Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy Read online

  So Joss kills Buffy in a brilliant episode that broke fans’ hearts. “Our mandate was: MAKE THEM CRY! And when we watched it, we all cried,” says Joss. But not everyone was thrilled with this development, including some of his cast.

  “I went straight to Joss,” Marsters says. “I said, Joss, you can’t kill Buffy. The show is called Buffy the Vampire Slayer! You can’t do that, man—I need the job!’

  “Joss looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Dude, it’s my show. I can do whatever I want.’

  “He smiled his little trickster smile and left,” the actor recalls, “which led me to believe that I’d have my job, not to worry. And I think this was the most dramatic way to close the original thesis of the show, which was, ‘How does one get from childhood to adulthood? How does one pass through adolescence?’

  “Now the question for Buffy and the Scooby Gang is, ‘How does one negotiate the perils of adulthood?’ And a bloody good corollary is, ‘What’s Spike’s role in that process?’”

  Buffy’s death was equally stressful for executives at UPN, who had picked up the series from the WB.

  Joss looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Dude, it’s my show. I can do whatever I want.’

  —James Marsters

  The Move to UPN

  There are times when the WB made suggestions that didn’t sit well with Whedon, but for the most part they gave him free reign. From its beginnings as a mid-season replacement, Buffy had evolved into a very important show for the WB, a show that helped define the network. And in return Whedon received creative freedom and, almost as important, respect for his creation.

  But things turned rocky as WB’s five-year contract for Buffy approached its end. Fox, which spent $2 million per episode producing Buffy but only received $1 million per episode from the WB, expected a large increase in its fee. This was normal for the television business. Production companies typically sold their shows for less than production costs, making up the difference with international and syndication sales for their hits. And with large increases in fees at the five year renewal point.

  While this was typical for the television business, it wasn’t typical for the WB, which as a fairly new network was losing $50 million per year and had never before had a show reach the five-year mark. In the negotiation process, Jamie Kellner, Turner Broadcasting CEO (who also runs the WB) took a hard line. Kellner, who has a reputation as a tough negotiator, refused to pay over $1.8 million per episode. He also downplayed Buffy’s importance to the WB, saying it was a niche show that appealed mainly to teens and certainly wasn’t “irreplaceable.”

  The cast felt strongly about staying with the WB. After all, the WB had supported them and nurtured them from obscurity into one of the most praised shows on television. Sarah Michelle Gellar went as far as saying that she wouldn’t play Buffy on any other network. Reminded that her contract with Fox had two more years to run and that she was obliged to play Buffy regardless of what network was airing the series, Gellar retracted her comments.

  Whedon was furious, telling the New York Daily News that, “For Jamie Kellner to call it a teen show and dismiss his own product angers me. It doesn’t breed love.” For Whedon a key issue was the disrespect shown by Kellner, and he sent Kellner a letter complaining about the disparaging remarks.

  Ultimately the WB lost the bidding to UPN, who offered $2.3 million per show. Whedon blamed the loss squarely on Kellner. “Jamie said ‘I won’t budge an inch,’” said Whedon, indicating that other top WB executives supported Buffy.

  At the Television Critics Association Press Tour Gellar apologized for her comments during the negotiations. “What you have to understand is that for five years we had a home on the WB,” Gellar says. “We had a place where we were supported, where we were able to make the show creatively the way we wanted to make it, and so the thought of making a move was scary.”

  UPN went out of its way to court its new prize, reportedly giving Gellar $8000 worth of Gucci items as a welcoming present. Gellar and the cast rapidly adjusted to their new home. Gellar said, “I’m nervous. I’m excited. UPN has been wonderful. They’ve said really wonderful things to make everybody feel incredibly welcome, and I think that’s given us new excitement about the show. It’s like getting to start fresh. It’s like getting to show all of these new people the show we make, that we’re all so incredibly proud of.”

  Joss Whedon also had kind words to say about UPN. “We really had some factors working in our favor,” Whedon said. “UPN really came out swinging. They really promised and delivered a great deal of support. They put passion in it. Our fan base is not huge, but it is hugely loyal. I knew they would follow us.”

  Joss at Buffy’s old home, the WB.

  Whedon expressed little concern that the move to UPN would cost Buffy its fan base. “I would like to think that most of my fan base is smart enough to use a remote.”

  At a Television Critics Association Press tour last year, witnesses were surprised to see Kellner approach Whedon, shake his hand and walk away. Whedon viewed this as an attempt to put the past behind them, particularly since Angel was still airing on the WB. Whedon feels the overture was sincere, not merely for appearances.

  “I think he wanted to say, ‘Let’s put this behind us.’ It’s not like he did it in front of a crowd or photographers or anything. He just came up and I think he wanted to say, ‘We’ve been doing business, there’s been acrimony, but it’s not personal. It’s business.’”

  So is the love back? Not exactly. Joss is ready to move on, but can never quite forget the insult to his baby. “You know, I didn’t like the way the business was handled. I don’t like doing business because I tend to take things personally. I do agree that I still have a show on the WB and he’s still a part of the WB. I don’t work with him day-to-day If I did, then he and I would have to sit down and really iron things out. But in terms of what our relationship is—which is basically just peripheral to each other—I think we’re fine.

  Once Buffy formally made the move, the rumors began to run rampant that the show would be much sexier to lure in UPN’s young male audience. There was also the belief that since UPN was paying so much more for it the show could afford a lot more special effects.

  “There really isn’t that big of a change because we have higher license fees,” says Whedon. “Apart from the increases you accrue every year on a show, we are not looking at suddenly having a giant budget that we can do anything with. We’re making the show exactly the way we were before. You know, we may have a little more leeway—we have more leeway than we would have, had we been forced to stay at the WB, and had no money and we’d have to use hand puppets.”

  So, after five years of kicking, punching and stabbing vampires, monsters and the undead into submission, Buffy plunged to her death through the gates of Hell. The program ended with a camera shot of Buffy’s tombstone, which read, “She saved the world. A lot.” As the image faded into the ending credits, a message appeared on the screen that said, “Five great years. We thank you.” Joss said that when he saw the message at the end of the show, “I was actually moved. Then I said, ‘Wait a minute.’

  We have more leeway than we would have, had we been forced to stay at the WB, and had no money and we’d have to use hand puppets.—Joss

  “The WB decided to pretend the series was ending,” he added, calling the way the network played the finale “cheesy” Paul McGuire, a WB spokesman, said it was “a shame” if any Buffy fan had been misled. But he said the message of gratitude was a “sincere expression of thanks for five terrific years.” Presumably, many Buffy viewers, even if confused at first, would be clued in by the fall, after the millions of dollars UPN spent to promote Buffy’s return. In the end, Joss said, it was nothing personal—just business. “They’re trying to protect their network and not help the other guy,” he said.

  “But basically we’re right where we were, which is all that we were asking for. Fox is, you know, going to give us t
he increase we need, but not anything beyond that. And I think too much money spoils you; it lets you get lazy. If you can put spectacle on the air, you don’t have to worry so much about story.

  I was actually moved. Then I said, ‘Wait a minute.’—Joss

  “It’s important that people know that the WB never hindered us from doing the show the way we wanted to. We had some back and forth with them about certain scenes and certain ideas, but it was always collaboration. UPN basically stepped in and said, ‘Make the show the way you’ve been making it.’

  “And I’m not interested in pushing boundaries or smut or gore or anything like that. I’m interested in doing what we’ve been doing, which is sometimes dark and sometimes disturbing and sometimes sexy and all of that stuff. But you know that’s not because I can get away with stuff. If you can just be sensational, then you don’t have to tell the story right.”

  Spike

  Unlike the Englishman he plays, James Marsters is 100 percent American. He was born in Greenville, California, and grew up in Modesto. From the early age of nine, Marsters knew he wanted to be an actor. His first role was as Eeyore in the fourth grade production of Winnie the Pooh.

  Marsters went on to study at the Juilliard School in New York. Early in his career he starred in The Tempest and Red Noses at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. Not long after moving to the Pacific Northwest he landed a gueststarring role on Northern Exposure, which was his on-screen debut.

  James Marsters, looking very Spikish.

  This small success led him to believe he could find bigger and better things if he moved to Los Angeles. Soon he got the opportunity to audition for the role of Spike.

  For the classically trained Marsters the idea of being on a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer seemed a lark. He admits that he was one of the uncool before discovering what Buffy was all about.

  “I have to admit I was one of those idiots,” says Marsters. “When I got the word that they wanted me to audition for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was like ‘I don’t want to audition for Buffy the...’ I’d never seen it, right?

  “My agent said, ‘Watch it and see. Don’t give me an answer until you watch the show.’ And I watched the show that night, and I got nervous because I wanted to be on that show so bad. It completely changed my mind. And it made me think about something, which is I think the name Buffy the Vampire Slayer almost dares you not to be cool enough to check it out. Almost like—and I’ve never said this to Joss, but I think almost like you don’t want uncool people watching your show.”

  The audition went well. After several guest appearances Sarah Michelle Gellar thought it would be fun to have Marsters return as a full time player. She encouraged Joss to see what he could do about keeping Marsters on the series.

  Meanwhile, Marsters was busy auditioning for other series including Harsh Realm, but the Buffy producers wooed him back. “I definitely am happy to be here,” says Marsters. “You don’t find characters like Spike every day. There’s a wealth of emotion he goes through on just about every episode and while it’s hard work, it’s also great fun. He’s a very immature man; he was made a vampire at a young age and never got past that. I don’t think he’ll really ever understand what love really is, though he’s certain he found it with Buffy.”

  I’ve never said this to Joss, but I think almost like you don’t want uncool people watching your show.—James Marsters

  Marsters loves the fact that the writers constantly keep him on his toes. Each season as Spike evolves Marsters is learning about his character right along with the rest of us.

  “No two seasons are alike at all. The characters go through completely different experiences every season. So whatever happened last season, turn it on its head, and ... that’s what you get next. But really, if you ask any male actor what he wants to do and he’ll say bag chicks and kick butt, right? That’s what we are used to seeing from these male macho characters. That’s all guys want to do because they want the Bruce Willis kind of Die Hard, swinging from the rope with bullets thing. You know, what Marti and Joss come up with is infinitely more interesting than that. These are incredible stories that appeal to everyone from grandmas to kiddies.”

  Joss takes credit for Spike’s distinctive look. “There’s a little Billy Idol, a little Kiefer Sutherland in The Lost Boys, and every guy in a black coat. I really thought the peroxide would define his face better, though James does curse my name for the burning scalp.”

  But Marsters doesn’t mind; he knows the Billy Idol look contributes a great deal to his fan appeal and transformation into semi-Scooby. “The coat works and the hair works. If the coat had been shorter or the hair had been black, I would have been dead.”

  Season six

  Season six opens with Buffy’s resurrection by Willow. Buffy comes back changed, disconnected from the world as a result of being called back from heaven. Meanwhile, Willow, in a not very subtle alcoholic analogy, falls deeper and deeper into the dark side of her magic. A troika of nerds is introduced as bad guys, but it’s hard to take them seriously until they murder Katrina and, soon after, Tara. Willow reacts by heading into the dark side, killing Warren and ultimately deciding to destroy the world. In a very intense scene, she is stopped by Xander and his love for her, and the season ends with Willow in tears, embraced by Xander.

  Joss was determined not to bring Buffy back without there being a price. In a brilliant move, we discover that Buffy was brought back from heaven, not hell. This is classic Joss because it’s both shocking and, on reflection, so right.

  “Buffy had to deal with the consequences of dying, going to heaven and coming back,” Joss told the press while on a panel for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “She had to learn how to live. When the house came down around Buffy as she slept with Spike that first time, it was a metaphor for her life. Her life was crashing down around her.”

  The nerd troika brought an element of humor to the largely dark season. According to an Internet posting by Joss, the troika, with their endless debates on sci-fi trivia, are modeled after the writing staff:“It’s SO PATHETIC how much the writing staff IS those guys, and I do include me. We’re constantly having nerdtriv arguments and realizing they must go in scripts.”

  I killed Tara. Some of you may have been hurt by that.—Joss

  In another posting, Joss addresses Tara’s death. Perhaps the most traumatic moment of the season was the death of Tara. Many fans objected and typically, Joss addressed this in an Internet posting:“I killed Tara. Some of you may have been hurt by that. It [is] very unlikely it was more painful to you than it was to me. I couldn’t even discuss it in story meetings without getting upset, physically. Which is why I knew it was the right thing to do. Because stories, as I have so often said, are not about what we WANT. And I knew some people would be angry with me for destroying the only gay couple on the show, but the idea that I COULDN’T kill Tara because she was gay is as offensive to me as the idea that I DID kill her because she was gay Willow’s story was not about being gay It was about weakness, addiction, loss . . . the way life hits you in the gut right when you think you’re back on your feet. The course of true love never did run smooth, not on my show. (Only Dennis Franz has suffered more than my characters.) I love Amber and she knows it. Eventually this story will end for all of them. Hers ended sooner.

  Danny Strong and Thomas Lenk, still looking pretty nerdy.

  Or did it . . .

  Yeah, it did.”

  Season six had many great moments and some wonderful episodes (most notably Once More With Feeling) but fans complained about the overwhelming darkness of the season. With Buffy so disconnected, Willow fighting her magic addiction, Xander on the sidelines and Giles largely gone, fans struggled to build emotional links to the characters.

  Joss felt strongly that the season, while dark and intense, was a success. “I’m not sure about the reception of [season six],” Joss says. “I’ve heard some people say, ‘Oh, grrr-grr-grr-grr,’ some s
eason four-type rumblings. I’m very happy with it. I think we’ve hit exactly what we wanted to emotionally; where we are heading is devastating and fascinating to me. We all are just as excited as we could ever be. Even episodes that people don’t necessarily think are landmark episodes are really solid, really well-crafted. So we’re trying really hard.

  “Last year I felt very good, but I also felt there was a kind of sameness to the through-line. This year, we’ve bounced back and forth between comedy and tragedy the way we used to and it feels really good. I’m probably the biggest fan. I have very few complaints.”

  Since Marti Noxon took the role of executive producer in season six, some of the criticism landed on her. But Joss resisted the implication that any weakness in season six was due to his lack of involvement or Noxon’s leadership. While he only wrote and directed one episode, Joss maintains that he was intimately involved in every aspect of the production.

  Fan sentiment was united on one point, however. Once More With Feeling , the musical Buffy episode, was brilliant. “I wanted to do something that was very traditional where people broke out into song and it seems like a natural thing,” says Whedon. “It had a bit of a pop feel to it and I had a lot of help with it. Musicals are something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but had a tough time deciding how it could be done.”

  Joss with Nicholas Brendon and Amber Benson.