For showrunner Marc Guggenheim (DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow), being a professional writer wasn’t something he thought about in his youth, despite his love for the written word.
“I loved writing papers in school and essays and stuff. I’ve always been attracted to the musicality of words and putting words together. It wasn’t until my third year of law school when my brother Eric, who was in his senior year of film school, asked if I’d write a teleplay with him.”
Through that experience, Guggenheim was truly bitten by the writing bug, although he didn’t have any idea where it might take him.
“I found myself using a lot of my free time, even after I’d graduated and started practicing law, to hone my craft and write. It wasn’t with an eye towards being a professional writer. I didn’t think that far ahead.”
When it came time for Guggenheim to consider becoming partner at the law firm where he was working at the time, his passion for writing played deeply into his decision.
“At my firm, you had to sort of fish or cut bait on whether or not you were going to pursue partnership. I was like, you know what, the practice of law has lost its appeal. If I’m going to leave, I should do it now before I have a wife, three kids, and a mortgage. It was really then when I decided, okay, I want to try to become a professional writer.”
When it came to getting his first writing gig, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for him to land a job on the legal drama The Practice.
“The way that came about is kind of obnoxious. David was launching Boston Public. That was going to be his fourth show and he was looking to step away from The Practice, which actually didn’t end up happening.”
“He had this idea: He wanted to hire first-year writers. Check. Who used to be lawyers. Check.”
That early experience in The Practice room led to some big discoveries that Guggenheim believes helped his growth and longevity in the industry.
“Always be a fount of ideas. Always have another pitch. Back when I was working on The Practice, that was really what you did for David. He didn’t need actual pages, he needed ideas," Guggenheim explains. “My whole approach was, I’m just going to keep pitching stuff. That philosophy of, 'if you don’t like this pitch, here’s another one,' really benefited me in the early goings of my career.”
Guggenheim does caution that every showrunner has different needs, so be sure to keep an eye out for that person's specific needs, then deliver. Another key when it comes to making a positive impression is work ethic.
“If you’re the first person to arrive each day and the last person to leave, and if you’re always giving the showrunner what they’re looking for and making the showrunner’s life easier, I think you’re always going to work," he says. "The other thing is be pleasant to be around. Writing, even in a pandemic with Zoom rooms, is very much a communal experience. You want to be someone people want to spend time with.”
There are some trends Guggenheim has been hearing about lately that he advises up-and-coming writers to be aware of.
“I talk to a lot of showrunners right now and they complain a lot about the crop of incoming writers. They say, 'these writers are so entitled,' or 'I can’t give them a note,' or 'they’re so lazy.'”
According to Guggenheim, “The good news is that you are judged by your peers and if your peers are acting entitled, or always looking to be offended by something, or can’t take a note, or don’t want to put in the work, then those are all opportunities for you to distinguish yourself and set yourself apart from the pack.”
Before getting in a room though, Guggenheim finds himself often asked about how people can get an agent or manager and open those first doors.
“The unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of writers get their first gig by themselves.”
Instead of putting a lot of time and effort into reaching out to reps who aren’t likely to take on a brand new writer, Guggenheim encourages writers to put their energies into creating their samples. As for what he’s looking for in a sample, Guggenheim remarks, “I’m looking for something that shows how their brain works. If you want to be a writer, I take it as a given that your writing is good. What I’m looking for is, how does this person think? In many ways, it’s got to be present on the first five to ten pages.”
Guggenheim also reminds writers to be strategic and ensure they’re using the right tool for the job when they’re looking to showcase themselves for staffing.
“The problem a lot of writers have is they’re writing pilots when they should be writing samples. A sample does a different job. You’re trying to get someone to read past page ten. You’re trying to get someone to like your writing enough to meet with you.”
“The specificity of your voice is going to come through in a sample in a very different way than it will in something that’s commercial enough to sell.”
While showrunners have a variety of approaches to staffing, for many, the biggest source for finding new talent is through the assistant ranks.
“If I’m in a position to hire someone at the staff writer level, chances are, it’s incredibly likely I’m going to hire my assistant or the writers’ assistant. I’m going to promote from within. For better or for worse, the way people tend to break in these days is to come up through the assistant ranks.”
As for bringing together a room of writers, Guggenheim views building a staff much like managing a baseball team.
“The designated hitter can’t field. I don’t expect the pitcher to be able to hit. The goal of a showrunner is to find out what everyone’s good at and have them do more of that. You have some writers who are great in the room. You’ve got other writers who are great and fast on the page. You have other writers who are terrific at solving production problems. It’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of job, so you place your players in the position where they can most help the team.”
What is Guggenheim looking for when he’s running a show?
“Someone who is a font of ideas, who is not shy about pitching. Who isn’t pitching for the sake of pitching, but who has a lot of ideas and has something to contribute. Also, someone who knows how to read the room. Someone who knows how to read the direction the story is moving, the direction the room is moving, who is empathetic that way.”
“There are a lot of staff writers these days who come in and they’re so enamored with their own ideas that they're always swimming upstream, as opposed to going with the tide of the room. The room has its own momentum. Help with that momentum.”
Throughout his career, Guggenheim has received some great advice to help him develop as a writer. The comment that's stuck with him the most came from Vanessa Taylor, the Oscar®-nominated writer of The Shape of Water.
“She told me when you’re hiring your staff you have to think about your kids. Ironically, this was before either one of us had kids, but she was completely right. If you choose wrong, if you hire wrong, you’re going to end up having to fix that writer’s script. That time will come out of time with your family. That advice focuses me in terms of my hiring decisions because there are real-life consequences to hiring someone who can’t carry the water.”
Being on the other side and trying to find that first staffing job can be very challenging, but Guggenheim offers hope.
“If you want to play professional baseball, you have to be beyond world-class. Even the worst team in all of baseball has players that are better than 99.9% of the baseball players out there. That’s not the case in our business. Our business — your competition, quite frankly — are a lot of really bad writers. I always took comfort in that. The number of people who can actually do what we do at a high level is relatively small compared to the population of writers”
Guggenheim notes that there are a lot of opportunities to distinguish yourself as you’re growing your career, but writers often suffer from giving themselves either too much or too little credit.
“If you don’t have respect for yourself, no producer or showrunner out there is going to have respect for you.”
When thinking of longevity in this industry, Guggenheim encourages writers to approach each and every job with a desire to do the best they possibly can. He also recommends writers consider what type of writing connects best with their style, personality and temperament.
“Television is a very communal exercise compared to a lot of other forms of writing. If you’re someone who that’s not your personality, then maybe think: I want to be a filmmaker, I want to be a writer-director where I’m basically working for myself, or I want to be a novelist.”
And his best, closing advice:
“That ability to get along with a wide variety of personalities, that’s a skill that can absolutely be taught and can be practiced and can be developed and will always serve you well, whether it’s your first year in the business or your twentieth year in the business.”