Danny Strong (left) on Buffy.Courtesy of UPN

When we mentioned HBO's Recount this morning in The Industry, we noted that Jay Roach was replacing Sidney Pollack as director but didn't pay much attention to the writer of the 2000 election docudrama. The writer's name, buried in the second-to-last paragraph of the Variety story, sounded vaguely familiar, but we figured he was just one of the ten gazillion screenwriters eking out a living in Hollywood. So imagine our surprise when we realized that Danny Strong is, in fact, one of our favorite young character actors, and veteran of two of the best TV shows of the past few years!

In the proud tradition of marginal actors branching out into prestige screenwriting — see Dan Futterman with Capote, or for that matter Matt and Ben with Good Will Hunting — the script for HBO's high-profile Recount is written by the same dude who played Doyle on Gilmore Girls and, even more notably, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's hapless nerd turned reluctant villain Jonathan. Way to go, Danny Strong! You might finally turn into the superstar Jonathan always wanted to be!

Danny Strong [IMDb]
Earlier: The Industry on Recount