Jane Espenson

Jane Espenson
Role:	Co-Executive Producer Writer
BSG Universe:	Re-imagined Series
Date of Birth:	July 14, 1964
Date of Death:	Missing required parameter 1=month! ,
Age:	61
Nationality:	USA
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IMDb profile

Jane Espenson was a Co-Executive Producer and writer for the Re-imagined series of Battlestar Galactica, and an Executive Producer on its spin-off Caprica. She began writing for Battlestar Galactica in season 3 and joined the production staff in season 4.

Early Life and Career

Jane Espenson was born on July 14, 1964 in Ames, Iowa, where she admits she watched too much television. (Starsky and Hutch was reportedly a favorite.) At age 13 she took a stab at writing an episode of M*A*S*H.

She attended college at the University of California, Berkeley, studying linguistics as an undergraduate and graduate student. While in grad school, she submitted spec episodes to Star Trek: The Next Generation.

After winning a spot in the Walt Disney writers' fellowship (1992-93), Espenson worked in sitcoms for a number of years. She is also a Star Trek alumnus, having written the Deep Space Nine season 4 episode "Accession".

Buffy and Genre Television Career

Her first staff job on a drama was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which she joined in the middle of Season 3. Espenson wrote 23 episodes of the show, more than any other writer besides showrunners Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon. During her stint on Buffy, she wrote the Hugo Award-winning episode "Conversations with Dead People." Espenson would go on to write for two other Joss Whedon TV series, Firefly, and the Buffy spinoff, Angel.

Espenson did a year as Co-Executive Producer at Gilmore Girls, and brief stints as Co-Executive Producer of the cancelled FOX dramas Tru Calling and The Inside. Next, she served as Co-Executive Producer of the sitcom Jake in Progress, which was also short-lived.

Along the way, she also wrote an episode of The O.C. as well as several episodes of the animated series "The Batman." At the time she joined Battlestar Galactica, she was also working on comedian Andy Richter's series Andy Barker P.I.

Joining Battlestar Galactica

Getting the Assignment

Espenson actively pursued the opportunity to write for Battlestar Galactica, describing herself as "a huge fan of the series." She revealed in a 2006 interview with Battlestar Galactica: The Official Magazine that she essentially begged for the chance to work on the show.

"Well, I just begged!" Espenson explained. "I fell in love with Battlestar. I was so excited to sign my deal at NBC/Universal knowing that it was one of their properties. The first chance I could get, I told my agent to please, please, please get me a meeting with Ron Moore, who I knew a bit."

Espenson had met Moore many years earlier when she sold a premise to Star Trek: The Next Generation, where Moore worked as a story editor. "I met him many years ago on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I had sold a premise there and had very vivid memories of my meetings with Ron, who was a story editor at the time. I really liked him and thought he was really smart. I told my agents that he may remember me from a dozen years ago as a grad student just trying to get into the business. Sure enough, he must have remembered me, because I got the meeting."

When Espenson met with Moore and David Eick, she was direct about her intentions: "I went in and sat down with him and David Eick and I just said, 'I want to write for this show.'" The producers were in the middle of their production year and had no budget to hire a writer, but they did have enough money for one freelance episode. "Again, I just completely begged. 'Yes, anything. Give me anything. I'll write anything, just let me write an episode!' I knew I would have to do it pretty soon too, because I was being put on staff [at Andy Barker P.I.]."

Writing "The Passage"

Espenson was assigned to write "The Passage," the ninth episode of Season 3. Unlike many freelance situations where writers pitch their own stories, the Battlestar Galactica staff had already broken the episode before assigning it to her.

"I was very eager to get in there and right away, I got called in. I came in and they already had the 3x5 cards all pinned up to the corkboard. They had broken the episode into scenes and I didn't have to come in and pitch anything. I was so delighted because then I could start right away. It was a great episode. They had given me a really meaty one with lots of great stuff and this great tone."

Espenson compared the episode's structure to the Miniseries' opening: "In the first episode after the mini-series, '33,' you are dropped right into the middle of this tense situation from the very first frame, and my episode is just like that. I couldn't believe I was being handed such a plum! I was thrilled."

To immerse herself in Season 3's ongoing storylines, Espenson had an initial meeting with Moore and Eick where they discussed where the season was heading. "They loaded me down with scripts, so I got to go home and read scripts and outlines for things that hadn't yet been scripted, so I knew where the season was going. Then I had a day with the writers. Ron was there for half the day and then he went away to write. I was with the rest of the writers and I just pummeled them with questions."

Her questions ranged from broad thematic concerns to specific details: "Big questions about the overall arc for the show: where is it going, how much do you guys know, what do you consider Ron's attitude on the political stance of the show and the religious stance of the show? I asked a bunch of questions like that to make sure that I really understood the show and that I didn't have [a] gross misunderstanding on some level. I felt pretty good about that and then I was on my own writing with very little communication."

Creative Freedom and Collaboration

Espenson was surprised by the creative freedom the Battlestar Galactica staff gave her. "I had a lot more freedom than you normally have. I was told that I could have fun. I could experiment and introduce elements and move act breaks around. I got to know the writers, who are an amazing bunch, really sharp. They all agreed and said, 'Feel free.' It's very unusual, so I really had fun. I got to completely play around with it and introduce a lot of things that were my own. I changed something that I wasn't responding to and dropped a few extra characters that I didn't think we needed."

Despite the freedom, Espenson remained concerned about potentially damaging the series: "And every time I did it, I was like, 'I could be ruining the whole thing. I could be ruining my favorite show!' But I turned in that first draft and got such a good response."

The notes she received were consistent with feedback she had gotten throughout her career: "I got the note I always get which is, 'a little too much comedy.' My instinct and fear is that it's not entertaining if it's not comedic. Every year I learn that same lesson - that it doesn't have to be a joke to be interesting. I also upped the tension every draft. They kept saying, 'make it more tense and more dire.' Every draft I kept getting the kindest emails from the writers, encouraging me and pointing things out."

Some notes were technical in nature, addressing Espenson's unfamiliarity with specific aspects of the Battlestar Galactica universe: "I kept referring the ships as 'the' whatever. I also didn't know that if there are two ships and one has jumped, there can't be wireless communication between them. With the speed of sound all that makes sense, but I hadn't thought of that and in the last pass I had to change that."

Espenson wrote four drafts of the script, with each draft getting stronger. "I came in way long. I had to take out 10 pages, which was so painful. I wrote four drafts. Ron gives amazing notes that are sometimes very precise and sometimes very general, like, 'Make sure that we are really sensing that this character is feeling this way at this point. Maybe a scene earlier would help. It's up to you.' So they give you what mood to go for and you are given the freedom to figure out how to get there."

The collaborative nature of the Battlestar Galactica writers' room meant that Espenson's episode evolved as other episodes in the season developed: "Of course, they were also sending me every subsequent draft of all the other scripts that were being written. So I actually saw things changing in episode seven that affected my episode and I was able to adjust to them."

Integration with Season Arc

The biggest challenge came when Espenson was brought back for an additional day in the writers' room at Moore's house, where the staff was breaking episodes 10 and 11. "Again, I just begged, 'Can I come along?' They said sure, and I mostly just listened and that ended up having retroactive effects on episode nine because it had things I had to set up for 10 and 11. So I went home and rewrote it entirely to accommodate what was coming next."

Espenson explained how Moore's approach to giving writers freedom created both challenges and opportunities: "Ron gives the writers so much freedom that you can end up with episodes that don't match, so Ron does a lot of work in the second and third drafts to smooth all that stuff out so everything actually leads into everything. On a lot of shows, you actually finish one episode before you start breaking the next one and you end up with disconnects. On this show, because a lot of stuff is being written all at once and are in progress at the same time, they can be adjusted so you end up with that wonderful sense of things paying off and feeling surprising, but inevitable. You really get it because the episodes are considered chapters in a novel. It's all of a piece and it all makes sense and all pays off."

On Writing the Characters

When asked what was most fun to write, Espenson focused on the characters: "The characters. My God, just getting to write for Baltar and Adama... It really feels like writing for real people."

On the Show's Growing Recognition

Reflecting on the series' growing cultural impact in 2006, Espenson observed: "I really feel the year of the Battlestar happening. I feel critical mass happening. So many people are working their way through the DVDs or have them ordered or just finished watching them - a ridiculous amount of people. I feel like the mentions that it's getting in other programs, like the 'Rooster Rocket' comic strip and it was mentioned on The Office. You just hear about it mentioned in pop culture the way that you do when something starts catching fire, like the way Buffy did."

Regarding the possibility of writing another episode, Espenson expressed her enthusiasm: "I'm hoping. I'd like to think there would have been a second freelance episode, except that I am on staff at Andy, which I am thrilled about so I won't have time. I certainly would want to write another one. I would really like to be on staff there and we'll see what happens!"

Battlestar Galactica and Caprica Showrunner

Espenson's initial freelance work on "The Passage" eventually led to a staff position on Battlestar Galactica. During the last season of Battlestar Galactica, executive producer Ronald D. Moore began handing greater production and post-production responsibilities to Espenson.

She wrote and executive produced the DVD movie The Plan, and as Caprica began to develop from pilot to series in early 2009, Espenson was appointed as that series' showrunner. However, by November 2009, Espenson had handed the showrunner reins to Kevin Murphy, in order to concentrate on writing.

Espenson told science fiction blog io9:

"I'm still at Caprica. Running the room was very intensive and took a lot of time away from actually writing this amazing ambitious show. I missed the writing more than I expected and this was my decision to concentrate on that as we put together the big end of season one. Kevin is extremely smart and talented and brings fresh eyes and fresh energy to the project — we're so lucky to have him!"

Espenson continued to serve as an executive producer on Caprica until its cancellation.

Writer credits for Battlestar Galactica

• Season 3:
  • "The Passage"
  • "Dirty Hands" (with Anne Cofell Saunders)

• Season 4:
  • "Escape Velocity"
  • "The Hub"
  • "Deadlock"

• Other Media:
  • "Face of the Enemy" (with Seamus Kevin Fahey)
  • "The Plan"

Writer credits for Caprica

• Gravedancing (with Michael Angeli)
• Apotheosis (with Kevin Murphy)

See also: Episodes written by Jane Espenson

References

External Links

• Jane Espenson website
• Jane Espenson article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki.

• Jane Espenson interview at GALACTICA.TV
• Jane Espenson Interview at AMCtv.com