shamelessly_mkp (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shamelessly_mkp) wrote2014-04-16 06:32 pm
shamelessly_mkp) wrote2014-04-16 06:32 pm
Entry tags:
One of These Things Is Not Like The Other
rainbowrites:
andythanfiction:
Your favorite fanfic will always be better than your favorite show.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to clear anything with network, worry about poll numbers, ratings, that article the executive producer just read in an old copy of National Geographic, that hotshot in marketing who wouldn’t know a beat if it beat his ass.
Because the fanfic author will never have an actor twist their ankle on the first take of the big fight scene, will never get their exterior rained out, be unable to get the permit for that location at the last minute, have the guest star start vomiting, have the recurring villain get pregnant, have the lead drop dead, or the key prop break.
Because the fanfic author will never be told that’s too expensive, we don’t have the technology for that, all the llama handlers are booked, it’s against union rules to do that with a baby, you can only have eight extras, you can’t put pyro that close to a lead.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to make it fit into forty-two minutes with a cold open before the slate, a twist at the second and third, resolution in the fourth, and a lead into next week.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have six other authors writing prequels and sequels to their fic at the same time, all with the same wild cards they do, all of which can throw each other off.
Because the fanfic author isn’t writing a chapter in a three-season arc that may or may not be the end of the story that they don’t know the end of yet and can’t because there are too many other decisions they don’t get to make and they don’t know how long the show will last.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to worry that they can only use this character this many number of times this season or that they suddenly need to write around a big name guest star while still doing everything that installment needs to do.
Because the fanfic author may be writing off someone else’s prompt, but they can turn it down if they don’t like the pitch, and they won’t be called 2/3 of the way through and told to change everything and still get it in on deadline.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t lose their job if they don’t get it in on deadline. Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to write it in two weeks, whether they’re on their game and churning out gold or have a headcold, the kids are being shitheads, the plumbing exploded, their mother in law is in town, and they know it’s shit.
Because the fanfic author can cast whomever the hell they want, even if that person doesn’t exist, and give flawless line reads every time. Because for the fanfic author, their couples will always have great chemistry.
Because the fanfic author isn’t going to have the production designer, costume designer, director, lighting director, or actors make choices that completely change the meaning of what they wrote. Or cut things out. Or add things. Or rewrite a line on the fly because it just felt better.
Because the fanfic author can decide fuck it, I’m writing for me and I’m going to write the best goddamned story my heart and brain can put forth and if people don’t like it they can shove it up their ass sideways, they don’t have to offset $50,000,000 of production costs in happy advertisers every season or go off the air.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to worry about TVPG or prime time content or the FCC or network guidelines or protest groups or making the editor nervous.
Because the fanfic author has the option of slapping on “AU” or “canon-divergent” and knowing that’s effectively carte blanche to change or ignore any pieces of canon they don’t care for…or to throw canon out the window entirely and set their story with only nominally the same characters as steampunk space pirates in an alternate version of 18th century Revolutionary France.
Because the fanfic author has internal monologue, the ability to guide perception with prose choices, and complete control over POV. Because they do not have a show bible, genre guidelines, A/B/C arc requirements, expectations that this episode will blend seamlessly with all those before and after, and a beat sheet.
Because even if two chefs have exactly the same skill, you can’t turn one loose with complete freedom in an infinitely stocked kitchen and tell the other they have to make a three course meal with four servings per course gluten-free raw nut-free vegan Asian-African fusion in twenty minutes making sure to use kale and gummy bears and then try to compare the results as if they were equal.
Because the fanfic author gets to be God, while the TV writer is a cog in an industrial machine creating a very specific product.
Yes, oh FUCK yes, there are some staggeringly talented fanfiction authors out there. Some fanfic absolutely deserves to be categorized as straight-up literature and there isn’t a damned thing except social stigma separating it from the novels on the Best Seller list and the short stories in the New Yorker. Some of them are published authors, English professors, even screenwriters, poets, and playwrights. Give them all the credit they are due and then some because they do it for you without getting paid or compensated except in your love. I am not for one fucking instant suggesting you reduce your esteem for these awesome artists and wordsmiths.
But professional TV writers have made it into one of the hardest, most competitive fields for people who make stories with words for a reason. They are doing a hellacious job with a thousand obstacles that fanfic writers and novelists never face, and if it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t have fallen in love with the shows in the first place. Are they perfect? No. And neither are the fanfic writers. But they’re hella better than people who don’t understand what they even do give them credit for, and they don’t deserve to have their apples snidely held against fandom’s oranges and derided for their lack of a textured rind.
So in the words of TV writers Sara Gamble and Julie Siege
#this post is brought to you by sick of watching the writers get shat on#blamed for anything and everything an individual viewer doesn’t like#and constantly compared to the viewer’s favorite fanfic#as if the two kinds of writing are even on the same planet#they’re not perfect#but they’re doing an incredibly hard job damned well#and not in control of most of the things you’re howling about anyway
via:Tumblr http://ift.tt/1hVC2Lo
andythanfiction:
Your favorite fanfic will always be better than your favorite show.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to clear anything with network, worry about poll numbers, ratings, that article the executive producer just read in an old copy of National Geographic, that hotshot in marketing who wouldn’t know a beat if it beat his ass.
Because the fanfic author will never have an actor twist their ankle on the first take of the big fight scene, will never get their exterior rained out, be unable to get the permit for that location at the last minute, have the guest star start vomiting, have the recurring villain get pregnant, have the lead drop dead, or the key prop break.
Because the fanfic author will never be told that’s too expensive, we don’t have the technology for that, all the llama handlers are booked, it’s against union rules to do that with a baby, you can only have eight extras, you can’t put pyro that close to a lead.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to make it fit into forty-two minutes with a cold open before the slate, a twist at the second and third, resolution in the fourth, and a lead into next week.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have six other authors writing prequels and sequels to their fic at the same time, all with the same wild cards they do, all of which can throw each other off.
Because the fanfic author isn’t writing a chapter in a three-season arc that may or may not be the end of the story that they don’t know the end of yet and can’t because there are too many other decisions they don’t get to make and they don’t know how long the show will last.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to worry that they can only use this character this many number of times this season or that they suddenly need to write around a big name guest star while still doing everything that installment needs to do.
Because the fanfic author may be writing off someone else’s prompt, but they can turn it down if they don’t like the pitch, and they won’t be called 2/3 of the way through and told to change everything and still get it in on deadline.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t lose their job if they don’t get it in on deadline. Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to write it in two weeks, whether they’re on their game and churning out gold or have a headcold, the kids are being shitheads, the plumbing exploded, their mother in law is in town, and they know it’s shit.
Because the fanfic author can cast whomever the hell they want, even if that person doesn’t exist, and give flawless line reads every time. Because for the fanfic author, their couples will always have great chemistry.
Because the fanfic author isn’t going to have the production designer, costume designer, director, lighting director, or actors make choices that completely change the meaning of what they wrote. Or cut things out. Or add things. Or rewrite a line on the fly because it just felt better.
Because the fanfic author can decide fuck it, I’m writing for me and I’m going to write the best goddamned story my heart and brain can put forth and if people don’t like it they can shove it up their ass sideways, they don’t have to offset $50,000,000 of production costs in happy advertisers every season or go off the air.
Because the fanfic author doesn’t have to worry about TVPG or prime time content or the FCC or network guidelines or protest groups or making the editor nervous.
Because the fanfic author has the option of slapping on “AU” or “canon-divergent” and knowing that’s effectively carte blanche to change or ignore any pieces of canon they don’t care for…or to throw canon out the window entirely and set their story with only nominally the same characters as steampunk space pirates in an alternate version of 18th century Revolutionary France.
Because the fanfic author has internal monologue, the ability to guide perception with prose choices, and complete control over POV. Because they do not have a show bible, genre guidelines, A/B/C arc requirements, expectations that this episode will blend seamlessly with all those before and after, and a beat sheet.
Because even if two chefs have exactly the same skill, you can’t turn one loose with complete freedom in an infinitely stocked kitchen and tell the other they have to make a three course meal with four servings per course gluten-free raw nut-free vegan Asian-African fusion in twenty minutes making sure to use kale and gummy bears and then try to compare the results as if they were equal.
Because the fanfic author gets to be God, while the TV writer is a cog in an industrial machine creating a very specific product.
Yes, oh FUCK yes, there are some staggeringly talented fanfiction authors out there. Some fanfic absolutely deserves to be categorized as straight-up literature and there isn’t a damned thing except social stigma separating it from the novels on the Best Seller list and the short stories in the New Yorker. Some of them are published authors, English professors, even screenwriters, poets, and playwrights. Give them all the credit they are due and then some because they do it for you without getting paid or compensated except in your love. I am not for one fucking instant suggesting you reduce your esteem for these awesome artists and wordsmiths.
But professional TV writers have made it into one of the hardest, most competitive fields for people who make stories with words for a reason. They are doing a hellacious job with a thousand obstacles that fanfic writers and novelists never face, and if it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t have fallen in love with the shows in the first place. Are they perfect? No. And neither are the fanfic writers. But they’re hella better than people who don’t understand what they even do give them credit for, and they don’t deserve to have their apples snidely held against fandom’s oranges and derided for their lack of a textured rind.
So in the words of TV writers Sara Gamble and Julie Siege
#this post is brought to you by sick of watching the writers get shat on#blamed for anything and everything an individual viewer doesn’t like#and constantly compared to the viewer’s favorite fanfic#as if the two kinds of writing are even on the same planet#they’re not perfect#but they’re doing an incredibly hard job damned well#and not in control of most of the things you’re howling about anyway
via:Tumblr http://ift.tt/1hVC2Lo