Do you find that many of your ideas show up in subsequent TV episodes, and do you think it’s more than coincidence?
There have been tons of examples of things in the television series that remind me of things we’ve done, either in the books or the comics. But unless they tell you, you can never be sure. I’d love it if I thought they had done that.
Ther was a scene in the second to last episode of season four (Primeval) where Buffy goes all Matrix and gets the essence of her friends inside of her to defeat Adam, which is pretty much what happens at the end of The Gatekeeper Trilogy books. A lot of fans were like "That’s from the book! That’s from the book!" and my response to all of that is very simple.
"We’re all drawing our influences essentially from the same places. You’re writing about the same characters and the same circumstances. The chances are you’re going to come across a lot of the same themes and even individual ideas.
Do you think this will eventually lead you to scripting episodes of the series?
I don’t think so. That’s the other thing that I get asked a lot, and the truth of the matter is even though I’ve written a couple of spec scripts, I have not spent any real time on it.
I’m not a professional scriptwriter. While I’d love to do it, it would be pure indulgence on their part if they let me. I have no expectation that anyone’s ever going to come and ask me to do it. Would I love to? Sure, but again there’s no logical reason for them to do that because, of course, it’s what they do.
What we do is very much secondary. I’m really happy with the feedback that I get from fans, but at the end of the day, unlike the writers in the show, I don’t have Joss looking over my shoulder and making it right. I imagine that that’s another reason why the books and the comic books are always going to be kept at a distance in that respect.
