Star Trek

Herman Zimmerman

Herman Zimmerman is well known as one of Hollywood's most talented and experienced Motion Picture Production Designers.

Before becoming a film and television Art Director and Production Designer he was an Associate Professor of Drama at Northwestern University, where he was Technical Director and Scene Designer for the university theatre. Herman has a diversified background in entertainment. In addition to his early experience designing for the theatre he has also been the entertainment manager of a Reno, Nevada casino, the owner of a scenic studio and construction shop, and he has produced and directed numerous television commercials.

Since coming to California, Herman Zimmerman has created artistic environments for countless productions. He has had experience on literally every major motion picture lot and on every network stage in Hollywood. In his 20-plus years as Art Director/Production Designer, Herman has designed environments and backgrounds for every kind of entertainment; from situation comedy to serious drama, from game shows to musical variety, from industrials and commercials to talk shows and news programs. He has extensive experience in television movies-of-the-week and on feature films for theatrical release.

Some of his many credits include: The Days of Our Lives, Morningstar, The Tonight Show, Let's Make a Deal, Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, Cheers, Webster, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Land of the Lost, The Donnie and Marie Show, The World, A Rumor of War, The Burning Bed, Silence of the Heart, Hatter Fox, The Ordeal of Candra Torres, The Initiation of Sarah, The New Odd Couple, Brothers, Hard Knocks, All is Forgiven, Harry, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Marblehead Manor, The People's Court, Superior Court, The Powers of Mathew Starr, Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Memorial Day, So Proudly We Hail, Black Rain and All I Want For Christmas.

Herman Zimmerman has been part of Paramount Pictures' Star Trek francise since the beginning of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987. He was also Production Designer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as the last five filmed incarnations of the Star Trek saga: "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," "Star Trek Generations," "Star Trek: First Contact" and "Star Trek: Insurrection."

Since 1992, when Paramount Communications bought the five Great America theme parks, he has been a consultant to the Paramount Parks Design and Entertainment team, first helping to "Paramountize" them and later to create the scenic envelope for the Star Trek Earth Tour. In 1995 he created a Star Trek Exhibition for Edinburgh, Scotland, using props, set pieces, costumes and museum style documents to describe the entire history of Star Trek; that exhibition toured museums throughout Europe for three years. Mr. Zimmerman was consulting designer on the multi-million dollar Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Zimmerman applied his experience from Star Trek to help create a real-life "holodeck" for the U.S. Army. The "Experience Learning System" immerses military trainees in a digital sight-and-sound environment that simulates war-torn Bosnia and situations that soldiers could encounter there, such as enemy fire and dealings with local citizens. "Looking at a map is one thing; looking at still pictures is another. But being able to walk down a street in Kosovo — that's a really different kind of experience, and we can do that right now," Zimmerman said of the system built by the Institute for Creative Technologies in Southern California.

Currently Zimmerman is Production Designer and Illustrator on the fifth Star Trek series, Enterprise, which began production in May 2001.