Special Topics in Film Studies: Joss Whedon Working Outside the System In which Whedon, in pursuit...

Special Topics in Film Studies: Joss Whedon

Working Outside the System

In which Whedon, in pursuit of a new business model, goes independent to create the web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and a homemade Shakespeare adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.

I'm interested in being an Internet Roger Corman. He's responsible for a slew of the greatest directors of the last couple decades, because he was the only B-movie system that there was. Now the whole world can be that system.

JWC (174)

All the roles I play must be hidden from the world.Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along

Blog: The Book (8)

Roger Corman

Special Topics in Film Studies: Joss

Whedon


The Horrible Website


Whedon


Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.In the wake of the November 5, 2007-February 12, 2008 Writers Guild of America strike—during which Whedon walked the picket lines—another Whedon venture debuted, not in movie theatres, not on television, not in a comic book but on the internet. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (hereafter DHSAB) premiered, free (for a limited time) on the web, posted, one act at a time, July 15th, 17th, and 19th of 2008. Dr. Horrible then disappeared (midnight July 20th), available only on ITunes until its release on DVD in December.



In a letter available on the website, Whedon offers, in his inimitable way, Dr. Horrible’s origin myth:

Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.

Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.



who pursues membership in the “Evil League of Evil” . . .



The Horrible CastSpecial Topics in

Film Studies: Joss Whedon


Dr. Horrible Hears About His Application toJoin the Evil League of Evil



Anything but horrible, DHSAB, clearly indebted to Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (1979), was a complete success. The music and the acting are both delightful and hilarious, the production values and special effects amazingly good (considering the low budget). That was the master plan, after all:



to make it on the fly, on the cheap—but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.

Here and throughout his letter, Whedon shows himself to be conscious, even hyper-conscious, of DHSAB’s role in the



development of what Henry Jenkins has called “convergence culture” and the advent of “transmedia storytelling.”


Henry JenkinsWorking Outside the

System

Horrible would eventually be released on a loaded DVD (including a unique sung commentary track: “Commentary, the Musical”), at which time DHSAB’s cast and crew got paid, proof positive of Whedon’s strategy to “turn Dr Horrible into a viable economic proposition as well as an awesome goof” that he hoped would “inspire more people to lay themselves out in the same way.” “It’s time for the dissemination of the artistic process. Create more for less,” Whedon would proclaim.



Tired of struggling against the men in suits, bored with “there’s no business like show business” clichés, he has now established himself as a major figure out to change “the face of Show Friendliness.”

With his usual humility and generosity, Whedon refused to take much credit for DHSAB: “I would like to say I directed this thing, and occasionally I told the camera where to be, but every one of these guys showed up so dialed in that I was just like, “I’m happy to be here.” (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: The Book 78).



In the wake of DHSAB’s resounding success, Whedon found himself doing interviews not with the Onion AV Club, Geek Monthly, and Salon, but the Wharton School of Business (JWC [175-83]. . .



and Forbes Magazine. At the time of writing, a sequel is definitely in the works.



Whedon discounts any claim to internet guru status—claiming to be so ignorant he can’t even find porn—or being a business pioneer--“Somebody coming to me for business advice is like somebody asking a guy who makes balloon animals how to pick up women.”


Whedon


Much Ado will not be the only work to come out of Bellwether, for under its aegis we will also be offered such future projects as the movie In Your Eyes (to be directed by Brin Hill) (Puchko), the Horrible sequel (“Dr. Horrible Sequel”), and Wastelanders, a planned webseries Whedon has developed with comic book legend Warren Ellis (Pantozzi).



Brin Hill (above) and Warren Ellis (on the left)

Special Topics in Film Studies: Joss Whedon Working Outside the System In which Whedon, in pursuit...

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