Brian Alan Lane

Brian Alan Lane is the screenwriter, playwright, and novelist who wrote the episode. He is also an attorney and tenured college professor, teaching a variety of writing courses.

Besides TNG, Lane has written for such 1980s television shows as Remington Steele, Moonlighting and Hunter; he was a producer on the latter series, as well. He also co-wrote the story for a 1986 episode of MacGyver entitled "The Wish Child," directed by cinematographer Charles Correll and guest-starring 's George Takei.

Some of Lane's more recent writing credits include episodes of M.A.N.T.I.S., Matlock, and In the House. He created, wrote for and executive produced a short-lived dramatic series for A&E Television entitled Hollywood Detective, which received a number of nominations from the Cable ACE Awards. Another writer on this series was teleplay co-writer W. Reed Moran.

In addition to his episodic television writing credits, Lane wrote two science fiction TV movies, 1988's Out of Time (directed and executive produced by Robert Butler and featuring Barbara Tarbuck) and 1991's The Girl from Mars (starring Edward Laurence Albert and Gwynyth Walsh).

Outside of Hollywood, Lane has written a number of non-fiction crime novels, most dealing with murders and serial killers. Among these is his bestseller, Cat and Mouse: Mind Games with a Serial Killer. He is also the publisher of the literary journal Sweet Fancy Moses and has written numerous short stories. One of those stories, entitled Body of Work, was adapted into a short film which he executive produced. This film became an Official Selection of the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2006.