An Exclusive Interview with Writer & Co-Executive Producer David Fury
e sings, acts, writes, directs and plays a mean round of mini-golf. David Fury does it all and he loves it that way. The winding path his career has taken over the last decade surprises even him but he loves the opportunities it's afforded him. In his five-year tenure with Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, he has been able to cultivate his various artistic passions (acting, comedy, singing) while discovering new talents. With Buffy the Vampire Slayer ending this month and Angel renewed for a fifth season in the fall, Fury took some time to talk to us and reflect on how a certain blonde
with a calling and a vampire with a soul changed his life.
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE STAGE
The saying goes, "What shapes us makes us" and in the case of David Fury, healthy doses of comedy and horror helped to make this man. Born in Denton, Texas but raised in Old Bethpage, New York, David was heavily influenced from an early age by these two genres. He cites Dark Shadows and Monty Python as two particularly beloved sources of inspiration. Always interested in the performing arts, David headed to Manhattan to pursue acting and stand-up comedy after graduating from high school. On stage, he appeared in productions of The Fantastiks, Godspell, and Cabaret. But he created the best of both worlds (performing and comedy) for himself when he co-founded the comedy troupe, Brain Trust at the Manhattan Punch Line Theater. The troupe allowed David to hone his performance skills as well as help shape his developing career. Reflecting on his experience with Trust, David relates, "The most satisfying thing about working in the comedy business is being around a bunch of funny people and creating something that is funny and meaningful at the same time." He adds, "A lot of what we did was improvisation. It wound up turning me into a writer. I hadn't intended to be a writer but when we started doing sketches, I needed to write something for me and the others to act in so I started writing sketches." It was a talent that indeed surprised him. "I started to see 'Wow, this is something else I can do that is a lot of fun.' More importantly, I loved being able to do it." It was a skill that complemented his love of live performance. "What being in front of an audience did for me was being able to have instant gratification and being able to hone [the act] on a nightly basis. Being able to change it, alter it and find different nuances and just have a good time with people I enjoy being around."
Insanity reigned in Brain Trust!
Brain Trust became such a successful
comedy troupe in New York City that they were invited to appear on The Tonight
Show in Los Angeles. While there, the group also opened a West Coast version
of their show. Once in Los Angeles, David began to see a distinct shift in what
people began pursuing him for his writing. He explains, "The attention I first
got writing sketches, I kind of shrugged off and went 'Oh, ok, great.' Pretty
soon people were asking me for screenplays and teleplays, things it never occurred
to me to have [written]." But the offers didn't stop, so he wrote spec scripts
alone as well as collaborating with fellow writer (who happened to be his wife), Elin
Hampton. David laughs when sharing the ulterior motives for his writing pursuits. "The
only reason I got into television was to gain some credibility as someone who
could write for television so I could launch a series for my comedy group."
“
I'm very shocked by the success I've had as a writer...
such success is mind boggling to me."
That television show for Brain Trust never happened, but his skill with the pen ended up getting him hired to write for several television shows, including The Jackie Thomas Show, Dream On, House of Buggin and the animated hit, Pinky and the Brain.
David Fury, self-described actor and comedian, found his career shifting
into completely new territory. "I'm very shocked by the success I've had as a writer," David muses. "The idea that I have risen to such success is mind boggling to me. I forever characterize myself as an out of work actor with writing as my day job. [An] "it pays the bills" kind of a thing." He laughs when adding, "But as soon as I get that big acting break I've been hoping for I won't have to write anymore. Which sounds terrible to all these people who dream about having what I have. I wish I could tell you that this was something that I really struggled and worked hard at this was my dream. It just wasn't. But the fact that I'm doing it, I enjoy it because I'm
around a bunch of funny people much like when I was with my comedy group."
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
The transition over to Buffy came by way of a long and winding road which kept leading back to Joss
Whedon's door. Going all the way back to the beginning, he explains, "I actually
met Joss when Buffy [the television series] was in development. I was writing with my wife, Elin Hanson, at the time and we were up for a show [Life's
Work] at ABC for Disney. Then, we got this meeting for Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
which at that point was just a presentation at The WB. They were going to pick
it up for six episodes for mid-season." Explaining the context of the situation at the time, David adds, "The WB was a network on its way out. It hadn't found its identity and was getting creamed." Despite the inherent issues, David and Elin met with Joss. "The thing was, I originally went to Elin and said, 'Hmm, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?' The
interesting thing was that I took Elin to see Buffy the Vampire Slayer [the movie with Kristy Swanson]
the first day it opened because I loved the premise so much." He laughs remembering, "I saw the ad campaign for it and went 'I love this!' I was so excited that I skipped work that day to go see it." It ended up being a waste of a hooky day. "I hated it. I didn't
think it worked. It was a bummer."
“ I
have to tell you, I really did not like the [BtVS] movie.”
Flash forward again to the
television show and David found himself sucked back
into the concept. "I was still curious because I still loved the premise. So I said 'Let's meet with Joss and we did at his old offices in Santa Monica. We got to talking and we hit it off really well." Describing Joss, Fury remembers, "He was just a real funny personable guy. We joked around and he was very complimentary about our work." Then the inevitable happened. "A question came up about the movie and I said 'I have to tell you, I really did not like the movie.' And he was like "Oh, thank God!" And I went 'I absolutely love this guy.' We came out of [the meeting] and I turned to Elin and said 'I
think I want to do Buffy the Vampire Slayer." She said "Really?" and I said 'Yeah. This sounds fun and exactly the kind of thing I'd love to do.' Except it didn't happen. "Unfortunately, our agents talked us out of it. They said we would be crazy to go to a WB mid-season [show] when we were going to get staffed in a fall premiere, a
highly publicized sitcom sandwiched between Roseanne and Home Improvement." Fury sighs when adding, "We thought we couldn't
lose. We let our agents talk us out of it and we took that show, which of
course
ended after eighteen episodes. Meanwhile, we watched Buffy become
a phenomenon
in its first season." With perfect comedic timing, Fury waits a beat before adding, "We fired our agents and got new agents who happened to be Joss' agents,
coincidentally."
With new representation and a television season come and gone, David and
Elin
approached their common agents with a request: 'We'd really, really like to get in to see Joss again.' Expecting a rejection "because we turned him down in the first season," they instead found Joss open to a new meeting. David explains, "He
brought us in during the second season to pitch to him. We pitched him a
story
he bought right away [Go Fish]. A success all around, Mutant Enemy
then
approached the duo about signing on as full-time writers for the series.
But
circumstances would yet again prove to be a stumbling block. Looking back
at
the timeline, David explains, "At that point, Elin and I were splitting up
as
a writing team. She got offered Mad About You so we had to turn down
the
job yet again. It just seemed like fate was against us. We missed out on
the
first season. We missed out on the second season and now we were missing
out
on the third season so it must not be meant to be." Grasping at a last option, David remembers, "I said to my agent 'Would Joss considering letting me freelance by myself?' At that point Joss had never read anything that I had written by myself." Imagine David's shock when Joss said "Yup, I want to give him the chance to do that." David adds, "That
[episode] was Helpless, which sealed my fate. After that, they said, "You're
coming onto the show. We want you to write the second episode of Angel,
the show that we are developing, and we want you to come onto staff next
year."
"Helpless" is David's first solo Buffy episode
David was now part of the
team, and the "frustrated actor" turned writer found a home that allowed
him to flourish beyond his wildest dreams. He started as a Producer
and quickly climbed the title ladder, achieving Co-Executive Producer
status on Buffy in a brisk three years. Last season, he was also
made a Consulting Producer on the spin-off, Angel. On the writing
front, he's responsible for all or part of seventeen episodes of Buffy
and all or part of eight episodes of Angel. That's a lot of time
away from the acting he so dearly loves, yet he admits that it's been
far from frustrating. "What this particular show and Angel have
afforded me has been the opportunity to do all sorts of things. The
thing I've loved about working here is that I've been able to act -
little acting jobs [a demon on Angel and The Mustard Guy in the
Buffy musical episode]. I've been able to direct and write and
edit." He continues, "I don't mind being a writer then because it's
not about me being categorized as a writer. Writing is just the ticket
that gets me inside. And once I'm inside, I can do anything I want and
that's exciting to me. As long as I can continue to do that, I don't
feel I have the need to focus on any one aspect of it. If I can continue
to do a little acting here and there, to do some directing here and
there, to do whatever…some make-up, maybe some costumes," he adds laughing,
"It's just the fact that I've had the opportunity to do all of it is
a great plus."
