BBC HomeExplore the BBC
This page was last updated in September 2005We've left it here for reference.More information

7 February 2011
Accessibility help
Text only
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Buffy the Vampire Slayer

BBC Homepage
Entertainment
Cult homepage

Contact Us

Like this page?
Send it to a friend!

 
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Doug Petrie with weaponry. Grrr!
Doug Petrie
Buffy producer's inside guide


Development Hell
Getting involved with Buffy.

�I came from the movie world. I was in development hell, as they say,� Doug recalls. �I wrote the movie Harriet The Spy which has Michelle Trachtenberg (who will play a new character, Dawn in season five) in it, ironically, and I was ready for a change from the straight-up screenwriting life.

�With the exception of Harriet The Spy, of which I remain very proud and happy to have written, a lot of stuff gets swallowed up in movieworld and not filmed at all.

�Here, I have a job where I'm given an opportunity to write and the stuff that I do write is seen by millions of people weeks later. If there is a rewrite, I know that it's been rewritten.�

�The clich� that's true is that television is a writer's medium and film is a director's medium. That's not a slight to television directors,� Doug is quick to point out, however. �We have some outstanding directors and they love the stuff we do on Buffy. If you put it on a feature film screen, people would go �wow, that was well directed, that was well shot.� We have a very cinematic look.�

Of course, one of the great plusses of television work, as opposed to film, is the very fast turnaround time which allow writers such as Doug almost immediate onscreen gratification and audience feedback for their work.

�It's a pretty fast gratification!" Doug laughs. �We churn out this pretty high quality product and it's fun to see your work on the screen. By and large we have been very lucky here that - unlike even a lot of sitcoms where it's very group-written - when there's an episode written by Jane Espenson or David Fury or Doug Petrie or Marti Noxon, it's actually written by that person.

�As much as we are a group, with the fun of a group and the support of a group, you also get the pride of feeling �I wrote that,� and that's a great thing.


<< Back Index Next: Drawing Blood>>




About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy