Editing Jane Espenson (section)

==Career==
In 1992, Espenson won a spot in the Disney Writing Fellowship,<ref name="CNN Profile"/> which led to work on a number of sitcoms, including ABC's comedy ''[[Dinosaurs (TV series)|Dinosaurs]]'' and [[Touchstone Television]]'s short-lived ''[[Monty (TV series)|Monty]]''. This was followed by work on the short-lived sitcoms ''[[Me and the Boys (TV series)|Me and the Boys]]'', and ''[[Something So Right (TV series)|Something So Right]]''. In 1997 she joined the writing staff of Ellen Degeneres's sitcom ''[[Ellen (TV series)|Ellen]]''.<ref name="CNN Profile"/>

===''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''===

After years in sitcoms, Espenson decided to switch from comedic to dramatic writing and submitted her sample scripts to ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.<ref>[http://cinema.usc.edu/podcasts/mp3/espenson.mp3 Jane Espenson], an April 2007 episode (in [[MP3]] format) of the [[USC School of Cinematic Arts]] podcast series</ref>

In 1998, Espenson joined [[Mutant Enemy Productions]] as executive story editor for the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 3)|third season of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'']]. Over the rest of the run of the series, Espenson wrote or co-wrote twenty-three episodes, starting with "[[Band Candy (Buffy episode)|Band Candy]]" and ending with ''Buffy''{{'}}s penultimate episode, "[[End of Days (Buffy episode)|End of Days]]". After her role as an executive story editor, she was promoted to co-producer in [[List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes#Season 4 (1999–2000)|season four]]. In the [[List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes#Season 5 (2000–2001)|fifth season]] she was promoted again to producer. She took up the role of supervising producer in the [[List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes#Season 6 (2001–2002)|sixth season]] and was promoted once more to co-executive producer in the [[List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes#Season 7 (2002–2003)|final season]].

She wrote episodes both humorous (e.g. "[[Triangle (Buffy episode)|Triangle]]" and "[[Intervention (Buffy episode)|Intervention]]") and serious (such as "[[After Life (Buffy episode)|After Life]]"). Espenson and [[Drew Goddard]] co-wrote the seventh-season episode "[[Conversations with Dead People (Buffy episode)|Conversations with Dead People]]," for which they won the [[Hugo Award]] for [[Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form|Best Short Dramatic Presentation]] in 2003.<ref>[http://www.worldcon.org/hy.html#03 The Hugo Awards By Year] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123160133/http://www.worldcon.org/hy.html |date=2011-01-23 }} from the [[Worldcon]] website</ref>

Espenson is credited as the writer or co-writer of the following ''Buffy'' episodes:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin-right:auto; margin-right:auto"
! Episode number
! Title
! Credit
! Original air date
|-
| 3.06
| "[[Band Candy]]"
| Writer
| November 10, 1998
|-
| 3.11
| "[[Gingerbread (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Gingerbread]]"
| Teleplay (<small>story by Espenson & [[Thania St. John]]</small>)
| January 12, 1999
|-
| 3.18
| "[[Earshot (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Earshot]]"
| Writer
| September 21, 1999
|-
| 4.03
| "[[The Harsh Light of Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|The Harsh Light of Day]]"
| Writer
| October 19, 1999
|-
| 4.08
| "[[Pangs]]"
| Writer
| November 23, 1999
|-
| 4.11
| "[[Doomed (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Doomed]]"
| Writer (<small>with [[David Fury]] & [[Marti Noxon]]</small>)
| January 18, 2000
|-
| 4.12
| "[[A New Man]]"
| Writer
| January 25, 2000
|-
| 4.17
| "[[Superstar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Superstar]]"
| Writer
| April 4, 2000
|-
| 5.03
| "[[The Replacement (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|The Replacement]]"
| Writer
| October 10, 2000
|-
| 5.11
| "[[Triangle (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Triangle]]"
| Writer
| January 9, 2001
|-
| 5.12
| "[[Checkpoint (Buffy episode)|Checkpoint]]"
| Writer (<small>with [[Douglas Petrie]]</small>)
| January 23, 2001
|-
| 5.15
| "[[I Was Made to Love You]]"
| Writer
| February 20, 2001
|-
| 5.18
| "[[Intervention (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Intervention]]"
| Writer
| April 24, 2001
|-
| 6.03
| "[[After Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|After Life]]"
| Writer
| October 9, 2001
|-
| 6.04
| "[[Flooded (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Flooded]]"
| Writer (<small>with Douglas Petrie</small>)
| October 16, 2001
|-
| 6.05
| "[[Life Serial]]"
| Writer (<small>with David Fury</small>)
| October 23, 2001
|-
| 6.12
| "[[Doublemeat Palace]]"
| Writer
| January 29, 2002
|-
| 7.03
| "[[Same Time, Same Place]]"
| Writer
| October 8, 2002
|-
| 7.07
| "[[Conversations with Dead People]]"
| Writer (<small>with [[Drew Goddard]]</small>)
| November 12, 2002
|-
| 7.08
| "[[Sleeper (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Sleeper]]"
| Writer (<small>with David Fury</small>)
| November 19, 2002
|-
| 7.14
| "[[First Date (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|First Date]]"
| Writer
| February 11, 2003
|-
| 7.16
| "[[Storyteller (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Storyteller]]"
| Writer
| February 25, 2003
|-
| 7.21
| "[[End of Days (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|End of Days]]"
| Writer (<small>with Douglas Petrie</small>)
| May 13, 2003
|-
|}

She also co-/wrote several comic book stories for [[Tales of the Slayers]], [[Tales of the Vampires]] and [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight]], the [[One-shot (comics)|one-shots]] [[Jonathan (Buffy comic)|Jonathan]] and [[Reunion (Buffy comic)|Reunion]] and the [[Limited series (comics)|limited series]] [[Haunted (Buffy comic)|Haunted]].

===''Battlestar Galactica'' and ''Caprica''===

Espenson joined the crew of [[Sci Fi]]'s ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' (''BSG'') just after ''[[Battlestar Galactica: Razor]]'', BSG's first [[television movie]], was conceived.<ref>[http://www.janeespenson.com/archives/00000568.php 05/29/2008: Link Letters], an entry from Esperson's writer's blog</ref>  As one of BSG's co-executive producers, she worked on every fourth-season episode starting with "[[He That Believeth in Me]]"; she was also the writer of "[[Escape Velocity (Battlestar Galactica)|Escape Velocity]]" and "[[The Hub (Battlestar Galactica)|The Hub]]" and co-wrote ''[[Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy|The Face of the Enemy]]'' webisodes.  Prior to joining the show's staff she wrote [[The Passage (Battlestar Galactica)|one third-season episode]] and [[Dirty Hands (Battlestar Galactica)|co-wrote another]]. In August 2008, the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' broke the news that Espenson was the writer behind BSG's second television movie, ''[[Battlestar Galactica: The Plan|The Plan]],''<ref>[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/08/battlestar-gala.html Edward James Olmos will direct Cylon-centric special feature] from the Show Tracker blog of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''</ref> news confirmed in her writer's blog.<ref>[http://www.janeespenson.com/archives/00000591.php 08/22/2008: Intestinal Fortitude], an entry from Esperson's writer's blog</ref> In January 2009 it was announced that she had joined the spin-off series ''[[Caprica (TV series)|Caprica]]'' as co-executive producer and would take on showrunner duties midway through the first season.<ref name="veterans">{{cite news | author = Maureen Ryan | url = http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/01/caprica-battlestar-galactica-jane-espenson.html | title = 'Battlestar Galactica' veterans move on to 'Caprica' | date = 2009-01-23 | work = [[Chicago Tribune]] | access-date = 2009-01-23 | archive-date = 2018-07-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180720195116/http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/01/caprica-battlestar-galactica-jane-espenson.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> Espenson later gave up showrunning duties to focus more on writing.<ref>Conversations with Ross: Featuring Jane Espenson http://www.rosscarey.com/2012/04/24/episode-63-featuring-jane-espenson/</ref>

===''Torchwood''===
In August 2010 it was announced that ''[[Torchwood]]'' creator, lead writer and executive producer [[Russell T. Davies]] had hired Espenson to write for the show's fourth series, ''[[Torchwood: Miracle Day]]'' to be broadcast in 2011.<ref name="russellt">{{cite news |last=Zaino |first=Nick |url= http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/08/06/buffy-breaking-bad-writers-join-torchwood/ |title='Buffy', 'Breaking Bad' Writers Join 'Torchwood' |work=[[TV Squad]] |date=2010-08-06 |access-date=2010-08-06}}</ref> She later confirmed that she would be writing episodes 3, 5, 7 and co-writing episode 8 (with Ryan Scott)<ref>{{cite tweet|last=Espenson|first=Jane|title=I'm writing 3 5 7 and splitting the writing on 8.|user=JaneEspenson|number=28224676647931906|access-date=17 June 2020|date=20 January 2011}}</ref> and episode 10 (with Davies).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/JaneEspenson/status/60402913075400704|title=Jane Espenson on Twitter|date=April 19, 2011}}</ref> Prior to her involvement with Torchwood, Espenson had said she was a fan of the show, particularly the third series, "[[Children of Earth]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afterelton.com/people/2010/01/jane-espenson?page=0%2C3|title='Caprica's' Jane Espenson: 'It's Time for Sexuality to Be Incidental'|publisher=AfterElton|last=Jensen|first=Michael|date=20 January 2011|access-date=13 September 2011}}</ref> To tie in with the launch of ''Torchwood: Miracle Day'', Espenson and Scott collaborated on the Starz-produced 2011 ''Torchwood'' webseries entitled ''Torchwood: Web of Lies'', which stars American actress [[Eliza Dushku]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s8/torchwood/news/a322934/eliza-dushku-confirmed-for-torchwood-spinoff.html|title=Eliza Dushku confirmed for 'Torchwood' spinoff|date=3 June 2011|access-date=13 July 2011|work=Digital Spy|last=Jefferey|first=Morgan}}</ref> Following the broadcast of each episode of "Miracle Day" on Starz, Espenson wrote a blog on [[AfterElton]] mixing her reaction to the episode with behind the scenes information on the devising process.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afterelton.com/tv/2011/07/jane-espenson-torchwood-miracle-day-one |title=Exclusive! 'Jane's Take' Episode One 'Torchwood: Miracle Day' |publisher=After Elton |last=Espenson |first=Jane |date=2011-07-11 |access-date=2011-07-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713073754/http://www.afterelton.com/tv/2011/07/jane-espenson-torchwood-miracle-day-one |archive-date=2011-07-13 }}</ref>

===''Husbands''===
In 2011 Espenson also co-wrote and produced her first independent web series with partner Brad Bell. Entitled ''[[Husbands (Web series)|Husbands]]'', it revolved around the life of two newly married gay men. Espenson self-funded the first season. A Kickstarter campaign and the involvement of [[CW Seed]] allowed subsequent production. The show eventually comprised four "seasons" and concluded in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://husbandstheseries.com/bios/ |title=BIOS—Husbands |access-date=28 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719183200/http://husbandstheseries.com/bios/ |archive-date=19 July 2011 }}</ref> The series premiered Tuesday September 13, 2011. The series also generated ''Husbands'', a hardback comic-book collection of stories rendered in a variety of different drawing styles, from Dark Horse Comics. {{ISBN|9781616551308}}.

===''Once Upon a Time''===
In May 2011, Espenson was brought on to the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] [[Fantasy (genre)|fantasy]] series ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', as a writer and consulting producer.<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jane-espenson-liz-tigelaar-join-193496 "Jane Espenson, Liz Tigelaar Join ABC's 'Once Upon a Time{{'"}}]. Accessed 16 February 2012.</ref> She stayed with the show for its entire seven-year run, and became a co-executive producer on the project. She was also involved in creation and writing of the spin-off series ''[[Once Upon a Time in Wonderland]]''.<ref>[https://www.avclub.com/once-upon-a-time-in-wonderland-1798178235 "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland"]. Accessed 9 October 2013.</ref>

===''Game of Thrones''===
In 2011, working as a freelancer, Espenson wrote episode 6 of season 1 of ''[[Game of Thrones]]'', titled "[[A Golden Crown]]". It is notable as one of only four ''Game of Thrones'' episodes written by women.<ref>[https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2017/08/166479/game-of-thrones-episodes-written-by-women "Turns Out, Only Four Episodes of Game of Thrones Have Been Written by Women"]. Accessed 3 August 2017.</ref>

===''Jessica Jones''===
In 2015, during the hiatus between seasons of ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', Espenson consulted on the series ''[[Jessica Jones (TV series)|Jessica Jones]]'', earning a "thanks to" in the credits. In 2019, she returned for a larger role on the staff, and wrote the eleventh episode of the third season "[[A.K.A. Hellcat]]".

===''The Nevers''===
In 2018, Espenson joined the [[Home Box Office|HBO]] series ''[[The Nevers (TV series)|The Nevers]]'', as a writer and executive producer.<ref>[https://deadline.com/2019/08/the-nevers-joss-whedons-hbo-sci-fi-drama-series-adds-6-to-cast-1202668985/ "Joss Whedon's HBO Sci-Fi Drama Series Adds 6 to Cast"]. Accessed 15 April 2019.</ref> The series premiered on April 11, 2021.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/tv/hbo-max-boss-breaks-silence-game-thrones-joss-whedon-controversy/ |title=HBO boss breaks silence on Game of Thrones plans, Joss Whedon controversy, more |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |first=James |last=Hibberd |date=February 10, 2021 |access-date=February 11, 2021}}</ref>

===''Foundation''===
Espenson consulted on the [[Apple TV+]] series [[Foundation (TV series)|Foundation]] in season 1, joining the writing staff in season 2 with writing credits on half of the episodes.

===Other===
Espenson has written episodes for several other television shows, including episode 4.17 ("[[Accession (DS9 episode)|Accession]]") of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', and one episode ("[[Shindig (Firefly)|Shindig]]") of ''[[Firefly (television series)|Firefly]]''.  She has worked on ''[[Angel (1999 TV series)|Angel]]'', ''[[Tru Calling]]'', ''[[The Inside (TV series)|The Inside]]'', ''[[The Batman (TV series)|The Batman]]'', ''[[Andy Barker, P.I.]]'', ''[[Jake in Progress]]'' and ''[[Dollhouse (TV series)|Dollhouse]]'', and was the co-creator of ''[[Warehouse 13]]''.<ref>[https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/01/battlestar-ga-1.html 'Battlestar Galactica' countdown: Jane Espenson and the 'Buffy' connection] ''Los Angeles Times'', Jan 6 2009</ref>

Espenson is the editor of the book ''Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly'' ([[BenBella Books]], 2005, {{ISBN|1-933771-21-6}}), a collection of non-fiction essays on the short-lived television show ''Firefly''. She edited the follow-up collection ''Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe'' ([[BenBella Books]], 2007, {{ISBN|9781933771212}}) She is the editor of ''Inside Joss' Dollhouse: From Alpha to Rossum'' ([[BenBella Books]], 2010, {{ISBN|9781935251989}}), a similar collection of essays about ''Dollhouse''.

Espenson wrote the short story "What Holds Us Down", which appears in ''Still Flying'' from Titan Press, {{ISBN| 1848565062}}. Her short story "Int. Wolf-Night" appears in ''Empower: Fight Like a Girl'' {{ISBN|9780692210116}} She also has short stories which appear in the ''Tales of the Slayers'' book series. Her short story, "Nobel Prize Speech Draft of Paul Winterhoeven, With Personal Notes", was published in the September 2021 issue of ''Future Science Fiction Digest''.<ref>{{cite magazine| magazine=Future Science Fiction Digest | issue=12 | date=September 2021 | url=https://future-sf.com/issues/issue-12/ | title=Issue 12, Sep 2021| access-date=October 6, 2021}}</ref>

In 2016, Espenson served on the MoPOP (Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle) committee to select inductees into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.<ref>https://www.comicsblend.com/20th-anniversary-science-fiction-fantasy-hall-of-fame-inductees-are/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214213806/https://www.comicsblend.com/20th-anniversary-science-fiction-fantasy-hall-of-fame-inductees-are/ |date=2019-12-14 }} {{Bare URL inline|date=March 2022}}</ref> She is featured as a video/voice commentator in the museum itself.

Espenson has written for three of the 101 Best Television Series as determined by the Writers Guild of America: ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''Game of Thrones'' and ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wga.org/writers-room/101-best-lists/101-best-written-tv-series/list|title = 101 Best Written TV Series}}</ref>