Jane Espenson
Born: 14th July 1964 (as Jane Amanda Espenson)
Episodes Broadcast: 2011
Jane Espenson was born in Ames, Iowa in the United States. She aspired
to be a writer from a young age, when she would create her own scripts
for the classic sitcom M*A*S*H and saw a role model in Lou
Grant's star reporter, Joe Rossi. While pursuing graduate studies
in linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, Espenson
submitted scripts for Star Trek: The Next Generation. None were
taken forward for development, but one of her ideas was ultimately
repurposed for a 1993 episode. Espenson finally broke into television
after winning an ABC/Disney Writing Fellowship in 1992. It led to her
employment on a number of sitcoms including Monty,
Dinosaurs and Me And The Boys; she was at last able to
write for the Star Trek franchise with a 1996 installment of
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Espenson's profile rose towards the end of the decade when she worked as
both a writer and story editor on Something So Right and, more
notably, the Ellen DeGeneres vehicle Ellen. However, it was on
Buffy The Vampire Slayer that she firmly established her
television credentials. Espenson wrote nearly two dozen episodes of the
beloved horror-comedy, on which she also earned her first credits as a
producer. She went on to become a writer and producer for shows like
Gilmore Girls, The Inside and Battlestar Galactica;
she was also the showrunner on the latter's short-lived prequel,
Caprica. Espenson created the science-fiction programme
Warehouse 13, which debuted in 2009.
Espenson worked on the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
during 2011, when the series was made as a partnership between the BBC
and the American network Starz. She contributed three scripts, and
co-wrote two others; she received a credit as co-executive producer on
all five installments. Espenson went on to write and produce the likes
of Once Upon A Time, Husbands and Jessica Jones.
During the Twenties, she held similar duties on The Nevers, and
she also wrote for the relaunched version of Fantasy Island.
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