NICE GIRLS IN HISTORY: Jane Espenson

Jane Espenson at WonderCon 2012

At this month’s WonderCon in Anaheim, writer/producer extraordinaire Jane Espenson was featured in a special panel called “Jane Espenson: Sci Fi and Beyond” that focused on her 20 years of work in the entertainment industry.

Given all of the incredible shows for which Jane has worked on (more about that shortly) throughout her lengthy career, there was a lot of subjects to discuss during the panel; but moderator Amber Benson (who appeared as Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is an accomplished writer, producer and author in her own right) started at the very beginning, mentioning that Jane was born in Iowa and then asked what was the defining moment for Jane – when she knew what she wanted to do with her life. Jane shared that she wrote a sample script for the classic TV comedy M*A*S*H, which never saw the light of day because she joked “I had no idea how to send it in”.

Later on, a fellowship with ABC Disney helped her get her start, which is the driving force behind her interest in supporting and helping other young writers. Also, Jane talked about her blog that was originally created by one of her fans, who now runs the site for her. You can visit her site here.

Jane

The conversation, of course, then turned to how Jane got hired to work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer with her explaining that she was a fan of the show and was working as a story editor and writer for the comedy series Ellen at the time; but she knew that she wanted to segue into dramas so, “I wrote a spec script for NYPD Blue, because that’s (jokingly) the logical way of getting a job on Buffy”. She further explained that you can’t write a spec script for the show you want to be on, but rather a script for an unrelated show so your writing style can be determined.

Jane went on to say that Joss read it (“oh my god” she exclaimed) and then she was called in for a meeting with him. For that meeting she was supposed to bring in ideas for stories for Buffy with one of her story ideas mirroring an episode they had just filmed but for which had not yet aired. That idea demonstrated she was on the right wavelength and they hired her on. Over the course of five seasons, Jane worked as a story editor, writer, co-producer, producer, supervising producer and eventually co-executive producer on the series.

During those years she also wrote for shows like Angel, Firefly, The O.C. and Gilmore Girls, even serving as a co-executive producer for the latter series for one season. But with the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that meant it was time for Jane to move on to other projects. She spent the next few TV seasons working as a writer and co-executive producer on Tru Calling, The Inside and Jake in Progress.

Jane

It was in 2007 after working on Andy Barker, P.I. and Eureka that she joined the creative team of another huge sci-fi franchise: Battlestar Galactica. She spent the next three season working for that acclaimed series in the capacity of writer and co-executive producer. She briefly rejoined with Joss Whedon in 2009 on his new show Dollhouse; and then she got the call to join the team of the Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica where she served as writer and executive producer. More specifically, she was the show runner for this series; but she quickly discovered that role was not her forte. She shared that she “would rather write (for) a show than create and showrun one”; but that all changed a few years later when she helped to co-writer and executive producer the buzzed about new web series Husbands: The Series. Despite her dislike for showrunning, she was enticed by the fact that Husbands: The Series required no studio backing and gave much more creative freedom. She also shared that Husbands: The Series was shot at a friend’s house over the course of two weekends; and will be back for a second season through a Kickstarter campaign that has been ongoing for the last few weeks. In fact there is still time left if you would like to get in on the action with the campaign. You can find out the details here.

In the meantime, Jane has written for Game of Thrones and Warehouse 13, was writer and co-executive producer for Torchwood: Miracle Day and currently she a consulting producer and writer for the new ABC fairytale drama Once Upon a Time.

Jane has had an impressive career and is a perfect example of what tenacity and drive can achieve in the entertainment industry.