‘What We Do In the Shadows’ Writers Jake Bender, Zach Dunn Dive Into Their Emmy-Submission Episode “Pride Parade”

Jake Bender and Zach Dunn are two long-time writers on FX’s What We Do In the Shadows, the critically acclaimed mockumentary comedy series about traditional vampires living in modern day Staten Island. The Writers Guild of America-nominated pair submitted their season five episode “Pride Parade” for 2024 Emmy consideration. Here, in an interview with Awards Daily, they talk about the episode as an individual creation and also where it fit with the larger narrative of the season. Additionally, they provide insight into the full journey Harvey Guillén’s Guillermo had this season and what fun they have had writing for the show now that it is coming to an end.

Zach Dunn: We always try to figure out a general arc for the season before we start the individual episodes.  But some episodes are more connected to the overall season story and some are more standalone, and this episode we basically tried to do both.  There is a lot going on in the episode that we wrote, but for the general season it was figuring out organic ways to place it throughout the story. For this episode Laszlo now knows that Guillermo is going through this, and that served as the impetus for the main story.

Jake Bender: That is something decided by Paul Simms, the showrunner, and we were very honored that they wanted to submit this one. I think we felt particularly proud about how ambitious this episode was. It’s a decision that’s not ours but we are happy for it to happen.

Zach Dunn: I think in general it’s a fun representative episode of the show because all the cast gets some fun stuff to do.  As I said, there’s a lot jammed in there. I think the fact that everyone gets a fun storyline  was something we were proud of and made it a good representation of the show.

Jake Bender: That was an idea we’ve been trying to figure out for several seasons, on a way for our vampires to go out into the daytime. I think this was just the perfect opportunity to do that.

Zach Dunn: We had worked on the show since season 2 and we talked about doing a magical herb that they take that lets them go in the sun. But it always felt like it was too big, and we as the writers thought it would be more fun for them to go in the sun as a sequence rather than a huge story development.  We worried that if it was introduced as something all vampires could do it could tear apart the fabric of the show. So having it as this weird flukey thing and having it lead to this massive sunburn/lobster appearance that Laszlo gets is the ramification of that method. So that’s maybe why vampires don’t attempt it more often.

Zach Dunn: In the writer’s room early on we decided this season could be a way to explore what it would be like if Guillermo was a vampire. So he has got powers, and figuring a lot of it out without committing to being a vampire.  I think at the end of the day we just always write from the character, and despite it all, Guillermo has a  sweet soul, and we thought what could be interesting and realistic is if this character finally gets what he wants and he is not ready. It doesn’t feel right for him. So we decided that would be a true feeling but also a surprising place to end the season.

Jake Bender: I think we felt at the end of season 4 we had written ourselves into a bit of a corner where we had to commit to making Guillermo a vampire and I think what Zach is saying is right. Rather than it becoming a story about now this character is a vampire, it’s about a way of exploring the dramatic tension of someone getting what they want but then is actually disturbed by the reality of being a vampire.

Zach Dunn: We rarely have a plan for the next season. We like to create an interesting challenge for ourselves for the following season.  That’s what we did with season 4 and that’s what we did with the end of this season, leading into the final season.

Jake Bender: Well, it’s very bittersweet.  Everyone who makes this show really loves it and I think it’s all kind of lost on us how lucky we have been to work on such a fun and crazy show. But we also got to do so many incredibly insane episodes. It’s sad, but in the current landscape it’s been a good run and we are very proud.

Zach Dunn: From our side as writers, we have been together a long time. We started in season 2, and it’s a special thing to write with people you feel close to and are very talented. That is the sad part, and Jake is right, it is bittersweet.  There is a hope that there is value in leaving while it is still so fun for everyone.

Zach Dunn: It is a tough question for us to answer because at this point we are aware of every single thing that will happen on the show. So we cannot answer that, but what we can say is that the Sean-Laszlo friendship has  always been one of Jake and I’s favorite parts of the show. The first episode we ever wrote was the Superb Owl episode in season 2, which is the first episode where Laszlo has decided Sean is his best friend. From that episode we liked the energy of this guy Laszlo, who is not impressed by anything, so taken by his really dopey  Staten Island neighbor. That relationship has always remained really fun to write. We are always trying to take it to new interesting places.

Jake Bender: We like building off of that whole world too. I think in this season Laszlo and Nandor go out with Sean and all his friends partying. We liked filling out this whole world of weird dirtbags.

Zach Dunn: I think part of the appeal for Laszlo is that Sean is such a normal guy and loves the fact that he’s just this human being who has flaws. I think Laszlo loves that about him.  So I do not know if it would definitely change things if Sean became a vampire. But we will see.

Zach Dunn: Yeah, we are a writing duo so we always work together.  Usually the writers individually go off working on the outlines for their episodes; it’s not as much group writing as other shows. So it has been a godsend to have a writing partner through that process. It makes it a lot more fun. We always talk about how we change our writing process so we do not get bored; we are always doing it differently. This episode I remember we worked on the outline for a while, a lot of it is working on the outline and sending it back and forth with Paul Simms. The storyline we spent the most  time figuring out was Nadja and the Nadja doll storyline, partially because it is so complicated.  I remember we added in the speed dating sequence towards the end. We were happy with how that turned out and we felt that was a good showcase of Natasia’s talents.

We pitched this idea of Nandor going to space four years ago.  Paul did not take it seriously as an idea but we kept repeating it.  Always  revisiting old ideas, and everyone always laughed at that one (or was laughing at us).  This season Paul came around saying this makes perfect sense in this episode.

Jake Bender: A big part of the process was realizing we could use that idea and realizing that we could make it more of an emotional story by tying it into this idea that Nandor is feeling jealous of Guillermo and Laszlo’s relationship.

Zach Dunn: Yes, you know the show is so absurd and silly and the jokes always land best when they come from a place of real emotion. Even something as crazy as going to space to impress your familiar. I think there’s something real and relatable about that. It was exciting when we hit that.  I think it is the most fun I had writing an episode.

Jake Bender: The fun of writing Nandor is because he is so genuine.  With a lot of characters you have to figure out how he would say or admit this. But with Nandor sometimes he is so simple-minded he will just say the exact thing he is feeling.

Zach Dunn: It is a good trick to have a stupid character.

Jake Bender: If any aspiring writers are reading this they should try to have really stupid characters.  It will make things much easier.

Jake Bender: Even though this is our episode and we are very, very proud of it, it is very much a group effort.  The writer’s room is full of  incredibly talented and funny people. So the episode comes from the fact that the room is so funny. To be a representative of that larger entity, it’s a privilege.

Zach Dunn: A good illustration of that is the final scene of the episode where they are all having sex with each other in the one body and the doll is there.  That was something one of the writers in the writing room, Max Brockman, came up with. We loved it and we were writing it down, more like we were goofing around, figuring they would never let us put it on TV.  Then when we turned the full script into Paul he asked, “Where is the thing where they’re all having sex at the end?” It’s a good illustration of how the room comes together to create the show, and the freedom we have had on this show.