Interview with Joss Whedon - "Where no TV man has gone before".
Rolling Stone Magazine interviews Joss about various internet productions.
Apparently there's more interview in the magazine on "why working on his triumphant return to the small screen, Dollhouse, has convinced him to abandon TV for good."
February 06 2009
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"I have three ideas."
three
Yay! I hope this deal goes through and his other two ideas are huge, epic, years-spanning series.
sumogrip | February 06, 19:26 CET
ShanshuBugaboo | February 06, 19:39 CET
Go Joss!! You make, we'll consume (and possibly pick it apart, but that's another thing).
BrownCoat_Tabz | February 06, 19:42 CET
AlanD | February 06, 20:15 CET
whoa whoa whoa... what now? :o
blueymcphluey | February 06, 20:57 CET
Ouch. Bang! Zoom! To the Moon, Alice! And No.
Tonya J | February 06, 21:01 CET
missb | February 06, 21:23 CET
archon | February 06, 21:37 CET
We need Equality. Kinda now
Tonya J | February 06, 21:55 CET
And two ideas that a suit could like seems also kind of awesome. After Firefly, I am more excited by this than Dollhouse, because when I think about 02/13, I get scared of another sad cancellation.
Léo | February 06, 23:47 CET
Come to a complete stop, and check all mirrors. Is this the real Rolling Stone website? And if so, can they say how it came from a quote?
dreamlogic | February 06, 23:58 CET
silver81 | February 07, 00:01 CET
jcs | February 07, 00:16 CET
And of course, no more Joss TV... I can't say it shocks me, but it still is quite different than what Joss said until then.
Léo | February 07, 00:37 CET
Rhodey | February 07, 00:49 CET
Could these quotes be statements made off-the-record, and then used without his consent? It's also not unheard of for interviewers to completely misconstrue and extrapolate, especially ones who seem to be trying to sell a story as hard as this article does: Joss as maverick outsider, bucking the system.
I'm also not too happy with the fact-checking. I'm pretty sure it was Universal and not Fox that picked up Serenity, judging by the huge animated logo transition at the front of the movie. And I'm sure most of us Joss-obsessed fanboy geeks are well aware of his longstanding devotion to feminism and women's studies.
zoinkers | February 07, 01:06 CET
dreamlogic | February 07, 01:08 CET
zoinkers | February 07, 01:15 CET
ETA: That's the Rolling Stone print article BTW, not this interview.[/ETA]
A sudden about-face like this seems very uncharacteristic of him.
We've been talking about this in another thread (from about here down) and I really don't think it's a sudden about-face. As I say there, he's hinted his dissatisfaction previously and remember, he didn't actually intend to create 'Dollhouse' in the first place, it just kind of happened.
I'm also slightly sceptical (cos that's my default position ;) BUT if they just made up the quote "I don't see myself creating another TV show," then someone at Rolling Stone is gonna have their arse handed to them, big style (something I did just notice though, there's a ',' at the end of that quote so, assuming it's not some weird US punctuation thing, there could be a lot of stuff not quoted after it e.g. ", at least not until the writers get a fairer deal on internet content" or ", not with a network anyway, i'm looking more at cable in future" etc.). Or as others say over-thread, maybe they just caught him on a bad day when he was knackered and the forces of darkness seemed especially arrayed against him, who knows ?
(here's a link to the PDF scan as linked - slightly bizarrely given the content - from Fox's website)
[ edited by Saje on 2009-02-07 12:12 ]
Saje | February 07, 02:59 CET
gossi | February 07, 05:03 CET
TV is so obviously the medium made for the way Joss tells stories. There is simply no other medium that allows for the long, complex story arcs and character development at which he excels.
He just needs to hook up with Cable, :) and leave the networks behind. Just not the SciFi channel, because with the exception of BSG, their series' all either suck or get canceled.
Shey | February 07, 05:25 CET
ETA: And thanks for the (quite important) tweet about the sets staying up! That's a relief.[/ETA]
And I think he meant the original pilot "Echo", zoinkers, which was rewritten and reshot and still didn't make it into the first season. "Ghost", then, was a completely new pilot.
[ edited by wiesengrund on 2009-02-07 15:50 ]
wiesengrund | February 07, 06:41 CET
patxshand | February 07, 07:59 CET
Caroline | February 07, 09:19 CET
Sunfire | February 07, 10:57 CET
I'm not. He's said it before. And then came back. Give it five years and we'll see where we are.
Simon | February 07, 11:19 CET
It just might not be longform, but instead another movie (either all-in-one-shot like Serenity or broken up like Dr. Horrible). Although Joss series on the internet might be cool.
I'm excited to see what he might do with more Dr. Horrible-style restraint-free productions (okay, aside from budget, but perhaps he can get financing after the runaway success of the project).
Ideally HBO, Showtime, or FX, yes (I think he'd fit best on HBO), assuming they want to work with him (I can't see how they wouldn't, given how many new subscriptions and how much fan fervor a hot genre property like True Blood provided this past fall) but otherwise internet is fine. Get the heck off Fox after Dollhouse['s hopefully successful complete 5-season] run. Network notes/instances of interference rarely happen, or at least are rarely reported as happening, for creators who ply their trade on HBO (Showtime can be meddlesome). Okay except for cancellations, but HBO is known for sticking with shows as long as they possibly can until it gets to the point where they're losing money (yes, I'm still sore too about Deadwood not getting that fourth and final season Milch had planned, then not getting the one or two TV-movies they said they might do as consolation prizes instead, but that show was damn expensive and Milch's attention wasn't held for very long, so I doubt there's much more HBO could've done to make it happen).
Kris | February 07, 11:21 CET
I'm sure of nothing. Ratings are entirely out of our hands.
gossi | February 07, 11:31 CET
deal or agreed to a deal with a company, a Silicon Valley company
did anyone else think google?? I know they're not known for internet video but they're certainly a mavericky profitable company.
dulce_serenidad | February 07, 17:33 CET
Sunfire | February 07, 17:57 CET
Title: The Revolt of a TV Genius.
Rolling Stone issue 1072 2/19 page 38 - hard copy.
The article ends with Whedon saying "If we don't start building this new system ourselves, the studios will figure it out, and they'll own it", he says. "Then it'll be too late. It'll be another medium where we're not free to do it our way".
This is not about a man who is bitter about the past/present. This is ALL ABOUT a man fighting for the future. It's 100% empowered, and 100% Joss.
ladyhelix | February 07, 18:20 CET