Joss Whedon

On June 23rd, 1964 a creative force of unimaginable genius entered this world: Joe "Joss" Whedon was born. Please excuse the extravagant statement, but we felt it was only fitting since Joss is one of the most talented modern writers in the entertainment industry today. Yet one has to wonder just what spawned all of this creative energy? What paths did Joss take in life to arrive as the astoundingly successful creator of ANGEL?

Surprisingly, little is known about Joss since he was not widely recognized in the main stream until the creation of the cult classic and critic favorite, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joss' writing skill seems to course through his family's blood. He is a third generation writer; both his father and grandfather were in the entertainment industry. Growing up he spent his time with brothers Zachary and Jed while attending Winchester High School, a British school for boys. He also attended Riverdale School in New York. Throughout his early life comic books fueled his imagination and foreshadowed his future. Following high school Joss attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut as a film major. Ironically, writing was not a large concentration for him in college.

After graduating Joss was itching to work in television. For a year he painstakingly wrote countless spec scripts and was finally hired to write for the comedy series, Roseanne. This was his first major break into the industry and allowed him to silently hone his skills. Joss left Roseanne a year later to write a movie script called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joss had developed a concept that he later referred to as "My So-Called Life meets The X-Files". The script contained classic horror elements, such as vampires, but was unique because the main character was a teenage girl. Combining wit, drama, and humor, Joss finished the script and the film was made. However when it hit the screen it did not portray Joss' original vision.

Saddened, Joss put his creation aside for almost ten years until a new idea developed: a TV show based on the movie. Thus Buffy the Vampire Slayer was resurrected, this time staying true to Joss' original concept. As Executive Producer, Joss has made one hundred astounding episodes at the finale of its fifth season and drawn in an extremely large and dedicated fan base. Through the seasons Joss has awed fans with powerful themes that were often more "real" than any reality based show seen today. With the help of his amazing cast and crew Joss continued to improve the series. In fact, the series was so successful that he made the spin-off show ANGEL with David Greenwalt which debuted in 1999.

ANGEL is a series about the centuries-old vampire with a soul, Angel, and his quest for redemption in the city of Los Angeles. The ever-present evil and innumerable temptations of the city proved to be an excellent location for this brooding warrior seeking to help lost souls. ANGEL is an extension of Joss' mythology and lore that were introduced in BtVS. Joss' trademark wit and irony are as abundant as ever in ANGEL. With David Greenwalt, Joss has created a tremendously deep world that draws viewers through an entire spectrum of emotions: from intense drama, to deliciously dark humor.

Despite both shows enormous success, Joss' genius has been largely overlooked. While he did receive an Emmy nod for his season four BtVS episode "Hush," fans were not nearly satisfied. Fans actually raised enough money to put an Emmy ad in a magazine for Joss' incredible season five BtVS episode, "The Body." After seven seasons and 144 episodes, Joss and the Buffy team retired their stakes in 2003. The series finale, "Chosen" written and directed by Whedon marked not only the end of an era for fans but for a true television series classic that changed the face of television.

In 2002, Joss' third television series, Firefly, debuted on the Fox network. The space-Western about the ragtag crew of the spaceship, Serenity, was again a unique blend of the familiar Joss-style of genres and tones which was immediately embraced by fans. Unfortunately, Fox wasn't happy with the show Joss produced and decided to aired the pilot out of order and bury the show on Friday nights. After only 11 aired episodes, Firefly was grounded for good despite mass fan efforts to save the show. That upswell of support has kept Joss inspired to keep the show alive and all 14 produced episodes were released on DVD in 2003 and he is currently writing a script in hopes of transfering the show to the big screen for Universal later in 2004.

The various television series have not been Joss' only projects. He has done a majority of work in movies as well. He wrote Alien Resurrection and received an Oscar nomination for his original script Toy Story. He has also done an enormous amount of script doctoring for various movies such as Twister and Waterworld. Joss has recently tried his hand at another one of his passions, comics. In the summer of 2001 debuted an eight issue miniseries entitled Fray. It is a futuristic continuation of the lore he has established in Buffy. Joss also developed a Buffy cartoon television series with comic writer Jeph Loeb. The project never got past its budgetary issues but scripts are written and the hope is someday it will be revisited. In the past eight years, Joss has really come into his own. Through ANGEL, Buffy and Firefly, Joss has given the world a glimpse into his complicated and extremely talented mind. Still full of ideas and enthusiam, fans can be sure that Joss will continue to bombard us with examples of his creative genius for years to come.