor worked with Rick Berman and Michael Piller to develop the fourth ''Star Trek'' series, '' Star Trek: Voyager''. When ''The Next Generation'' production ended, Taylor transferred to the ''Voyager'' production staff and served as executive producer with Rick Berman during the first four years. At the beginning of the third season, when Piller moved to a reduced creative consultant role, Taylor became head of the writing staff (showrunner) and stayed in that role until the end of the fourth season in 1998, when she retired and handed over control of the writing staff to Brannon Braga. Despite retiring, she continued to work with the ''Voyager'' team as creative consultant during the show's last three seasons. During her time on ''The Next Generation'' and ''Voyager'', Taylor wrote three ''Star Trek'' novels for Pocket Books: a novelisation of "Unification" that she wrote at the same time she was scripting its first part, and two ''Voyager'' novels that expanded on the background of the characters she had helped create for the series. Between the years 1995 to 1998, Taylor gave the Indiana University Lilly Library a collection of her screenwriting work including outlines, scripts for the ''Next Generation'' series and for the first two ''Voyager'' seasons, technical notes, cast lists, and shooting schedules for the final season of ''The Next Generation'' (1993–1994), casting call sheets and research notes for ''Voyager'' (1994–1996). Some of the outlines, technical notes, and lists contain Taylor's handwritten changes and comments.

Death

Taylor died at an assisted living facility in Davis, California, on October 24, 2024, at the age of 86.

Bibliography

*Taylor, Jeri (1991). ''Unification''. Pocket Books. . *Taylor, Jeri (1996). '' Mosaic''. Pocket Books. . *Taylor, Jeri (1998). ''Pathways''. Pocket Books. .

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Jeri 1938 births 2024 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Writers from Bloomington, Indiana Indiana University Bloomington alumni California State University, Northridge alumni American showrunners American science fiction writers American television executives Television writers from California American women science fiction and fantasy writers American women novelists Novelists from Indiana Screenwriters from Indiana American women television producers American women television writers