One-On-One With Glen Mazzara on “Beacon 23”

With each passing year, the lines between science fiction and real life seem to become increasingly blurry. And while the story of a government agent and an ex-military man becoming trapped together in a “lighthouse” in space with AI for extra company might seem fantastical, the themes of Beacon 23 aren’t all that unfamiliar and the subject matter not so far-fetched.

Based on the 2015 book by Hugh Howey, the adapted series was created by Zak Penn (The Incredible Hulk, Free Guy) and stars Lena Headey and Stephan James. Executive producer Glen Mazzara (The Shield, The Walking Dead) spoke with us about the series, how it’s even more relatable in a post-pandemic world, and why it ranks highly on his most rewarding projects to date.

How did you become involved with this project and what was your familiarity with Hugh Howey’s book going into it?

The show was already in production when I met up with Zak Penn. Zak and I had become friendly through some work at the Writers Guild. We sat next to each other at meetings for a few years. He said he had this huge production he was excited about and I thought it sounded fascinating. So there was an opportunity for me to come on and start working on the show with him.

Glen Mazzara. Photo by Aimee Rentmeester

I was familiar with Hugh’s book Wool and was a fan of that. I had not heard of Beacon 23, so I read it, loved it and I loved Zak’s approach. I really thought it was an interesting, fresh take on a science fiction show. To me, a lot of science fiction shows feel like they’re all about wars… Star Wars, Star Trek. They’re about these huge geopolitical issues. This was very personal. This was really about what it would be like to live on a space station. A lighthouse, light years from anywhere else. Coming out of the pandemic when we were all facing issues of isolation and going stir crazy, I felt like it addressed, in an entertaining way, a lot of issues that I think we all had.

Zak is very experienced in action-driven films and, while there are several opportunities for action sequences, much of this series is dialogue- and character-driven. Tell me about that.

When you have terrific actors like Lena Headey and Stephan James, you have to have the dialogue. Yes, they both love action and they both do action very well. But they’re actors. People who come to this show will be familiar with Lena from Game of Thrones. But when you see the nuanced work that she’s doing, as writers, we really have to give material that’s going to support that. When you have actors that talented, you need to give them material that they’ll just chew up on stage.

How has AI changed the landscape for science fiction and fantasy?

I’ll admit that, at first, I wasn’t sure what the AI element was. I feel like AI gets done in sci-fi in a very particular way. I think there are a lot of clichés and when we started working on this, we had to feel our way through the material. I’m happy to say that it all comes together and I think the show says something interesting and fresh about AI. Having just been on strike, the AI issues are more relevant now than I think they were when we started writing the show. The discussion has caught up, and even with that, I don’t feel that the current discussion has overtaken what we’ve done. So I think that this will hopefully be part of that larger conversation. I’m excited for people to see this and then be able to discuss what our particular view about AI is. I don’t want to give anything away because I want it to play as a surprise, but there is a lot of thought in it. It was very interesting and I think the show will give the audience something to think about.

Is Beacon 23 a cautionary tale? What are some of the themes you tap into?

It’s interesting because you put something out there and you’re not sure how people are going to see it. I’ll say this, “I’ll let the audience decide if it’s a cautionary tale.” We did not go into the show with an agenda. We went into a story of, “This is the world that Zak built.” You start following the story and then the characters dictate where the story is going to go.

Now the larger dynamics around the world that they’re living in, Zak did create a lot of that. And then I fine-tuned it and tied it together. So, I do think it comes together in a very nice way. I won’t say it’s a cautionary tale, because that makes it feel like we had an agenda, and really our agenda was just to tell an interesting, fresh story, and to follow these characters in a unique setting. And yet, it’s not so bizarre that you can’t appreciate it. I think anybody could identify with the idea of a lighthouse in space, it’s very simple.

In terms of themes, I think our themes are isolation, trauma, and mental health. Political events overtaking our lives. A sense of powerlessness. These characters are out on the edge of space and they’re terrified. They’re clinging to each other. That’s interesting. I think we’ve all gone through that, and it certainly feels like in the past few years, world events have been so crazy and beyond any human understanding. I think we have all had a sense of powerlessness at some point.

And yet, how do you deal with that? You deal with it through human connection. Through empathy. And what’s interesting is that you have these characters who are trying to retain their humanity as technology is evolving more than they can imagine. It’s a heightened reality. It’s fun, it’s interesting, it’s set in space. But I think a lot of the complex, messy issues that we’re dealing with are hopefully addressed in an entertaining and fresh way.

You’ve been involved in a lot of initiatives related to equity and inclusion. How have you seen the industry change when it comes to increased opportunities and more diverse storytelling?

Thank you for asking about that, I am a big proponent of more inclusion in the industry. When we first started having the conversation about inclusion, as a middle-aged, straight, white guy, people would ask me why I was involved, saying, “It’s not your problem.” Well, it is my problem. It’s everybody’s problem. Why are we having this conversation? A lot of LGBTQ+, writers of color, a lot of women, they were having the conversation. I think we’re past that. There’s an expectation that we have to have the conversation and we don’t have to justify it anymore.

I will say that when we have had conversations on this show about gender and racial dynamics, both onscreen and behind the screen, people have been very receptive. Whereas when I started twenty-five years ago, it was something people didn’t want to discuss, and they pushed back against it. I don’t see that pushback. There are many people that I’m lucky enough to work with who have bought into trying to make this industry as inclusive as possible – not just because it’s good for business or because you appeal to a larger audience. But because it’s the right thing to do.

I’m so thankful that the people at Boat Rocker and MGM+ have all been very mindful about these issues. Especially as the show continued to be produced, we made adjustments and improved our record – and I’m very proud of where we ended up.

In your advice to writers, you say there needs to be a “money scene” for your lead characters. Tell me what that means and how it relates to this show specifically.

What I’m talking about with a “money scene” is you give your character the stage – you let them drive the action. There’s this adage in screenwriting: get in late, get out early. That works in film because the cut propels the narrative along in a way that plot can be an engine.

When it comes to television, we watch TV because it’s cool people doing cool stuff in every episode. We want to see them do it again in the next episode. We grow to love these characters and we’ll spend multiple seasons with them. So you really want to give people situations in which they clearly want something. They’re their own worst enemy. Emotionally, they’re undermining themselves.

You certainly see that in this show. Aster’s biggest problem is Aster. Halan’s biggest problem is Halan. I think we’ve designed the show in a way that these characters are onscreen and they can’t get offscreen. They have no place to go. They’re trapped and they have to take action with each other. They have to reveal themselves to each other at a time when they don’t want to. I think there’s a lot of heart in the show, and I think there’s a lot of interesting character work. You pointed to the dialogue-driven scenes, as opposed to the action – yes, we have an action quotient and we have a mystery quotient and so on. But we also have very complex scenes in which people’s consciousness are working on several levels. 

Very often when I was cutting the show and editing, I would ask myself, “Why is the person saying that?” Or we would respond to some of the choices that the actors would make and then reshape the scenes based on how they were performing it because they were finding things in the material that we didn’t think of when we wrote it. It was really interesting. I would say, without a doubt, this was the most creative experience I’ve ever had in all the shows I’ve worked on. It was very collaborative, and an interesting, challenging show to put together because there were so many different levels that we needed to tie together.

So, when I talk about “money scenes,” I’m talking about just giving the character the stage and not worrying too much about the plot. You don’t have to worry about racing through. Keep them onstage and don’t cut. When you’re feeling you want to cut to the next scene, hold on it. And maybe write another page or two of what they’re going to do because you’ve brought them to and kept them in maximum conflict. This show gave me the opportunity to explore that.

[More: Veteran Screenwriter Zak Penn On AR, VR, Gaming & The New Technological Era Of Screenwriting]

by Ramona Zacharias

Movie aficionado, television devotee, music disciple, world traveller. Based in Toronto, Canada.

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