Joss Whedon

Exclusive: iF MAGAZINE VISITS JOSS WHEDON’S ’MUTANT ENEMY PICKET DAY’ - PART 2

From BUFFY stars to longtime writers, the event was a veritable who’s who of the Whedon-verse

When Joss Whedon puts out the word that he’d like a little support, a lot of people show up. Witness the turnout when Whedon announced online at Fans4Writers.com and whedonesque.com that he and many of the writers and actors he’d worked with at his Mutant Enemy production company on the TV series he created, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL and FIREFLY, and the movie SERENITY, would be picketing at Twentieth Century Fox on December 7 on behalf of the Writers Guild of America strike.

The group included FIREFLY/SERENITY stars Nathan Fillion, Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk, BUFFY/ANGEL writer/producer Drew Goddard (also a writer on ALIAS, LOST and the upcoming feature CLOVERFIELD), BUFFY potential Felicia Day, SLITHER writer/director James Gunn, Whedonverse comics writer Brian K. Vaughan, and the following actors, writers/producers and fans quoted below.

This is Part 2 of iF’s exclusive coverage of the event.

iF MAGAZINE: Why do you support the WGA strike?

ELIZA DUSHKU (Faith in BUFFY/ANGEL; star/producer of Whedon’s upcoming Fox series DOLLHOUSE): Well, I have friends that are writers, who have been friends of mine for years and years – I’m concerned about them as I would be any friend of mine, so I’ve been concerned when they’ve in situations where they aren’t being protected.

NICHOLAS BRENDON (Xander in BUFFY): Just the absolute raw deal the writers have. Whatever happens with the writers is basically what’s going to happen to the actors [the Screen Actors Guild contract with the AMPTP expires in June]. So hopefully they can work something out.

J. AUGUST RICHARDS (Gunn in ANGEL): I think it’s very important that these issues get resolved, because it’s not fair for the producers to get everything [and the writers to get nothing] out of the Internet usage. I know there are more important issues going on in the world at the moment, but for the long run of the business, I think it’s very important. it’s just not fair, and it’s important to stand up to what’s not fair.

BEN EDLUND (writer/producer on ANGEL and FIREFLY, now on SUPERNATURAL): We’re at a point now where the paradigm for media is shifting. We’re going to a new media template – downloads, streaming – I don’t really understand the technology, but what I understand is this, that broadcast television isn’t going to be the medium of the future, it’s just not the way it’s going to work. People will still go to movies, but it won’t be necessary in the way that it was. This is a gold rush period, and we’re watching corporations try to take everything. I don’t think we should allow them to do that. I don’t like corporations as a rule. I think this is just one front of a global corporate issue. I mean, what are they doing but pursuing profits above everything else? And why are we in this position? Because they don’t think in human terms. A corporation is treated as a citizen by the United States government, it’s treated as a human being, and it is a consensus creature that has no interest in human life. And it’s crushing it out of everyone. So I think we should stop them from doing it here.

JEFF BELL (showrunner on last two seasons of ANGEL): In the next handful of years, everything is going to come in through one box and one screen, whether it’s TV, movies, music or Internet. If there’s not a model in place for writers to be paid for that, it would break the union, it would be bad for everybody.

JULIET LANDAU (Drusilla in BUFFY/ANGEL): I felt this was really important. It’s been incredible because there’s so much fan response, and all the issues that are on the table are pretty important. We [actors] can’t do what we do without the writers and it’s a collaborative effort, and everybody has to be compensated for their part in it.

STEVE DeKNIGHT (writer/producer/director on BUFFY/ANGEL): I think it’s going to be long, I think it’s going to be hard. At the end of the day, I think when the smoke clears, the two sides will hopefully meet in the middle. But the money that’s been lost I don’t think will be recovered any time soon on both sides. And the ridiculous thing is, what the writers are asking for is such a small, small percentage of the profits that they’re making off our work, that to halt production for such a small fraction is really, really short-sighted. But with vertical integration, since deregulation and the companies are just these huge conglomerates, the TV and movie side of their business is a small percentage of the big corporate picture, so they can afford, basically, to screw us. And that’s exactly what they’re doing.

RON GLASS (Shepherd Book in FIREFLY): I’m not real conversant on all of the ins and the outs of the whole situation, but I do support the writers, and the actors, who are going to go through the same thing shortly. I do think that everybody’s entitled to sharing more in the profits of all of the product that’s going to be put out there.

HARRY GROENER (Mayor Wilkins in BUFFY): It’s the same issues, whether it’s the writers or the actors. It’s complicated, isn’t it? I think that when [the companies] say, ‘We don’t know what’s going to happen with the technology’ – I think they know very well what’s going to happen, the way they knew before. And with other issues [like DVD residuals], they knew before. So there’s a fair share of money to be had by everybody, I think, and I think it’s just about being fair.

TOM LENK (Andrew in BUFFY/ANGEL): I’m not a professional writer; I just do some stage [writing] and whatnot. But I’m here because I’m supporting our sister union and basically I’m supporting a group of people that are asking for something that’s simply fair.

MICHAEL FAIRMAN (Niska in FIREFLY): I am a member of the Writers Guild, as well as the Screen Actors Guild, and I think it’s very important that we break through this, because the markets that are coming up in the Internet are going to be vast and I think that, given the negotiations we did in the past, I think we were shortchanged, and I think it’s very important that we stay with this so that we do get a piece of that action, because it is going to be extensive.

LOUISE DuCRAY (fan): I don’t know how I would feel about the entertainment industry if Joss Whedon didn’t exist, but I do support the strike and the writers and the people who actually create the things that we know and love, I think they deserve our support, so I would have been here. I’m here with all my friends who support it, I’m here with Joss.

BARBARA KERAMEN (fan): The power’s got to change and the Internet has changed how fans interact with writers. They actually get to know them more; they can identify with the situation more; they’ve been able to organize and rally through the Internet, and the Internet itself has so much to do with what this is about. The rules are changing. The studios are like the overlords of a fiefdom and they’re treating creative people like serfs.

RACHAEL ORD (fan from Australia): The quality of television relies on the writers, and all of our quality television comes from the writers. Australian television is so small in comparison to what’s available in America – any opportunity for us to support Joss Whedon, who’s one of the greatest writers, most stimulating scripts, always unpredictable, we’ll be there to support him, definitely.

MEGAN HENDERSON (fan from Australia): Well, without the writers, there’s nothing to watch, there’s nothing to do. They create imaginative alternative worlds for us, but without them, we’d be left to our own devices, and that’s just not a good thing [laughs].

iF: Do you picket regularly on behalf of the WGA strike?

DAVID FURY (writer/producer/director on BUFFY/ANGEL, now on 24): I have. I’ve tried to be on the line either at CBS Radford Studios or at Fox Studios or Universal – I try to find some time to do two studios in one day, but I’m trying to add my form to our numbers, so we have good turnouts every day.

DOUG PETRIE (writer/producer/director on BUFFY/ANGEL, now on C.S.I.): I’m usually over at Universal, over at the Lankershim lot. This is such a hot crowd, I may have to switch over to Fox.

NICHOLAS BRENDON (Xander in BUFFY): This is my first time, but I’ve got to tell you – Joss and all of the other beautiful writers brought me out here, but I think I’m going to have to carry on [picketing] until this ridiculous thing comes to an end.

STEVE DeKNIGHT (writer/producer/director on BUFFY/ANGEL): I float all over the place. Paramount, CBS Television City, Warner Brothers. This is a lot more fun [than a regular picket crowd], and it has Mutant Enemy writer/producers and directors, which is always a hoot.