In September 1990 I showed up at Northwestern with big dreams of a future in Hollywood, inspired by everything I’d ever read in Entertainment Weekly and Premiere magazine.
I like to joke that my first year as a radio/television/film major was like being a computer science major before Apple was invented. The program at the time needed a major makeover. (That makeover came by way of a donation from Garry Marshall ’56 the year after I switched majors, so my timing could have been better.)
I felt adrift and spent some time trying to find my way — and find myself.
The breakthrough came when I got involved in student theater. From The Waa-Mu Show to The Dolphin Show, Arts Alliance, WAVE Productions and SummerFest, I threw my whole self into the musical theater scene at Northwestern.
Even though I wasn’t a performer, I audited Professor Dominic Missimi’s musical theater classes.
I ran crew, stage managed and eventually produced and directed shows. Before I graduated, I even created my own class — a student-organized seminar for lyricists, composers, writers and producers. We wrote and staged an original musical showcase and called ourselves Circle 13 Productions.
The peer community was incredible, like living an endless summer camp experience.
But I’ve said that nothing prepares you for life more than a student theater production’s “tech week.” Tech week is the frantic week prior to a production’s opening night, when all the technical elements — costumes, lights, sound, set and makeup — are brought together during rehearsal for the first time. It is an exercise in making do with what you have, creating everything out of nothing and relentlessly driving toward a finish line. It puts your work ethic to the test and humbles you. After all, you’re napping on a four-by-four under a prop blanket in between building a set by hand.
My motto became, “Anything can be done as long as you have a glue gun, a roll of duct tape and a Makita drill.”
When I first moved to Los Angeles, I started as an assistant, as pretty much everyone does. Because of my Northwestern experience, I felt like I could survive anything the industry threw at me. I was inexhaustible.
With a combination of luck, hard work and saying yes to every opportunity, I started working with Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson on the Scream franchise. By the time I was 28, I had been on multiple movie sets and was producing my first television show.
I eventually became a television writer, showrunner and director, most notably for the Vampire Diaries franchise.
The road wasn’t always smooth — in Hollywood it never is — and there were definitely times when I lost my way. No amount of education can prepare you to navigate the politics of a competitive industry. You learn as you go, and sometimes you learn it the hard way.
But every bump in the road led me to become the person I am today — someone who can balance confidence and humility and be both driven and compassionate. And the resilience I learned in student theater — with my glue gun, duct tape and Makita — has been the key to my success.
Julie Plec ’94 is a creator, showrunner, executive producer and director. Her latest TV series, We Were Liars, will air on Amazon Prime in 2025. She is co-chairing Northwestern’s Reunion 2024 with classmate and friend Greg Berlanti ’94.
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