Shatner Rules by William Shatner

preparation and discipline I brought to the roles was always way above par.
    Discipline. In my many years of performing, I have never once taken a sick day. Not one. I was deathly ill with the flu during the filming of a
Star Trek
episode, and rather than call in sick, I had the producers put a cot down next to the set. In between takes, I would collapse, toss and turn in a cold sweat, and be mopped up in time for the next take. I barely had the strength to steal a close-up! I would not call in sick!
RULE: If Shatner Works in Your Office during Flu Season,
Everyone’s
Getting the Flu
    Here’s what I think: I’m a good actor. I know what to do, I can make you laugh, I can make you cry, and I can always find the good moments. I can say the words so that they have some meaning to them. There are thousands of actors out there in Hollywood, and producers throughout the years have scribbled WILLIAM SHATNER onto some of the checks that they’ve cut, for varying sizes. They could have written someone else’s name. They didn’t.
    For close to seventy-five years now, since I was a kid, I have been acting. I have never made money for anything other than performing. That is not a joke.
    Â 
    MOCK NEWSPAPER REVIEW FROM 1930s
    Also in the Little Players’ production of
Red Riding Hood
was young Billy Shatner as a tree. A solid performance, although this critic sometimes found he was playing the charm. Also, why would a tree shout “KAHN!” in the middle of the second act?
    But for many, it seemed
Star Trek
was a joke. And I got in on it.
    All those people yelling “Beam me up, Scotty” must have thought that the show, and Kirk, were subjects worthy of mockery. And to protect myself, I joined them. As with that British talk show host, I have tried to beat the mockers to the punch. I soon started laughing and giving a thumbs-up whenever someone shouted the line to me. To many,
Star
Trek
is tacky, a campy joke, and so was my performance. Best thing to do is laugh the loudest, right?
    And I kept laughing until I made
The Captains
.
    The Captains
is a feature-length documentary I produced in which I traveled around the world and interviewed everyone who has played a captain within the
Star Trek
canon. I sat down with Scott Bakula (
Star Trek: Enterprise
), Kate Mulgrew (
Star Trek: Voyager
), Avery Brooks (
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
), and Patrick Stewart (
Star Trek: The Next Generation
). Even Chris Pine, the latest incarnation of Kirk, sat down for a one-on-one.
    During the filming, I flew to London to meet Patrick Stewart. For the flight I was seated in the quiet of the wonderful jet that my sponsors at Bombardier generously provided for me . . .
RULE: Never Forget a Plug—Especially One That Keeps You out of the Security Line at the Airport
    . . . and in the luxurious quiet of the cabin (thank you again, Bombardier) I was studying my notes on this portrayer of Jean-Luc Picard.
    Stewart and I had worked together before, on the film
Star Trek: Generations,
but I didn’t know him all that well. We had a scene together in that film where he and I were riding horses, and I gave him the handy tip of wearing panty hose under his clothes to prevent chafing in the saddle.
    (NOTE: Tell British actors that they should wear panty hose under their pants while riding horses to prevent chafing. They often fall for it.)
    Either way, I had a great epiphany with Stewart and with my place in the world as a guy forever associated with Captain Kirk. It was a total paradigm shift for me!
    I had gotten in on the joke, but for Patrick Stewart there is no joke to be had with
Star Trek
.
    Patrick is a marvelous Shakespearean actor. He spent his life doing the classics, and he said “yes” to being in
Star Trek: The Next Generation
. And I soon realized that he approached his performance with the same respect and reverence that he reserved for the Bard.
    As I considered this wonderful actor