Quotes from Joss Whedon

Half of writing history is hiding the truth.

People used to laugh that academics would study Disney movies. There's nothing more important for academics to study, because they shape the minds of our children possibly more than any single thing.

What 'Scream' was great at was presenting ironic detachment and then making you actually care about the people that were having it, and juxtaposing it with their situation, all in the service of making a great horror movie. It was fresh.

Do you love me? What? Do you? I love you. I don't know if I trust you. Maybe you shouldn't do either. Maybe I'm the one who should decide!

I love comics, very much, and I love being alone, but I also love the other part. I love actors, and I love filmed entertainment, and that is not something I plan to turn my back on.

You go to movies to see people you love suffer - that's why you go to the movies. You don't go to see a movie about a guy who already knows he has a wonderful life.

I love all genres. The only thing I get stymied by is the Family Drama. I don't necessarily know how to approach that.

My first gig ever was writing looplines for a movie that had already been made. You know, writing lines over somebody's back to explain something, to help make a connection, to add a joke, or to just add babble because the people are in frame and should be saying something.

You know, I always was an early morning or late night writer. Early morning was my favorite; late night was because you had a deadline. And at four in the morning you make up some of your most absurd jokes.

I always was an early-morning or late-night writer. Early morning was my favorite; late night was because you had a deadline. And at four in the morning, you make up some of your most absurd jokes.

Sarah Michelle Gellar's made some really good choices. She's had some bad breaks. She goes with the independent, interesting young filmmakers and then they get slammed, like 'Southland Tales.' I'm proud of what she's trying to do. It's hard.

I've often said there's no such thing as a track record in TV. I seen people who created things much more successful than mine treated like dirt.

I find that when you read a script, or rewrite something, or look at something that's been gone over, you can tell, like rings on a tree, by how bad it is, how long it's been in development.

It's only recently women got to be action heroes on TV. Progress is slow, and often non-existent. There's plenty of cool comics with female characters... But all it takes is one Catwoman to set the cause back a decade.

All of the most important lessons about writing I learned from my father. He never set out to teach me anything, it would just be something he said casually in conversation.

I respect the rules of TV, the rules of keeping things commercial and interesting and pop-y and fun.

Always be yourself... unless you suck.

Absolutely eat dessert first. The thing that you want to do the most, do that.

Kristen Stewart is kind of captivating; she can just stare at stuff and it works because I still want to watch it.

"'Come on, guys, I'm the leader of a whole movie...!' I tell when I want people to fear and respect me. Not wildly effective."

I tried to write a TV series, and then I discovered first of all that I love writing more than anything on this earth, and that you could write exactly as well as you want to.

I don't know a lot of show runners. I mean I met a lot of them in picket lines. I'm not part of a, like, secret society or pickup basketball game. As far as I'm concerned, pick-up basketball games are secret societies. They confuse me. I've never been a networker or I've never been very social.

I love a good romantic comedy.

I always believe in just have as much fun as you can so that when you're in the part that you hate, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, that you're close to finished.