Marti Noxon

Marti Noxon was born in North Hollywood. She began her career as a story editor on the second season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (WB 1997-2001 / UPN 2001-03), shortly after co-writing the independent romantic comedy farce "Just a Little Harmless Sex" (1998), which starred Alison Eastwood. Marti was appointed co-producer of "Buffy" for its highly successful third season, which many fans consider the beginning of the show's golden age. Series creator Joss Whedon promoted Marti to supervising producer for its fourth season; during this period, she also became the consulting producer of the show's spin-off, "Angel" (WB 1999-2004) for its first three seasons. Marti wrote 23 episodes of "Buffy" during her career on the show; many of them - most notably "The Wish" and the two-part "What's My Line" - quickly became fan favourites. She also appeared in the show's 2001 all-singing episode, "Once More with Feeling," in which she sings "The Parking Ticket"; she later reprised this role of a hapless motorist in the episode "Selfless." As Whedon conceded more control of "Buffy" to Marti during subsequent seasons, fan dissatisfaction began to grow. Hardcore fans who could not bring themselves to criticise the show's creator blamed Marti for the show's change in direction, a charge Whedon was quick to rebuff, claiming the show was a product of both their efforts. Marti took the fans' criticism in good humor; in 2013 her Twitter profile read: "I ruined Buffy and I will RUIN YOU TOO." In 2004 Marti wrote the pilot for a series, "Still Life," about the family of a murdered police officer struggling to cope after his death. The series was not picked up by Fox but in 2005 Marti co-created the gothic supernatural series "Point Pleasant" (Fox 2005-06). Elisabeth Harnois played the show's main character, Christina, a young woman with a mysterious past who is washed up on the shore of a coastal New Jersey town and taken in by a local family who struggle to understand her apparent supernatural effect on people. Although the show was cancelled after 13 episodes, it acquired a devoted fan base that continued to grow after the series was released on DVD. Marti served as consulting producer on the action drama "Prison Break" (Fox 2005-09), but left halfway through the first season due to what she termed "creative difficulties." In 2006, Marti was appointed as show runner of the ABC drama "Brothers & Sisters" (ABC 2006-2011) starring Calista Flockhart and Sally Field. However, Marti once again left the series after only four months, due to creative differences with creator Jon Robin Baitz. In 2007, Marti co-wrote an episode of the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC 2005)with series creator Shonda Rhimes before serving as executive producer and head writer for the first season of that show's lighter spin-off, "Private Practice" (ABC 2007-2013). Marti joined the writing staff of the critically-adored drama "Mad Men" (AMC 2007-15) for its second season in 2008 and served as a consulting producer for the next two seasons. Marti was a co-nominee both years the show won the Writer's Guild of America Awards for Best Dramatic Series, in 2009 and 2010. Marti was also nominated for a PEN Award in 2010 for her work on the third-season episode "The Gypsy and the Hobo," in which Don Draper (Jon Hamm) finally confessed his true identity to his wife Betty (January Jones). In addition, Marti also found the time to demonstrate her lighter side - and singing ability - by turning up as a newswoman on her former colleague Whedon's web-only musical "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (2008). After leaving "Mad Men," Marti returned to her genre roots by scripting fantasy movies. The sci-fi thriller "I Am Number Four" (2011), co-written with "Smallville" writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, starred Alex Pettyfer as an alien hiding out on earth from intergalactic bounty hunters. "Fright Night" (2011) was a return to Marti's "Buffy" beginnings, a remake of the 1985 horror movie starring Colin Farrell as a vampire in suburban Las Vegas whose nocturnal activities arouse the suspicions of his teenage neighbor. Also in 2011, Marti joined the popular musical comedy-drama "Glee" (Fox 2009-15) for its third season. She wrote three episodes and served as a consulting producer before leaving to pursue other projects in the summer of 2012.