I love the fact that people always claim that Star Trek is just like Transformers. I don't think anyone would be saying that if two of the writers hadn't worked on Transformers. Given their track records as writers and creators on Alias,Lost,and Fringe I am guessing they were doing Tranformers because they were hired to write it and Bay wanted the movie done one way so they gave him the script he wanted. Most writers have to do whatever work comes their way and one of the things they have to do is give the director the script he wants,I don't see why Trasformers should be held against them for the rest of their lives. Outside of those three movies they have a pretty good track record.
That's completely moronic if they were that good they wouldn't lower their standards just to please the director.
So you have never worked for a boss who had low standards because you wanted to work and put food on the table? Good for you. Most people are not that lucky and writing in Hollywood is very competitive,you never know when the well is going to run dry so it's a good idea to take every job you can get while you are hot and save your money.
Nimoy talks alot about this in his book
I am Spock. He talks about how he has done a lot of things that he thinks are bad but he made them because he didn't want his family to go hungry and in hollywood just because you are hot this year does not mean you will still be working next year. So when he was on Star Trek he took every job that came his way so that he could pay off his house and put a large amount of money in a savings. That's why he did some bad TV movie,and all those weird records. Does that mean he has no talent as an actor? Look at all those adds Orson Well made to pay the bill late in life,does that mean he had no talent as an actor or a director and Citizen Kane was a cheap trashy ad for frozen peas?
Having talent doesn't mean you have to starve to death in a gutter,only an idiot choices not working over working.
Look at it this way. Now I admit my numbers may be a little off because this is something I read in the 90s,but back then the average price paid to a writer for a script was $50,000. Now that may seem like a lot until you think about things like the fact that the money is not tax free and you have no idea when you are going to sell your next script. Some writers go years between selling scripts so if you get a streak where lot of directors are asking you to write scripts for them you don't tend to care if the director ask for a rewrite to make the story about a boy and his car or to add dogs humping,you are just glad to be working.
Oh and they did co create and write for all of those shows I listed. Of those three Lost is the only one I was never able to get into and that had more to do with it not being my cup of tea then thinking it was badly written.
Face it most people do jobs they are not proud of at some point. I mean I once working in a meat packing plant that didn't care one bit about health and safety rules and after that I worked for Wal Mart. That doesn't mean that is the only thing I am ever able to do in my life.