Joss Whedon

I knew it wouldn’t take long for Sarah Fain and Liz Craft, the Pembroke Hill grads who created "Women’s Murder Club" for ABC, to find new employment inside the sprawling Twentieth TV complex. Craft and Fain, who have a long-term deal with Fox, were told that James Patterson and ABC were done with them on Monday. On Tuesday Fox offered them a project. On Wednesday Joss Whedon called.

“Joss emailed and said ‘I’m really sorry — and is it too soon to ask you to work on “Dollhouse”?’ ” said Fain.

Joss Whedon, as I need not explain to fans of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “Firefly,” is the beloved creator of those two shows and the mind behind television’s most anticipated new series. “Dollhouse” has a seven-episode order from Fox, will star Eliza Dushku, who used to be on “Buffy,” and will go into production in about six weeks. They are his first two staff writers.

“It was all very quick,” Fain said.

Craft added, “That was literally as we got home from cleaning out our offices. It cushioned the blow.”

Next Thursday, March 6, at the Kansas City Public Library’s downtown branch, I’ll be holding a public Q-and-A with Craft and Fain, who’ve spent the past decade writing scripts and novels together. Needless to say, the library had to make a quick edit to the promotional postcard it was mailing out; they still get a creators’ credit for “Murder Club,” but the words “executive producers” had to go.