Joss Whedon life and biography

"Sidelights"

Screenwriter Joss Whedon was born in 1964, in New York City, to television screenwriter and producer Tom Whedon and high school teacher Lee Stearns. Tom Whedon had worked on such television shows as The Golden Girls and Benson, and his father--Joss's grandfather--was a playwright who also worked in television, writing for such early programs as The Donna Reed Show. Lee Stearns also had a literary bend, writing novels during her summers off that were never published. Though neither of his parents encouraged him to pursue a career as a writer, Whedon credits his mother's influence on his choice of vocation even more than that of his father.

Whedon attended the Riverdale Country School in Riverdale, New York, until his senior year, at which point he transferred to Winchester College in England to finish his primary schooling. He then returned to the United States and attended Wesleyan College in Connecticut, where he earned a degree in film studies. Within two years of graduating, he was working in the television industry, starting out as a staff writer for the situation comedy, Roseanne. He continued writing for television while also working on screenplays for film and as a script doctor on other writers' efforts.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was Whedon's first screenplay to be produced. The film takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the stereotypical horror movie and turns it on end by transforming the supposedly vapid, shallow, blonde cheerleader type--typically the first to die in most works of the genre--into a feisty, strong heroine who can achieve great feats of courage when she puts her mind to the task. Whedon meant for the film to have a dark feel, but director Frank Kuzui's interpretation was lighter and more campy than Whedon intended. Critics found that the end result fell flat. Ralph Novak, in a review for People, wrote: "Don't let Twentieth Century-Fox, or anyone else, convince you that this movie is a spoof. It is a straightforward vampire movie, with lots of neck biting, blood gushing and stakes through the heart."

Whedon continued writing for the big screen, though most of his efforts were as a cowriter or script doctor. In 1997, however, he had the opportunity to revisit the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe in the form of a television series for the then-fledgling television network, The WB. The original film became something of a cult classic once released on video, and its popularity spawned the network's interest. Promised a greater degree of control over his finished product, Whedon signed on as creator, writer, and director of the new series. The ongoing story allowed him to further develop his universe, where the presiding metaphor is that high school is hell. T. L. Stanley, writing for Mediaweek, observed that the show is "an amalgam of teen angst and giant horned monsters. To Whedon, being horrified and being a high school student are inextricably intertwined." When asked by A. J. Jacobs in Entertainment Weekly why he chose to turn from a lucrative film-writing career to the smaller screen, Whedon responded that "the movies I write--if they get made--take several thousand years. ... With TV, it's like I get to make an independent movie every week." He also had the chance to remake his heroine according to his original vision. In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, Whedon said of Buffy: The idea was, let's have a feminist role model for kids. What's interesting is you end up subverting that. If she's just an ironclad hero--'I am woman, hear me constantly roar'--it gets dull. Finding the weakness and the vanity and the foibles makes it fun."

Buffy the Vampire eventually led to the spin-off program, Angel: The Series. The show took the title vampire character out of the fictional California town of Sunnydale, where Buffy lives, and sent him to Los Angeles, freeing Buffy to move on to a more plausible love interest while dooming Angel himself to exist without his true love while trying to determine his purpose on the planet. The scenario makes for a broody vampire turned private detective with a specialty in cases that deal with demons and other creatures of the night. In a review for Variety, Laura Fries remarked that "Whedon has a gift for blending action and comedy without resorting to the 'make my day' kind of mentality prevalent in shows of the same ilk. Angel, rarely a source for humor on Buffy, gets to lighten up a bit here."

Whedon has continued to write for film as well as for television. The short-lived 2002 series, Firefly, a futuristic Western set in space, led to a feature film, Serenity, in which the entire cast of the series returns for further adventures. Prompted in large part by the success of Firefly, on DVD, Serenity allows Whedon closure much in the way that the Buffy series enabled him to redeem his original film.

In addition to his screen and television writing, Whedon is the creator and author of a number of comic books for Dark Horse Comics, including books based on both the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel programs, and Fray.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Born Joseph Whedon, June 23, 1964, in New York, NY; son of Tom Whedon (a television screenwriter and producer) and Lee Stearns (a high school teacher); married Kai Cole (a designer); children: Arden. Education: Attended Winchester College, Hampshire, England; Wesleyan University, graduated 1987.

AWARDS

Saturn Award for best network television series, 2001, for Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Nebula Award, 2005, for Serenity; Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation: long form, 2006, for Serenity; named recipient of the Bradbury Award for excellence in screenwriting, 2009; Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation, short form, 2009, for Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

CAREER

Screenwriter, producer, director, creator of television series. Worked variously as a screenwriter for films and as a script doctor; Roseanne, Los Angeles, CA, staff writer, 1989-90. Producer and writer for television series, including Parenthood, 1990; Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1997-2003; Angel: The Series, Los Angeles, CA, 1999-2004; and Firefly, Los Angeles, CA, 2002.

WRITINGS:
SCREENPLAYS

* Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1992.
* (Uncredited; with others) Speed, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1994.
* (Uncredited; with others) Waterworld, Universal, 1995.
* Toy Story, Buena Vista, 1995.
* (Uncredited) Twister, Universal, 1996.
* Alien: Resurrection, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1997.
* Titan A.E., Twentieth Century-Fox, 2000.
* Atlantis: The Lost Empire (treatment), Walt Disney Company, 2001.
* Serenity, Universal, 2005.

TELEVISION SERIES; WITH OTHERS

* Roseanne, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., 1989-90.
* Parenthood (multiple episodes), National Broadcasting Company, Inc., 1990.
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer (multiple episodes), The WB, 1997-98.
* Angel: The Series, The WB, 1999.
* Firefly , Fox Broadcasting Company, 2002.

Creator and writer of comic-book series for Dark Horse Comics, including uffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Fray; author of Tales of the Slayer, 2002. Lyricist for "Once More with Feeling" Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and "My Lullaby" The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Creator of series of tie-in books based on his television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series.

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