In the new Rolling Stone, there's an interview with writer-director Joss Whedon. Not that I'm fixated on Whedon -- like Joss Whedon's 10 writing tips or another interview with him, or this feature on him, or this fawning post -- but let's just say that my entire family has never fully recovered from Fox (bastards!) canceling Whedon's TV series "Firefly".Well, it looks like Whedon is positioning himself so that he never has to deal with doltish TV executives again. How's he doing that?
In the current issue [of Rolling Stone], Joss Whedon, the George Lucas of television, reveals why working on his triumphant return to the small screen, Dollhouse, has convinced him to abandon TV for good. His alternative medium: Web serials. He began making the sci-fi musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (which stars Neil Patrick Harris) during the writers' strike, streamed a few episodes online for free, and struck it big when they went onsale at iTunes.For those of you who haven't enjoyed Dr. Horrible yet, here's a taste:
A Whedon quote from the Rolling Stone article:
What what was it about Internet series first appealed to you?Doesn't it seem like everything is headed the way of the Web? I wonder what we now call "TV" and "movies" will be called 20 years from now when the entire world has wireless Internet and we've each got a Web microchip in our frontal lobes?
I had been very interested in the idea of making things on the cheap with the people that I love and trust — low risk, medium yield kind of stuff where you can just do what you think is right and not have to worry.
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4 comments:
Big Whedon-admirer myself.
Think Firefly didn't succeed because it was too episodic. All the new trend-setting major shows opted for stronger seasonal story arc. Loved it anyway.
Now for the film/TV/web speculation. Even with the bound-to-happen convergence of media, there's still a need for different formats, the feature-film stand-alone drama, the TV-show's more novel-like continued drama and the shorter, episodic, often comedy based web/sit-com format.
I wonder a bit about the nature of Whedon's talent. I am not sure he is a feature-film man. With especially Buffy it seems like he thrives on universe-creating and the continued relationship with audiences, the playing to and against expectation.
Serenity was a good script without any obvious faults. But I lack a sense of the definitive monolithic quality a major feature film should have. That said, Serenity was still better than most of the entertainment-crap posing for films.
TC - too episodic? this year's hits are all episodic (Mentalist, Fringe, etc) though with season story-arcs tying the series together. The problem is taht Firefly was too niche (sci-fi western) - it should've been on cable.
Regarding the web of it all, Joss Whedon can make web hits. In fact, he may singularly be able to do so with his built-in fanbase of tech and entertainment aware people. With his name, he can get money. Only a few people have created a successful television series (much less 2 like Joss) and want to go to the web. If you haven't created a TV show, I doubt you'll have the connections, skills and financial resources to successfully do things on the web for the time being.
Lobies.
They'd be called Lobies.
Fox murdered Firefly. Shifting air dates, nights, times. Airing the episodes out of order. And Firefly is NOT that episodic --
-- aside from the pilot, which introduces the main characters, and TWO main tensions that recur throughout the series; the Reavers, and people being after River, most of the episodes can be viewed in any order.
It's no wonder he sees Web serials as the wave of the future. He has full creative control in that medium.
Thanks for this.
ALL HAIL JOSS!!!
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