Oh wow! Now my having managed to get copies of Jane's BtVS comic books will pay off! I can have her autograph 'Jonathan' and 'Haunted', as well as the 'Tales of the Vampire' she contributed to, and I mustn't forget Finding Serenity.
But wait, she can only sign two?

embers | February 22, 00:14 CET

Embers - you're going to have to come on Friday -and- Saturday then :)

Arielle | February 22, 00:16 CET

Well, now I'm jealous.

skeezycheeses | February 22, 00:33 CET

Does anyone have questions for the panel? We really want the panel to go well, and the Whedonesquers can definitely come up with intelligent and thought-provoking questions.

[ edited by danregal on 2007-02-21 22:39 ]

danregal | February 22, 00:38 CET

Does anyone have questions for the panel?

Why does Joss write such strong women characters?

The One True b!X | February 22, 00:40 CET

Does anyone have any -other- questions? :P

Arielle | February 22, 01:03 CET

My question for Ms. Jane "!kittens!" Espenson is threefold:

In an opinion piece you wrote in March, 2005 for the LA Times, you mention that as a child, you saw the character of a female school principal on an episode of "Leave It to Beaver," which gave you an exhilarating "Oh, girls can do that" feeling.

Can you think of any other female character popular culture icons - TV or otherwise - that gave you that same feeling, either as a child, or later in life? And is there some aspect of a female character you have either created or written for that you hope may have given that same feeling to a child?

And do you know how much I have enjoyed your writing for Buffy's "Anya" (among other characters?) Well, do ya?


ETA: (I won't be able to attend this con up in SFO, but I'd love to hear if and how Ms. Esporiginal answers this. Identify me as QuoterGal "We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker" from Whedonesque and the Goners board.

[ edited by QuoterGal on 2007-02-22 21:16 ]

QuoterGal | February 22, 01:05 CET

Also, my blog post asking for questions for Jane and Pia has been posted on digg.com, but it needs more people to "digg" it in order to reach the front page (and the majority of the digg.com readership). If you're so inclined, just go here and click the "digg it" button. We want to make sure we get a really well-rounded selection of questions to make the panel interesting and successful.

lexigeek | February 22, 02:00 CET

How about "What do you find most satisfying about your blogging experience and which blogs do you yourself enjoy reading?"

yourlibrarian | February 22, 06:22 CET

These are all good questions! :-)

I would ask Jane about writing for two shows that both have strong female characters, Buffy and Battlestar Galactica. In fact, her BSG ep (IIRC) focused very strongly on one of the female pilots, Kat. Is there a bias among studios and producers (not Joss!) to look for female writers when they have a show with female leads, but maybe female writers don't have as easy a time getting hired for programs with male leads? Do producers of genre programs (not Joss!) expect their female writers to specialize in relationship eps or comedic eps or otherwise "lighter" eps, or do female writers have an equal shot at writing eps where things blow up real good? ;-)

Also, Jane is a writer who has been able to work on drama series and comedies. Is it hard crossing that line (as far as convincing studios/producers you can handle both genres), and if so, how did Jane manage it? :-)

billz | February 22, 15:29 CET

Lexigeek, I registered at diggit and will post my question there.

My question for Jane is if there were situations among the BtVS writers where it was a case of the girls v. the boys about certain storylines and arcs.

Reddygirl | February 22, 22:22 CET

Keep the great questions coming! Does anyone have one specifically for Pia? I know there are comic fans here who might want a little insight into Y: The Last Man.

danregal | February 22, 22:51 CET