Every production has its unsung heroes, the people who might not get much glory but, without their efforts, the project would struggle to get off the ground. In the world of movies — and especially Star Trek movies — the Art Coordinator is one of those people.

Penny Juday has been the Art Coordinator on four Star Trek films, beginning with "Star Trek Generations" and concluding with "Star Trek Nemesis." Juday also served as the Art Coordinator for the film "Alien: Resurrection." This is in addition to Penny's other duties as props archivist and a stint as coordinator for Star Trek: The Magazine.

What exactly does an Art Coordinator do? "It's a pretty long list, actually," says Penny. "Every Production Designer has their Art Coordinator do different things. Typically, the Production Designer is the first guy in, and I usually start the same day."

From the moment the Art Coordinator is hired, it's their responsibility to build the entire Art Department from the ground up. "I usually get a completely blank room. Paramount Pictures gives me an empty bungalow or trailer, and I go in and I have to completely establish everything. I have to bring in the phones, the faxes, the copy machine, everything. The desks, the chairs, the drawing tables, literally everything; I just have an empty room. I bring in everything the artists are going to need. I do the business end of the Art Department."

A large part of this process involves some bookkeeping skills, mixed with a knowledge of how to navigate within a major motion picture studio. So Juday would be working not only for Paramount, but she also has to do business with Paramount at the same time. "What happens is Paramount gives you a chunk of money and you actually have to buy everything back from Paramount," she explains. "They give you a budget and every time I get anything from Paramount, I have to rent it. I have to pay them to come and install the phones, I have to rent my office furniture, I have to rent my copy machine from them. It's just like if I've moved into an apartment, I have to give back all my money to Paramount as I buy things from them. So that's why, with the purchase orders and the work authorizations, that's actually an order form to Paramount to get the things I need, and they take the money back out of my budget. That's how that works!"

Juday takes care of all the details so that the artists can spend their time creating art instead of worrying about extraneous details. This also includes a small but invaluable component to the Art Department — sustenance! "I also set up what they call the 'Coffee Mess.' I set up all their coffee, I get all their snacks together, and artists, as you know, can be pretty eccentric, and everyone has their own little favorite. We make sure the artists are pretty well catered to and tended to."

In addition to establishing the Art Department prior to the arrival of the artists and illustrators, the Art Coordinator helps the Production Designer put together his team. "The first couple of weeks are usually the hardest, just putting the Art Department completely together, setting up the interviews for Herman (Zimmerman, the Production Designer on the Star Trek films Juday has worked on) to interview the Set Designers and the Illustrators. Oh, I have to call Herman!"

Juday takes a break in the interview to call Zimmerman to follow up on a detail about the upcoming Star Trek feature. When she returns, she picks up where she left off.

When Star Trek is in production for television, it might seem like Paramount would have a full-time Star Trek Art Department. But in today's studio system that simply isn't the case. "It's a completely different production company [from the television operation] — everybody is brought in from the outside, everybody is hired as a completely new contractor. It's not like it used to be in the old days where a lot would hire somebody and you'd get moved from picture to picture to picture. It can be on Star Trek, because once people have learned Star Trek they like to keep them around, but that's a really odd, unusual animal. That normally doesn't happen. You're brought in completely fresh and new. Each picture is its own production, almost as if it's its own company — everything."

After the personnel that staff the Art Department are hired, the Art Coordinator helps to facilitate every step in the process as the production marches towards shooting. As the Production Designer and the staff of artists and illustrators create concepts, the Art Coordinator has to keep everyone outside of the Art Department involved and in the loop. "Producers, like Rick Berman for example, have to completely approve each batch of concept art, set design blueprints, etc., so we'll staple together all of the drawings.Then there's a big stamp that goes on the batch that everybody has to sign after they've looked at the drawings. Then it's all go. You constantly have to follow up to make sure everything is approved before a set finally gets built."

Throughout this process, the Art Coordinator is keeping busy, working in the Art Department with a personal assistant to keep the operation running. "We answer the phones, screen the calls, we make all the copies of everything, the blueprint copies, we make the script copies, you name it."

The Art Coordinator is the liaison between the Art Department and all of the other departments within Paramount. "Throughout the production, the Licensing Department will contact us, because we have these companies that want to make toys and write magazines and stuff like that, so we will provide artwork to the Licensing department, plus Marketing will want images and artwork for advertising. And then there's the Home Entertainment department. You have this conglomeration of other aspects that need to produce their products as well."

One part of the job allows Juday to exercise some sleuthing skills. "I get to play detective. They say to me, 'Find me nylon rope that's used on parachutes, something like that.' So I set out on a course to try to find that. It's just basically common sense. But, especially with the Star Trek films, we really get to play detective. You have to find strange and unusual things, and usually a lot of it. So that's part of my job, just being on the phone, searching. You may have to make ten or fifteen calls before you finally find the right company, or call the right guy."

A knowledge of Star Trek really helps when searching for specific items. "I'm a walking Trek encyclopedia too, so that helps. 'What is a Klingon glass supposed to look like?' That makes a big difference in our realm, if you have some idea. And it's not a Romulan glass, it's a Klingon glass, so you have to be able to tell the difference."

So, once Production has started, an Art Coordinator is taking care of daily paperwork, timecards, work authorizations, purchase orders, everything required to keep the Art Department up and running, plus keeping other departments on the production and also on the Paramount lot posted. Then there is always that job of chasing strange and/or hard-to-find items.

Of course, conversely at the end of production, the process is reversed. "At the end I have to take it all apart again and put it all away. We rent a lot of stuff and I have to make sure it all goes back to the right people and that they get the right number of desks, and it all has to be in good shape."

Ultimately, Juday starts a production with nothing and is responsible for returning it to nothing when it's finished. In between, she's juggling dozens of issues and concerns and doing the paperwork along the way. The Art Coordinator's efforts might not make her recognizable to the general public, but without them the sets would never be built and shooting could never begin. "Whatever anybody needs," she says with a smile as she reaches for the phone to answer an urgent page.

This article originally appeared in 2001 during production of "Star Trek Nemesis."