Creators Corner


This page was Crossbow's idea and I liked it so much that I decided to replace the TV Schedule (finally) with it. Enjoy! - IBM

I would request that other Buffy, Eh? members contibute VIP quotes on the MAKING of BtVS series to this page, Creators Corner.
- Crossbow


Quotes by the Creators:

 
On being a lucky writer, or a good writer:
"Lucky is good. But, good will always find work.
Lucky gets in because their isn't enough good to fill all the slots."

Ty King
Posting Board '98


On Continuity and Backstory:
"Trust only what you've seen on air. The narrative is fluid, It changes, I could lose a great story idea if I adhere slavishly to a backstory and that I havn't even mentioned on the show."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board '97


On the Writing:
"This is the first show I've done in 21 years in the biz where I wait anxiously for each script because I love to read them. Joss's touch is genius and I love his work. I'm a fan, what can I say?"

Todd McIntosh
Posting Board '98


On Continuity and Backstory:
"A story arc is like an actor- until it hits the screen we could goalot of ways but once it does we're stuck with it and will stick by it. So I am purposely vague about the gaps. It keeps it fresh for me to be expanding on backstory and relationships. Can't even trust me. Trust the tale, not the teller."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board '97


On the climax in the episode Passion:
"The scene was once longer, but only because I wrote too many words. Very purple prose, very melodramatic. I think (?) that it was Sarah's and Michael's idea to do a take or two where she hit Tony, then hugged him without all the overwritten monolog in between. Never saw the other version but would be willing to bet this was better. With better words, the scene might have been longer, but it worked for me. Sometimes, passion isn't unleashed through words, but human contact. And the move from violence (punch) to the desperation (hug) without words was incredibly powerful. At that moment, Buffy was as scared as I've seen her in while. I think that the lack of control (giving in to the passion of the moment) was incredibly scary for her and, as much as anything, lead to her decleration shortly thereafter that she must never again give in to passion.
Bravo to Sarah, Tony and Michael."

Ty King
Posting Board '98


On hiring Jeff Bynum and George Snyder to Mutant Enemy:
"Oh God, who am I kidding? I have no idea what I'm doing. I just hired these guys because they're cute and they weren't mean to me. Really! They're not executives. I'm not even sure they both speak english. The whole company is just a tax dodge, anyway. Oh, God, the hypocrasy!"

Joss Whedon
Variety, June 5/98


On Writing-
"For me, though I desperately crave fame and fortune like the next guy, writing, the act of writing, the rhythm and flow of the english language, the creating of internal universes...
its the greatest peace I'll ever know. Its' its own inspiration. Write and it'll give you more than I could with a writely platitude!"

Joss Whedon
Posting Board '98


On Writing for TV-
"It's something that every writer should have to do. Instead of just sitting around waiting for the muse, you've got to go find the bitch!"

Joss Whedon
Fade In, Winter 97/98


On Sleep-
"I also know what it is like not to, having racked up about four all nighters on buffy scripts last season."

Joss Whedon
PB '98


On losing it-
"By the by, the answer to how I keep from losing it is I make sure to paper the cracks in plumbing so the ooze from Saturn can't communicate with my lungs anymore. Hmmm. I may be too late."

Joss Whedon
PB '98


On Directors:
"They are much more choosey now though since the show has become a hit. Now all the top dogs want to do it. I'm sure the best of the best will be with us again next season and the worst will not. Joss had the least experience and yet was one of the best directors. I just wish I could put talent in a bottle and sell it sometimes. A degree has nothing to do with it really. Some of the worst have come from some of the schools. It is amazing to me."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, august/98


On Feature Film Plans:
"No movie plans just now. In the back of my mind I have a vision of a startrekkian progression- movies after TV show is over, but who can predict that far ahead. Right now my life is the show.
Pathetic a tad? let's ask an impartial viewer;

Yes, he's pathetic- RD

See! I told you. And RD you're fired."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, august/98


On Season 3:
"Info; we start shooting in late july. Inside Info; We're already way behind! It's exciting, in a six-months-from-now-I'll-be-in-a-soft-white-room-with-a jacket-with-long-wraparound-sleeves-and-a-shiny-metal-cup-to-catch-my-incessant-drool sort of way."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, July/98


On Season 2's stunt coordinating:
"I think the only thing that was hard on me was the early ones like School Hard because I couldn't get anything that I wanted on screen. Similar to KBD. I hate it when I can't get anything good up there. It's embarrassing to me when I know from experience what could have been versus what was allowed sometimes. Often it is because we have directors who are very good with drama and have not a clue when it comes to action. Although you wouldn't know it to listen to them. I mean of all the XENA directors we have had, not one of them has really shot the really good action of XENA. That is done by the stunt unit. People don't know this though."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, July/98


On Directing Buffy:
"The stabbing scene hit me hardest in B2. Cuz the kids were so DAMN good in it. People cried while we were shooting it. Sarah. The woman gets it done."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, August/98


On Working a series:
"Filming a drama series is not like a sit-com in that we don't get breaks. It's a straight run 'till Christmas! Speaking of film vs. tape, we moved up to 35mil this season instead of 16mil like the last two!"

Todd McIntosh
Posting Board, Aug/98


On Buffy fight scenes:
"I did get a request from one of the XENA producers to stop making the best fights on TV. That made me feel good. He said that the only show that he worried about stealing his thunder was BUFFY. I'm sure that he's watching ANGEL very closely."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Aug/98


On BUFFY news:
"No soundtrack for a long while, but there will be one. We have to cut a deal, then pick songs- then put 'em on the show, I don't want music that isn't integral to the show. Many months. New Writers; Jane Espenson, Doug Petrie, and Dan Vebber. Of coarse Marti Noxon is still with us, now a producer. And Greenwalt, who is clocking in his last year before he goes to run ANGEL."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board Jun/98


On starting the new season:
"The set was very interesting this season. We have some new crew members in key positions who were struggling to keep up with the organized chaos that is Buffy, but for the most part we just stepped into the show like we never paused... Yes, Sarah is tired from her film schedule, but working like a real trooper. We finished about 1 am last night and she was with us to the last shot."

Todd McIntosh
Posting Board, Aug/98


On future plans:
"I plan on doing good and not evil. Look what happened to Xander when he fooled with the forces of darkness. It's too dangerous. (even though dangerous IS my middle name)"

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Aug/98


On stunts and credit:
"If you only knew how many times I've watched TV and Movies and seen long opening sequences that I've planned and directed that some other guys name and some other DP's name splashed across the screen. It is really weird to be me. I once even saw a director being interviewed about scenes that I shot. He wasn't involved in any way in the planning or the execution of any of it. Yet there he was on TV talking about how "he came up with the concept and why HE did certain shots". Oh yeah. Try being in stunts some day. It's a hoot alright. That's why I identify more with writers and I get such a kick over the fact that Joss actually gets to control his own product. You have no idea how much I love that."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Aug/98


On the hopes fans have:
"Soooo, someone is hoping this season will be less traumatic?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, aug/98


On a Sword Fight:
"I did see BLADE. The funny thing is that when we shot our sword fight they were having a test screening. The audience hated the ending because Wesley never got to fight Frost at the end. So...Clay Barber (the blond Vamp in the finale that Sophia cracked her finger on) left our set and went over there with another unit and reshot the ending. They added that whole swordfight because Clay told them how cool ours was. Only they got tons of money and time and we only have a few short hours. It was cool though."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting board, Aug/98


On the premiere:
"Have completely run out of ideas for season three.. look for the characters to be hitting themselves with fish pretty much from episode six on. Hope you are all well, premiere just over a month away-- ack! Must work harder. Excuse me.
Yours with goats"

Joss Whedon
Posting board, Aug/98


On help from the fans:
"By the way, you could be a big help to me- working on a script and I'm stuck. I'm up to the part where Buffy says "Good god, Xander it's a ____" and then I'm stumped. Something scary would work. Any suggestions? (I could use also a followup sentence, such as "we've got to ____"! Tricky that one, needs a verb don't you know). Thanks a bunch."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board Aug/98


On Writer's Block:
"Writer's block is death. Two solutions for me:
1) try harder, sometimes I'm just not focussing.
2) give up. If it really ain't coming, don't waste a day waiting for it.
Relax. Take in some sensory input. Read. See a flick. Water the horses. It'll come. DO NOT, however, flip channels on the TV as this is actually draining."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Sept/98


On winning the Emmy:
"Thanks for the congratulations on the emmy. I'm still in a state of shock- I feel somewhat unworthy (though not necessarily undeserving if that makes any sense.)"

Chris Beck
Posting Board Sept/98


On the new seasons sound:
"The sound for season 3 will be pretty much pick-up where 2 left off, darkness and all. Yes more Angel/Buffy love theme, yes more faux romantic swells, and no (sniff) Jenny theme as of yet. She's pretty dead as far as I know."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Sept/98


On perfectionism:
"I can hit pretty high on the perfectionist meter. For instance, more than other producer/writers I've heard about, I'm very strict about my actors being word-perfect with everything that I write. I write in a specific way, and for somebody to sort of extemporize loosely based on what I've written doesn't get it done for me. The actors know this, so they treat the text with enormous respect."

Joss Whedon
Cinefantastique, march/98


On the Creative Force:
"There is no doubt who the creative force of the show is--it's Jossfrom start to finish. The entire tone of everything is set by him. Once I have a script, I get a very, very clear feeling from him what he expects the direction of the show to be. Sometimes he's very specific, and other times he'll say, 'do what you feel is appropriate,' but make no mistake, he's in charge, and he knows what he's doing."

Bruce Seth Green
Cinefantastique, March/98


On Angel in the sunlight in Innocence:
"What I KNOW is that I wanted Buffy to dream of him in the light and friendly cuz that's how she thinks of him in her heart."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On episode ideas:
"The ideas come from a combination of places. The producers and writers do research on old legends, sometimes even on the net, as well as add some of their own ideas."

Sarah Michelle Gellar
Eonline StarBoards, Summer/97


On Season Three:
"Just wanted to check in, say hi, been resting up for next year, now the work is underway, there's gonna be alot of changes, including but notlimited to:
1) A lot more about goats
2) Flashbacks to the early days of Angel's goat-herding activities
3) NUDITY! (goats only)
4) more angry name calling
5) Frobly, the wondergoat
As you can see, the show's going under as I have lost it.
Goatly yours. Joss (or possibly someone dressed like him)"

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Aug/98


On Goats:
"Re: Goats, I don't know why Joss asked for it, but I'm spending most of my time these days scooping goat doodie from the floor of the studio."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Sept/98


On Becoming 1 and 2:
"The voiceover in B1 and 2 or whatever...was originally aired as Angel... and Whistler... but was scripted to be Whistler. So it was corrected and is now just Whistler. Whew...an on topic post... and i knew (or asked Joss) the answer."

RD
Posting Board, Sept/98


On Writing the music:
"I get a week to write each episode. Since I'm a master procrastinator, I usually wait til the last four days. I can write about 6 good minutes a day. 8 or 10 so-so minutes if I have to. And obviously it depends on the scene, suspense equals fewer notes equals faster writing. The opposite for fight scenes."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Sept/98


On season three Oz:
"The new season looks great, there is some gratutious Oz footage (since I agreed to full frontal, and goats)."

Seth Green
Posting Board, Sept/98


On episode #9:
"I can tell you that I'm killing time at work- nervous time- as I wait for notes on a first draft of episode NINE! Obviously I can't say anything about it, except...eep!"

Marti Noxon
Posting Board, Sept/98


On the Lovers Dream Scene in INNOCENCE:
"That was the most experimental thing I've shot and I'm happy with it. The idea was to show Buffy's heightened awareness of her physicality and the vibrancy of her experience with Angel. So I tried to include both of them and be suggestive, not exploitive. Weird to shoot but I was happy. Beck (chris) did the music; it really heightened it."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On the Lovers Dream Scene in INNOCENCE:
"The instrument used there is an Armenian Dudek. It sounds like a wailing duck, only prettier, I think."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Sept/98


On the Xander Dance:
"I never taught Nickie to dance like that. Xander is based on me but I am a swell dancer (actually, I never danced in highschool.) (ever.) (I'm not bitter.) (This series has nothing to do with bitterness.) (It's not about revenge.) (The names of the girls who would not dance with me are as follows: #1 Wen-)"

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On working with Fiancee, Buffy stunt double, Sophia Crawford:
"I hit her around 23 mph with the car."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Oct/98


On the 'hero' shot in ANNE:
"The hammer and scickle was not intentional, but I too noticed the imagery when I saw them and was most pleased. The scickle, by the way, is actually an African weapon called a HUNGA MUNGA and i am terribly in love with it. In times of excitement I am known to shout HUNGA MUNGA in an irritating fashion. And to sing the internationale."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Oct/98


On the death of Jenny Calender:
"The death of Jenny was a crucial part of the overall dramatic arc Joss has planned for the series. Remember the speech Joss wrote in Angel in Lie To Me, in which he recounted the "horrible" things he did to Druscilla when he was obsessd with her? Well, anything less than what he did would have been a cowardly choice on Joss' part. Believe me, no writer ever kills off a character he has created (especially as wonderful a creation as Jenny Calender) for no good reason or mere shock value. Angel is now turning that same passion toward Buffy. And his killing of Jenny will have a different effect on each of the Scooby Gang. Talk about your emotional conflicts now. In my opinion, although I loved Jenny, and related to her and Giles most of all, I think this sacrifice will only pay off in spades in the future. Joss has the particular genius to find ways to cleverly muddy the water whenever it begins to clear- only to have the image that emerges as it clears again show an even more intriguing and unexpected future.
So await the future... it's gonna be cool."

Ty King
Posting Board, Mar/98


On doing a TV series:
"The whole idea of sustaining a story for an entire season is what is completely compelling about it. The idea of living with a character and putting them through all sorts of experiences for what could be years is an opportunity a movie could never afford."

Joss Whedon
Written By, Sept/98


On the Job of assistant:
"Much of what I do depends on the needs of my boss and the show. Research for stories. Read Specs. And there is scheduling... etc. Fortunately for me David G. knows how to use the phone so I don't run calls often. Then when he's directing there's more...and I was very serious when I said I make my boss laugh, that's the most important part of the job. I really hate talking about me... if you're interested in the field rent Swimming with Sharks. Just kiddin'."

Robert Price (RD)
Posting Board, Dec/97


On shooting fight scenes:
"It is by far easier for me to do good work if I am also directing and editing. Other directors usually are great at drama and have little or no experience at the kind of fights I do. We have to shoot the fights in long master takes and try to make everything work for them so they can see it. I prefer to shoot the Hong Kong method. It involves shooting up to a point and going in for a special set-up that relates only to a piece that will edited into the sequence later. You have to be a stunt coordinator, and to do this, to know how to do it and exactly which frames to cut on. It is very different from what you learn at filmschool."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Jan/98


On Buffy and Angel:
"True love? That is the trickiest and most amorphous term in the world and I could not BEGIN to define it. It's like religion...it's responsible for the greatest and the worst things we do. And everyone has their own definition of it. This much I know. Buffy loves Angel. And he loves her. And I love Hohos."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On believeability:
"In PASSION, it was stated that the soul is "in the ether". Just keep in mind that the writer of Passion was just making stuff up as he went along, and he could be full of it."

Ty King
Posting Board, April/98


On the final fight scene in BAD EGGS:
"Close-up -grab Sarah/Reverse Angle of flip on Sophia/C.U.- Sarah reacts/ shot of MOM attacking with ax/ shot of Sophia rolling away as Jeff swings ax at her head/ Action reversed as "tentacle" is unwrapped from Sophia's legs (*play backwards) / shot of Sophia being dragged into pit by Jeff onto pad / sound fx & Sophia tosses up the ax / shot of Sarah standing up with black goo all over her. Whew!"

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Jan/98


On working for BtVS:
"Getting any gig as a composer can be a challenge, and with all due respect to other shows I've worked on, Buffy was my first opportunity to write for a show that people actually watched. So I jumped at the chance."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Sept/98


On Xanders character Arc:
"Re: Xander. He will go through more changes, more growth... he will be covered in growths. I on the other hand have matured not a jot, which is what makes the show so much FUN."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On doing his own stunts:
"Yeah I did all my stunts- I'm in traction now, it was fun watching the writers scramble to explain that one."

Seth Green
Posting Board, Oct/98


On other careers:
"If I wasn't a writer, I'd be a comic book artist, an actor, any kind of artist. I might not be successful at it but I'd never be 9-5. I'm not man enough. The only real grown up job I would do is teach. Apart from creating, that is my fav thing to do."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On inspiration for the musical themes:
"In TV there's generally not enough time to do the kind of research that Michael Nyman (The Piano) talks about, so I generally have to wing it. Frankly, the themes as I come up with them are not always as strong as I would like. But a truly great melody has to stew for a while in my brain- it needs days of TLC before I can truly be proud of it. But sometimes they come out great the first time. The dead Jenny theme (my favorite) was directly inspired by the fact that I knew Tony was going to be singing it. When I got the word that he was interested in singing I started playing with ideas, and it just sort of came out. Very little stewing required."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Oct/98


On Marti Noxon leaving BtVS:
"No, Marti is not leaving....ever. As a matter of fact Joss has her tied up in his office, where they break those great stories."

RD
Posting Board, Oct/98


On Breaking Stories:
"Just stopping by over a cup of tea to give away vital secrets about upcoming episodes...that doesn't even work anymore, does it? You know it's a lie, I'm gonna spew some abstraction like "Buffy replaces her arms with Spatula's", nobody learns anything, oh god I'm such a HACK!---Okay. When I start to feel insecure about my POSTINGS, I know it's time to take a break from writing. Alas, there is none in sight, so let me take this moment to bitch and moan about how hard this is-- or better yet, to sing the praises of a man named Greenwalt. We were up late up late friday breaking story together. The man is a font of good humor, great story ideas, and positive energy. Plus; mean as a snake, so he's never dull to be around. Honestly, I get the kudo's, and I work hard for 'em, but Greenie has helped every story we've put on screen. Especially that awesome SPATULA arc!"

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Oct/98


On his Cameo in ANNE:
"I couldn't keep a straight face- so I looked down at her shoes. Opening the door and having Sarah tell me what a "bad girl" she was, was tougher to take than I thought. She tried to mess me up, but I hung in there. hehe"

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Oct/98


On how scoring is done for TV:
"-meet with producers, decide where music should go & what it should do ("spotting").
-write the score (this is done at the computer, using samplers and synths to play back the music as it's being written).
-record one or two live players (in my case it's usually a woodwind and maybe another instrument).
-mix all sampled and synth tracks with live players.
-go visit with Joss and watch all the scenes with music, get notes, make revisions, deliver and start the next episode.
This all takes about six days. I spend four days writing, one day recording and mixing, and one final day revising."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Oct/98


On working on PASSION with Joss Whedon:
"I think it is cool the way there are so many variables that make keeping ahead of Joss impossible. Was Angel's soul already in that globe? It glowed. If so, then what did smashing it do? Or, does it simply glow at random? See, this is the sort of thing that makes prolonged conversations with Joss the way cool experience they are. It will all fit, but only he knows how."

Ty King
Posting Board, April/98


On Seth really doing his own stunts:
"Seth did roll on the grass and jump over the banister. That kind of thing is not really too dangerous. Later on I brought in his stunt double and at first he was disappointed. He really wanted to just go for it. Then when he saw what I put the stunt double (Lee Whitaker) through he was glad it was not him. He was really happy about the stunts, but a little worried when one time Lee almost didn't get back up."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Oct/98


On the fight under the sprinklers in INNOCENCE:
"Water is primal, it represents the flow of life, the transition to womanhood, it's a hell of a good excuse to change your clothes and it looks cool when you fight in it."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On the movie Buffy The Vampire Slayer:
"I can speak on the record about Fran Rubel Kuzui and the Buffy movie. I read Joss' original draft of Buffy, the one she bought (and before she got her mitts on it), and to suggest that there was no martial arts or humor is laughable. The script she bought was brilliant, funny, action filled. She is like a maniac who takes a sledgehammer to a Da Vinci sculpture, smashes it to bits, then says "look at all the nice little marble pebbles I just made! Before I got my hands on it, it was just one big hunk of stone" (I overstate by comparing Joss' script to Da Vinci, but you get the idea). I loved that draft of the script much more than the movie that eventually "de-evolved"."

Ty King
Posting Board, March/98


On writing for Buffy:
"I never knew I'd end up careing so much about these characters and their lives would mean so much to me. It sounds silly coming from a guy who writes Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I love these characters and I think writing them is a privilege."

Joss Whedon
Written By, Sept/98


On Stuntguys doing story:
"OKAY- listen to this Ty (and don't dismiss this out of hand- just think about it)- Anna Nicole Smith wanders into the library. She is blotto and she grabs Xander for a dance. Giles tries to intervene and she vamps out. She runs amok in school and the LAPD arrives and surrounds the place ala' DIE HARD (The Sunnydale cops dare not question why they are there). Buffy (who was in the restroom for all of this) is the non-hostage and has to outwit the waddling drunkard by placing twinkies in a line that leads Anna out into the open where the LAPD can get a clearer shot at her. The bullets only irritate her. She runs rampant over the city, and she and Buffy wind up in a battle to the finish high above the terrified townspeople at the unfinished Noxon Towers building.
Scarier stuff was never written by a human."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, March/98


On Composing the score:
"I have a roomful of samplers that I use to simulate the orchestra and I usually work out ideas on the instruments they will be played on. Sometimes for a huge action scene I'll bang something out on a piano sound, then turn off the video machine and just work with the morchestration until it's done and then go back to the picture. Well that wasn't a very clear answer was it. The answer is, almost 100% of the time I compose with specific instruments in mind, and I'm hearing them as I write."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Sept/98


On watching BtVS:
"Part of the Viewing experience is bringing him/herself to the narrative-history/ bias/ his subjective reality (is there any other kind?)."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On script to screen:
"Sometimes what is presented is what characters think as opposed to reality. In SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, the original line from Giles in the shooting script (which I have seen quoted here) was that "Here's what I've come up with; Demons who eat the flesh of the dead [in a misguided attempt] to absorb their souls". The part in brackets was apparently excised before actual shooting.
I have always been intrigued as to Joss' reasoning, as I had wanted to keep the question of whether the soul resided in the corpse open."

Ty King
Posting Board, April 98


On Symbolism:
"Symbolism I'm not big on. Emotional resonance is more my game. What's in the frame should enhance the feeling. Sometimes these two things overlap, but easy to read too much into something."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On influence by other composers:
"I love Jerry Goldsmith's work. He and Danny Elfman are probably the composers I try to emulate the most when working on Buffy. I actually studied with Jerry- He taught a class at USC while I was there. Other composers I like (though not necessarily for inspiration on Buffy)- Thomas Newman, Eliot Goldenthal, Mark Snow, Mychial Danna, Graeme Revell, Carter Burwell."

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Oct/98


On the snow in Amends:
"The snow was not evil! The snow was good. It was hope.
Now another issue; was the snow a cheap Deus Ex Machina? Well, obviously I don't think so or I would avoid the question. The DEM term is usually used to indicate a cheap easy twist that wraps things up. Some people may have thought it was corny (can't really argue), but I didn't just pull it out of a hat. The whole ep was leading to that, it was the point, not just a way to end it. Third thing- Was it God? Well, I'm an atheist, but its hard to ignore the idea of a "Christmas Miracle" here (though the PRAY on the marquee was an unintentional coincidence). The fact is, the Christian mythos has a powerful fascination to me, and it bleeds into my storytelling. Redemption, Hope, Purpose, Santa, these all are important to me, whether I believe in an afterlife or some universal structure or not. I certainly don't mind a strictly christian interpretation being placed on this ep by those who believe that- I just hope it's not limited to that.
My fourth point, and I really think this gets to the heart of the issue:
I'm kind of dull."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Dec/98


On Spike in LOVER'S WALK:
"Wasn't drinking when I wrote him, but did have to get into the mood. I stuck myself into a motel room as (I often do) and to get that great "My girlfriend dumped on me and I'm on a misery binge" feeling, I brought some of the salient albumns from my college days. Thus "Don't Tell a Soul" and "Let it be" by the Replacements and "Candy Apple Grey" by Husker Du. Particularly that last one, blasting away as I reeled about Spikelike in my vivedly remembered misery.
Just felt the need to share that."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Dec/98


On Angel's lack of tattoo in FAITH, HOPE, & TRICK:
"The body falling from overhead was Mike Massa; David's stunt double. The real David was there also, naturally. Both bodies did indeed have the tattoo [a device copied from the book of Kells and is a cat face and paws with a wing off to the side surrounding a letter 'A'], however I had to hose David down with ice-water to get that shiver-chatter thing going (his idea). So it is possible that between the water fading the tattoo inks I use, and the shine off the wet skin, and the smoke diffusion in the room, the tat may not be clearly visible. "

Todd McIntosh
Posting Board, Oct/98


On predicting his future:
"Can't stay long- No shooting tomorrow, so it's a writing day. Or a sitting around day and cursing the very fact of my existence day- that's the fun: you never know which!"

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Sept/98


On the new series ANGEL:
"I can say that I will helm the first three episodes, then an associate will take over to run it as I go back to Buffy for season four. (GREAT GODS)!"

Todd McIntosh
Posting Board, Jan/99


On unusual romantic liasons:
"I think it is part of the attraction of the Buffyverse. It lends itself to polymorphously perverse subtext. It encourages it. I personally find romance in every relationship [with exceptions], I love all the characters, so I say B.Y.O. Subtext!"

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Dec/98


The truth about rumors of a BUFFY movie:
"There is truth that there's a rumor, but the reason Buffy works as a series is because, basically, we do a little movie each week. And movies have to have an end. I'm not sure it would work for the show."

Sarah Michelle Gellar
Eonline, Feb/99


On making Movies:
"I'm developing movies but right now wicked busy with BUF. I wrote almost all the dialogue in SPEED and much of TOY STORY with the animators (cool guys). The hardest part of doing BUFFY is wishing I had more time to do everything exactly right. Pulled in many directions."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


On suffering:
"You want to talk suffering, talk about the Buffy/Angel scene I had to write recently. Crying the whole time. I tend to act everything out and so tears, tears, after about an hour I'd have to stop, exhausted, and go back to the scene later."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Dec/98


On Nick doing stunts:
"Nick does his own punching because he doesn't have to be any kind of martial arts expert- just nuts. Everyone is doubled for most of the falls, unless it is really an easy one- just flopping onto a pad- although they still get hurt just doing that."

Jeff Pruitt
Posting Board, Oct/98


On the Emmy:
"They're heavy, but surprisingly cheapo-looking up close!"

Chris Beck
Posting Board, Oct/98


On the subject of Spoilers:
"Now on the KILL THE WB front--they sent out a synopsis of the ENTIRE 2 parter to the newspapers. I went NUTS. I know you guys like the inside dope but if I had my way you would know NOTHING because surprise is the purest state a human can attain."

Joss Whedon
Posting Board, Jan/98


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