6 Questions with Marc Guggenheim

Ask Marc YOUR questions this Sunday via Zoom!

Quick Wit

I always look to Marc Guggenheim for perspective. He’s a smart writer, and a smart guy, and is frequently an outspoken member of our writer community. Before becoming a full-time writer, Marc worked as a lawyer, and he brings a lawyerly analysis to our industry.

That’s why, after the WGA strike ended a couple of months ago, my first stop was Marc’s terrific newsletter, Legal Dispatch. I knew he would provide a valuable scrutiny of the deal we’d made. And valuable it was!

I prefer to measure the deal against the following question: Was it worth five months of being on strike? The more I review the deal and its specifics the more I am convinced that it is. And although the devil is usually in the details, in this case I find that the deal is better for the precedents it sets rather than the specific benchmarks and minimums we gained.

Marc goes on to highlight a few points of the deal, discussing what makes them worthwhile. You can read the whole thing here.

After staffing on shows like Law and Order and Jack and Bobby, Marc created the musical-comedy-lawyer-drama series Eli Stone with Greg Berlanti. This led to a long relationship with Berlanti, with whom he co-created the DC Comics adaptaion Arrow, which ran for one million seasons on the CW. Marc was co-showrunner on the show for the first six. He also co-created the spin-off, the super fun and completely weird Legends of Tomorrow.

Marc’s comic book writing credentials are legit. He’s wrote a great run of The Flash at DC as well as Wolverine, Spider-man, and Punisher books at Marvel. And he’s written video games!

The point is, Marc Guggenheim is a writer who knows his stuff. He seems to understand that writing is writing, in whatever media. We’ll discuss all of this and more when Marc is our live Zoom Q&A guest this Sunday, Dec 17, at 11am PT.

6 Questions with Marc Guggenheim

1. What you working on right now?

Right now, I’m mainly in hustle mode, developing and revising a variety of television, movie, and comic book pitches. In my downtime, I’m trying to finish up a feature spec.

All that being said, I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this question as an opportunity to plug my (mostly) weekly newsletter, LegalDispatch, where I mainly talk about what’s on my plate at any given time.

2. What challenges are you facing specific to your current writing project?

Well, as you can probably tell, I never have just one “current” writing project. I like to stay busy and I like to multitask, so I tend to have several projects going at once. Each project, of course, poses their own unique challenges.

Generally, however, the challenge I’m wrestling with lately is simply staying motivated. Between the holidays coming up and the fact that it doesn’t look as though the TV market is opening back up for another two months, it’s hard to feel any great sense of urgency on anything apart from a couple of comic book deadlines that, quite frankly, I’m grateful to have.

3. What advice about the business of TV/film writing can you give to someone starting out now?

Y’know, I’ve really been struggling with this question lately because the flippant answer is: “Don’t.” However, I don’t want to crush anyone’s hopes and dreams and it’s certainly not my place to discourage anyone from doing anything. 

At the same time, though, it would be foolhardy not to acknowledge the elephant in the room, namely that the landscape right now is the worst I’ve seen it in over 20 years in the business. Like I said, I wouldn’t discourage anyone from pursuing their passion, but I’d certainly advise them not to put all their chips down on the TV/film square.

To the contrary, my advice would be: Diversify your writing. The environment outside of TV and film isn’t that much better, I know, but when everything out there is shit — which it is — the best thing to do is spread out your risk until such time as circumstances calm down. Look for other areas where you can pursue and develop your craft. Prose. Webcomics. Shorts. The internet is a phenomenally democratizing means of distribution. Take advantage of that whenever possible. Work hard. Focus. Write. Read. Develop your voice, your craft. The era of Peak TV led many to feel like writing gigs were being handed out like participation trophies and that’s just, sadly, no longer the case. Good luck.

4. What advice about the craft of writing can you give to someone starting out?

Don’t.

Just kidding.

Seriously though, the advice I give to people just starting out is the same advice I give to myself and other writers at any stage of their careers: Read a lot and write a lot. Those are the best two ways to develop your craft. The third best way is to watch a lot — but I think that endeavor brings the most return on investment of time when coupled with also reading the script of what you’re watching so that you can see how the writer provoked and inspired what ultimately got put on film.

Basically do what the Screenplayed account does on your own. You’ll learn a lot!

5. What do you respond to most in a piece of writing?

Can I not limit myself to one answer? Because the truth is, I respond most to three things: Voice, voice, and voice.

I know that sounds like a joke, but “voice” can — and often is — expressed in multiple ways in a script. For example, I love Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue. Tony Gilroy writes the best stage direction I've ever seen. David Koepp’s screenplays are structured within an inch of their lives. But no matter what the “element” we’re talking about is, for me it all comes down to “voice,” the thing that makes thew writer’s writing uniquely identifiable. It can just manifest itself in different ways.

6. What are you watching/reading/listening to lately that’s getting you excited or inspired?

The honest truth is that despite my aforementioned advice myself to read a lot and watch a lot, I’m pretty horrible at carving out time to do either. That said, I try to be eclectic in my entertainment consumption. I just watched the new season premiere of Fargo and enjoyed it a lot. I’m thrilled with the return of For All Mankind, as that is one of my favorite shows. I’m currently reading Memory Wall, a short story collection written by Anthony Doerr, who wrote All the Light We Cannot See. Comics-wise, I’m still thinking about Jason Aaron’s Punisher run even months after it concluded. I can’t wait to dive into the final season of The Crown.

Speaking of For All Mankind, check out next week’s Writers Panel episode!

You’re going to walk away from our Zoom Q&A with Marc inspired and enlightened! Join us this Sunday, Dec 17, 11am PT. Bring your Q’s, Marc will provide the A’s. Link below the paywall.