Enterprise executive producer Rick Berman yesterday signed on for another five year tour of duty with Star Trek studio Paramount Pictures.

Paramount Television Production president Garry Hart and Motion Picture Group chairman Sherry Lansing announced the eight-figure deal which will see Berman develop new film and television projects, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Hart praised the producer's "immense talent and dedication," while Lansing said Berman was "an enormous contributor to the success of the Paramount Motion Picture Group."

The new arrangement doesn't mean Berman will be jumping ship just yet, with the producer confirming he will continue to oversee Enterprise in season two. "Enterprise is my baby," he said. "I want to stay with it and nurture it at least for a couple more years."

Berman is more enthusiastic than ever about his work on the franchise, calling the latest Trek ventures "the most exciting I've ever worked on - they've really been very challenging and different than in years before."

But with the feature film 'Star Trek: Nemesis' entering post-production and Enterprise's freshman season drawing to a close, the producer is eager to embark on new frontiers. "Now that I'm going to have a little time to breathe, I've told both the movie and TV people here that I want to start developing some projects where people wear sneakers and drive in cars."

The Emmy Award-winning producer of children's series The Big Blue Marble, Berman has been with Paramount Pictures since he signed on as director of current programming in 1984. During his tenure, Berman shepherded popular series such as Cheers and Family Ties before Trek creator Gene Roddenberry recruited him to work on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Starting off as supervising producer, Berman rose through the ranks to become executive producer, eventually taking over the reins of the franchise when Roddenberry passed away in 1991. Berman and Michael Piller created the spin-off Star Trek Deep Space Nine in 1993 before teaming up with Jeri Taylor to launch Star Trek: Voyager two years later.

Berman also produced the three Next Generation feature films, with the next big-screen voyage, 'Star Trek: Nemesis,' set for release later this year. In 2001, he created the prequel series Enterprise with Brannon Braga.

The original article can be found here at the Hollywood Reporter.

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