Generosity

I love Joss Whedon. Oh, I've never met him in person, but how could any person involved in creative work not love the man?

Why? Well...I could say oodles about the various TV series and movies he's created/written/produced and that would be justification enough. What spawned this particular post, however, was listening to his episode commentaries on the season one DVDs of Dollhouse.

I'll admit up front that I gave Dollhouse an early try -- somewhere around episode 3, I think -- and didn't think enough of it to hang around. Until, that is, I mainlined the DVDs. Oh. My. God. Starting at episode six, this series took a major leap forward in terms of quality and narrative impact. I can't wait to start watching season two!

But again, that's not why I love Joss Whedon. Or, it's not the main reason. I've listened to the commentaries from season one of Dollhouse a couple of times now. I usually try the commentaries of favorite series, hoping to find insight into the creative process of the writers/creators/actors. Anything that informs the story (and thus any story) elevates my appreciation of the work. The worst commentaries are those where the participants clearly don't care. I don't mean where they're joking about what's going on -- those, at least, show they had fun doing their job. I'm talking about the kind of commentaries where they talk about anything but what's on screen -- for the entire episode. What a waste, of my time and theirs.

But that's not what Joss does. He generously shares his creative thought processes, as well as little anecdotes about the episode he's watching. If you're a writer, listen to his commentary on episode six, Man on the Street. I ended up with a lot of little a-ha! moments regarding my own work for which I'll be forever grateful. You can tell from his voice that he's tired--maybe exhausted--but he's still doing his best to share with whoever is listening. And even at his most deadpan delivery, his passion for his work shines through.