Joss Whedon
Joss Hill Whedon (b. June 23, 1964) is a writer, director, executive producer, and creator of several television series. He has also written several film scripts and two comic book series.
He attended Winchester College before receiving a film degree from Wesleyan University in 1987.
Television work
After moving to Los Angeles, Whedon secured his first writing job on the television series Roseanne.
Whedon has been described as the world's first third-generation TV writer. He is the son of Tom Whedon, a successful screenwriter for The Golden Girls in the 1980s, and the grandson of John Whedon, a writer for The Donna Reed Show in the 1950s.
Buffy
Years after having his script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer filmed (the interpretation by director Fran Rubel Kuzui was poorly received by critics and audiences), he revived the concept as a television series of the same name. Buffy the Vampire Slayer went on to become a critical and cult hit, with the episode Hush receiving an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding writing in a drama series in 2000. Whedon wrote and directed the musical episode "Once More, With Feeling" (also Emmy-nominated), which featured the show's original cast in singing and dancing roles.
Angel
Angel was a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, featuring her vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend as the title character. It was created by Whedon in conjunction with David Greenwalt.
Firefly
In 2002 Firefly, which he produced with Tim Minear, was canceled by Fox after only 11 episodes. Following a successful DVD release of the series, Whedon announced in early 2004 that his proposal for a Firefly movie had been "greenlighted" by Universal Studios. Shooting started in July 2004, and the film is slated for release on April 22, 2005.
Movies
Whedon has written or co-written several movies including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story, Alien: Resurrection and Titan A.E.. He wrote and is currently directing the Firefly movie Serenity.
Whedon also wrote uncredited drafts or re-writes of Speed, Waterworld, Twister and X-Men, although little of Whedon's work remained in the final drafts of any of these screenplays.
Comic books
Whedon is the author of the Dark Horse Comics comic book mini-series Fray, and the third series of Astonishing X-Men.
See also
