Writing Without Guest Stars

One difference I've noticed between writing episodes of Chuck and watching episodes of Chuck is that when you're writing episodes, you can't have guest stars!

Some of my favorite episodes are great in part because of the amazing casting. Sarah's father, Jack Burton, Chuck's father, Stephen Bartowski, Roan Montgomery, Premier Alejandro Goya, the list goes on. The casting on Chuck was one of the show's strengths.

I know there are those of you who are going to say, "Just write amazing characters."

Roger that.

But you can't discount what a great actor brings to a script. A writer can put words on a page, but an actor brings all the things that aren't written down: the voice, the expressions, the timing, the mannerisms, the little pauses and reactions that can turn a great character into an unforgettable one.

Take Sarah's father. If another actor had played him, the character simply wouldn't have been the same. Gary Cole, a consummate character actor, masterfully brought Jack Burton to life in the only two episodes in which he appeared: Season 2, Episode 10, Chuck Versus the DeLorean, and Season 4, Episode 21, Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner. Cole was excellent in both, giving the character a distinctive personality that made Sarah's complicated relationship with her father all the more poignant.

He also made the contrast between Jack and Chuck much more interesting. Jack had spent Sarah's childhood teaching her to look out for number one because no one else will. Chuck is the exact opposite; he genuinely cares about other people, even when it's not in his own best interest.

When the writers put those two men in Sarah's life, we are able to see, through her eyes, how she sees Chuck, even in Season 2, because of the way her father treated her juxtaposed with how Chuck treated her. Her father takes the money and runs, leaving without saying goodbye, with no real expectation of when or where he'll see her again. Chuck, on the other hand, is always there for the people he cares about, especially Sarah.

Some of the guest stars on the show were so compelling that I absolutely had to bring a few of them back in Season 6. One of those characters is Sarah's father, Jack Burton. Even his name raises questions.

In Season 2, Episode 4, Chuck Versus the Cougars, we learned that Sarah's name while she was in high school was Jenny Burton. Chuck later discovered that this was an alias as well. In the closing scene of that episode, we learn that because of the life Sarah and her father lived, moving around the United States as he ran his various cons, Sarah changed names frequently, a new identity for each city. So in Seasons 2 and 4, why, of all the names he's used over the years, was he using the last name Burton, the same last name Sarah used while in high school?

My new episode doesn't answer that question. It was just one of those little details that caught my attention.

But when you're writing new episodes, those little details become opportunities. I have to write a story that gives Jack Burton something worth doing. When you can't rely on an actor to make a character interesting, the character has to be interesting on the page.

While I was developing this story, Chuck Versus the Grand Con (a working title that may end up sticking), I stumbled onto a great justification as to why the CIA needs him. Why do I always stumble onto my great ideas? Where do great ideas even come from anyway?

And then I needed the episode's con, because why have Jack Burton in the episode if there isn't a con? I didn't stumble onto the con. That took a lot of work and rework and rerework.

It's not written yet, just blocked out, but it's not bad if I say so myself, which I do.