Marc Guggenheim is one of those onion guys, where every time you peel back a layer, two more costumed characters appear in its place. A year ago, when he first appeared on Mr. Media, we spent most our time talking about his first novel, the out-of-control shadow government story of Overwatch. That, and a bit about his day job as writer and producer of The CW’s hit show “Arrow,” which had just spun off “The Flash.” Today, this guy has got superheroes coming out of his eyes, ears and, well, everywhere else.
MARC GUGGENHEIM podcast excerpt: "The simultaneous shooting schedule of the Arrow/The Flash/DC's Legends of Tomorrow crossover and two-hour pilot has been a much bigger headache than dealing with the actors' agents and managers. The scheduling is really, really hard. It was all filmed at the same time. It requires a tremendous amount of creativity on the part of the producers and the assistant directors on the various shows who handle scheduling. Not easy! And not easy on the actors who sometimes have to run from one set to the other. We're all now recovering from the scheduling mishegas. That said, we do it because the end result is so worthwhile. And the end result is awesome. As I said to the 'Arrow' crew yesterday, a quadruple axle is far more impressive than a double axel. People are going to watch these four hours of television and I think it's going to blow their minds!"Guggenheim is now the showrunner for “Arrow” –in its fourth season – and its upcoming spinoff, “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” which will bring together The Atom, Firestorm, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Captain Cold, Heatwave, Rip Hunter, White Canary, and more.
MARC GUGGENHEIM podcast excerpt: "Spoiler Alert for people who haven't seen Season 3 of 'Arrow': Sara Lance (the original Canary) dies! And by the way, Spoiler Alert: In Season 4 she comes back to life! We love Caity Lotz and we love the character of Sara Lance. It was something were always planning on doing."He’s also the guy that raised “Constantine” from last season’s ashes and made millions wonder what the NBC show could have been if it had come from his keyboard. But TV represents just a fraction of the characters in his sandbox.
MARC GUGGENHEIM podcast excerpt: "I value my collaboration with Greg Berlanti. But it's also important for me to establish an identity as a writer separate and apart from him. I love comic books and I probably would have become a comic book writer first if that path had been offered to me."He has also found time to write a rack’s worth of new comics this year, include Arrow 2.5 for DC, The Infinite Adventures of Jonas Quantum for Legendary, Stringers for Oni Press, and The Rocketeer at War! for IDW. Earlier this year, he wrote a Squadron Sinister series for Marvel.
And when he goes home, he can’t escape the superhero business: wife Tara Butters is co-showrunner of Marvel’s “Agent Carter” on ABC. Oh, and he is an indefatiguable sharer on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.
Key interview moments:• 6:45 "Arrow" and "DC Legends of Tomorrow" showrunner Marc Guggenheim explains why he makes time to create and write comic books, fiction, and even two upcoming film scripts;
• 33:20 Spoiler Alert: Sara Lance lives, has a final night of passion with girlfriend Nyssa al Ghul in Guggenheim's Arrow 2.5 comic book, dies in Season 3 and is reborn in Season 4;
• 41:10 Guggenheim says the four-hour "Arrow"/"The Flash"/"DC Legends of Tomorrow" crossover was a nightmare to schedule and shoot but the result is "awesome."
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