250 | Jac Schaeffer (WandaVision, Agatha All Along): Having a “Take” When Pitching on IP — or Anything

The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna

Meg LeFauve & Lorien McKenna

Tv & Film

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Join TSL Workshops: https://tslworkshops.circle.so When you’re pitching — whether it’s on studio IP or your own original idea — what sets you apart is your take. But what does that actually mean? This week, Jac Schaeffer (WandaVision, Agatha All Along) breaks it down. For Jac, a great take starts with the emotional core — “what is the deep down” that connects you to the material. From there, it’s about delivering a pitch only you could give: not necessarily linear or formulaic, but full of energy, essence, and personal vision. We talk about how far is too far from the IP, how to navigate studio mandates, and how to protect your voice in rooms full of competing takes. 🎬 Jac’s first feature, TiMER, is now available to stream for free on Tubi! https://tubitv.com/movies/100029089/timer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone and welcome back to Screen Writing Life. I'm Lorraine McKenna.
0:07.0	And today I'm really excited to talk to Jack Schaefer, an Emmy and WGA Award-nominated writer, producer, director, and showrunner, best known for Wanda Vision and Agatha All Along.
0:18.0	The two Marvel series that not only became pop culture
0:21.8	sensations, but also revealed what's possible when a writer brings bold, specific, thematically
0:27.0	rich ideas to the world of IP. Jack's roots are in genre storytelling with a twist. She wrote
0:32.8	and directed the sci-fi rom-com timer, co-wrote The Hustle with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson, and also
0:38.9	has a story credit on Black Widow.
0:40.7	But what makes Jack's work so exciting is how distinctly her voice shines through, even in
0:45.4	the most massive franchises.
0:47.5	So welcome to the show, Jack.
0:49.3	Thank you.
0:50.2	Thank you so much.
0:51.1	What a lovely introduction.
0:52.2	I appreciate you.
0:52.5	Super happy to have you. And before we started recording, I had a fan girl moment with Jack, so I'm just letting everyone know that
0:58.5	this episode is going to be one of those episodes. We love it. So before we get into the interview
1:05.0	where I really want to talk about what a take is, what it means to create a take, pitch one, make it work, all those things.
1:14.5	But before that, we're going to do Adventures in Screenwriting, which is how is our week, and I'll
1:20.1	start. So some context for you, Jack, is that there are some parts of my personality that
1:26.9	involve my love of chips.
1:29.8	My daughter has type 1 diabetes, so there's a lot of sugar in my house, and I have ADHD.
1:35.2	And it's a constant struggle.
	...

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