Ya know...it's completely off-base and I will admit to it: it pissed me off to repeatedly read the word "Galactica" with an extra "l" damn it!

That being said...lots of lovely, lovely insights into her own writing history and the "space western" genre :D

BlueEyedBrigadier | December 11, 07:16 CET

Interesting that she says that a Buffy writer got the job with a Buffy spec about Buffy losing her powers. Shows rarely read specs of their own show, ST:TNG was an exception, for various reasons. Maybe she said "pitch" and was misquoted.

I went to the Trek picket today to help Dreamlogic deliver pizzas. As we arrived an old guy saw the pizzas and asked if they were for the picketers. When I said yes he followed us to where we set the table up and took a slice. After talking to him for some time and then seeing him being interviewed and hearing him say "...when I wrote City On The Edge Of Forever..." that I thought "Holy crap! I'm not a Trek fan but even I've heard of that episode!" He was Harlan Ellison. Dreamlogic had recognised him straight away. Didn't see Jane sadly. And the pizzas didn't last long, even after getting a second lot.

[ edited by zz9 on 2007-12-11 04:20 ]

zz9 | December 11, 07:19 CET

Interesting that she says that a Buffy writer got the job with a Buffy spec about Buffy losing her powers. Shows rarely read specs of their own show, ST:TNG was an exception, for various reasons. Maybe she said "pitch" and was misquoted.

Hmm... I don't think so. I seem to recall her relating that anecdote on her blog a couple years back with the same sort of language.

Jobo | December 11, 07:54 CET

It would be an odd misquote for an entertainment journalist to make, they should know the difference, but it's just rare for a show to read a spec of their show.

zz9 | December 11, 08:02 CET

zz9, I think (from memory) that was the point she was making on her blog - that even though shows don't usually read specs of their own show, someone occasionally gets a job with one.

deird | December 11, 08:09 CET

Fair point. Though advice is usually to avoid doing so, you'll never get the characters as right as the shows own people and may break some unwritten rule of the show that only an insider would know.
For example if I wrote a movie about coal mining and gave it to someone whose worked down the mines all his life he'll find hundreds of faults, I'm never going to have his knowledge. But if he reads my Wall Street script he may love it. I don't know more about Wall St than coal mining but he doesn't know that.
Trying to impress Joss with a Buffy Spec is going to be hard work.

zz9 | December 11, 08:34 CET

Could be they heard about the Buffy spec through the grapevine rather than it actually being sent to Buffy ? Cos I thought a lot of shows didn't even read specs of their own stuff for legal reasons. Or when you send a spec out are you basically saying "I relinquish copyright because I didn't build the sandpit" ? In that case obviously the shows wouldn't need to worry about being sued if they produced an episode with a similar story.

(I vaguely remember a mention of this on her blog and the context was "It can happen, but it's very unusual")

Good interview, lots of interesting stuff. And i'd totally buy a third set of essays, especially if Joss and Tim did something on their process. I would love some details on how they broke "Out of Gas" for instance (even though it'd probably be a bit like having a card trick explained to you ;).

Saje | December 11, 13:38 CET

I love the fact that she sees Sara Crew from A Little Princess as a "chosen one"

Zannadoo | December 12, 04:43 CET

FYI: Jane has clarified her statement on her blog:

Clarification: I recently related an anecdote about a Buffy spec being submitted to Buffy. It was actually submitted to Angel. Observant readers correctly noted that a spec script for a specific show is rarely, if ever, submitted to that show.

samatwitch | December 12, 07:10 CET

I love Jane. And I love The Little Princess. I gave this book to all my nieces and female godchildren, along with Little Women (and in both cases "little" is not a fitting adjetive for the protaganists.

Reddygirl | December 12, 07:24 CET