A professional's opinion on fanfic

[donutsweeper]

John Rogers (who among other things is the executive producer and writer for Leverage) was asked about it in his blog:

@619: I personally HATE fanfic so I was wondering..... 1)How do YOU feel about fan fiction? 2)Does it irk you that so many people "borrow" your characters and use them in their own crappy stories? 3)Do you think of fanfic as a form of flattery? 4)Do the other writers and the actors feel the same way?

1.) I think fanfic is the sign of a healthy show. Here's what it boils down to: you're telling me that in today's crowded media space, our show made someone love it so much they take time out of their own life to talk about it? Holy. Crap.

To be fair, I have a somewhat different attitude toward media/fans than most people. I think what TV/corporate media had wrong for a long time was how they understood the idea of a "water cooler show." They saw it as making the audience talk about their show, on their terms. So any fan-created media is them losing control of their material. I see this more as the natural evolution of culture in a shared digital age. I will be blunt -- other than the satisfaction of our own creative urges (and all that entails: the quest for perfection, artistry, craft, etc), our job in media is to give you stuff to talk about in your conversations, to integrate into your social circle in whatever way you see fit. I doubt that's TNT's official stance, btw, but they are much cooler about this stuff than most companies.

2.) As far as "borrowing" our characters -- to paraphrase Alan Moore, they didn't go anywhere. There they are, sitting right up on the shelf. Waiting for us to let them loose again. Besides, how many people read a fanfic story? A couple hundred, tops? We have, on average 3.5 million viewers, well into the 4 million range when you get the DVR numbers in. I just don't see someone taking control of our Ideaspace through sheer force of Slashfic.

Sure, a lot of fanfic is crap. Of course it's crap. It's written by people who are not professional writers. If I paint, what I paint is crap. Does that mean I should give up painting and displaying stuff in my neighborhood art show?

3.) Is fanfic flattery? Again, depends on how you define flattery. If someone's writing fanfic with intention of currying favor for some ... er, frankly unguessable benefit, then they're really engaged in an exercise in futility. If you mean flattery as in: it's flattering to think someone is so entertained by our work that it inspires them to talk about it and create around it, then aces.

4.) Most writers and actors don't feel this way. Some, including writers I both like personally and greatly admire, hate the idea of fanfic.

Look, end of day, you should always be trying to create your own material. But fanfic, etc, is a different process than original creation -- which I think is the source of a lot of the controversy.

People who do original creations assume the fan is taking some sort of unearned ownership, somehow implying their act is the same/as difficult as the original act of creation. Which, of course, tees them off (doesn't tee me off, but I'm a very relaxed and often drunk guy).

And some fanfic humans are under the impression that creating fanfic is the same creative process as creating original material -- and are sometimes frustrated that they're not accorded the same respect as the original creators. That's also wrong. Fanfic to me is spiritually much closer to the fan-created music videos.

The basic rule I follow here is one I learned in stand-up comedy: Always punch UP. I am a relatively successful typing human whose words are physically produced using millions of dollars and is distributed nationally by a massive billion dollar corporation to millions of people. Exactly how is a free web page with a 1000 word story about Eliot and Hardison fighting a trans-dimensional incursion of Elves hurting my brand, exactly?

Tell you what -- if some fanfic writer is so good they manage to amass a million-person audience with their web-distributed free stories using my characters, I am going to consider that evolution in action and hire that bastard. Or, at the very least, urge them to go create their own show. But odds are it ain't gonna happen. And that's okay. We write for different reasons.

Wow, that response could be its own blog post. I may break it out later, and shine it a bit.

source

Comments

[stackcats.livejournal.com]

I like it, more or less.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

I would offer to have this man's babies, but that ain't happenin' at my age. :-)

You *go* John Rogers!

[haldane.livejournal.com]

Someone whose opinion I respect, and who knows I write fanfic, has the following idea:- All fanfic about anything that has been publicly printed/transmitted is legal, with the standard "I don't own these characters" disclaimer. Partly because, hell, you can't stop it anyway.

But! Any really cool idea brought up in a fanfic can be used by the owners of the original show without lawsuit. Basically his idea is that fanfic should be legal, but the foundation concept (and any spinoff idea) rests with the show's creators.

Hey, I'd buy into that. I don't write for the money (hah!) and seeing one of my ideas get picked up and made into part of an episode would be the Best Thing Ever.

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

Exactly how is a free web page with a 1000 word story about Eliot and Hardison fighting a trans-dimensional incursion of Elves hurting my brand, exactly?

Ha! Very true. His responses here are pretty much along the lines of my opinion on the subject, and I think I would keep that opinion if I became a television writer. (Though for John Rogers to feel this way originating from the "other side" of it is pretty cool.)

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

A very good and interesting article.

I like this man. He's very balanced in what he says and I've always thought (okay, maybe I'm biased *g*) that fanfic isn't actually harmful and yes, is a sign of a healthy show.

And I love his take on (2) that made me smile.

Kudos to him.

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

He seems like a nice bloke with an unusual amount of common sense. If I ever met him I'd have to buy him a drink!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Sure, he's a little snarky there at the end, but overall, he gets fanfic, doesn't mind that it exists, and almost kind of admits that it might help his "brand," though I don't know anyone in fandom who writes for that reason.

It's one of the better pro-writer opinions on fic I've seen.

[webbgirl.livejournal.com]

This is probably the best pro reaction I've ever seen to fanfic. He seems to *get* it. He knows that fanfic writers aren't trying to steal his audience or his product. They're in it for the fun and ultimately that could benefit him.

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

That's a fairly awesome response - I really love that he gets that it's a different kind of process altogether. His mention of vidding makes him doubly awesome in my book.

The "fanfic human" phrasing made me giggle. As opposed to the fanfic antelope?

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. I was just thinking last night, other grown-up people have to get drunk to have this much fun being silly. Aren't we lucky?

In the wild the fanfic antelope has a very unique relationship with another member of its preferred habitat, rabbitus bibliophilius. The fanfic antelope has been known to engage in herding behavior with the smaller animal, though at times it is also known to engage in non-threatening games of chase with the so-called "plot bunny" in which it can be clearly observed that it is not the dominant animal. There have been scattered reports of the two species engaging in something that appears quite similar to the children's game "hide and seek", but this has never been fully substantiated.

[the-dark-side.livejournal.com]

I really like his way of thinking.

I also like that he actually used the word "slashfic".