Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy [Paperback]

Candace Havens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2003

This biography of Joss Whedon, creator of television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, offers a compelling look at one of the most talented television writers, directors, and producers of this generation. It explains how Whedon turned a midseason replacement show on the fledgling WB network into one of the most beloved shows of all time. Examined is Whedon’s life from childhood to the present; his successful screenwriting career, which includes Toy Story, Speed, and X-Men; the development of Buffy and Angel; and the launch of his much-anticipated science fiction series, Firefly. Discussed are Whedon as a producer with a self-proclaimed “feminist agenda,” as a genre fan writing for genre fans, and as a leader and mentor.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Writers, actors, and fans often call Joss Whedon a genius. It's easy to see why. Whedon, who got his start writing for Roseanne, dreamed of writing movie screenplays. He got his shot when he sold his script for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the movie fell far short of his hopes for it. After a few years of working as a script doctor, Whedon got the chance to do Buffy again, this time as a TV show. Few expected it to succeed, but Whedon's humor and intelligence shone through in the scripts, and viewers quickly became attached to the engaging, witty characters. Buffy kept getting better: each season of the show featured a complex story arc possessed of a real sense of danger and further developed the characters. The last few years have brought the Buffy spinoff Angel, the lamentably cancelled Firefly (a space western), and the comic book Fray. Engaging and filled with fun quotes, this is a must-read for Whedon's many fans. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A fabulous service to the millions of fans of Joss Whedon, one of the most original writers working today." -- Mike McDaniel, Houston Chronicle

"Joss is a genius." -- Gail Berman, president, Fox Broadcasting

"Possibly the finest book of the century; It's exactly like A Tale of Two Cities, but with 30% more me." -- Joss Whedon

"Smart, surprising and vastly entertaining—just like "Buffy" itself. Even Sunnydale know-it-alls will adore this book." -- Michael Logan, TV Guide

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: BenBella Books; First Trade Paper Edition edition (April 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932100008
• ISBN-13: 978-1932100006
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,247,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Candace "Candy" Havens is a best selling and award-winning author. Her novels include "Charmed & Dangerous", "Charmed & Ready", "Charmed & Deadly", "Like A Charm," "The Demon King and I"and the upcoming "Dragons Prefer Blondes." She is known for writing strong female characters, who save the world, but aren't exactly perfect. She is a two-time RITA, Write Touch Reader and a two-time Holt Medallion finalist. She is also the winner of the Barbara Wilson award.

Candy is a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist for FYI Television. A veteran journalist she has interviewed just about everyone in Hollywood from George Clooney and Orlando Bloom to Nicole Kidman and Kate Beckinsale. You can hear Candy weekly on 96.3 KSCS in the Dallas Fort Worth Area.

Her popular online Writer's Workshop has more than 1000 students and provides free classes to professional and aspiring writers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost everything you ever wanted to know about Joss Whedon, April 21, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy (Paperback)

It is interesting to read "Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy" at the same time I am working my way through the essays in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale." The tone of this tribute volume by Candace Havens to the creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," and "Firefly," is informal rather than scholarly. More importantly, the goal of this volume is primarily to supply behind the scenes information for fans of these shows, although there is some critical insights offered in the chapter devoted to "Secrets of Success," which enumerates the seven elements that make "BtVS" a cult television series. Havens is working from various articles and websites about Whedon and his creations, and although it does not explicitly say so I assume she conducted interviews with various people quoted in this book. Since she shares with us impressions about her tours of the sets for Whedon's three television series I assume she took time to talk to some of these people; however, there are few references to specific interview (e.g., with Whedon's film professor, Jeanine Basinger) as to how much access she had to the cast and crew and I am rather curious as to how much of the material here is from primary sources (without going through all the secondary sources and doing a process of elimination).

"Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy" is called a biography, but the focus is clearly more on his career than his life. The first chapter looks at his life through college while the second covers his work early work in television writing episodes of "Roseanne" and as a "script doctor" on films like "The Quick and the Dead," "Speed," "Waterworld," and "Toy Story." More importantly, this is where we learn about the key formative experiences Whedon had with his two major screenplays, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Alien Resurrection." That sets the stage for "Buffy: Round Two" in the third chapter, where Whedon gets a second chance at bringing his vision of "BtVS" to life. The rest of the chapters are devoted to the secrets of the success of "BtVS," a review of the seven seasons of the show (okay, six and a half seasons when this book went to press), a look at "Angel," Whedon's foray into comics and other screenplay ideas, his new show "Firefly" (now on eternal hiatus), a look at "Joss the Mentor," and a summary chapter on "The Real Joss." Throughout the books there are sidebars focusing on various actors (e.g., Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head), most pages have choice quotes emblazon in white on black, and there are scores of black & white photographs, mostly by Sue Schneider (yes, I am curious her prominent role in this effort as well).

All things considered, this book is a quick and enjoyable read. The main complaint, such as it is, would be that once Havens starts dispensing tidbits you want more of it; I was particularly interested to know more specifics about what lines from Whedon's script doctoring efforts were left in the films he worked on (I am always interested to hear what Whedon lines work there way into episodes of "BtVS" for which he was not the listed writer). The timing of the book might be considered problematic given the fate of "Firefly" and the impending end of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but not if you consider it as part of an effort to promote Whedon's late but not particularly lamented new series. The main point is that in terms of its target audience, the legion of fans of Joss Whedon, this volume is on target and there are enough one-liners from the man himself to appease most of them. This book does not intend to be a scholarly effort, and of the various "pop" volumes devoted to the "BtVS" phenomenon this is one of the better efforts. Final Note: I was surprised that the title of a book honoring Joss Whedon would violate his disdain for abbreviating his cult television series other than as "BtVS." I just want to point out that I have done very well at avoiding making that particular mistook in my reviews of all things "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" related.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insights into a profound pleasure, August 20, 2003

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Jacqueline Lichtenberg "sf/f writer" (Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy (Paperback)

This is not a biography, it's not a "making of" and it's not about the facts of the television production industry.

This is a book like none other I've ever read.

Candace Haven has given us a glimpse of the man who created Buffy, of where inside him this concept came from -- but even more she's given us a glimpse of what it takes to be the sort of person who can succeed in breaking all the taboos in the television industry.

What taboos did he break? Well, Buffy is a strong story-arc show like Babylon 5 and Dallas -- but without the (perceived) broad audience appeal of those shows. Buffy is about a young girl who kicks [butt]-- like Nikkita -- but going for a major network. Buffy is a series about vampires -- but it has a teen protagonist. Parents don't want their kids watching "that kind of thing." (or so they believed) The list of taboos is almost endless.

The genius that Havens refers to is, I think, Whedon's deliberate, pre-meditated integration of 4 distinct genres, horror, action, comedy and drama, into a single cohesive and coherent story and then finding a way to sell this package to Hollywood despite violating all those taboos.

Candace Haven writes in Joss Whedon The Genius Behind Buffy: "This integration lies at the core of Buffy's appeal, but it made the show almost impossible to desribe in a way that movie and network executives understood. How do you sell a show that doesn't fall into a clear genre? For this reason, the movie version of Buffy was turned into a comedy, much to Joss's dismay. As a television show, Buffy was rejected by the major networks. Ultimately, the fledgling WB accepted Buffy as a cross-genre show. This acceptance was either a result of WB's vision or of its executives' inexperience. But the reality is that it's unlikely Buffy would have been allowed to proceed with its cross-genre approach on one of the more established networks."

But WB did let the show become established as a genre-mix, and that is quite literally changing the whole fiction industry from movies, to television -- even to books. Now mixed genre novels such as my own Sime~Gen novels which are based on the vampire archetype, or my vampire romances Those of My Blood and Dreamspy, or Jean Lorrah's hot selling Blood Will Tell, abound and are beginning to find an audience among the Buffy fans. Because of the effect this show has had on the entire fiction industry, this book has become a very "important" book for those who want to enter that industry.

You have to read this book if you want to know "who" Joss Whedon is that he could get this show on the air and keep it there until its audience found it. Much of that information about who he is lies within the subtext of Candace Haven's fannish point of view cast against her journalistic professionalism. Read between the lines. You have to read this book to learn where inside Whedon the Buffy material came from and why the scripts for this show are so very, VERY well written. For just how well written I think they are, see my article in Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Discuss Their Favorite Television Show edited by Glenn Yeffeth.

You won't find exactly this kind of information about a producer in any other kind of book. A biography could not include this exact point of view, a fan's point of view. A making-of could not include 3-D glimpses of other people who knew Whedon when he was young and in other contexts.

This book about Whedon&Buffy is a hybrid -- a kind of cross-genre biography/making-of/tribute-to book as Buffy itself is a cross-genre horror/action/comedy/drama. The very form of this book is awesomely appropriate to the subject matter. For that reason alone, reading this not-biography is a profound pleasure!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy, June 11, 2004

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"celes1" (Havre de Grace, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy (Paperback)

Read this one in an afternoon and it kept me entertained throughout. It has a lot of highly amusing Joss quotes. The guy is genuinely funny. It was nice to learn about his movie career because I didn't know too much about it. It has a lot of great Buffy information but it could have used more on Angel. It has a section on Firefly even though it was written before the show aired. The section on Joss' Fray comic convinced me that I need to go buy it now. My only major complaints are that the writer misspelled a character's name and the lack of Angel information. Despite those flaws, any fan of Joss Whedon will enjoy this book.