I have wrestled long and hard with my conscience whether to reveal what went on behind the scenes of fandom itself during the last several months.
| Open Letter | |
|---|---|
| Title: | I have wrestled long and hard with my conscience whether to reveal what went on behind the scenes of fandom itself during the last several months. |
| From: | Stephanie Wiltse |
| Addressed To: | Beauty and the Beast (TV) fans |
| Date(s): | April 1990 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Beauty and the Beast (TV) |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
I have wrestled long and hard with my conscience whether to reveal what went on behind the scenes of fandom itself during the last several months. is a 1990 open letter by Stephanie Wiltse.
Wiltse was the editor of Pipeline, a newsletter that had a large circulation and the ear of showrunners and other TPTB.
It was printed Once Upon a Time...Is Now #21 and was one of four open letters in that issue. The other three were:
- Ok Good...Ok Fine: Editors' Soapbox by Jeanne Cloud
- This fandom is destroying itself and this has got to stop. by Pat Almedina
- I never thought I'd live to see the day when this fandom would be in such a state. by Kathy Cox
For fan commentary on these for letters, see "Once Upon a Time...Is Now" Open Letters (April 1990).
Some Topics Discussed
- the fracturing of the fandom due to decisions made by TPTB regarding casting changes, plotting, and characterizations in the the show's third season
- poorly behaved fans
- The Dumpster Brigade
- rumors
- the showrunners, actors, and TPTB letting fans have too much power and access
- fans trying to gain power over each other
- extensive use of the term nay-sayer, which to some fans was a pejorative
The Letter
I have wrestled long and hard with my conscience whether to reveal what went on behind the scenes of fandom itself during the last several months, actually from January of '89 onward. I do not know whether it is to the greater good to "immortalize" in print these more inglorious aspects of our community. But there seems such an incredible injustice done, that to keep quiet seems itself an injustice. So, I guess now's my turn to blow off some steam. Since Pipeline doesn't itself publish LoCs, my heartfelt thanks to Jeanne and Joyce for obliging me in "OUT...IN."
Yes, I've been accused of writing editorials about nay-saying, etc. My motivation was, believe it or not, to oil the troubled waters, which as it turns out, was probably just more pollution in an already murky situation. I'll try to rectify that here. One reader wrote in January: "I agree that the people who said: 'I'm not watching the show because I hate it already' are shortsighted. How can you judge something before you've seen it?.... Glad someone asked, first off I'll try to relate how that can, or can be made to happen.
One 'branch' of the grapevine/rumor mill dealt in a 'black market' of information. Their main 'source' was the production office dumpster (See Vol.2#1 of Pipeline) or a less-than-circumspect location guard or crew member. By way of an example: One memo regarding the demise of the character of "Charles Chandler" (a hand-written scrap made before the script itself was even set down on paper) went from the office waste paper basket to being a fan "campaign" to "SAVE" the character. The writers went ahead anyway and produced the episode "Orphans. " A favorite even with those who campaigned against it. One producer said of the 'dumpster brigade' at the time, "If they wanted stuff that badly why didn't they just come around to the front door and ask?"
Despite this 'open-door policy', relations with this faction of fandom deteriorated during '89 into what could only be called an adversarial relationship with the show's creators. "Damn you, Koslow" buttons were worn by some fans who regularly haunted location shoots and conventions. In my opinion, here was the genesis of much of the most 'damning' gossip concerning Linda Hamilton's departure and the 'vile plot against fans' that the 3rd season was supposed to have been.
The rumor mill never lacked for grist in this regard. Scripts for this season's episodes were put up for sale on this 'black market. One fan related how she had been asked $600 by someone who said he was with the production, for all 12 scripts (long before even the movie had aired). The scripts were indeed bought, which our legal eagles say is not necessarily illegal. ('Used' scripts are often available in Hollywood bookstores.) However, photocopies of these 12 were made (which is illegal without permission) and distributed to other millers nation-wide.
Like a painter's sketch before the actual strokes of the brush are applied these scripts weren't quite indicative of the finished product. It hardly mattered, since what would be confirmed as correct about each episode as it aired would be enough to make it appear as if the possessor of the information had a bona fide source, an 'in ' with the production. Few people ever remember when the rumor mill has been wrong anyway. Thus armed, the 'campaign' to bring back Catherine, the 'dream of the first two seasons' - or no dream at all, began in earnest. The use of shared address lists, the form-letter mailings, were actually the least of it. It was the phone calls...the late night raids made on those still, yes, blissfully unaware of such fannish machination...that horrified this editor.
[...]
Opinions have never been the issue; it has been actions with which many loyal have taken issue... What justifies treating fellow fans, not to mention people involved in the production, with less respect than one would accord a stranger — and less care of concern than one would grant an enemy? Calling this nay-saying was being charitable. I've lost count of how many times courtesy and good manners have been mistaken for acquiescence and agreement, and dissent itself mistaken for a veritable raking over the coals.
That doesn't mean to say that every difference is unintentional. Having been goaded into a argument by one nay-sayer myself, I know how this feels. That it was done in the guise of being reasonable, even conciliatory, was at the very least hypocritical, especially since this self-appointed(?) spokesperson kept proclaiming the same disinformation at every opportunity, it would be pointless for this editor to try and publicly debunk all the rumors that accumulate every month like lint in a clothes dryer; constantly bringing them up to the people they are supposedly about in embarrassing for them, for me, and for the fans9 reputation in general.
It's fun to listen to a juicy bit of gossip, the more outlandish the better. And it's hard to reserve judgement if someone is telling you what you want to hear, like 'Linda didn't really want to leave.' Even convention talks have become a prime source of such misquotes. Wishful thinking tends to make one a very selective listener — which is often how many an 'innocent' rumor gets started in the first place.
One case of this was when a fan-spokesperson got up to speak at a convention last fall not simply about the show, but for one of the producers (or her acquaintance) who found he couldn't attend at the last minute. What was said was just more rumor mill surmise, most of which proven incorrect by December 13th. What amazed me was how the producer had thereby gained the reputation, in nay-sayer circles at least, as a liar — for things he himself had never said!
An even worse example could be a convention held in Maryland March 17th (sorry, "Pipeline" was not notified of the event) where according to eyewitness accounts two B&B producer/guests had their "say colored by those who ran the con." At one point the two were heard to whisper to one another "We can't say that... They'll get mad." One attendee said it was like the organizers were trying "to pit the boy writers against the girl writers." Further, anybody in the audience "who liked the 3rd Season, were made to feel afraid to talk." Listening to tapes from the event myself, I wasn't given that impression — it was simply that the 3rd season was given little or no context within which to exist in the discussion. But if the former was the case, what a memory of Cathy—chauvinism to leave with producers who might in the future have been the ones to help resurrect her.
In some ways our fandom was 'an experiment,' both for us and for people in the industry — many of whom thought the production staff were absolutely out of their minds for giving the fans such deference, reading and answering their letters, let alone letting fans into their offices, their homes, or onto the set. Unheard of! Ill-advised. Perhaps it was.
[...]
...many old-hands in other 'fandoms' have sadly shaken their heads and said this could never last. They warned that the scourge of fan-politics was unavoidable. Could they have been right? Originally there were fewer who wanted to lead and fewer still that felt the need to follow. As much moral support, fun, and friendship as organized fandom and the groups that make it up can provide, there also seems an equal possibility of rivalries, jealousies, and the forming of cliques that seem more from a feudal age than the Romantic. Joust, anyone?
The 3rd season was the best excuse yet for a tournament... The prize? Followers? Influence? Prestige? Human nature? The nature of the (no, I won't say it)? The price may well be the forfeit of "Beauty and the Beast" and fandom itself. You don't know how badly I want to be wrong in this. How sad and unworthy of B&B, let alone the character of Catherine, this all is. I say to those genuinely righteous in their indignation: The closest any producer ever came to 'lying' was when it was announced that Linda was definitely returning — and that was when they too thought she was going to change her mind. If there were misunderstandings, they were honestly arrived at. These people who chose to participate in this 'experiment,' who chose to deal with fans fairly and on an equal footing, have been literally burned-out by the sheer volume of the interaction, good and bad, positive and negative responses alike. It is time to allow them to respite — let'em go for a while.
That a soap opera be made of their lives as a consequence of their good intentions, lives just as complex and real to live as our own, is insult on top of injury. And to have all this defended by "freedom of speech."
Enough! I'll fight for anyone's right to have an opinion, but I also have a right to my own. And in my opinion, the people at B&B followed their hearts as we ourselves encouraged them to do. If we voluntarily supported them in doing so, that does not make them our servants, nor does it make them liable for our pleasure or our displeasure. What's more I have witnessed this fandom flourish this year, not despite the 3rd season but because of it. And that is not opinion, that is fact.
It is also my opinion that the attitude of "Catherine or nothing" among the most vocal of our numbers is not totally to blame for all these real-live people losing their jobs (not to mention our losing this series from the airwaves) though it certainly did contribute.
Perhaps, as I found out the hard way, it doesn't do much good to beseech these "dissenters" to beat their poison pens back into ploughshares, or convince them of what the priority should have been all along: the good this show has done for so many of the real world and the good it will continue to do — all three reasons — even if it's only from syndied-repeat heaven for the time being. Fandom can still be a part of that. Shall we lose all of this through recriminations and in-fighting? Can so many lose so much because of so few? (Pardon the paraphrase Winston.)
Another fact that there is no one left at either Witt-Thomas or Republic Pictures who is concerned at the moment with the creative content of B&B. Nor was content the bailiwick of the people at the various networks where 'Catherine Campaigns' were aimed. These campaigns were still a demonstration of interest, but they also demonstrated this fandom wasn't as savvy as it appeared to be. Savvy being the understanding that who is Beauty may well depend on who is willing and available to play her at the time. The same goes for everyone involved with the production, who will want or be able to return. As much may depend on some Exec Producer still having the heart to take on the undertaking as on Ron Perlman's being up to so many more hours in the makeup chair.
[...]
If I could have the last word in this (which of course, I won't) it would be: Protect yourself (and your sanity) with a healthy skepticism: always ask for the source — not just who heard the rumor from whom — but who whom was. If your rumor-miller can't or won't tell you, be suspicious. What is the motivation behind having the rumor spread? The more a rumor is believed the more it is made 'true'. If it's too silly for words, laugh it off. If it's offensive, ignore it. In any case, always trace it back and check it out before your opinion is ever influenced by it.
And as far as opinions go, I've gotten letters since March from people who feel like the rope in a game of tug-o'-war between friends that are passionately for and passionately against the 3rd season. For myself, protecting this sweet, blessed...something...that we've all discovered, has been like saving a mist from a shifting breeze. I feel as though the 'Solomon hat' has been permanently glued to my head, my "voice of reason" is getting hoarse. If I raise a sabre to cut this baby in two — who will say "chop away"? Some already have.
Is there not enough love here that either 'side' will be willing to sacrifice some aspect of their fantasies for the fulfillment of a greater dream? Come on people, must I roar? Let PEACE and FAIRNESS prevail, whatever happens, whatever comes!!