Joseph Hill " Joss " Whedon (pronounced /ˈhwiːdən/ ; born June 23, 1964) is an American director, executive producer, occasional actor, and creator and head writer of the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Angel , Firefly , and Dollhouse . He has also written several film scripts and comic book series.
Early life
Whedon was born in New York City and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987. Before going to Wesleyan he spent two years at Winchester College in England. He attended Riverdale Country School in New York City where his mother taught English. Interestingly, Sarah Michelle Geller, star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, also attended Riverdale Country School a number of years after Joss. At a young age he was a prolific writer, loved Monte Python and showed great interest in acting. He was the lead role in an original production called 'Spaghetti Island' at Riverdale. He has been described as the world's first third-generation TV writer, as he is the son of Tom Whedon, a successful screenwriter for The Electric Company in the 1970s and The Golden Girls in the 1980s, and the grandson of John Whedon, a writer for The Donna Reed Show in the 1950s. His mother, Lee Stearns, was a high school teacher and novelist. He is the younger brother of Samuel and Matthew Whedon and older brother of writers Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon.
Career
Television work
Following a move to Los Angeles, Whedon secured his first writing job on the television series Roseanne . After several years as a script doctor for films, he returned to television, where he created four TV shows.
Years after having his script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer produced – the interpretation by director Fran Rubel Kuzui having been poorly received by critics and audiences – Whedon revived the concept as a television series of the same name. Buffy the Vampire Slayer went on to become a critical and cult hit. Its episode "Hush," which was written and directed by Whedon, received an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding writing in a drama series in 2000. The show ran for five seasons on The WB Network before being relocated to the UPN Network for its final two seasons, after a bidding war for the broadcast rights. Though it premiered on Mondays at 9 pm, Buffy ran from the middle of the second season on Tuesdays at 8 pm.
Angel was a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer , featuring Buffy's vampire-with-a-soul ex-boyfriend as the title character. It was created by Whedon with Buffy writer David Greenwalt. Tim Minear also contributed at essential key junctures. Debuting in September 1999 on the WB, the show was broadcast following Buffy on Tuesday evenings. After Buffy switched networks in 2001, Angel aired in a number of different time slots. The WB canceled the show in February 2004 while it was in its fifth season.
In 2002, Fox canceled Firefly , which Whedon produced with Tim Minear. Only 11 of 14 episodes were aired, many out of intended order — the original ninety-minute pilot ("Serenity") was aired last. After the cancellation, Whedon wrote the script for a Firefly movie, titled Serenity . Excellent DVD sales ensured the movie would be produced, and in early 2004 Whedon announced that it had been greenlit by Universal Studios. Shooting started in July 2004, and the film went into wide release in the United States on September 30, 2005. In the DVD release, Whedon discusses how Serenity would not have been made if not for the dedication of the Browncoats, fans of the series.
In August 2007, Eliza Dushku, with whom Whedon worked on Buffy and Angel, signed a development deal with FOX. Shortly afterwards, Dushku and Whedon met over lunch to discuss possible ideas for a series for her. During the meal, he came up with an idea which excited both of them, and Whedon agreed then to write and oversee the pilot airing on FOX. Whedon announced that he will be working with "a completely new bunch of people" who are "intelligent and supportive." The show, Dollhouse , was announced by Fox in November 2008 to begin airing on February 13, 2009. When asked about returning to Fox, Whedon stated, "These are different people they didn't do to me what was done to Firefly ." Since Firefly , Fox has come under new management and former NBC executive Kevin Reilly has taken over as President of Entertainment.
Whedon is revered as one of the more influential figures in sci-fi and fantasy TV programming. He has been described as "an object of worship for viewers who like their television smart and funny and transcendent." J. J. Abrams states:
"Joss’ storytelling is always that perfect storm of wit, deep emotion and passion for genre. His brilliant characters make familiar territory brand spanking new—and damn if he can’t write a catchy song, too."
Despite this, Whedon has been described as "a notoriously slow starter – neither Buffy nor ... Angel really hit their stride until their second seasons, while Firefly was just reaching its peak when ... it was abruptly cancelled".
Whedon finds that television offers greater storytelling opportunities than online media and movies:
"The fact is, network TV has something to offer the other mediums don’t. ... a TV show, you get to examine a story, if you’re lucky, for a really long time. And that in some ways is the most rewarding kind of storytelling—when you turn something over in your palm and look at it again and again and find new things to say about it. I love that structure … that opportunity to play with (characters) for so long."
However, he has also had a number of planned television projects that have become stuck in development or terminally stalled. Among these was a Buffy animated series, a set of made-for-television movies for The WB based on Angel and Buffy characters, and Ripper , a proposed BBC pilot about Rupert Giles. Ripper was announced to be in development at the San Diego Comic-Con 2007. The development process was set to begin in 2008 and Ripper to be shown that summer.
He directed the 2007 episodes of The Office entitled "Business School" and "Branch Wars".
Whedon is not an actor, but has made cameos in his shows, in a show produced by a friend and in one of his favourite shows. He appeared as a newsreader in season one of Buffy (1997) and in the second season of Angel (2001), Joss Whedon made a cameo appearance as the character Numfar under heavy makeup. In Firefly (2003), Whedon appeared as a guest at a funeral. He appeared as an overbearing rental-car service manager in a second season episode of Veronica Mars called "Rat Saw God" (2005); Whedon is a vocal fan of Veronica Mars . He voiced himself in two episodes of Seth Green's television series Robot Chicken entitled "Rabbits on a Roller Coaster" (2007) and "Help Me" (2008).
Whedon will direct one of the back nine episodes of the musical series Glee .
Feature films and video
Whedon wrote or co-wrote several films, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Toy Story , Atlantis: The Lost Empire , Alien Resurrection and Titan A.E. . He was nominated (along with six other writers) for an Academy Award for Toy Story' s screenplay.
He also wrote uncredited drafts or rewrites of Speed , Waterworld , Twister and X-Men , although in interviews, Whedon disowned the latter three films. He claimed that he had a good script for Alien: Resurrection , which he felt was spoiled by its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. His Waterworld script was thrown out, and only two of his lines were kept in the final script of X-Men . Even the Buffy movie bore little resemblance to his original screenplay. According to Graham Yost, the credited writer of Speed , Whedon wrote most of its dialogue (see examples of credit conflicts in the WGA credit system).
He wrote and directed 2005's Serenity , based on his television series Firefly . Serenity won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Beginning in January 2006, fans (with Universal's blessing) began organizing worldwide charity screenings of Serenity to benefit Equality Now, a human rights organization supported by Joss Whedon. Over $250,000 has been raised for Equality Now since 2006. 2009's goal is to raise $155,000. As of May 1, 2009, 42 cities were registered for CSTS 2009 in 4 Countries and 24 US States.
Whedon had been signed to write and direct Warner Bros.' adaptation of Wonder Woman but on February 3, 2007, Whedon announced that he would no longer be involved with the project. "We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that's never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time."
In a 2005 interview with Empire Online , Whedon expressed an interest in directing a Harry Potter movie, being a fan of the book series. He has written several Harry Potter-related jokes in his stories.
Whedon wrote a horror film entitled The Cabin in the Woods with Drew Goddard which is currently in production with MGM, with Goddard directing. He called it "The horror movie to end all horror movies... literally."
In November 2008, Whedon guest starre
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