A Celebrated Screenwriter’s Return to a Rutgers Classroom
The day before being awarded an honorary doctorate and delivering the Rutgers–New Brunswick and Rutgers Health commencement address, screenwriter and alumnus Christopher Markus visited with Rutgers students and Class of 2026 graduates for an in-depth talk about the craft of writing and his career.
Long before he saw his name in the opening credits of movies watched by many millions—even before he moved to Los Angeles hoping to break in as a writer while working as a file clerk for a Hollywood production company—Chris Markus was an English major at Rutgers writing a thesis paper entitled “History, Myth, and Counter Memory.”
That paper he wrote more than 35 years ago still resonates with him today. It explored, he told 15 students gathered in Murray Hall on the College Avenue campus on Saturday, three books about actual events, including Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, and studied “the way history gets filtered through writing,” he said. The paper also asked the question, “What is the truth, if any?”
His questions about the narratives, he said, have been “an ongoing theme in a lot of the things I've worked on, even in the adaptation of non-true things.”
That answer to a student question about how his time at Rutgers shaped his trajectory was among many topics Markus addressed in the two hour-visit with students who listened in rapt attention to his thoughtful discussion.
Markus, who graduated from Rutgers College in 1991, went on to write screenplays for films, including cowriting Marvel’s Avengers: End Game, which ranks as one of the highest grossing box office successes in Hollywood history. Insights he discussed ranged from how he found himself as a screenwriter to the practice and challenges of writing for the movies.
One gem he shared was how pursuing ideas that might break rules or defy someone’s expectations of a character—such as turning the iconic, powerful Marvel superhero Thor into an overweight alcoholic—are possible. “If you can do it well, you can do it,” he said.
His encouragement of students also displayed an optimism in the face of a world uncertain about the use of AI, which he eschews, and ongoing challenges of the movie industry and the state of the larger media landscape. “I refuse to be pessimistic,” he said.
Jimena Torres, a Class of 2026 graduate with a double major in English and theater, said the timing of his encouragement was perfect.
“This is what I needed,” Torres said. “It was really rewarding to see somebody like Mr. Markus come to speak. We spend so much time working on our craft and developing in the classroom. To see somebody put those skills into practice and turn out to be successful is very inspirational.”
Andrew Davies, who is graduating with degrees in English and political science, said he was a big fan of the Marvel movies that Markus cowrote, which came out when he was in high school. He said they were a “really important cultural moment for me.”
Davies, who is working on a novel, said it was motivating to hear about Markus’ progression as a writer and to see the “human being behind all these things.” The fact that Markus “came from Rutgers, a similar environment, inspires ambition and humility,” Davies said.
Brad Evans, professor and chair of the English Department in the Rutgers–New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences, which hosted the talk, said Markus’s story was an excellent one for the students to hear.
“It concretizes the fact that they might be able to do it themselves,” Evans said. “The students are just so extraordinarily invested in and honest about trying to become writers and creators. To see someone who actually made it is deeply inspiring.”
Markus’s visit included a demonstration of the Scarlet Letterpress, a book-arts makerspace for the Rutgers Initiative for the Book, where students printed a poster commemorating his visit. Markus said he enjoyed the session and that he felt a kinship to the students who are striving to create their own works.
“The fact is I don’t feel that different from them,” he said. “I don’t feel like I have this great wisdom to impart. What I have is to say, ‘I’m like you and I’ve survived to this point.’ I also have the mileage to say, ‘It’s okay to wander a little bit in life and find your way.’ That’s kind of what writing is.”
Read an article about Rutgers–New Brunswick and Rutgers Health commencement ceremony held on Sunday, May 17.
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