6 Questions with Marion Dayre

Join the Echo showrunner in our Q&A this Sunday!

Marion Dayre is impressive. We first met when she was swiftly moving up the assistant ranks on Better Call Saul, and since then her career has been a rocket, writing for that show, followed by work on The Act and Shantaram. Most recently, you can see Marion’s work on Echo from Disney+ and Marvel, on which she served as “head writer” (what Disney calls their showrunners, since they don’t like TV). And, right now, Marion is working on another very cool project: an adaptation of Scott Syder and Jock’s terrific comic book Wytches for Amazon.

I don’t know to what Marion might attribute her rapid rise, but I do know that a big part of it is that she’s not afraid to put in the work. She grew up in a family business (a funeral home!), and one of her earliest jobs was as a journalist for the railroads. “I had never been close to a train before. But you write about track projects, new hires, hobbies that people have, safety measures that are that are happening, big storms on the on the Gulf Coast…” she told me when we talked in 2022 for The Writers Panel.

Go and listen to that episode, and you’ll hear how Marion applied the same tenacious work ethic to her move to Hollywood and to everything she’s worked on since.

And join us this Sunday, January 28, at 11am PT for our Zoom Q&A with Marion Dayre! Info is below, under the paywall. If you want to join and ask Marion your questions, or if you want to listen to the recording (and all previous Q&As) later, then become a paid subscriber

6 Questions with Marion Dayre

1. What you working on right now?

A multi-season half hour adult animated horror adaptation of a comic book series called Wytches, for Amazon.  We’re in the writers’ room for that now.

I’m also developing a show about art megadealers with Zazie Beetz for Apple, and a limited series adaptation of an NBC Dateline story about a pair of elderly lady criminals for UCP/Peacock.

I teach some writing classes at a couple colleges, we just started a new semester.

Personally I’m working on being right here right now, not back there or up ahead.

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

For the comic book project, there’s a lot of predetermined plot and set pieces, and that’s different from my character-first breaking style. It’s been an interesting experiment so far.

The development pieces both take a fair amount of research.  That brings up a broader challenge:  I always want to know “more” before I get started. A lot of story shows up after I have the faith to jump into the break. Even though I know that, every time I start something new I have a mean voice inside telling me I’m not ready.

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

Say a loving and respectful goodbye to your backup plan. You’re in a place in life where it’s not good for you to be connected to alternatives. Get a job that pays your rent. Meanwhile, pick the creative direction that makes you truly excited, find people who are headed there, show up around them, and ask them how you can help.

And keep asking how you can help.

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

You find a lot of inspiration when you get out of your own way. It took me a bunch of time and pain and mistakes to see how I was contributing to my own suffering. It’s not true that artists have to be tortured.

Find mentors who have what you want. Study what they do and how they do it. You don’t even have to meet them to learn how they do what they do.

So true! Oh, did I mention I made Spielberg my unwitting mentor?

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

A world with a pulse and characters I want to run errands with.

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

It’s screener season! Lots of FYC movies. I just spent a few weeks with my nieces and nephews who had DC League of Super Pets on loop.  

So far this year I’ve re-read A Little Life, Things Fall Apart, and The War of Art. Graphic novels The Alcoholic and Black Hole. 

I cannot think of a better double feature.

You’re going to walk away from our Zoom Q&A with Marion inspired and enlightened! Join us this Sunday, Jan 28, 11am PT. Bring your Q’s, Marion will provide the A’s. Link below the paywall.