The next Star Trek movie (and thirteenth in the franchise) has passed a big milestone. A month ago we reported that Roberto Orci and co-writers Patrick McKay and JD Payne were "in the middle" of scripting the movie. Now, Orci exclusively tells TrekMovie the first draft has been completed.

First Draft Complete On Star Trek Into Darkness Sequel

As is his custom, Star Trek 2016 co-writer (and expected director) Roberto Orci dropped by the TrekMovie comments section to interact with the community in the last couple of days, making comments in the article about how he and Alex Kurtzman will be producing some monster movies for Universal. On Saturday morning, Orci gave an update on progress for the Star Trek project, noting with the following comment:

boborci:

p & m & I wrote, "fade out" yesterday on first draft. things are moving.

The ‘p & m’ bob is referring to is [JD] Payne and [Patrick] McKay, Orci’s co-writers on the next Star Trek movie. TrekMovie has confirmed with Orci that he is referring to the first draft of the Star Trek script. Orci tells TrekMovie:

First draft is done



Bob Orci and his co-writers have finished their first draft for the next Star Trek movie

Finishing the first draft is a big milestone for the ‘development’ phase of the movie. Orci has stated that he expects to start shooting the film next spring, with pre-production starting a few months prior. If Paramount likes the way things are going, then the next steps (while additional drafts are being developed) would include finalizing Orci’s directing deal, setting a budget for the film and of course setting a release date. While Paramount has announced that the next Star Trek film is part of their 2016 line-up, they have yet to set a date for it or other big movies for that year (including Transformers 5). Although just yesterday they did set a June 3, 2016 date for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, after Ninja Turtles scooped up $65M in domestic sales over the last weekend.

TrekMovie will be providing updates on the Star Trek 2016 movie project as they become available.