Though it’s possible we’ll be writing the exact opposite of this five months or so from now, it seems unlikely we will see any announcements from Joss Whedon that he’s bailing on TV and movies to make Internet videos anytime soon. There might be a lot of hedging about how he wished he had more time to do it, but… Unless and until the economics of Internet video change, television and movies are much more financially lucrative for Whedon than his Emmy nominated Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog that Whedon created with his brothers Zack and Jed and Jed’s wife, Maurissa Tancharoen..
It seems Whedon can separate the world of fantasy and fiction that he explores on film and television from the reality that direct deposits into his back account.
Sci Fi Wire (which amazingly, and thankfully was not rebranded as the Sy Fy Wire — they merely tacked on “Powered by SyFy”) has a funny interview with Whedon on Dr. Horrible’s Emmy nomination. Not for the first time, Whedon very overtly says there’s not as much money in Emmy nominated Internet video as non Emmy nominated television.
You were sort of evolving into this after Dr. Horrible’s success, but now that you are the Emmy-nominated co-creator of Dr. Horrible, you are the new guru and visionary for Web-based original entertainment.
Whedon: [With faux grandiosity] I truly am. And I have come to lead my people into the waters of unlimited creativity and wildly limited profit.
[...]Whedon: I’m looking for more people to do it. I’d be doing it more, but Fox forgot to cancel my show.
They tried.
Whedon: Very awkward. They looked and said, “Oh, this is our bad. We forgot to cancel your show. You’re going to have to make more.”
Lots more on Sci Fi Wire…
I feared nothing! Joss is a marvelous Renaissance man who’s quite capable of doing anything and everything when he puts his mind to something! I think it comes down to his ability to always be thinking — like he’s said he came up with Dollhouse while sitting on the toilet! I’ve created many things while sitting on the toilet, but none of them were quite as large or awe-inspiring as Dollhouse!
For those who are woefully unfamiliar with Joss’s awesome ouevre beyond his most high profile shows, let me fill you in on some of his major successes! He’s written for the 1990 sitcom Parenthood! (For those of you who think that was a major failure, I will only say that I bet the ratings were far, far better than the ratings for NBC’s new Parenthood will be!) He wrote the best Alien movie, Alien: Resurrection! He co-wrote Titan A.E., which was so successful FOX Animation Studios shut down after realizing nothing they could do could ever touch that success again! He wrote the line in the X-Men movie, “You’re a dick,” and if you don’t believe me, google
Joss Whedon, you’re a dick
and Google will inform you I’m correct! He co-wrote the upcoming horror movie Cabin in the Woods, which, according to this script review I just skimmed, is a “good scary film . . . that takes chances”! (Read the review for yourself at http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2009/03/cabin-in-woods.html !) So, yes, he will continue to write for each and every medium that tickles his fancy, and I’d have it no other way!
Dollhouse returns in 70 days! Yay!!!!!!!
At the risk of encouraging you, he also wrote Toy Story which changed animated films as we know them.
I really like Joss Whedon’s work, but “Joss’s Biggest Fan” annoys me very much.
Ricardo, I’m exactly the opposite. I’m a bigger fan of “Joss’ Biggest Fan” than Joss!
Although, the guy does show a sense of humor and honest perspective in that interview.
Heroes, JBF needs no encouragement.
You’re correct, HeroesforGhosts! He was one of seven credited writers on Toy Story, but I think it’s clear from looking at the measly credits of the other writers (Monsters, Inc., WALL-E, Finding Nemo) that it was Joss and Joss alone who clearly understood how to make an animated film!
I’m sorry I annoy you, Ricardo, because I happen to enjoy you very, very much!
“I’m a bigger fan of “Joss’ Biggest Fan” than Joss! Although, the guy does show a sense of humor and honest perspective in that interview.”
Bill, I’m not a fan of Joss. I don’t even know him. I mean, he is funny and I like his work, so I guess you can say I’m a fan. I’m just not that kind of fan “Ohhh! I love Joss Whedon! The man is a God!”. I really like his work. Still, I don’t understand the whole idol thing that our society has. Still, better have Joss as an idol than some pop singer.
Why don’t you like Joss’s work? I mean, what’s not to like? Buffy is awesome, thought I recognize it’s not for everyone. Angel was a good spin-off. Firefly was excellent. Dr. Horrible too. And Dollhouse is kinda good.
Joss’s Biggest Fan, thanks man. I guess I would like your comments if they sounded more sincere. But I guess that’s what makes you funny. Still, in terms of comedy I prefer the subtle thing a lot more than the exaggerating thing.
Ricardo, my Joss/JBF comment was tongue in cheek, I don’t put myself in either the “fan” or “not-fan” camp for Whedon. I just don’t have enough experience with any of his shows to have an overall opinion.
But with JBF? No question, I’m in the “fan” camp.
Has it ever occurred to anyone here that Joss’s Biggest Fan may actually be Joss himself? Who else would be brilliant enough to skulk around here, pretending to be his own fan, in order to check out the what-what? The best way to hide is to hide in plain sight.
Seriously though, that interview is farking hilarious. “Forgot to cancel my show,” BWAH! I love Joss.
@Joss’s Biggest Fan
I realize this is a little off topic, but can you comment on the possibility of Summer Glau on Dollhouse?
I think it will happen and I would like your opinion.
~Lanie~
JBF – did you credit wall-e and finding nemo as being bad films with people who didn’t know how to make an animated film? Do you think Toy Story is the only good Pixar movie? You’re welcome to your opinion, but if you think that, I can’t really take any of your opinions seriously. Joss helping in writing Toy Story certainly didn’t hurt, he’s great, but he clearly was NOT the only one in the room who knew how to make an animated feature.
I think Pixar is making the best films out there right now, animated or not.
Sincerely
Pixar’s Biggest Fan
“won’t pull Joss Whedon away …TV”
I’m sure the other networks will be happy to see that, he lost his touch.
Does anyone know how Dr. Horrible did financially? I’m curious if anyone ever ended up getting paid for their work and if it makes financial sense for anyone else to follow this model.
um, jeff, JBF is being what we call sarcastic. The point is Joss’s involvement in Toy Story was probably pretty much a non-factor as none of Joss’s signature style is really reflected in the script.
JBF, don’t take much away from that script review. Not only was it poorly written(the review) but the reviewer didn’t seem to recognize that the script was probably going for a campy, tongue in cheek, comic feel. One that really needs the help of film making to be good.
I really wouldn’t consider myself a huge Whedon fan, but I am a Buffy fan, especially of the later seasons(5-7). Firefly was as close to perfect as a TV show could be too. And Dr. Horrible is hard not to like, at least a little. But Angel, Dollhouse, and the Serenity movie are all pretty much mediocre. So that puts his batting project on major projects at .500
The point being is that Whedon’s fans(idol worship, much?) give him way too much credit and his detractors(JBF, for those who couldn’t figure it out) give him way too little.
Dave, your last sentence is a very interesting way to put it. I wouldn’t agree with it 100% (you’d be surprised how, even among his supporters, not everyone thinks everything he does is perfect…for instance I agree with you about Serenity) but still, a pretty accurate sentence all in all.
Kathy, I’m confused about what you asked. Dr. Horrible was exclusively for the web so how exactly would it make money? Unless you’re talking about dvd sales?
Lanie Grace, nothing would make me happier than to see Summer Glau on Dollhouse! I know she’s expressed interest in finally playing a normal girl, and I think through Dollhouse she could play a normal girl — who’s actually a doll! One week from today she turns 28, and I am sure there’s no better present she could receive than to learn she’s been welcomed back into Joss’s loving embrace by appearing on Dollhouse!
shelly, I am not worthy to lick the dirt off of his shoes, let alone to be Joss himself! He is everything I’m not, and can never hope to be!
Dollhouse returns in 70 days! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I keep going on Fandango to reserve my advance ticket for Goners. And they refuse to process my transaction. I think Joss should have his internet army crash the Fandango web site to teach them a lesson.
I believe it was released on DVD as well. And I checked it was. So thats a revenue stream.
There’s even talk of Dr. Horrible on Broadway. Although the immediate problem I can see with that is, putting on a Broadway show even for one night requires finding 500 people willing to step away from their computers for two hours. That may be asking a bit much of the Whedonites.
JBF, darling, you did know I was joking, right? (Although I suspect your response may be a joke as well, in which case, touche!)
Nina, believe it or not, many of the Whedonites do actually have jobs, families, friends, lives away from their computer screens. Just because we’re devoted fans of Joss doesn’t mean we’re stereotypical geek losers. I know…try to contain your shock. (Btw, you’re not far off: from what I’ve heard on Nathan Fillion’s Twitter, he’s already been to at least one amateur production of Dr. Horrible on stage and he said it was quite good).
“Dollhouse returns in 70 days! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
And gets yanked from the schedule after two episodes to be burned off during summer 2010! Wa ha ha!
The only thing saving the last episodes from being yanked for good and not released on DVD until 2034 is a mysterious hack into FOX’s software by someone with waaayyyy too much time on their hands.
Drew, 2034 might be a bit late…haven’t you heard that the earth will be destroyed in 2012? (Ask Roland Emmerich!)
It won’t? Damn!
Drew and I have a broad area of agreement. I think he’s nicely calculated the time until cancellation, and I think he’s dead on with the 2034 release date of the second-season DVD.
What he fails to realize, however, is that the DVD will only be released in a galaxy 40 million billion light years from here, because that’s the only place people will be stupid enough to buy it.
Obviously nina and drew have not read about the thinking behind Fox’s renewal of Dollhouse. The show can and will still be profitable for Fox without historically strong ratings.
“the DVD will only be released in a galaxy 40 million billion light years from here, because that’s the only place people will be stupid enough to buy it”.
Are your parents aware that you are on the computer so late?
JBF: I think Joss already made clear that if Summer comes on the show, it very probably will NOT be as a Doll. I remember him saying something about that in an interview.
In fact, here’s the article:
Joss Whedon told Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello that he’s trying to get his former Firefly star Summer Glau on Fox’s Dollhouse in its second season, but not in a role you might expect.
“Summer would be perfect to play an active, but she’s done that [type of role] a lot,” Whedon told Ausiello. “I’d rather see her play someone who talks too much. The most fun I have is when I get somebody who’s good and comfortable at doing something, and then I make them do something else. Summer said to me, ‘I would like to play a normal girl before I die of extreme old age.’”
Whedon has wanted to bring Glau into the fold since before her last series, Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, was canceled. “If anybody thinks [bringing Summer onto Dollhouse] hasn’t occurred to me already, then they have not met me,” he says. “I mentioned it to her before [SCC] was canceled. I was like, ‘You know, we should get you in the ‘house.’ But first we have to come up with something that works.”
Sarcasm, AO. The true language of the Internet.
I think how much of season 2 the fans’ll get depends on how low the budget can go. FOX might be smarting from the Firefly thing, but this is the network of American Idol and House. Dollhouse is a goldfish next to those shows.
And for the record, I never watched Dollhouse. I’m more of a cable type of guy.
Dr. Horrible was available for download on itunes. Also, came out on DVD last year. Must have made some money. Just curious how much.
That’s what I thought you meant, Kathy. I don’t know the answer to your question but I think Dr. Horrible has a Twitter page – don’t know if it’s official – which may be able to answer your question. But like we kept discussing in the old Firefly/Nick C thread, dvd sales figures are not something anyone can track for sure.
Does it mean anything that Dollhouse seems to be doing better in other countries?
Also, the Dollhouse second season DVDs will be so bad they will make all the TVs explode.
Hey AO, if Drew and I want to go third-grade on Dollhouse, it’s our right.
It’s actually kind of unfair to “JBF” to reopen now-ancient debates on Dollhouse in a Dr. Horrible thread. But here’s what even your hero and moral compass is implicitly acknowledging in his interview: the show got a miracle pickup because Fox’s pilot season wiped out and he agreed to do the show for basically free.
So he’s doing what many writers in his situation would do: putting the second season out there and hoping for a miracle before Fox develops a pilot to replace him. And it won’t happen, and he’ll be much happier, taking Dr. Horrible to Broadway, with not even a thank-you in the program to the person who got him started on the bizarre-fantasy-comedy-blog idea in the first place.
nina wrote: “And it won’t happen, and he’ll be much happier, taking Dr. Horrible to Broadway, with not even a thank-you in the program to the person who got him started on the bizarre-fantasy-comedy-blog idea in the first place.”
Oh, do I smell The Guild-anger directed at Dr. Horrible? Is this even possible?
Don’t worry, your hero’s not a total thief. I didn’t have music, and the character is his own. But he went out of his way to say he liked my blog nine months before he decided to make a career out of Dr. Horrible, that’s all I’m saying.
Luckily for Joss, the business has been stupidly generous enough to me that I can afford to give away disposable notions like bizarre-fantasy-comedy-blog to older writers trying to hang on in the business.
And in a way I respect his decision to hang in there for the suicide mission that is the second season of Dollhouse. It would have been easier for him to stick to his price, take the cancellation and move on. I guess he likes his cast members. And let’s not forget, if Dollhouse gets canceled Zack and Jed have to go back to their paper routes.
if anybody’s still paying attention who’s into dollhouse, the unaired pilot and 13th episode have been apparently leaked online, if you’d rather watch them for free.
@nina/natalie/whatever: alienfemale, is that you?
@freeman: Yeah, saw the episode. O_O is all I can say about it. The original pilot is out as well. But even if I’ve seen them already, it doesn’t change my plan to buy the DVD.
I was an alien at the Terminator wiki, because I hadn’t watched TSCC. But we can be on a first-name basis here.
Watching pirated videos is immoral, and besides, one of the few things Dollhouse has undeniably going for it is that it looks nice, so I think I can wait. But it seems like a particularly annoying problem for Joss, who needs to realize that trying to control the internet is a sign of mental illness. I hope he’s doing okay through all this.