Joss Whedon

Super script doctor Joss Whedon's decision to work in television, retooling his original 1992 feature screenplay into the series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (The WB, 1997-2001; UPN, 2001-2003), was terrific tonic for the fledgling network. As creator and executive producer for the show, he stands at the artistic center of an enterprise that may do for The WB what "21 Jump Street" did for Fox, provide a stable base from which to grow. Whedon's first job in the industry was as a story editor for "Roseanne" (ABC) during its 1989-90 season, but he is the third generation to practice what has become the family trade. His grandfather John, a Broadway playwright and librettist, began writing for TV in the late 40s and worked on classic sitcoms like "The Donna Reed Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Father Tom began as a TV writer and progressed to producing series like "Benson" and "The Golden Girls", but neither experienced the kind of success that has come the way of their baby-faced progeny.

The turning point of Whedon's career came when he agreed to a 10-week assignment rewriting "Speed" (1994) for a paltry $150,000. The skill he demonstrated brought him the large dollars ($100,000 per week) for doctoring the likes of "Waterworld" (1995) and "Twister" (1996). Whedon shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for his significant work on "Toy Story" (1995). Putting the big bucks aside, he jumped at the chance for creative control and the challenge of the small screen's lightening pace. Only moderately successful at the box office, the feature "Buffy" had discovered new life as a video rental. To the writer's dismay, the film's director Fran Kuzui had hiked the camp factor and downplayed the terror. The movie's producers approached Whedon about developing a spin-off TV series his way--with a savvier Buffy and a darker tone. Despite the demands of his first love, the series, Whedon found time to pen the clever screenplay for "Alien Resurrection" (1997), which teamed a cloned Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) with an android (Winona Ryder) to do battle against the space creatures.

Over the next several years, Whedon continued to write episodes of "Buffy" which became increasingly complex yet still as intriguing as ever. Under Whedon's guidance, the series avoided suffering a predictable burn-out and continued to adapt as a riveting drama. Highlights from the show include an episode where the characters were mute ("Hush" from the 1999-2000) season and a musical episode in 2001-2001. Despite continually being snubbed by the Emmys, "Buffy" remained one of the most popular and critically acclaimed shows on television, and when contract renegotions with The WB turned surprisingly sour, the series was quickly snapped up by UPN for its swansong seasons. The "Buffy" spin-off "Angel" (The WB, 1999-2004)--starring David Boreanaz as Buffy's immortal vampire lover, who joined the side of good and battled supernatural threats in Los Angeles--was equally high-quality (a third spin-off, an animated "Buffy" series, never came to fruition after multiple passes through development).

While continuing to take an active role both writing and directing episodes of "Buffy" and "Angel," Whedon developed another sci-fi show for the 2002-2003 television season, "Firefly," set 500 years in the future and revolving around the crew of the hardscrabble spaceship Serenity--Whedon even . A critical success that owed more inspiration to classic Westerns than to the usual "Star Wars" or "Star Trek" style fare, "Firefly" drew a rabid cult audience but, after being mishandled by Fox, not enough to keep it on the air beyond a handful of episodes. However, like Whedon's "Buffy" franchise before it, Whedon's creation made a phoenix-like rise from the ashes when DVD sales and SciFi network reruns drew grew the fan base and Universal greenlit a surprise feature film continuation, rechristened "Serenity" (2005), written and directed by Whedon (who had been tirelessly pushing to keep the property alive since the cancelation of the series).

During his tenure helming his TV creations, Whedon was still a presence on the big screen, contributing the screenplay of the well-crafted but little-seen animated sci-fi film "Titan A.E." (2000) and the story of Disney's less well-conceived animated effort "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001). A longtime comic book fan, he also penned two year-long arcs on Marvel Comics' hugely popular X-Men characters, creating the new title Astonishing X-Men with artist John Cassaday to much critical and fan acclaim. That gig positioned him well for his first post-"Serenity" writing and directing assignment: tackling a big budget feature film adaptation of the classic comic book heroine "Wonder Woman" for producer Joel Silver (Whedon also accepted a screenplay assignment on another comics-to-film hero, Marvel's Iron Man).