Dollhouse, Firefly, Angel, Buffy : news, photos & videos

Jane Espenson - "Caprica" Tv Series - She steps aside

Webmaster — 2009-11-17T09:09:30Z

Jane Espenson Steps Aside As 'Caprica' Showrunner

Will be replaced by Kevin Murphy on the 'Battlestar Galactica' spinoff so she can concentrate more on writing

Syfy once said it was excited to have former "Battlestar Galactica" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" writer Jane Espenson take on showrunning duties for its upcoming prequel show "Caprica." But now, that excitement is shifting to Espenson going back to her roots.

Espenson is out as showrunner, replaced by Kevin Murphy, who joined "Caprica" last month as a co-executive producer to work on the second half of the show's first season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Espenson is not leaving the show, however. She will remain an executive producer with Murphy and "Battlestar Galactica" developer Ronald D. Moore. Instead, according to a Syfy spokeswoman, Espenson wanted to focus more on writing than management.

"She and Kevin switched up duties a bit during the second half of 'Caprica' Season 1," a Syfy spokeswoman told Airlock Alpha. "Jane decided to get back into some more intensive writing rather than running the room, and so ... Kevin has been taking a bit more of a lead in breaking stories as a result."

However, the spokeswoman added, this is simply "business as usual."

It "doesn't change anything," she said. "And Jane, along with Ron and David, is still an exec producer."

Murphy was a co-executive producer for ABC's "Desperate Housewives" for three seasons between 2004 and 2007 and was a consulting producer for The CW series "Reaper." He wrote two episodes of "Reaper" and nine episodes of "Desperate Housewives" during his tenure at those two shows.

He also wrote 11 episodes of the "Weird Science" television series in the mid-1990s.

Last September, reports surfaced that "Caprica" was in trouble after a production shutdown. At the time, Espenson told Airlock Alpha that the shutdown was more for scheduling adjustments for the Winter Olympic Games that were coming to "Caprica's" home, Vancouver, B.C.

Mark Stern, head of original programming at Syfy, told reporters, including Airlock Alpha, visiting the "Caprica" set last month that a production shutdown was needed to take a breather.

"We actually took a break, shut down for a few weeks, so that we could, at the mid-point, regroup and say, 'OK, what have we learned from the first 10, and where do we want to from here,'" Stern said at the time.

"Caprica" is set to premiere Jan. 22 on Syfy.

Jane Espenson - "Caprica" Tv Series - She comments the bad rumours

Webmaster — 2009-09-16T19:55:20Z

It doesn't take much to stir up fandom, but if there's one word of advice : Be wary of uncorroborated information.

CinemaSpy this week kicked up some concern that the new "Battlestar Galactica" spinoff series was in trouble. Using a single anonymous source they said had been "100 percent accurate" in the past, the site described the behind-the-scenes of the show that is set to premiere in January as if it were a part of the new Roland Emmerich film "2012."

"A trusted industry insider informed CinemaSpy on Saturday that production faces suspension on 'Caprica' due to serious script problems/shortfalls, and that the future of the series may well be in jeopardy," site reporter Robert Falconer wrote. "From what we've been told, the producers haven't been altogether happy with the caliber of the stories."

The issue is that how the producers really feel is the exact opposite of what CinemaSpy suggests, and our source should know, because she's the executive producer of "Caprica," Jane Espenson.

"I'm one of the producers and I'm absolutely thrilled with the work my writers have done," Espenson told Airlock Alpha.

There is a possibility that production could in fact shut down, but not for the reasons that recently plagued the ABC series "V." In fact, the shutdown really has nothing to do with the show itself. It has more to do with the fact that Vancouver, B.C., where "Caprica" is filmed, will soon be overrun by international athletes in town for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"The Olympics might require a couple scheduling adjustments," Espenson said. "Those are probably being misunderstood."

Over the years, Airlock Alpha has established some strong sources inside Syfy and NBC Universal, including those who correctly informed us that when NBCU picked up "Battlestar Galactica" for just a half-season in its fourth season with the option to pick up more episodes, if the network were to order the back half of the season, it would be to wrap up the series.

Soon after NBCU picked up the back-half of the season order, it announced it would end the show after four seasons.

These same sources, however, have not expressed any concern for "Caprica," and instead have been glowing about how production is coming together under Espenson, who is getting her first crack at a showrunner's position. And just to add that production shutdowns are most typically ordered by the studios, not producers, and usually come with some sort of a creative shakeup.

Even Espenson, who wrote some memorable episodes of "Battlestar Galactica" and has been involved in other genre series such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dollhouse," has been excited about what's to come on the show.

"'Caprica' moving ahead so fast," Espenson wrote on her Twitter feed over the weekend. "Eps nine, 10, 11, 12 on their way ... 13 taking shape ! Season 1 is going to be all wrote up !"

"Caprica" premieres Jan. 22 on Syfy.

Jane Espenson - "Andy Barker, P.I." Tv Series - DVD out on November 17, 2009

Webmaster — 2009-08-21T21:40:03Z

Click on the link :

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Andy-Barker-PI-The-Complete-Series/12506

Bid for teddy bears signed by Jane Espenson and Felicia Day

Webmaster — 2009-08-12T12:43:29Z

Click on the link :

http://www.lisawalks.com/ptb2009.htm

Jane Espenson - "Caprica" Tv Series - Have We Really Seen the Last of Battlestar Galactica ?

Webmaster — 2009-07-26T20:34:14Z

Battlestar Galactica and Caprica series masterminds Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson, and BSGverse stars Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales (plus, surprise guest Grace Park !), gathered at Comic-Con this morning to share some great news with fans about the prospects for more of the critically acclaimed sci-fi saga. Comic-Con 2009 Franchise Brick

Want to hear Edward James Olmos' pitch for the next Battlestar Galactica movie ?

Wanna know when Caprica is finally premiering on your TV after a years-long gestation ?

Or would you care to hear how Caprica is catnip for the Buffy fans of the world ? Read on...

Battlestar Galactica : The Plan

Jane Espenson called her script for the Battlestar Galactica continuation film The Plan "a puzzle," because it retells much of the BSG mythology from the Cylon point of view, strictly adhering to the canonical timeline while still telling an entertaining, darkly humorous tale. In a nutshell, said Espenson, we fans can expect The Plan to be about "What happened on the other side of that door after she walks through." The Plan director Edward James Olmos, meanwhile, said simply, "You will freak out."

For now, Edward James Olmos just wants you BSG fans to buy The Plan on Blu-ray when it comes out on Oct. 27 (Eddie's really into Blu-ray for some reason), but he also insisted, "I can guarantee you this will not be the last movie on Battlestar Galactica." And what might that movie be about ? Well, one fan wanted to know if Olmos had thought out about what happened to Adm. Bill Adama after the close of the series, and Olmos told us, "I've actually written an entire script already on exactly what happened to him. Let me put it to you this way : When you next see Adama, he will be in a rustic log cabin, and there will be a knock on the door. And it will be his old friend Col. Tigh saying, 'We have a problem.' And that's how the journey begins."

Caprica

The best Caprica news out of the panel is that the series finally has a launch date ! Set your TiVos for Friday, Jan. 22, 2010 for the broadcast premiere, which will include cuts for TV (fewer boobies) as well as some new footage not seen on the DVD.

And for those of us who are already Caprica fans, thanks to the movie released on DVD earlier this year, executive producers Eick, Moore and Espenson provided a little color to Comic-Con attendees, sketching out the political and aesthestic world we'll be stepping into when the series launches. According to Jane, Eick and RDM, Caprica the series is set before the unification of the Twelve Colonies, so there will be a lot of detail about the sometimes warring cultures of those planets. (In case you're not up on your Battlestar Galactica backstory, the human-populated Twelve Colonies were all but destroyed at the beginning of the series by the genocidal Cylons.)

So this spinoff is a prequel of sorts, rather than a sequel, and according to Moore, "We wanted it to feel like a period piece, because it is a period piece within the Galactica setting. It's set 58 years prior to BSG. And we wanted to communicate different cultural identities...The Taurons are more overtly 1940s. There are hats and ties and cigarettes." Or as Espenson explained, "It's also before the political unification of the colonies, so there's more sense that we can differentiate people from the colonies by dress and tattoos and culture."

Eick shared that there are other visual differences between Galactica and Caprica : "Photographically it's not as wild or as vérité. We're making a comment that this is before the fall of Rome, so it's not as visually chaotic. It's a little bit more elegant, a little bit more subtle." Still in the midst of that serenity and beauty, there are the seeds of disaster. Eick said, "There are tensions and discriminations and biases. There's a certain racist thread that runs through the relationships in terms of Taurons and Capricans. We're definitely trading on some of those more allegorical social issues like we did on Battlestar."

By the way, Jane Espenson (who wrote on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then Battlestar Galactica and who will be the Caprica show runner) wants you Joss Whedon acolytes to know that they should consider watching Caprica. "There's a little tiny essence of Buffy in this. We've got an angry teenage girl and a robot." Nice.

Jane Espenson - "Caprica" Tv Series - Scifiwire.com Interview

Webmaster — 2009-07-26T19:24:39Z

Jane Espenson wrote and executive-produced Battlestar Galactica : The Plan, and now she's the show runner for the upcoming BSG prequel Caprica. She spoke with reporters about her newfound geek celebrity at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday.

About her sci-fi celebrity, she laughed. "It looks like that from the outside," she said. "It doesn't feel like that from in here. Because I'm going like, 'Oy, Tim Minear is getting to do Alien Nation. I want to do Alien Nation.' But I realize I can't do everything sci-fi. But I so much want to. But I am loving that after years in sitcoms, I seem to have found a niche that fits me, and it's working."

We asked her about The Plan and whether it was difficult to get into the Cylon mindset. "I love writing immoral characters," she said. "I don't find it hard at all. I don't know what that says about me. But anytime you write a scene, one of the great things about writing dialogue, ... you are forced to be every character in the scene, and switch back and forth, so any scene where you're writing either a villain or a shallow person or a self-deluded person or an immoral person of any kind, you're putting yourself in their place. And I think that's just plain fun. I have no problem with it. I don't want to go out and do what they're doing, but I certainly think it's valuable to put yourself in their head. And I really think ... that's how we should deal with people that we see in day-to-day life or in big geopolitical stuff. ... 'Well, they're crazy.' ... 'Well, are they ?' If I just understood their point of view, would I be able to see how they got to the crazy point of view and actually deal with it ? And I think that's really a valuable skill."

She talked about her favorite Caprica characters to write. "Sister Clarice [Polly Walker] is going to blow your underpants off," Espenson said. "She is an amazing character. Really, really fun to write. Lacy's [Magda Apanowicz] got a really distinctive voice. Serge [Jim Thomson], the little house robot, is like my favorite character now. He's so much fun to write. ... Very earnest, wants to help, but has a rather fundamental artificial intelligence, so he's sort of limited in what he can do. But you sort of get the sense that he wants to do more. I just love writing for Serge. But they're all fun. ... Sam, the gangster brother. So much fun to write, because I find that I'm making an effort not to write him as a gangster, 'dees and dos' kind of guy. I want to write him as self-educated and thoughtful. I'm trying keep his grammar perfect, or close to, you know. And yet have you believe that he's a gangster. It's so fun to take away the cues that only say gangster and yet keep him in that job. I'm finding Sam both a challenge and the most rewarding to write."

She also gave us a glimpse into creating the different planets. "I'm trying really hard to go against stereotypes," Espenson said. "Bob Harris actually wrote a document for the writers to use as their internal guide that's about the culture of these 12 colonies, and he worked really hard to go, 'This one is like India, except ... ' and then all the different ways in which a planet could have a really large impoverished underclass, and it has other things going on. It's also the home to some of the finest resorts in all of the colonies. So who works at those resorts, and what are their lives like ? You just go, there's 12 TV series here, ... and the colonies are big. You don't just go, this is the desert one, this is the jungle one. ... How does that work ? And what about a colony like Libran that's just sort of a wildlife preserve, and the international court system. ... It's so much fun. We're not just making a planet. We're making 12 of them."

Jane Espenson - "Caprica" Tv Series - Theflickcast.com Interview

Webmaster — 2009-07-22T10:04:10Z

Writer and producer Jane Espenson has written, or co-written, episodes of some of the most popular and successful TV shows in recent memory. Getting her start on Star Trek : The Next Generation, Espenson also worked on hugely popular shows such as Buffy : The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and one of the most celebrated series ever on TV, Battlestar Galactica.

More recently, Espenson has written for Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, wrote the BSG TV movie The Plan and she is now Executive Producer on the upcoming BSG prequel series Caprica. Recently, I had an opportunity to talk with Espenson about, among other things, The Plan, Caprica, Dollhouse budget cuts and the move to the internet from traditional media.

CHRIS ULLRICH : What can you tell us about The Plan ? It supposedly shows Battlestar Galactica entirely from the Cylon perspective, correct ?

JANE ESPENSON : Technically, that's correct, but perhaps misleading. It shows events from the series from the POV of two very specific Cylons, not from the point of view of them as a group.

CU : What was the impetus to create something like The Plan ? Was it a side of the story you or others (Ron Moore, David Eick, etc.) felt was not sufficiently explored in the original series ?

JE : The idea came, I think, from the network, who wanted to know if there was a movie to be done. When we looked back, we saw that we had a chance to tie up some loose ends and have some fun with the events from the early years of the show.

CU : Do all the BSG characters appear in “The Plan” ? Or, is it primarily just the Cylon characters ?

JE : There is a mix of BSG characters in the show — not everyone, but lots of them.

CU : Will we learn more about the Cylon's religious or philosophical beliefs or more about the creation of the Cylons in human form during The Plan ?

JE : Yes — the former more than the latter. Cavil's beliefs are explored in particular. Dean Stockwell does an amazing job in The Plan.

CU : Can we expect any surprises or revelations when watching The Plan ? Things hinted at during the original series maybe ?

JE : You will have moments of “Ahhh… that's how that happened.”

CU : Edward James Olmos has said that after watching The Plan fans will want to go back and watch the entire series again to see “what they missed.” What do you think about that ?

JE : Yes, I think he's exactly right — Eddie is usually exactly right. The Plan sort of takes you behind events you've seen before — like going backstage — and you'll probably want to look back to see how the same event played originally.

CU : Is “The Plan” supposed to be the final word on “original” BSG as we know it or do you, Ron Moore and David Eick have more movies up your collective sleeve ?

JE : I have nothing up MY sleeve. You'll have to interview their sleeves to get the final answer on that one.

CU : Turing to Caprica, how did you get involved in that show ?

JE : I got involved after the pilot was done — written, shot, cut. Ron called and asked me to come run the writers' room with an eye toward easing into a showrunner position. It's been fun and exhausting and incredibly educational… and we haven't even started shooting yet !

CU : For those who haven't seen the DVD yet, can you give us a bit of info about the story of Caprica and the characters ?

JE : Caprica is set in the colonies 58 years before the events that launch the BSG series (the Cylon attack). It's the story of the events leading to the creation of the first Cylon (not the first skinjob), and the events that follow.

It's not like BSG in that it's not a war story. It's more serialized, with stories based in the lives of characters living in a culture that driving itself toward its own destruction.

We've got organized crime and religious conflict and terrorism and show business and corporate misdeeds and robots. The tone is not unlike Mad Men or Rome or Sopranos — lots of events, often dark events, but with a light enough touch to allow all the irony and denial of real life. We concentrate on two families : The Graystones and the Adamas, and the people around them.

CU : Can we expect to see any BSG characters showing up on Caprica ? Some of our favorite Cylons perhaps ?

JE : It's possible that some BSG characters could appear on the show, but it's not something we're making an effort to do.

CU : How far will Caprica go story-wise ? Will we see how the first Cylon / Human war begins, for example ? What's the “five year plan” for the series ?

JE : This is still open to discussion. We have road maps, but they're subject to rewrite, elaboration and sudden inspiration.

CU : After a bit of a slow start, Dollhouse has turned out to be a very good show and I'm glad its coming back. Can you tell us about some of the changes that were made during the season to improve the show or take it in a different direction ?

JE : My impression — and this really is just my impression — was that the show got closer and closer to Joss's original vision for the show. As the show progressed, Joss was able to get deeper into the mythology and meaning of the show, which was all the stuff that fascinated me so much. I love the show and loved working there.

CU : Will you be writing more episodes of Dollhouse next season or taking a more active producing role on the show ?

JE : I wish I could. Caprica has me too busy to take on anything outside of that.

CU : What do you think the reduced budget will do to the show next season ? Will it have an impact of the kids of stories that can be told ?

JE : Budgets are smaller all over. This limits the number of sets you can have, the number of speaking roles and extras, number of special effects, and it can cut the number of shooting days which can lead to fewer locations used in each episode. This will favor stories that take place on the standing sets, using only the regular characters.

It moves the action off-screen (you'll tend to hear about the big riot rather than seeing it). There's a lot of elasticity in story-telling and you can do a lot of this without it showing too badly — sometimes you even are forced into creative solutions. But you can only go so far and then it's a show about sock puppets. Budgets are getting awfully small.

CU : Was it always the plan to have Echo realize she was a Doll or, at the very least, that something was “wrong” during the first season ?

JE : My understanding was yes, that was the plan.

CU : Was Ballard always supposed to be a main character on Dollhouse and discover its secrets ? It seemed his role was amplified during the first few episodes to become more of a main character ?

JE : I certainly believed that he was always intended as a main character.

CU : With all the problems series creators seems to face these days getting shows on the air or finding an audience quickly, do you think creators will turn more and more to the internet to make their shows ? Much like Joss did with Dr. Horrible ?

JE : I don't know. I'd love to see a really pure-writer medium develop. I'm watching and waiting.

Jane Espenson - "Caprica" Tv Series - Pilot DVD - Available for order !

Webmaster — 2009-07-05T19:23:00Z

An astonishing breakthrough is taking shape on the planet Caprica. The rapidly evolving spheres of human and mechanical engineering have collided, along with the fates of two families. Joined by tragedy in an explosive instant of terror, two rival clans led by powerful patriarchs, Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) and Daniel Greystone (Eric Stoltz) duel in an era of questionable ethics, corporate machinations and unbridled personal ambition as the final war for humanity looms. The latest phenomenon from the executive producers of Battlestar Galactica (Ronald D. Moore and David Eick), set in a time over 50 years earlier, Caprica is entirely its own world - provocative, thrilling and startling relevant to our own.

Click on the cover to order :

Jane Espenson is on Twitter.com

Webmaster — 2009-06-28T19:49:08Z

Click on the link :

http://twitter.com/CapricaSeven

Jane Espenson - "Caprica" Tv Series - Pilot DVD - Available for order !

Webmaster — 2009-06-21T10:35:20Z

Click on the cover to order :