(written from a Production point of view)
Briana Lane (born 16 November 1953; age 70) is the screenwriter, playwright, and novelist who wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode "Elementary, Dear Data" – credited, at the time, under the name "Brian A. Lane". Lane is also an attorney and tenured college professor, teaching a variety of writing courses.
Besides TNG, Lane wrote for such 1980s television shows as Remington Steele, Moonlighting and Hunter; Lane was a producer on the latter series, as well. Lane also co-wrote the story for a 1986 episode of MacGyver entitled "The Wish Child," directed by cinematographer Charles Correll and guest-starring George Takei.
Some of Lane's more recent writing credits include episodes of M.A.N.T.I.S., Matlock, and In the House. Lane 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 W. Reed Moran. Lane was credited, at the time, as "Scott Curtis".
In addition to Lane's 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 J. 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 a bestseller, Cat and Mouse: Mind Games with a Serial Killer. Lane 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 Lane executive produced. This film became an Official Selection of the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2006.