Stephanie A. Wiltse

Fan
Name:	Stephanie A. Wiltse, Stephanie Wiltse. Steff
Alias(es):
Type:
Fandoms:	Beauty and the Beast (TV)
Communities:
Other:
URL:	[Starving Artists Workshop], Cinema of the Mind
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Stephanie A. Wiltse is a fan most known for creating and editing the for-profit and highly-visible Beauty and the Beast (TV) newsletter, Pipeline.

Because of this visibility, and Wiltse's interactions with the show's TPTB, Wiltse as called upon by mainstream press and media as a fandom spokesperson.

The newsletter provided fans with information, much of it presented as first-hand. Wiltse's position, and out-spoken opinions, also made her a figure of controversy, especially after changes in the show at the beginning of the third season.

Wiltse's 1990 nay-sayer remarks, first stated in Notice to All Naysayers, were a flashpoint for many fans.

A fan in 1991 described Wiltse as "an editor who has done more to prolong with "War of Words" than all the so-called "naysayers" and "dark-siders" combined."

Wiltse was a fan of the third season. From

“I was well-pleased,” said Stephanie Wiltse, 35, of Albany, N.Y. “You have Romeo and Juliet, except that Romeo survives, and there’s a child. I don’t think the violence was gratuitous; there was a balletic feel to it.”

Connections to TPTB

Wiltse's newsletter was started with the help of Ron Koslow, and boosted by strong contact with other TPTB of the show such as Roy Dotrice, as well as industry leaders such as Earl Weirich, VP in charge of Public Relations at Family Channel.

In 2000, Nan Dibble described Wiltse as a "media-savvy Roy Dotrice friend."

Wiltse also passed on speculation and information she'd gotten over the years regarding The Long-Rumored Koslow Beauty and the Beast Movie.

"Pipeline" Trusted and a Place of Connection

[November 1989]: Actually, if you don't take than seriously, the rumors can be mildly entertaining, rather like the party game of "gossip". Please, just consider the "stuff" you read/hear (from sources other than those we know we can trust such as PIPELINE, HELPER'S NETWORK and our own beloved OUT...IN) to be of no more substance than cotton candy and you'll be all right.

[Nov/Dec 1989]: Besides keeping us informed you keep up our spirits and let us know we are definitely not alone out here...

[Nov/Dec 1989]: You've kept me in touch with what's happening in the B&B universe, put things in perspective, and provided hope. May all our worries be unfounded..

[Nov/Dec 1989]: You seem to be the B&B center for clear thinking on these issues

[Nov/Dec 1989]: When I was growing up, I loved poetry and classical music, but I lived in a society of people that couldn't understand or accept the way I felt (constantly being ridiculed). For 20 years I put that part of my life on the back burner. I didn't allow a lot of my feelings to show (that what is wrong with our society?). Here was a show that felt the way I felt and dreamed years ago. A show that dared to be different. Now after reading Pipeline, I have found there are thousands of people out there feeling the way I do. Boy I what a relief to know that I am normal after all.

[March 1990]: I was at the Virginia Convention and found you and Kimberly (Hartman of the Helper's Network) to be calming influences on everyone, plus your voices are the only ones I believe. ...I think B&B fans are like the watch in the ad that claims to Take a licking and keep on ticking."

[1993]: After looking through every overseas magazine I could find, I found the address for "Pipeline" in "Starlog". After writing to them, they kindly sent me a copy of "Pipeline". I then wrote to Nan Dibble who knew someone with a B&B friend in South Africa. I wrote to this lady (the only other B&B fan I know of in South Africa, living some distance away from me) and she taped all the previous episodes from her copies for me, much to my great joy.

[Fall 1991]: I enjoy your paper... it's like receiving a letter from my childhood best friend -- I get caught up on all the happenings I've missed since the last visit.

[Summer 1992]: I have made a terrific set of new friends through your newspaper and found some fabulous new stories to read.

[Summer 1992]: Please know that all your efforts are noted an appreciated. I for one, can't thank you enough. When you are ready to pull your hair out, remember there is one [fan] in Ohio who really does appreciated your work! I can only say "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"

[Summer 1992]: The divisiveness I find in fandom distresses me, as it does many of my friends. It's good to know that a publication as prominent as Pipeline, and an editor as well known as yourself, support the effort to stress positive attitudes in fandom.

Active in "Helpers Network US"

Helper's Network US

In charge of updates: Helper's Netwrok 92002)

Spokesperson and Go-To Person for the Media

Wiltse, and the founders of Helper's Network US were members of The Loyal Collective, and in turn they were who the mainstream press contacted when they needed sound-bites and interviews regarding the show.

Wiltse describes the journey her newsletter took her on:

Thus started a 5-year adventure writing for a little fanzine that gained an international readership in the thousands and landed its amateur journalist/editor a byline in “Starlog” magazine, and favorable review in American, British, and Canadian “TV Guides,” mentions in “USA Today,” a job offer from a Hollywood ad agency, reference in a college textbook (“Textual Poachers” by Henry Jenkins), and even an interview on TV’s “Entertainment Tonight.”

Pipeline is full of statements from Wiltse about how many phone calls she'd fielded, interviews she had done, and how the press saw her as the go-to spokesperson for the entire fandom. From

[1990]:

Diary of a Newsletter Editor:

This time I was ready for it, 4 local radio talk shows, the local TV-news, at least 6 newspaper mentions not counting syndicated columns; I knew that on the 13th of December directory assistance would have a nervous breakdown ...and my phone would ring. It started unexpectedly early, 6:30 in the a.m., another radio gab-test.

"Can I do this in my sleep?" they ask.

"No. Call back later."

From a 1990 news article:

The news trickled down into the dim underground vaults and arcades where fans of Beauty and the Beast kept alive the darkly atmospheric CBS romance-adventure series: Finally, the show had been canceled. "I think everybody is relieved. We don't have to worry about CBS any more," said Stephanie Wiltse, publisher of Pipeline, a definitive newsletter on the real-world workings of Beauty and the Beast.

[...]

Ms. Wiltse, an Albany, N.Y., graphic designer who has seen her life and livelihood gradually become a 1,550-subscriber newsletter and full-time work on Beauty and the Beast projects, agrees about the show's appeal.

"People can watch B&B and see themselves reflected in it," she said.

Its stories about grief, loneliness and loss tend to touch people intimately, she said. "They take it very personally and they take that feeling out into the world."

Ms. Wiltse allows herself to hope for a happy ending. When interviewed recently, she said she'd been taking calls for two days and two nights from concerned fans. "These people aren't going to let this thing die. One way or another, it will be with them."

In 1991, Wiltse took it upon herself to speak for all of fandom in a letter to the actress who portrayed Diana Bennett:

Approximately six months ago, I had sent a letter to Jo Anderson to apologize on behalf of fandom for the negative reaction she had gotten from the fans regarding her portrayal of 'Diana.' I never expected to get a letter back from her. I just wanted her to know that not all of the BATB fans disliked the character that she portrayed and that I didn't want her to get discouraged by this. Well, she answered my letter personally!! What a pleasant surprise. It was so gracious of her and it is something I will always treasure.

In 2001, Wiltse was a helper:

Just heard from Stephanie Wiltse, of Pipeline fame, who's trying to help David Greenlee locate a picture from the time when he was a regular on the TV series FAME. Steff says: We've been looking for a photo of him with Debbie Allen and/or Cynthia Gibb to be used in an article by People magazine. We need this immediately if they are to meet deadline.If anybody has such a picture, post Steff immediately at [email address redacted] and she'll tell you the best way to get it to her. I assume something from a magazine would be what she's hoping to find, but anything along these lines would undoubtedly be welcome. Dust off those scrapbooks and see if you have anything suitable. Again, if you have anything like what they're looking for, tell Steff, NOT ME! I have no way to relay to David, and it's Steff who needs the picture.

Also from 2001:

Now that Roy's appearance as an angel in "Touched by an Angel" has actually aired, it's an appropriate time to send letters of support/appreciation for the idea of his becoming (at the least) a recurring character or a member of the regular cast (as Roy reminds us through a post via Helper Stephanie Wiltse in case we'd forgotten).

Some fans were not comfortable with Wiltse's self-proclaimed status as their spokesperson, especially when she declared to be truths that they did not agree with.

I just finished a letter of (criticism) to the editor of Pipeline for that rumors tirade found in the latest issue. For someone who doesn't like controversy, she sure does a good imitation. Isn't it enough that Ron P. had to tell us not to hurt each other?

"Pipeline" as a Center of Controversy

[June 1990]: Honestly, I really didn't know about this great, raging battle until I read about it in "Pipeline".

[May 1991]: As to Pipeline and those who do or don't subscribe. I'm proud to say that I have never nor will ever subscribe to that publication. I have had occasion to read it and it never fails to antagonize me. Luckily, there are other sources of news and interviews, zine listings, and merchandise which don't include self-serving editor!

[February 1996]: As for "Pipeline", it was my perception that this was a conduit for fuel, each time it arrived in my mailbox, I felt like I'd been torched and left to burn.

Anyway, no doubt things happened on both sides early on due to the high emotions of that period.

[...]

I got involved in fandom just as word began to leak out as to the upcoming events of 3S. I went to a small con in Mpls. (for a few hours) and she was there. I subscribed to Pipeline and saw her editorials and editing style. I have to keep this short to not go into the name calling stage we're all trying so hard to avoid, but I don't view her sympathetically at all. IMO she used her position in fandom to try and convince 'the powers that be' that fandom would accept anything they wanted to give us. We all know the results of that. The writers would have been so much better off had they gotten the truth. They wouldn't have had to sit in stunned amazement as it all unraveled around them and left them open to public abuse by the critics and fans. Stephanie wanted Vincent at any price and didn't care that a large percent of the population didn't feel the same way.

I must disagree with your opinion about what Stephanie Wiltse was attempting to do with her editorial style. To imply that she in any way persuaded the powers that be to give us a third season without Catherine is totally unfair to both the producers and the fans. **WE** fans, as a whole, asked for a third season and got it. That some of us didn't like what we got is something else entirely.

I want to caution all of us against a slightly increasing tendency to point fingers "at" people and name names (As with pointing fingers at Stephanie Wiltse for something she did years ago, and who was trying to smooth a bad situation. We must remember that whatever the outcome, however people reacted to what she wrote, her intentions were the best, whether we personally agree with her or not).

You're right about Stephanie Wiltse (and also Jeanne from OUT/IN) trying to put out the fires. I'm convinced (and I've spoken with them about it) that that was their intention, and they weren't trying to piss anybody off, but their suggestions just seemed to strike some people wrong, and the discussion got way out of hand, and both sides ended up saying things that the other couldn't forgive.

It should also be stated here, so as not to get the poor absent Stephanie Wiltse into trouble at this late date that the poor woman was merely trying to pour water on a forest fire at the time and was certainly not trying to be nasty to people.

Editorializing

Wiltse had a heavy editorial style.

From another fan: "I'd never subscribed to "Pipeline" because (with respect and affection for those involved) I was put off by the air of censorship apparent in the first issue."

Wiltse, along with three other fans, wrote a series of open letters in 1990 taking other fans to task.

Wiltse's letter was 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. (April 1990).

One fan's reaction to this letter series:

[1990]: I thought 4 letters in OUT...IN from fanzine editors taking fandom to task was a bit of overkill. To tell you the truth, although I was disappointed with B&B third season and with fandom (including myself at times), my biggest disappointment was in a lot of you. It seems to me a lot of the name calling came from Pipelines, a message one week, "Beast-bashers", on the Helper's Network, your publication, what I consider a nasty letter from Pat Almedina in "Promises of Someday" towards Linda Hamilton fans, etc. Like it or not people consider yourself, Stephanie, Kimberly Hartman, Pat, etc. leaders and unfortunately I think the leaders started the name calling in fandom.

In 1991, Wiltse told fans the work to improve fandom's image had failed as she addressed fandom politics and power struggles:

As a vociferous group of fans turned with a vengeance on the very production staff and cast that had tried to deal with them (against industry-wide advice) as thinking adults rather than spoiled children, I watched this fandom's 'image' with the industry and industry press go from a fascinated "something that had never been" to a ..."oh, it was really just the same old fan-type stuff" a fan 'type' situated somewhere between those supporting Elvis and Gumby (no offense intended to these institutions). After everyone had worked so hard to forge a new kind of more interactive and less adversarial relationship between audience and creative community, this really hurt.

[...]

I suddenly saw all this jockeying for position for what it is ...and how absurd and petty it makes everyone who has ever called themselves 'fans' appear. The only way around all of this that I can see is having a good, long laugh at how seriously we can tend to take ourselves ...not to mention our entertainment, however inspiring and/or life-changing that medium might be. In short, I for one will simply not be made to perceive my 'job on this paper' as a power struggle. Power!? Give me a break!

Feud with "Tunneltalk" and Its Editor

Wiltse had a long-running and public feud with Barbara Storey, the editor of Tunneltalk v.2 n.2 (April 1991).

The letterzine, Tunneltalk began in March 1990, just after the third season controversy was heating up with fans.

Wiltse and the editor of that letterzine, Barbara Storey, did not agree the subject of fan spokespersons, overreach, some fans' influence with TPTB and topic of a unified message (or lack thereof) and implications of fans' like or dislike of the third-season changes. Mainly, when fans expressed their unhappiness with the changes, were they, 1) close-minded and ungenerous aka nay-sayers, 2) not grateful, 3) saboteurs and troublemakers?

Wilste also made comments about Storey's involvement in at least one Creation Con:

I felt that I could recommend TUNNELTALK or Ms. Storey's couple of FAN-OUT conventions to PIPELINE's readers. Let alone most recently, ballyhoo her running of fan activities at the upcoming Creation "Beauty and the Beast" event or the sanction that that position implies.

These altercations with Storey were complicated by The Beauty and the Beast Cease and Desist Letters and the topic of profit and fandom.

From a fan in 1991:

If anyone has any doubts about the anger still generated in this fandom, I recommend a glance at the Feb./March 1991 issue of Pipeline.

Regarding a series of fan letters written to Tunneltalk:

On a slightly sticky note: there have been — in the last issue and this one — a number of letters where people have expressed various opinions about Stephanie Wiltse, editor of Pipeline. Since these opinions, though negative, were rationally expressed, this left us in a difficult situation: not wanting to tell our subscribers what they could and couldn't write about, understanding that some people have a need to vent their frustrations at current situations in fandom, but realizing that they only show one side of a story, and also not wanting to perpetuate negative discussion of B&TB fans rather than positive discussions of B&TB itself (we have seen the former ravage letterzines before). The decision we have come to is this: These letters have been printed, and copies of them have been sent to Ms. Wiltse (who is not a subscriber), so that she is aware of what is being said about her. She has been given an invitation to respond to them, if she chooses.

Wiltse addressed these criticism in a very personal and public letter to "Pipeline." See Excerpts.

Publications

• Pipeline (newsletter)
• Pipeline (blog)
• The Helper's Gazetteer Proposal
• The Gathering Place

Media and Wiltse

• "CBS' New-Look Beast" May Be No Beauty, "The Charlotte Observer (December 8, 1989)
• CBS's Beastly Makeover by Tom Shales, "Washington Post" (December 12, 1989)
• "Family Channel wants to see beauty and beast tie the knot." by Mark Dawidziak from the "Detroit Free Press" -- see clipping in Once Upon a Time... Is Now #27 (October 18, 1990)
• Interview with Donna Huffaker, Stephanie Wiltse, and Barbara Storey, interview on "Entertainment Tonight" (1990)
• Reaching for Demographics by Mark Dawidziak for Cinefantastique (January 1990)
• "Beasties working to keep show alive" by Scott Williams, Tampa Bay Times (Jan. 16, 1990)
• The Chronic Rift: Episode 23 - Beauty and the Beast ("Andrea Lipinski and Keith DeCandido welcome Elfquest artist Wendi Pini and fans Stephanie Wiltse and Angela Fernan as they discuss the cult CBS TV series, Beauty and the Beast." (April 1, 1991)

Essays and Meta

• 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. (April 1990)