Describe your first meeting with Joss Whedon.

The only thing I remember is a little voice in my head [saying], "It's Joss Whedon, it's Joss Whedon, it's Joss Whedon." I think there was a big grin on my face and I may have drooled a lot. Other than that I'm not really sure.

It was the most pleasant, most fun experience a person can possibly imagine. I was stepping into the office of not one but two of my idols, Marti Noxon and Joss Whedon. I got to meet both of them at the same time, and that's quite heady, I have to say.

We sat and we talked about the stuff I'd written, we talked about the pilot I'd written, we talked about the spec Buffy I had written which they had read. We discussed the details of that. Coincidentally my meeting with Joss and Marti was the day after the final episode of season five, The Gift, aired in the US.

So, frankly, I was like, "Look, I don't care if you hire me or not, I've got tons of questions and you're doing to answer those questions for me." We talked a lot about what it meant that Buffy died, and what the outcome was going to be of that.

I was definitely a fanboy at that point, and it was like going to see the wizard and having some of my questions answered. They didn't answer all of my questions until I was hired officially.