I am skeptical when advertising for a new DVD claims to have “300 hours of bonus material.”  I have discovered that this usually includes three or four sets of audio commentary on the film by various actors, directors, writers, costume designers, musical directors, stunt teams or special effects teams.

As a writer, I have found commentary by some writers/directors to be illuminating, not only in reference to the film or television show in front of me, but to the writing process, creative solutions to common writers issues and even insight into what a life of television writing/screen writing looks like.

My favorite commentators include

• Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly.)  His commentary for the final episode of Buffy literally brought me to tears, it was so beautiful.  Also, he is extremely generous when it comes to explaining how the process of script to screen works.
• Marti Noxon (Buffy, Gilmore Girls) Has some great things to say about humor, why some jokes work, what she would change on  paper having seen the scene played out by the actors.
• The cast of The Office (US) Since many of them are writers and directors, they often talk about how the story broke in the writer’s room and then how it changed when one of the actors took the joke and ran with it.  It is interesting to hear the actors who aren’t on the writing staff try to guess which scenes are ad-libed and which are written; they are wrong almost 50% of the time.

Commentary I hope to hear (writers whose work I enjoy and have read their blogs/interviews that make me think their commentary will be interesting.)

• John August.  I have the newly released The Nines at the top of my NetFlix queue.  His blog (johnaugust.com) indicates that the DVD is full of great extras, like a script-storyboard-scene section that shows all three steps in the process.
• Shandra Rhimes.  Someday I will rent the Grey’s Anatomy Season One DVD.  I would love to hear her thoughts on the pilot, which I think is brilliantly structured and nuanced.  I am less interested in the commentary on Season 2 and 3, when the drama shifts from “I don’t know what the hell I am doing in life,”  to “complicated storylines based around sex.”
• Writers on “The Wire.”  Also planning on renting this show, as I have heard rave reviews about the content, the writing and the vision of the people behind it.

Commentary I don’t enjoy: I don’t want to single anyone out, but I will usually stop the commentary about 20 minutes into the movie if  one or more of the following criteria are met:

• Poor sound quality (I listened to one commentary that had a crying baby on it!)
• Actors talking about how great the other person is, aren’t they just wonderful, she is just super sweet, this one time in his trailer . . . I just don’t care, thank you.
• Directors/Cinematographers who start to talk about the different types of lenses/shots/cranes and how much each costs to rent/use/develop
• Long digressions into personal life stuff