Joss Whedon

Negotiations is a short film done by a pair of my friends who entered a contest (the deadline is on the 20th, so feel free to watch, give it a good rating and the like).

A crowd stands outside the NBC studios building, protesting the unfairness of the deal given to the writers. A thin, lanky young man comes out and shakes his head.

The strikers slam their signs down in frustration. One of those protesters happen to be Mr. Joss Whedon himself.

Whedon is typically behind the camera. So what the heck was he doing in front of it?

Turns out, he was a mere extra in a short film written by an out-of-work kid down on his luck who just survived a scary car accident. Oh, and he’s in Jersey (that’s New Jersey to y’all - don’t hold it against him). He conceptualized this film but it only took off when he collaborated with a friend of his. Who happened to be in California.

The two have never met in person.

Scott (the Jersey boy) and Joey (the LA dude) pounded out a script and roped in some people to get involved in their project.

Of course, the "casting" of Whedon was totally unplanned. After Joey shot the film and roped in some actors (besides Whedon, the film includes Jamie Paglia, Eric Wallace, Ed Quinn and Dylan Ramsey), he had to give the good news to his collaborator.

Joey called Scott and said, "Are you sitting down? Guess who just filmed a part for the movie?" After a beat: "Joss Whedon."

"That’s where I went through denial and shock. At first, I thought it was some elaborate prank," said Scott. "My birthday was coming up, and I’m definitely a huge ’Buffy’ fan. So this had to be a joke ... I had just watched an episode of ’Buffy’ the night before and have been studying his writing style for a while now ... so to hear he had agreed to be in a movie that I had helped develop ... it still hasn’t sunk in."

Now that the Writer’s Strike is over, Joss Whedon can go back to his other projects - rather than slaving away for free for a pair of nobodies on opposite sides of the continent.

Scott and Joey can look forward to trying to get some work, too. "My only hope now is that I can get the opportunity to thank Joss personally some time," said Scott. "[Seeing] him alongside Joey in that opening scene is one of the greatest moments in my career so far. Hopefully one day I’ll get to work for him."

Negotiations is doing well, but if you want to continue to express your support, root for a pair of underdogs, and throw some Joss love our way, go and watch the film, vote for it and critique Mr. Whedon’s acting abilities!

Follow the link below or let’s hope my embedding trick works...either way, give the video a look. I think you’ll like it.