American cinematic horror around the millennium, which seemed incapable of ever surprising its audience or delighting them. Buffy , of course, also came into being with the internet and so its success was partly augmented by the rise of the blogosphere and by the online cultureof fandom. It also captured the academic imagination.
has produced a small library of often very sophisticated cultural and textual analysis. Buffy was one of the early signs that the millennial generation was experiencing what is often characterizedas a or the golden age of television, capital G, capital A, capital T. From the Sopranos,
And there's also a lot of very honest discussions of things. "Buffy " is really important to me.
Also, there's control. So one of the things that Luke Skywalker does is learn to control the ways that he's different. Buffy learns to control.She has some super strength.
That's pretty good. Female Presenter: Well, Spike was one of my favorite characters. Buffy and I like Rumpelstiltskin now, too a lot.Do you have characters?
most popular kind of FanFiction is Harry Potter FanFiction followed close behind by Twilight. Buffy the Vampire Slayer used to be one of the most popular fandoms in FanFiction, The Lord of the Rings, just about any TV show, movie, book, even there's FanFiction aboutbands, about professional wrestlers, just about anything, but dominated heavily by books.
uh you know it's the springboard via which my my life came really crazy and interesting and fun yeah I mean right after Buffy you started you know directing and producing and starring you did chance lovers Liars lunatics and then you co-directed with one of your uh cast members Adam Bush drones which is a great film and so what was the of it yeah no and that's so what I think you
are the background to a figure that's now essentially ubiquitous in popular culture -- the idea of the female action hero, which Buffy is part of, but you could name ten other examples in many kinds of ways. That doesn't make them feminist films, but also problematizes the idea that they're simply films about killing women. You could make a stronger argument that they're about women killing monsters. Which is also an interesting kind of, part
what you think of the role of the media today we talk a lot about accountability and transparency with the government putting online being transparent Buffy s tell we were able to go around the media during this selection to engage people but the media is still a pretty powerful force here what what role do you see the media play they are they are and I I I have always I have always said this is not and nor
Unsatisfied with both the film and its reception, it's right that Joss Whedon tried again, adapting it for television. The first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was broadcast on March the 10th, 1997-- Can it really be that long ago? 21 years ago-- with Sarah Michelle Geller.
of fandom. It also captured the academic imagination. The subdiscipline of Buffy studies, combining institutional academic criticism and theory with fandom and unlicensed criticism in the public sphere, has produced a small library of often very sophisticated cultural and textual analysis.
Felicia Day is beloved by lots of geeks for having created "The Guild," that wonderful web series, and done a lot of other things. She was frequently in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." These days, she's in "Mystery Science Theater 3000. " She was a voice of one of my bloggers. If anybody listens to "This Week in Tech," Leo Laporte is the voice of the "San Francisco Chronicle." Tom Merritt is the voice of "The New York Times."
you can connect to like the fact that you know my character and and Willow her girlfriend we like raised Dawn the key the sister of of Buffy you know like we were we were like a family that I I don't know it was a really lovely experience and J I mean he's he's great is writing really empowering and and real female characters you know they're
And we are more likely to help, trust, and cooperate with members of our group. So this is Buffy . Show of hands, familiar with "Buffy , the Vampire Slayer"?
reply to every message and question that was sent in um you know those those folks were working around the clock on volunteers yeah Buffy you were the the state director of California during the primary and you were telling me that you had nine paid staff for the whole state um so obviously you ried on volunteers talk a bit about how in the heck you
He doesn't count the Angel arc, which, like, is like, what? It's the same Buffyverse. There have to be rules.
It's so warm and inviting-- It's so warm. We're Native Americans-- like Buffy St. Marie was on the show, breastfeeding her child no less-- and Black kids and Latino kids.
with Alice and hangan in terms of like were you guys friends off screen so the scenes easier to work it's so weird like I knew her before she was on Buffy we' like hung out and we have a lot of mutual friends and so when I show up on set it wasn't like I was just coming into this cold dark place where nobody likes me I knew Ally um and I was so
That was like '98, right? It was like "Austin Powers" and "Buffy " were happening. It was that whole chunk of time where lots of good things were happening, and she was really keeping the gate closed.
Cheeks: Winky face. Which is what happened to "Buffy ." Because almost all the "Buffy " writers are now running shows or doing other big things in other shows.
there's a user named I guess Kevin from DC who's asking about comments and discussions online and he asks how do we Ivonne I'm with forcus Medical Care Buffy have a question for you in reference to um your process of
Yeah, well, I guess the fancy people I know, I've collected over the years through different ways. Joss Whedon-- I was recently hired for a role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, last season. They hired a bunch of like red-shirt girls, who basically were killed off during the season.
I mean, he has this spirit of family that I am blessed to be a part of. So I've worked with him over the years in "Buffy ," and I was in "Dollhouse" and "Doctor Horrible," which was a great project. It was a web series that he did because he was frustrated with his opportunities in Hollywood.
going to uh there was this forum called the bronze it was sort of the beginnings of of these like fan forums where you could go and you could like you know talk to The Buffy community a lot of times the writers and the Actors and The Producers would go and and do little chats and things and just show up randomly at like 3:00 in the morning to
flowers dead kind of like just dark and like nihilistic and like absurdest plays and short stories and uh yeah when I was working on Buffy I was like I I love being on this show but my brain got sucked out and I'm kind of bored um I just get to run around my PJs all day so um maybe I should be doing some more fun
lot of like hurry up wait um and so I started just writing more and more stuff and that yeah that was sort of the beginning of that whole world opening up to me I mean Buffy is open so many doors without it I wouldn't be sitting here in front of you guys bless you um you know I'm really really lucky and
Cheeks: Winky face. And so, the "Buffy " explosion sent "Buffy " stardust out into the universe.
the past are are there certain types of decisions that would be made more wisely by uh the group than by one person Buffy you want to take a stab at that sure you know I mean I think just reflecting back on on our experience um when I was organizing in in California
So looking back from the perspective of 21 years, it's tempting to view these moments as marking a tectonic shift in american horror. Playing over seven seasons from 97 to 2003, Buffy developed into a work and a world of considerable complexity, intelligence, and imagination. The very antithesis of the risk-averse, compromised, moribund condition of much mainstream
of started gaining ground and stuff like that I think I think Ellen had had and I think that was like the first right like lgbtq sort of moment but um I think what was so great about Buffy is it wasn't gratuitous it wasn't about exactly it wasn't about two you know like let's get some hot girls making out you know oo um it was about two people
making an impact on the world because of that oh for sure and you know when you're on Buffy you so that this kind of started your transition into writing it seemed like is did you start writing on Buffy because you did comic books for them right yeah I wrote I co with Christopher golden he and I did some like Willow Tera comics for Dark Horse and that was super fun and um we had um
So this is Buffy . Show of hands, familiar with "Buffy , the Vampire Slayer"? OK, great. So this is her.
So, you can kind of skip that for now. "Oh, there's a fight and Buffy will win it." I'll go back later and figure out what she stabs him with. But I'm not going to waste brainpower on that right now when I've still got the big emotional moment to write.
But in another way, it was like finding the funny thing that she's thinking was more of a challenge. I love that. Willow and all those "Buffy " characters had such distinct voices. They were all fun to write for.
Cheeks: Winky face. Jane Espenson: Right. Female#2: "Buffy " was ultimately a show about a woman who had a job fighting demons.
Cheeks: Winky face. I don't think, I think "Buffy " ended well and has been continued in the comic book.
Congressman centers will curious what lessons you got from that that we could think about uh for government sure uh first thanks for having me I I think what I'd like to put on the record first and foremost is Buffy had more people in California than I had on my entire internet staff for the election cycle um and we had between the McCain campaign and RNC combined we probably had a total
it's interesting the the the media played a big role in that fight back in the early 90s the Herold and mod is that what it was that the TV commercials that were were out there um what what Buffy and Sam and I'm sure sarus will will say it today and I'm sure yourself with your experien is that now technology can go straight to voters right I wonder though
And here, obviously, is one of them. One that was released in 1992, Fran Rubel Kuzui's film Buffy the Vampire Slayer received mixed reviews and passed without much notice.
They got the lovely and talented Drew Goddard in, who's a veteran Hollywood writer and director. He directed "Cabin in the Woods." He wrote chunks of "Cloverfield." He was one of the staff writers on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." He's like kind of in Joss Whedon's orbit, partially, ends up working on a lot of stuff that-- for those of you, who saw "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog,"
aside from her textbooks her bookshelf was lined with science fiction and fantasy novels she had a flat screen TV and DVD player in her room and a DVD collection consisted of box sets for Doctor Who Buffy the Vampire Slayer Firefly and an assortment of anime just as a side
He directed "Cabin in the Woods." He wrote "Cloverfield" and a bunch of episodes of "Lost" and Buffy ." He is the creator and writer of the new Netflix
show and stuff that so how was it working with him uh it was an amazing experience I mean he really like it is his point of view it is his voice uh everything that is that is on the screen when you're watching you know Buffy or angel or Firefly one of those shows that that is all coming from him um and what's so wonderful about it is well
like you're part of something bigger than yourself yeah you know and that's really that's a drug to feel like you you're part of something and that you're making an impact on the world because of that oh for sure and you know when you're on Buffy you so that this kind of started your transition into writing it seemed like is did you start writing on Buffy because you did comic books for them right yeah I wrote I co with
I have a 20 year TV career, I've written for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Battle Star Galactica" and "Game of Thrones" and "Once Upon a Time" which check it out, ABC, Sunday
Cheeks: Winky face. Jane Espenson: Absolutely. And there were other important decisions beyond Bechdel in how Buffy was treated.
director of the Republican National committee's e-campaign division he joined the RNC following two years at Yahoo as director of content production and election strategy and before that was a publisher of slate magazine and finally sit next to me is Buffy Wicks who was the California field director for the primary and the Missouri state director for the general election for the Obama campaign her specialty was organizing and we'll talk about that
I finished it, and I decided at the end that Team Jenny, yeah. I know. OK. Wait, are there any "Buffy " watchers in the audience? Oh, you want to go this-- OK, she also loves Faith, which is-- That's fine.
in and I really like that cuz I feel like with so many other sort of Clicks in the world is this like oh you're not like us well you can go blank yourself we don't want you in our group and I don't feel that with with like The Buffy world and with the nerd geek culture I feel like it's very embracing of of everybody and I like that but I didn't
Insanity it gets balanced a little bit I'm sure it's kind of like when you guys hear at Google work together on something it's not just one person's Vision it becomes like division of 20 30 people and that's what it's like working on a show like Buffy you know that's what's so wonderful about it is it's not even though I say it you know it's Joss's vision and like he gives over to