OMG!! Must read. Sony exec claims Buffy idea wasnt Joss!
POSTED BY: Gorramreavers
UPDATED: Monday, March 7, 2005 18:06
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Found at buffy.nu:
A Buffy Series Without Joss Whedon ?
From Lostcolonyentertainment.com - 2005-03-5th
For more than a decade, Writer/Producer/Director Joss Whedon has been synonymous with the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" franchise, so much so that it seems inconceivable that anyone would even attempt to launch a new film or television series about the legendary super heroine without him. But strangely enough, that was, or maybe still is, a plan in the works.
"It’s a major misnomer to call Joss the ’creator’ of the Buffy Summers character," says a Sony executive who asked not to be identified. "As wonderful as Joss’ writing is, he didn’t come up with that character. He got the gig to do the first movie as a write-for-hire job. He wasn’t thrilled with what they did to his script and smartly managed to gain control of the TV series but really, ’Buffy’ isn’t his baby."
The original "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie came out in 1992 and starred Kristy Swanson as ’The Chosen One’ sent to save the world from demons. The 20th Century Fox film, scripted by hired gun Joss Whedon, was directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, who also produced the motion picture with Kaz Kuzui. Whedon, after complaining loudly about the production team responsible for "ruining his script," managed to land a deal with Fox to produce the TV version in 1997, garnering creative control over the Buffy character. The Kuzui’s were attached as Executive Producers on the show (which aired for five seasons on the WB network before moving to UPN) but wielded no real power on the series, which is largely where things got sticky.
"Joss did a tremendous job expanding on the Buffy character and its mythology," says the Sony executive. "Aside from Buffy’s parents, who were unnamed in the movie, the only character from the movie to cross over to the series was the Slayer herself. Characters like Spike, Giles, Xander, the Master, Glory...that was all Joss."
However, somewhere along the way, egos were bruised, finances were disputed, and a rift occurred between Whedon and the franchise’s original "parents" with the Kuzui’s attempting to continue on with their own version of the super heroine...all without Whedon.
"I don’t think I’m revealing any big trade secrets in Hollywood by mentioning that a script had been circulating for years for a proposed big-screen Buffy sequel that would’ve been produced by the Kuzui’s with absolutely no involvement whatsoever from Joss," says the Sony exec. "The script was rather convoluted, I thought, and focused more on a male slayer character than Buffy, which made little sense to me...but make no mistake, the Kuzui’s retained the rights to continue with their own interpretation and as far as I know, remain well within their rights to do a new Buffy movie or series without having to consult with Joss."
If that’s not confusing, to further complicate matters, two years ago, a third party reportedly jumped into the fray, just after Whedon announced that he was ending Buffy’s run on UPN in 2003. The plan, according to Hollywood sources, was to create a completely separate TV program with a new actress taking over from series star Sarah Michelle Gellar.
"I was contacted by a producer -- whose name I won’t mention -- and asked to submit ’Joss Whedon-type material’," says "Communication Breakdown" director Richard O’Sullivan. "This was during the period in which I was first starting to pitch ’Breach of Heaven’ as a TV series and the obvious comparisons came up since they’re both kind of in the same genre. They wanted something ’Whedonesque’ but didn’t really give me any details about what the project was."
Part of O’Sullivan’s writing sample was subsequently leaked by a disgruntled former associate to Harry Knowles’ Ain’t It Cool News website, which initially reported it as the 2003/2004 season opener of Buffy’s sister show, "Angel," thus sparking a debate among Whedon fans about the script’s validity.
"At first I freaked," says O’Sullivan. "I thought, ’Fuck, the whole thing just went up in smoke.’ But then, my phone rang
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Well, the male slayer movie sounded really stupid. The 'Buffy in the future' could be a cool idea, but I don't think I'd be terribly interested without Joss' involvement.
I think it's probably that, although it's possible someone else came up with a nutshell idea for Buffy, for all intents and purposes Whedon still 'created' her.
On the other hand, the idea of Buffy becoming an iconic character much like Batman, open to many different interpretations, does have some appeal. It's like she's been declared good enough to have been given to history.
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This is fake fake fake.
Check out the rest of the website, and you'll see that it's basically a self-promotion tool for the douchebag that wrote the story and quoted himself in it. Weak weak weak.
I can't really get upset, because it's all ridiculous and this guy is just trying to get some publicity for himself, his actors and their almost-certainly-shitty-movie... Still, he's just trying to get his sub-troma fare out there by piggybacking Joss's brilliance, and that ain't right.
He tried something similar with a Wonderwoman casting story that some actress in his almost-certainly-shitty-movie was the frontrunner for the lead. Keep dreaming, buddy. This whole site reminds me of the government-produced "news reports"-slash-propoganda concerning Medicare benefits.
I'd vow to never see this guy's movie, but I'm pretty sure I'll never even get the chance to reject it.
"Be ashamed to die before you have scored some victory for humanity." -- Horace Mann
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Oh. Yeah, well, that's just stupid then. I hate liars like that.
Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
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Quote:
Originally posted by StarPilotGrainger:
Well, the male slayer movie sounded really stupid. The 'Buffy in the future' could be a cool idea, but I don't think I'd be terribly interested without Joss' involvement.
I think it's probably that, although it's possible someone else came up with a nutshell idea for Buffy, for all intents and purposes Whedon still 'created' her.Quote:
As to the male slayer thing - from what I remember, that was a spec script for AtS5. Basically Spike was in the white room, and he had to wear that little necklace to live, and he was human again... the whole thing was pretty bad.
And please hold no doubts as to whose idea Buffy was. I'd hate to think that this moron (O'Sullivan) is sewing seeds of doubt.
"Be ashamed to die before you have scored some victory for humanity." -- Horace MannNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
this was first posted over at Whedonesque:
http://whedonesque.com/?comments=6221
Simon (who runs Whedonesque) explained it is a publicity stunt lie,
you post something really stupid and stir up the fandoms...
Simon explained it like this:
Quote:
Anyhow, what's mentioned in this article is drivel and not very good drivel at that. The whole purpose behind this article is to get publicity for Richard O'Sullivan. Those with long memories will remember about the "script" for Angel season 5 episode 1 that appeared at AICN. It was leaked in such a way so he could get maximum publicity.
This Buffy article will get picked up by webmasters and journalists who lurk here and so there will be a couple of days of "New non-Whedon Buffy series?" headlines at the usual sites. Which in turn will cause more consternation among Buffy fans.
Cast your mind back to this Wonder Woman article that came from the same site. It got mentioned at Whedonesque, moviehole.net picked it up as a result and so in turn did other sites. And of course, there was no truth in the article.
Quite frankly this Buffy article is a disgrace and a highly cynical attempt to get noticed. The best thing to happen would be for this article not to get mentioned anywhere else.
Simon | March 05, 12:00 CET
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Gee, a Slayer in the future has already been done. It's called Fray, and gosh, Joss created that, too. 
Yeah, more Buffy would be great and what Star Pilot Grainger said about Buffy being like Batman with the different interpretations and stuff is a neat thought, but I really can't see myself watching another Buffy show or movie without Joss. I mean, people have the right to put their own spin on things but people can also screw things up.
If this ever happens, I'm not sure how I would react, but it's weird to think of Buffy and not Joss, too, at the same time.
"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing." - Zoe
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Hmmm a non Joss Whedon 'Buffy'..........
.....Wasn't that essentially Dark Angel?
*cynically wanders off*
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ness:
Gee, a Slayer in the future has already been done. It's called Fray, and gosh, Joss created that, too.
Yeah, more Buffy would be great and what Star Pilot Grainger said about Buffy being like Batman with the different interpretations and stuff is a neat thought, but I really can't see myself watching another Buffy show or movie without Joss. I mean, people have the right to put their own spin on things but people can also screw things up.
If this ever happens, I'm not sure how I would react, but it's weird to think of Buffy and not Joss, too, at the same time.
Right.. I'm not saying I'm absolutely sure I'd want it to be like that, but at the same time, the thought of an iconic Buffy has its appeal, even if I wouldn't watch most of them - maybe a few decades down the line it'd be fun to see someone else's take on the idea, but not anytime soon.
Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6 (real)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/alternaljournal (fictional)
Unreachable Star: http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions
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I have a hard time taking seriously anything that calls our man "Josh" anyway. They do get his name right in the article, but if you look at the title bar for the page it reads "Josh Whedon" and the URL for it has the file name joshwhedon.html.
Sigh. I saw this before I read that it was a fake, and figured it was just because of the insistence on anonymity - the Sony exec who spilled the beans on this "asked not to be named", and they never say who *did* invent the character, if Joss didn't. Pretty pathetic. Such vague rumor does pass as news here in the U.S., though.
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