SPOILERS FROM THE TV SHOWS*
PLEASE, NO SPOILERS FROM THE MOVIE, AND, IF YOU CAN, NO SPOILERS PAST OUT OF GAS ON FIREFLY, SINCE THAT IS HOW FAR THE CAFE SOCIETY DISCUSSION HAS GOTTEN.
What makes him so good? Well, he is a genius. He is simply great at what he does. For example, it is one thing to put jokes in the middle of the action. It is another thing to put really good jokes. You can’t copy that by using a formula.
However, there are some aspects of what make him excellent that can be identified.
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He puts jokes in the middle of the action. Usually very organic to what is going on. Sometimes silly.
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The main characters always have at least two dimensions. The aspects are not usually in contradiction of each other. This helps with stories where they can be brought into conflict, and gives room for stories when you have several seasons to fill.
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He starts with a grabber. This is one reason he chose to have a beginning sequence before the credits in his shows.
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He usually thinks of a metaphor for the story, based on some common experience, to structure the story around. The metaphor isn’t always clear, but the fact that the story has inner logic is.
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He picks good actors. From commentaries and elsewhere, it sounds like he looks at a lot of actors before he gets what he wants–he doesn’t settle.
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He doesn’t shy away just because something will take a lot of work. This is how he wrote a musical for a TV episode!
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He is a “control enthusiast,” yet he still manages to bring good energy to the team. The team and crew seem to adore him, probably because they can see the quality of what they are doing.
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He respects the classics, and uses them, but usually with a twist. He does not take a classic situation and change it so that you feel cheated.
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He usually has a twist, but it will be an earned twist. Even if there are some twists that didn’t seem well set up…it is clear he meant them to come from the action, not just come to shock you out of the blue.
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Ensembles for TV shows. He gives himself a lot of room for story development by having a lot of characters to tell stories about, since he may have to do it for years to come.
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He embraces change, especially character evolution. His series are not just a sequence of cool events, rather, the characters grow or at least change.
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His shows have a memory. On occasion they have been planned out years ahead, like Dawn coming. On other occasions, they look back (whether this was always planned at the time or not is open to question, but it is still way cool), for example, how Conner was conceived and why. This memory is very cool for fans, and keeps us watching. It can, on occasion, be annoying for newbies.
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His shows have consequences. People don’t do terrible things one show and then everything is roses the next.
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He makes the tough decisions. His shows have teeth. People die. He wants you not to feel safe. However, people will die only on a clearly serious show–he wants to earn it, make it as important as it should be. On the other hand, he is not above making you think somebody died on one of the lighter-themed shows, just to tease you.
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His seasons are crafted. This is often clearest by comparing the first and last episodes of a season.
I’d love to see other things that describe Joss’s style.
I’d also be happy to supply examples from the TV shows, for anything that is unclear.