Behind the Scenes

o catalog a universe as gigantic as the one Angel resides in—a product of the fertile imagination of Joss Whedon—is a monumental task in and of itself. Thankfully, Nancy Holder, Jeff Mariotte, and Maryelizabeth Hart—no strangers to categorizing Joss Whedon’s creations as they did on “The Watcher’s Guide Vol. II” (Holder co-wrote “The Watcher’s Guide Vol. I” with frequent writing partner Christopher Golden)—met the challenge, the results of which can be seen in “The Angel Case Files,” the first official companion to the WB hit series, Angel.

THE STRUCTURE OF TEAMWORK

Nancy Holder and Jeff Mariotte eagerly sign their wares for the fans.

The three collaborators believe that having already worked on an official companion before gave them an advantage when writing “Case Files.” “We had a better sense of what everybody’s strengths were, and that made figuring out how to divide some of the sub-components easier. For example, Nancy has a real flow for discussing the characters so she did the individual character recaps because that’s something that’s her strength, whereas I tend to feel more comfortable working in an almost journalistic approach that has a slightly different voice. I focus mostly on things that were factual and didn’t call on as much speculation or sort of interpretation,” Hart, who is married to co-author Mariotte, says, enthusiastically describing the methods they employed when writing the companion. “We sort of broke things down into chunks by episodes, and each of us worked on various episodes. Then Jeff went back and did a polish the compiled 44 episodes to make everything consistent,” she continues, a cheerful tone to her voice. “Maryelizabeth is AWESOME at keeping track of continuity,” praises Holder. “She is very conscientious; if there’s something printed in a book that Maryelizabeth wrote, you can be sure it’s correct. There is no way she would misprint or misquote or anything, which is wonderful. So whereas I, who am basically a fiction writer—I get paid to lie constantly—I don’t have to change my gig because she’s there, watching my back.”

"That’s the kind of guy [Joss] is. You know, he would never say, ‘You doofus reporter.’ He was very kind, very gracious."

Both Hart and Holder agree that Mariotte was the de facto leader when working on “Case Files.” “I have to say that Jeff’s an AWESOME collaborator. I have been so lucky that the people I’ve worked with on Buffy and Angel are all fantastic. Chris (Golden) is wonderful. Jeff is wonderful. Maryelizabeth rocks. It’s a very happy association. There’s never been a problem with anyone; it’s just been joyous. Jeff is, as Maryelizabeth likes to say, the salt of the earth. Jeff can keep us all on track. Jeff was like the band-leader on the ‘Case Files,’” Holder says. “‘You do this, you do this, you do this,’ and we’d scurry to do our parts and would come home with our little piles of gold. On the fiction end, writing fiction together, we’re much more in tandem, passing it back and forth in a more of a give-and-take-situation, whereas I deliberately said to Jeff, ‘Could you please try to be the boss?’ because I fare better with somebody with a strong hand.”

The “Case Files,” which covers the first two seasons of Angel (44 episodes), gives an episode-by-episode synopsis and contains interviews with the cast and crew. “We worked with our editor—Lisa Clancy—to develop a slightly different approach and different feel for ‘Case Files,’” Hart explains. “We took a much more all-encompassing approach with the ‘Case Files,’ so that in an individual episode, any pertinent interview w/ cast and crew are included in that episode and much more specific.” For instance, rather than having Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase) talk in general about the Pylea episodes in which her character has a significant part, going from slave (or “cow”) to princess overnight, the actress’ specific feedback on that topic would be incorporated in that story arc. “It’s always a great team to work for, the people at Pocket and the people at Fox. They work really well together to get the best book they possibly can,” Mariotte adds.

INTERVIEW WITH THE MAN BEHIND THE VAMPIRE

Holder jovially describes the best part about writing “Case Files” was visiting the Paramount lot where Angel is filmed. “We watched (the cast and crew) on the sound stages that were there, and it was very interesting to see a different kind of production set up. You have three sound stages and while it’s very much in terms of actual shooting and laying out the shows, it’s exciting to be on a really big, BIG movie lot. That was really fun. We’ve been to other ones—we’ve been to Universal—but Paramount was kind of cool. You drive up and there’s a guard, you go ‘Angel’ and they let you in, you park in a parking lot, and you walk to the right and there’s all the huge sound stages and people in little golf carts zooming around. There’s famous people everywhere. Just walk in and say, ‘I’m here for Angel,’ and they say,”—and Holder’s voice inflects, becoming impossibly more jovial—“‘Hi! How are you!’ and you do your thing. Fascinating! Wonderful! I love show production.”

Maryelizabeth Hart enjoyed bringing the Case Files to light.

In fact, Holder met and interviewed—on more than one occasion—The Man himself: creator Joss Whedon. “So I’m turning on the tape and the tape, I’m thinking, is running. He’s going on, saying the most amazing things. I’m in tears. I’m taping this. I get to report this. I am the luckiest girl in the world,” she gushes. “We go outside in the sun and the tape machine is not going at all. It was broken and I pulled out the tape, and you know how if you don’t have it in right, it kind of unravels as you pull it out? And I looked up at him, said a word you cannot print, and said, ‘Why you?’ He smiled at me, took the tape, and fixed it for me. Almost all of the interview was indeed still on, but it started to snag somewhere during the interview in the dark. As soon as we got outside and I realized it, Joss fixed my tape. He gave it back to me with this little smile and said, ‘Awww, it’s okay. It’s okay.’ That’s the kind of guy he is. You know, he would never say, ‘You doofus reporter.’ He was very kind, very gracious, and helped me out.”

Holder, an L.A. Times best-selling writer, is considered by many Buffy and Angel aficionados to be one of the franchise’s definitive novel writers. She gives an honest answer to the question many fans have asked on numerous posting boards (including CoA’s): Why doesn’t she write for the TV series? “You know, it’s a funny thing. I think all of us would love to write for the series, but what I’ve appreciate is it’s a very different form (of creative writing), and I just can’t walk in and say, ‘Hi, I’m one of the book authors. Can I write a script?’ I have to go through the proper hoops, which I approve of, just like everyone else. And the hoops would be to write specs scripts probably NOT based on Angel or Buffy; that’s not the way it’s done. I would write a specs script based on another show, try to get it to the producers, which would be frankly fairly easy for me, and have them read it and say, ‘Okay, we’ll give you a shot.’

“The writers who write for (the shows) are all (writer’s) guild members, as far as I know, and they have their rules and regulations, and I highly approve. People who work on television shows work so hard, and it is so hard to break in. The fact that I write Buffy books and that they’re generally well-received doesn’t really pertain to whether or not I can write a good script. I need to prove myself; this is by somebody they don’t even know. That’s fine with me. I say go for it, because I, as a fan, want Buffy and Angel to be the best-written shows on TV. I truly think they are. It would be fun, but I’m not really pushing it because frankly I have so much to do, and I don’t have any problems getting (books) published that to stop everything and try to sell (a script) to the show would be an interruption to what I do for a living.”