In 1979, Bennett joined with producer/executive Harris Katleman to form Bennett-Katleman Productions. Besides helping to oversee TV production at Columbia, where they had a deal, the duo were executive producers of "The American Girls" (CBS, 1978), "Salvage 1" (ABC, 1979), as well as the 1979 NBC miniseries based on "From Here to Eternity" and its short-lived weekly series. Bennett also produced such TV-movies as "The Birdmen" (ABC, 1971), and "Houston, We Have a Problem" (ABC, 1974), which dealt with the Apollo 13 space venture. After parting ways with Katleman in the early 80s, Bennett produced the syndicated miniseries "A Woman Called Golda" (1982), with Judy Davis and Ingrid Bergman as Golda Meir and "The Jesse Owens Story" (1984), about the Olympic runner. The former earned Bennett the 1981/82 Emmy for Outstanding Drama Special. His last TV venture to date was the syndicated sci-fi series, "Time Trax" (1992-94).
While Bennett had little experience in feature films, nevertheless, Paramount handed him the burgeoning "Star Trek" franchise in 1982, which two years earlier had been re-launched as a successful motion picture. He co-contributed the story and was executive producer of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982), then wrote and produced "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984). Bennett co-wrote the screenplay for "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986), as well as produced, and he ended his involvement with the franchise in 1989 by producing "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier". Over the course of nearly a decade, he earned hundreds of millions of dollars for Paramount.