Joss Wrote This

[Emmie]

Joss as Executive Producer occasionally stepped in and re-wrote scenes throughout BtVS that he wasn't credited for. Some commentaries revealed that Joss' pen was the culprit at times. So I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed other moments where Joss' invisible pen was involved in writing the series.

1. Beneath You - the end scene where Spike reveals he has a soul.
2. "I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it" from Pangs.
3. Hell's Bells - the meeting between Buffy/Spike was originally unpleasant, but was re-written by Joss to be more fond and sympathetic.
4. The bell tower scene and the classroom discussion of Othello in Earshot.
5. Buffy and Holden scenes in Conversations with Dead People.
6. Drew Goddard mentioned that Joss wrote a lot of Dirty Girls, specifically Caleb's introduction (perhaps other scenes).
7. The yellow crayon speech in Grave.
8. Most scenes in Lover's Walk - he didn't say which, only that he was proud of the work.
9. Most of Halloween (Carl Ellsworth has said as much).
10. The monologues in Passion.
11. The final scene between Angel and Cordelia in You're Welcome .
12. Scenes in Fool for Love - for example, "I know I'm a bad writer, but I'm a good man."
13. Selfless - the 'I'll be his Mrs.' Anya song.
14. Billy - the catty conversation between Cordelia and Lilah.

[hitnrun017]

Great thread!

4. The bell tower scene in Earshot was written by Joss
5. Everything Buffy and Holden in Conversations with Dead People.
6. Drew Goddard mentioned that Joss wrote a lot of Dirty Girls.

[Emmie]

Adding on to Ethan's list:

6. Specifically Caleb's introduction in Dirty Girls.
7. The yellow crayon speech in Grave. (from Enisy)
8. Various scenes in Lover's Walk - he didn't say which, only that he was proud of the work. (from Enisy)

I'm betting Joss wrote the "love's bitch" speech for Lover's Walk. Ethan, were there other scenes in Dirty Girls that we know Joss wrote?

[hitnrun017]

Not sure. It's been awhile since I listened to the commentary, but I think I remember Drew saying that Joss wrote about "75%" of the episode, don't know if it was joke. He also said that Marti wrote the basement scene between Faith and Spike.

[Emmie]

Here's some more that I got from WilliamTheB at Whedonesque:

9. Most of Halloween (I think Carl Ellsworth has said as much).
10. The monologues in Passion.

[hitnrun017]

I'll add just one more.

11. The final scene between Angel and Cordelia in You're Welcome

[Emmie]

Enisy:

They were all mentioned in commentaries, apart from the Lover's Walk ones and the Fool for Love one, which I know from these quotes:

Joss Whedon: I wrote much of Lover's Walk, I say because I was proud of the work...

James Marsters: I wanted so much for the audience to hook into him because really, when Joss was writing stuff like, "I know I'm a bad writer, but I'm a good man", that's Joss. So I wanted to be true to that...

Othello scene from Earshot, yeah. Where they were discussing Shakespeare in class and Buffy read the teacher's mind re: Othello and Iago?

[cheryl]

Joss is the best writer in the Universe, imo. Thanks for posting this. ;D

[Emmie]

Digital Leonardo on BF wrote:

I know Joss stepped in and wrote the song Anya sings in "Selfless" during the OMWF flashback.

Nina on BF wrote:

But also the scene between Lilah and Cordelia in 'Billy' (Bell/Minear episode) is written by Joss. (It's said in the commentaries).

Stormwreath wrote on BF:

Going by Doug Petrie's commentary on 'Bad Girls', which he wrote, Joss had the following involvement:

* He added the bit where Mr Trick and Alan Finch reveal which cartoons they like to read.
* He changed one of the universities Willow got into to 'Wesleyan'.
* Regarding Wesley, he added the stage direction "He thinks he's Sean Connery but in fact he's George Lazenby."
* He added the scene where both Wesley and Giles start polishing their glasses, and Giles notices and gets annoyed.
* He wrote the small scene where Wesley reads Giles' Watcher Diary on his first impressions of Buffy.

[henzINNIT]

I'm sure he had at least a few lines in every episode. I think the scripts went through him before shooting, regardless of who was the credited writer.

It's a shame he was involved in Hells Bells though lol

[Emmie]

I think that was the best scene of that episode though, henz. *shrugs*

I'm currently watching the Doug Petrie commentary of The Initiative and Petrie says, "Joss writes or just about re-writes everything."

[patxshand]

I think once Joss got more familiar with his golden crew, he stepped back a bit. I think he rewrote a lot less of the stuff in the later seasons.

[Enisy]

Well, he was still reading and editing every script at the very least up to the end of Season 6, according to Steven DeKnight.

Emmie, if you want scenes that Joss came up with, as well, just ask. (Buffy kissing Angel in game-face in What's My Line, Anya cutting her face in After Life, the premise for Tabula Rasa, Spike and Buffy consummating their relationship in Smashed, Spike/Buffy balcony scene in Dead Things, etc.)

[patxshand]

Of course he was reading/editing the scripts, he was showrunner. What I meant was that, by then, he'd assembled a team of like minded people who knew his vision exactly, so there were less and less "Halloween" incidents where he'd have to do extensive rewriting.

[taraswizard]

Jane Espenson, says in one of her commentary tracts (I want to say it's in Superstar or Band Candy) to the effect 'all the really good and funny stuff is what Joss wrote'. Adding Doug Petrie's well known quip, "If Joss had ever had a date in high school this would be a completely different show".

[dane5by5]

Dec 17, 2008 11:31:19 GMT -5 patxshand said:

Of course he was reading/editing the scripts, he was showrunner. What I meant was that, by then, he'd assembled a team of like minded people who knew his vision exactly, so there were less and less "Halloween" incidents where he'd have to do extensive rewriting.

I can't remember where, but in regards to the rewrite of "Halloween", Joss said, Marti Noxon had been a huge part of the show from as early as that episode, when she did the huge rewrite of it. So I think the majority of "Halloween" is care of Marti Noxon.

The season six episode, "After Life" (which is a personal favourite of mine) was written by Jane Espenson, but the scene where Buffy visits Spike in his crypt and he tells her he has saved her every night since she died, I always had a feeling that could have been Joss' work. It was so heartbreaking, the writing and delivery from both Sarah and James was outstanding. When I think of my favourite scenes that capture the essense of season six, that scene always comes to mind. Does anyone know if Joss wrote this scene?

[Enisy]

Funny you should say that, dane...

Interviewer: [After Life] actually spawned what will be my vote for best one-liner of the entire year and that is Spike, the line where he says "Every night I saved you". That is my absolute favourite line.
Jane Espenson: Ohhh, thank you. I was very fortunate on that, because usually those moments like that are all Joss. I've commented before that if anyone ever compliments a line from an episode, it's a Joss line. That scene was just like I wrote it in the first draft. Marti said, this is great, this is a great scene. I think she was saying, I didn't know you could write that good. Nah, nah, Marti's cool. But she really loved that scene and I was very fortunate that it stayed how I wrote it. I surprised myself a little with that.

Oh, but I remembered another Joss line: "This is the day you choose to hug me?" from I Was Made to Love You.

[dane5by5]

Dec 17, 2008 18:04:53 GMT -5 Enisy said:

Funny you should say that, dane...

Interviewer: [After Life] actually spawned what will be my vote for best one-liner of the entire year and that is Spike, the line where he says "Every night I saved you". That is my absolute favourite line.
Jane Espenson: Ohhh, thank you. I was very fortunate on that, because usually those moments like that are all Joss. I've commented before that if anyone ever compliments a line from an episode, it's a Joss line. That scene was just like I wrote it in the first draft. Marti said, this is great, this is a great scene. I think she was saying, I didn't know you could write that good. Nah, nah, Marti's cool. But she really loved that scene and I was very fortunate that it stayed how I wrote it. I surprised myself a little with that.

Oh, but I remembered another Joss line: "This is the day you choose to hug me?" from I Was Made to Love You.

Wow. Thanks for that. All the writers that work with Joss are very humble and always credit Joss with all the good ideas/lines, that's what made me think maybe that was his work. I've always been a big fan of Jane, I really can't wait to see her work on Dollhouse. I also loved that the interviewer asked that question! You can always tell when a fan is conducting the interview, the questions are much smarter.