KEN PLUME: What was Roseanne like, going in at that time? They were on, what, the fourth or fifth set of producers by that point?
JOSS WHEDON: No, it was just the second set, and it was total chaos. I mean, it was like a studied chaos. Which was good, because it meant that I got to write a bunch of scripts.
PLUME: Whereas, on other shows, you would have been locked in the writer’s room as a junior writer…
WHEDON: You know, I remember one of my father’s friends saying, “Have they let you start to write a script yet?” I was like, “Yeah, I’m on my fourth.” Because they just… they had nobody. I ended up writing six scripts that year. Interestingly enough, the other staff writer I know who’s done that was Marti Noxon. She did it in the second year of Buffy.
PLUME: Because it was just complete chaos?
WHEDON: It wasn’t not chaos. It was slightly more controlled chaos, but it was really chaotic.
PLUME: How powerful was Roseanne becoming in the writer’s room at that time?
WHEDON: Well, she was grouchy as hell. I had a bad experience, because my stuff kept getting rewritten by the producers before it ever got to her. So, you know, I never felt like I was being heard, until I finally actually found a temporary champion in Tom Arnold, who had started at the same time. He snuck around my script. So she got to see the first draft. Then, I had lunch with her to talk about it, and it was quite extraordinary. The good Roseanne came to lunch. She got it and she was very excited about it, and it was a really fascinating time.
PLUME: How different from bad Roseanne did you find good Roseanne?
WHEDON: Well, literally the next day, I saw her walk by the office, look at me - and not only not recognize me, but not recognize that there was someone standing in front of her. I had never seen somebody like that before. I was like, “This is like the lady from Misery! Oh boy.” It’s so sad, because I went on that show because it had a feminist agenda, because it was real, and decent, and incredibly funny. And she brought a lot of that to the table - and she sort of took it away, because her unhappiness made her incredibly divisive and destructive, and that’s that. There was a lot of good there.
PLUME: How would it affect the scripts that were being written?
WHEDON: A lot. She’d be like, “This is crap, I won’t do this.” She’d just chuck things out.
PLUME: Arbitrarily?
WHEDON: Yeah, and scripts didn’t get better from being written two and a half days at midnight by Danny Jacobson. But, at the end of the day, it was a good stepping stone, not a good experience. She’s not the reason I quit. Having been rewritten almost to death, I got shut out of the process - and I thought the producers were talented and good friends, but I couldn’t work for them anymore, because I don’t like getting paid to do nothing.
PLUME: Were there any second thoughts that, even though you were getting paid to do nothing, you were giving up a job - and it could have been the last job you had?
WHEDON: No, I never thought that.
PLUME: Was there a confidence in your abilities in that something else will come?
WHEDON: I didn’t really think of it as something else will come. I was working on the Buffy movie, and I’ve always felt like I could find work. I saved my first penny, the first dollar I ever made from TV I saved, so that I would never have to be in the position of working to keep up my life style, in order to make money.
PLUME: So you weren’t living hand to mouth…
WHEDON: I was doing fine, but it wasn’t like I went out and rented a big house and got a car that worked.
PLUME: So unlike a lot of writers, you were realistic.
WHEDON: I just wanted to be able to do work for one reason and one reason only, and that was because it was work worth doing. It is, I realized, through a great deal of luck and privilege that I’ve been able to hold to that. People always say, “Okay, you’ve just said that. Let’s talk about Waterworld.”
PLUME: You know, I’m not. I’m going to ask you what lessons you learned from Roseanne when it came to being a show runner yourself.
WHEDON: You know what I learned? And this was one of the most important things I’ve ever learned, one of the defining things about humanity. It was when she made a speech at the beginning of the season about how the tabloids were really giving her shyt and how they were infiltrating the crew and stuff, people were feeding them stuff - “So you fukking writers better keep your mouths shut or I’ll have you all fired.” I realized, this was the perfect opportunity to make a speech that brought everybody closer together, that said, “It’s us against the world, and dammit, we’ve got good work to do here, let’s all get it done” - and instead she used it to attack. It made me realize, at that moment, that every time somebody opens their mouth they have an opportunity to do one of two things - connect or divide. Some people inherently divide, and some people inherently connect. Connecting is the most important thing, and actually an easy thing to do. I try to make a connection with someone every time I talk to them, even if I’m firing them. Because a connection can be made. People can be treated with respect. That is one of the most important things a show runner can do, is make everybody understand that we’re all involved, that we’re all on the same level, on some level. I’m shocked that there are so many people that live to divide. Whether it’s to divide people from each other, or from themselves - but it is a constant in everything. Trying to make a connection with somebody. It was Roseanne’s sort of divisive nature that made that show to be less and less meaningful. Even though it still kept on doing good things and she had a lot of good intent, and I think she changed the landscape of American television. She should be credited for having done it. Although I also think Matt Williams deserves a lot of credit. The fact is, you lose people when you do that. If you’re going to make television of any continued standard, or live in the world like a decent person, you can’t afford to do that. You know? You have to bring out the best in your people and see it when it’s there and nurture it and laud it, which is something I often forget to do. “Tell that guy he’s good!” “Well, I didn’t fire him, so he must know he’s good, right?” “No, Joss. It doesn’t work that way.” I definitely miss out that people are having emotions all around me some times. But, at the same time, I do understand that we are in this together. You know, when I have a grip come up to me and say, “I really love the script.” Or, “Oh, you know, I’m moving the camera, and this is the feeling that I get about how the story’s told.” That’s the best thing in the world. Also, I think, be meaner - but that I had to learn later on.
FROM THE VAULT: Joss Whedon Interview » FRED Entertainment
i dont agree w this thread but telling someone who may or may not have mental issues to commit that is reckless.
