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Tim Minear Interview
Tim Minear puts forward his own take on the David Fury Interview and believes Angel would have been cancelled regardless. |
Tim Minear, writer of shows such as Angel, firefly, wonderfalls and The Inside talks with Voy Message Board Forums and puts forward his own take on the David Fury Interview and believes Angel would have been cancelled regardless. There's also a mention that he's got a commitment from Fox on his new pilot. Here's what he had to say:
Tim: My own take on a couple of things! Everyone has a little different perspective, I guess. And I know and love Fury and would work with him again in a heartbeat. Also, who can tell from a printed interview what the subtleties are of what someone might be saying? Anyway, from the time I started on Angel, which was right at the beginning, to the time I left, which was the end of season four, I’d returned to Angel after Firefly went down. Joss had been getting the rap on the net that he wasn't as involved with Angel as with Buffy. Or that he wasn’t getting as involved with Buffy or Angel as with Firefly.
 I think this is untrue - And also true. Let me try to clarify... when Joss was starting Buffy he was still working out not only the show, but how to actually ‘make’ a show. It took him four or five years to get a Buffy writing staff in place that clicked. Each one of them strong links in the chain, folks who could write the show and deliver shoot-able drafts. More than that, a staff that grew into being producers (and directors!), over-seeing pre-production, on-set concerns, and even sitting in on an editorial. Joss could delegate tasks in a way that he couldn’t at first. Mostly this meant that as time went on, Joss didn’t have to do quite so much re-writing (and in those early seasons of “Buffy” he rewrote virtually everything.) Ideally, that’s what a writing staff does. They write. And a show runner doesn’t have to go in and fix everything. The Buffy staff was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Each one of them would have been the stand-out on any other writing staff. By the time Angel came along, he’d sussed out the process pretty damn well. And the man who was with him at the start of Buffy, David Greenwalt, was running the new show. And they had, frankly, me. For whatever reason Joss, David and I clicked right away. We spoke the same language (oddly, we all sort of talk alike now. And I know it’s not just me, I was told by a company I wrote a movie for, that Jeff Bell was in to do a project for them and they were like, “you sound just like Tim Minear!”) Anyway, speaking as a guy who was one of the heavy lifters on Angel, Joss was totally involved. At least from seasons one through four when I was there. (And in his interview, David Fury says Joss actually put in *more* face time in season five, so make of that what you will...) Every single story was broken with Joss.
Angel locking the lawyers in the wine cellar? - Joss! Angel firing his crew? - Joss! The big showdown to hell being a simple elevator ride? – Joss! Darla being staked to have her baby? Okay, that was me. Still. I pitched that she *gets* staked and Joss said, “what if she stakes herself?” I think you can see the value of that particular modification.
Thing was, he could spin out some idea and I’d understand in two seconds what he meant and could go do it, and he didn’t have to worry. It was like that with all of us. But the driving force, the guy at the wheel; that was Joss. He’d chart where we needed to go, vet outlines, drafts, and always sit in on a cut after I was done and give notes. He was involved. This isn’t to say that the rest of us didn’t help to shape things as well. We did. But I don’t want anyone here to be left with the impression that Joss wasn’t just what he was - the driving creative force. Just saying! I know that David Fury is convinced that if Joss hadn't asked for a (slightly) early pick- up that the show would have been back for a sixth year. Just not convinced of it myself.
 Angel wasn't a cheap show for the network to buy. And it was, in genre TV terms, old, or oldish. By the end of year five it's pretty clear that you're not going to suddenly turn into some breakout hit, so they knew just exactly what it would do for them. But I think the network was more inclined to make more room on their schedule to try and grow a new show that ‘might’ have been breakout hit for them. Don't get me wrong, the show rocked and could easily have been great for a lot longer. But if you ask me, the network had already made up its mind already, or was at least really leaning in that direction.
Question: Any dish on Goddard? If we don't have the WB or joss we've gotta have ‘someone’ to spew our frustration at. *wink* common enemy and all that...until we have another show to obsess about etc. Also is there a new Tim Minear show coming up? And if so...any chance it's not on FOX – Ensuring more than 13 episodes?!
Tim: I do think Goddard is behind ALL of this. Really I do. That bas-tahd. In fact, I had dinner with Goddard and Joss (and also Brian K Vaughan) and joss was twirling his moustache.
Something new coming up, yes. And chances that it won't be on Fox?? … … zero! We sold it to the new network and got a commitment before we left. I could have taken it to NBC, but I was already at the studio (20th, which is my studio where I have my deal) and the network (FOX Network, not to be confused with the studio) is right there (because they are, after all, a least somewhat related), and so, that meant I didn't have to drive to Burbank and more importantly, meant less parking hassle. My needs are small.
Question: Do you think Angel would have been cancelled this year? Would projected DVD sales and the failure rate of a lot of new shows have tipped the scales in its favour? And would the projected post apocalyptic Season 6 have made the show cheaper to produce?
Tim: I think Angel would have been cancelled after year five, frankly. I say this for previous reasons given: the network wanted to make room to grow new shows. Think of it like Vegas. They'd been putting coins into our machine for five years and hadn't hit a jackpot -- just got back respectable returns. They wanted to slide their network butts over and try a new machine.
DVD sales have literally nothing to do with network decisions. DVD sales are only of value to the studio that owns the shows that a network is, in essence, renting. So, all proceeds from DVD sales go to 20th Television - the studio that produces Angel. The WB, the network that paid money to air it, sees none of that. (This is the same even if we're talking about something like Firefly -- 20th Television produced the show and made a killing off the DVDs. The Fox Network, which, though related to 20th, is its own thing and saw no profits from the DVD sales.)
Post apocalyptic LA would have been more expensive to produce, in my opinion. One of things that happened by actually cutting the budget in season five meant fewer locations or new sets per episode, which is why you saw more action taking place on standing Wolfram and Hart Sets.
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