A panel of experts from the entertainment industry talked to students last Friday as part of the Festival of Writing. Hosted by Northwestern’s MFA program in Writing for the Stage and Screen, five featured panelists sat down with students in the writing program to share their breakthroughs, regrets and opinions of the industry.
Dave Tolchinsky, the MFA Program director, introduced the five panelists: Peter Gallagher, a Golden Globe winner and Tony-nominated actor; Lauren Gussis, a supervising producer for Dexter; Jeff Jacobs, an agent with the Creative Artists Agency; Ira Ungerleider, an executive producer for Gary Unmarried and an Emmy nominee for his work as a producer/writer for Friends; and Stephen Willems, the literary manager of New York’s MCC Theater.
Each began the discussion by explaining why they decided to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Some, like Jacobs, just enjoyed working in the “people business.”
“I’m curious and I like media and content,” he said. “I have the funnest job in the world.”
On the other hand, some were unsure of their futures, but decided to take the risk. Gallagher first studied economics at Tufts University, but soon realized he was much more drawn to the stage.
“It was clear to me I had no aptitude for economics,” Gallagher said. “The contrast was dramatic and very moving to me. In this one world, I felt no connection and in this other world, I ached to be a part of it.”
The panelists also emphasized the importance of collaboration when it came to working in the industry.
“If you cannot hang and you cannot work with other people, you cannot work in this business,” Jacobs said. “It’s just that simple. No matter how talented you may be, if people do not like being around you, if you’re going to kick and scream or push back too much, or if you’re an asshole, you are going to be replaced.”
“You’re going to have a long hard career if you don’t learn how to collaborate,” Willems said. “It’s so crucial that the right people are working together.”
However, collaboration does not just mean getting along; it also requires listening to criticisms and learning from other professionals. Ungerleider told of an episode of Friends he wrote, in which David Schwimmer insisted on playing two roles using split-screen. Though Ungerleider said he felt the gag was overused, he accepted it.
“There’s a joy to the collaborative process, but also you kind of have to roll with the collaborative process,” he said. “The thing takes on a spirit of its own and it’s going to be what it’s going to be.”
As for Gussis, when her first script for Dexter was rewritten by her boss, she said that she realized she had much more to learn.
“The most important thing that I learned was humility and openness and being willing to be teachable,” she explained. “There’s a huge amount of insecurity for writers that I know. There’s also this ego thing, like ‘That’s my work, that’s my baby!’ I felt really betrayed […] It made me work even harder and it made me open up to the fact that maybe I don’t know everything.”
Finally, the panelists warned the students of the toughness of the entertainment industry and encouraged them to be persistent.
“If you want to succeed as a writer, just be ferocious enough to stay hungry and keep showing up every single day,” Gallagher said. “If you want to fail as a writer, think you’re great.”
“Be the person who’s read the most of anyone you know,” Ungerleider said. “Read and write all the time.”
Gallagher closed the discussion and praised the students for choosing to write.
“Realize how lucky you are to do what you love,” he said. “I think storytelling is a noble profession. Storytelling brings us together. It establishes community. It reassures us that we’re not alone.”