How People Create: Dalan Musson

A peek inside the mind of a Marvel screenwriter.

Once writing officially became my career, I learned that there was a lot more to it than just writing specs. Writing a spec aka just writing whatever I wanted on my own was all I had ever known.

However, writing specs can be time consuming and risky, you could invest months in something and then have it fall flat. Since writers need to pay their bills just like anyone else, fortunately, there are options. Enter: being a writer for hire. You can pitch for jobs writing a script based on someone else’s idea, adapting material, or rewriting an existing script.

I have yet to land one of these and it’s probably for the best because honestly, I’m still wrapping my head on how to approach them.¹

In my head, writing is still very much the act of expressing some deep part of myself. With zombies. How could I write someone else’s vision? Someone else’s expression? How could I be inspired?

Well, let me tell you, when I had a chance to talk to Dalan Musson for our upcoming podcast, this was the subject I had the most questions about.

The following is a transcribed excerpt from our interview.

Promo for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

First off, what has your creative journey been like? Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I barely graduated high school and I went straight into the workforce. I started working in video games, which is one of my deep and dearest loves.

I always liked writing, whether it was comics or little short stories or like epic fantasy poetry (when I was going through that phase that we all go through in our late 30s, I hope), and I just thought it was something that I did and I never really thought of it as a career. Then, a friend of mine who was also very interested in film got a job at the local public access station. He could borrow the cameras on the weekends, so we decided to start making short films.

Concurrently, I met the dude who would go on to be my sort of mentor and sometimes writing partner and sort of all around just fucking dude of the moment, at work. He saw me printing out scripts for one of these weekend things and he's like, “you want to be a writer, huh? Me too.” He had come out here a couple years prior to us meeting with the intent of being a screenwriter. So, we just started being friends and we wrote some spec scripts together.

Frankly, he was a significantly more driven person than me. I just figured if it was gonna work out, it was gonna work out and if not, I would just work middle management at, like, AT&T forever. Right?

Then you fast forward a little bit and I just finally wrote something good enough that the right people started seeing it. I started getting phone calls. I think my first year, after my first script went out, I went on 300 general meetings, which I was so excited about because I got to meet all these people and talk about these things. I started grinding and eventually sold something and then got another job here and there.

I was just kind of a, you know, I lovingly say like a blue collar screenwriter for a good while. I mean, I don’t think I was in the guild for almost a decade or so.

Then the opportunity, what really kind of leveled me up, is I ended up working on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier for Disney+.

That made a big splash at the time and from there I rolled over with Malcolm, who is this aforementioned bro, working on what will be the next Captain America movie.

And then, when stuff like that's on your resume, you just have a different level of meetings and conversations with people and different sets of doors open.

So, I'm really still just on the edge of trying to take advantage of that and seeing what this phase looks like before I ultimately crash and burn and start writing manifestos on Word Press, if that's still a thing.

Okay, so after hearing all that, one of the first questions I want to ask, especially during what you called your ‘blue collar writing phase’, is:

When you are a writer for hire and you’re working on something that is not your idea, how do you keep yourself fresh and excited and motivated and inspired and all those things? 

You fucking make it your idea. Like, if someone wants me to adapt a comic book, I find the things in that comic book that make me excited and I make it my own.

You know, the old saying in politics is you repeat a lie often enough until it becomes the truth? I will be completely honest with you, if I'm working on an adaptation, I think it's all my ideas because I become one with that source material.

I think my job is to find those things that are interesting and engaging and lean into those.  And, if I can’t, then, like frankly I shouldn't be doing it. Like why on earth would somebody work on something they don't like? I never pursued something where I couldn't find the magic, because at the end of the day that will reflect in the writing.

The first day I sat down at Marvel I told them, “I was literally grown in a lab to work here. I have read every comic this is based on, I have seen every single piece of media you guys have put out. I am that guy.” 

Okay, so you get hired for something and you turn in a draft. How do you deal with it when you don’t get the response you were hoping for?

I think a lot of times in any creative medium, whether it's writing or drawing or painting or singing or anything, I think it is easy to feel like whatever we create is of ourselves and therefore a reflection of ourselves.

And so if you didn't like it, you didn't like me.

Here's the thing, everyone's familiar with a small independent film, not sure if you saw it, called The Big Lebowski.

Jeff Bridges said in that movie, “That's just, like, your opinion, man.”

It's just somebody's opinion. If I turn in something I think is amazing, and the people hate it, I say to myself, “…dummies.” Because I think it’s good.

And if I turn in something that I don't think is up to snuff, but it had to be in, and they love it, I'll go, “Woof. Dummies.”

There is no machine that tells you if a script is good or bad. There is no machine that tells you if a movie is good or bad. You just believe in yourself and trust your instincts.

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(day-len) (muss-in)

Dalan Musson is a screenwriter and novelist (lol) from Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a former independent-league professional wrestler and, unrelated, has a fantastic jawline.

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Sparks on Substack

As I focus more on inspiration around here, I plan to include more things on the reg to wet your whistle.² Here are a few posts from fellow Substackers that might interest you:

• Robot Dogs! from Thalia’s God Tier News, a satire news site that covers everything but politics. Check out the video on this link. It’s nuts.

  Prepare for your affordable robo dog demise!!!🤑

• A personal account of a pretty intense break with reality from someone who identifies as schizophrenic at The Manic Messiah.

  "I AM CHRIST AND I HAVE RETURNED!"

• Someone wishing to be the ‘One Who Got Away’ at Dear Diary.

  i want to be someone's one that got away

1. Although, my bank account would like a word.

2. Ew. Is that better or worse than ‘get your juices flowing?’