Queen Mary Writer's Panel 2006

I was not at the Writers panel, so am glad someone could write a report.

The Writers panel

The Writers panel included Jane Espenson, David Fury and Steven De Knight. It was great fun and the three had incredible rapport. Sadly I’m really struggling to recall all of it especially much of the banter. There was a running gag where David or Steve would name an episode they loved ask who wrote it and be amazed it was one of Jane’s episodes.

Q – About writers block

A – Both Fury and De Knight talked about how much they’d complain about how bad the scenes they’d written were and each writer would try and top the other in how badly they were feeling about their writing. In contrast Jane went for self praise so when she was uncertain about something she’d just tell everyone how great it was instead. As a rule though there wasn’t time for writer’s block the time pressure was such that they just had to get the script done no matter what.

Q – About co-writing episodes

A – Fury said he’d already answered this in his solo Q & A and I don’t recall Steve saying much. Jane said mostly it was done by dividing up the acts and that worked well because the writers would always have a very well worked out story line complete with act breaks before they went away to write. She did remember one time where she and Doug Petrie had tried a different collaborative style whereby they’d done alternate passes ie one of them wrote a draft and then the other re-wrote it. The problem was they tended just to cut out everything the other had done. David and Steve questioned why that had ever seemed like a good idea and Jane blamed it on Doug.

Q – About the Darla-Spike relationship

A – Fury felt Spike was too devoted to Dru to have been involved with Darla. There was some debate as to whether a relationship might have been possible later but as Fury kept pointing out Darla was dead by then. (Interestingly the question didn’t specify romance but that seemed to be how the writers took the question. Later another questioner filled them in that in fanfic Darla and Spike have a bad relationship because they both love Angelus. That seemed to surprise the writers.)

Q – Writing for dramas vs. writing for comedies

A – They all seemed to prefer writing alone and Jane said she can’t write with some one sitting next to her reading along and suggesting lines as some duos do. Jane talked about the way some comedies are written with all the writers sitting around throwing out lines and jokes and a script being put together that way with an assistant writing down the lines that were approved. This wasn’t a method she enjoyed and neither Steve nor Fury seemed to have worked that way.

Q – Other characters who they’d have liked to do backstory for

A – No one really seemed to have a good answer to this pointing out that Anya had been explored and as Jane pointed out a Jonathan backstory episode wouldn’t have been very interesting as it’d just be the home life of a nerd. I think Steve objected here that it would be his life story.

Q – Where would be their ideal place to live

A – Jane went first and said Sydney. Fury also said Australia and said he’d only been there last year with his family for a convention and loved it. He loved the people and the atmosphere and just about everything else he could think of. He said as a child his parents once told him they would be moving to Australia as a joke. However, he’d taken it seriously and was all excited to go. They also needed good TV writers. Steve asked if the pay was as good as in LA for writers and both Jane and Fury said no. Steve said he came from a small town in New Jersey and for him living in LA was his dream come true.

Q – About on line fan interactions with writers a good or bad thing. (I asked this question and aimed it primarily at Fury and De Knight which lead De Knight to ask if it was a penis related question)

A – Fury just loved mixing it up. He regarded it as an opportunity to get into bar fights and he’d be laughing about it all and not taking it seriously. Joss had introduced him to it on the Bronze and he thought it was great. They also discussed how Fury would be similar in the writers room and get into rows with other writers seemingly about nothing. They cited a row he had with Drew but I forget now what it was about but Fury just wouldn’t let it drop. He also recalled how he took to Steve because Steve would stir things up. Steve recalled an incident when Fury asked Drew for a pen and Steve turned to Drew and said “Are you going to take that!”Fury thought this marked him out as perfect for “Angel” and working with Tim Minnear.

Q – About which comic book character they’d like to bring to life

A – Steve talked about one he’d actually written (The Punisher?) which he’d pitched as very 1970s and dark but when he handed it in was told they couldn’t possibly make it like a 1970s movie and dark! Jane did answer but I’m blanking on her answer. Fury said “Little Dot”.

Q – Who should Joss cast as Wonder Woman

A – Fury suggested James, and was then interrupted by James asking what was going on from the upper balcony. There was discussion that he couldn’t cast a tiny woman for the role as Wonder Woman was an amazon. Someone in the audience I think suggested Gina Torres which Jane seemed to think was a decent idea.

Q – About the time scale from writing to an episode airing

A – Jane said it can be a long time citing how long it’s been since she wrote her Battlestar Galactica episode which is yet to air. However on Buffy and Angel it could be a few weeks if not days. She mentioned sometimes they’d be putting together the next days scenes for shooting and still not have a finished script. Steve mentioned how out of the blue Joss pitched them “Angel and Spike on a German submarine” with hardly any time to write the episode. They didn’t have time for any research so just took bits straight out of other films to give them background on German submarines.

Q – Complimenting on their use of Wicca on Buffy

A – None of them recalled doing any research and instead they’d just thrown it in because at some point it had been mentioned with regard to Willow and Tara. Mostly they just tried to bluff their way through and hope for the best.

Q – Did vampires change over the course of the show from simple monsters to something more complicated?

A – Fury didn’t think so; he just thought that in later seasons we got to know the vampires more but their basic nature was no different. Jane felt there had been a shift in tone from ‘monster of the week’ where the monsters were very clearly metaphors for teen age issues to more character driven episodes. She felt she was behind on that change as she was often pitching monster of the week episodes when Joss had really moved on.

Q – Was there something ‘racist’ to the idea that soulless demons should be killed while evil humans weren’t

A – Fury felt the soul was only really a big issue for vampires and they seemed to agree that other demons might well have souls. Fury’s idea was that a soul allowed a person the possibility for redemption which was not possible with a soulless vampire.

Q – About why Spike became increasingly naked as the show went on

A – Jane put it down to the increasing influence of Marti on the show. Fury commented that there was nothing wrong with naked Spike.

Q – How to deal with actors limitations – write round them or ignore them

A – Jane said on her current show they had an actor with a thick accent and were therefore writing to make sure he didn’t have any long lines to speak. However, if you had an actor who couldn’t express a range of emotions you probably needed another actor. Fury said that on Buffy one of the actresses who he would not name was unable to run so they’d use a stunt woman for any running scenes but when she did run on camera you had the funniest dailies ever. He then commented that the same actress was also unable to laugh.

Q – Something about writers’ importance

A – Steve said that writers had more power in television than they did in film and in television it was the directors who got treated like hired hands.