From the October 1989 issue of Starlog interview with Melinda Snodgrass:
“I have the Hollywood Cinderella story of all Hollywood Cinderella stories…George R. R. Martin, producer on Beauty & The Beast and a close friend, said that he thought I would be good at screenwriting because of my strengths in characterization and dialogue. So, I wrote a spec script for Star Trek and everyone from my agent to George said it was just a calling card. The day after I delivered the script to my agent, the writer’s strike started and everything went on hold.”
But in October, 1988:
“I flew out and I thought it would be a pitch session…I had three other story ideas clutched in my hot little hands. I met with co-executive producer Maurice Hurley and after we talked for a few minutes, he said, ‘I love this script. I’m going to buy it.’ I just floated out of the office and went home to New Mexico to make some necessary changes.”
After finishing “A Measure of a Man,” Snodgrass was called to another meeting with Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman (at the time co-executive producer with Hurley):
“At the end of the four-hour session, Maury turned to me and said, ‘I’m going to give you a job.’ The next day my agent called to tell me they wanted me as story editor. One week later, I came out and started work. So, that’s the Cinderella story. I sold a spec script, which you’re never supposed to be able to do, and I was hired not as a staff writer – the normal entry-level position – but as story editor. It still feels very strange.”
