John Rogers on fanfic: re: Leverage

[cerusee]

Not the first reason why I love Leverage, but, I think, if I were to make a list of every single damn thing I love about this show and all the components of it, not the last, either:

Leverage writer/producer John Rogers in one of his post-episode query-response posts (specifically, The Three Days of the Hunter Job):

@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.

[In the above quote, italics equal emphasis mine.]


What is that, you say? What is that smell? Why, it is the scent of sanity, sir or madam; the smell of contemporary media sophistication.

Also--and I know Rogers is a geek, but still--quoting Alan Moore never makes you look bad. He didn't get that way by accident. Alan Moore got that way because, barring only the rarely brilliant, he is much smarter and more insightful than all the other people. Also weirder.

Comments

[scyllacat.livejournal.com]

Smart talking! Thank you for sharing.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

He's a smart puppy. A huge geek, and very savvy and open-minded about geek culture, including creative fan culture. And a good writer, too.

[lwe.livejournal.com]

Only thing is, Alan Moore was quoting James Cain. Or possibly someone else, but I first heard it attributed to James Cain, when someone asked him how he felt about Hollywood ruining The Postman Always Rings Twice.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Oh really? I think quotes must be misattributed more often than they're ever correctly attributed.

Smart Alan Moore to recognize the truth of the quote, then!

[kashicat.livejournal.com]

This is great! Rogers is a very, very smart cookie. (PhD in physics, then standup comedian, then writer) Whether he talks about politics, the art & craft of writing/pitching, or, apparently fanfic (bless him), he is always just so rational and sane about it all. Thanks for posting this!

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Wow, somehow I'd missed the previous careers in physics and standup comedy. Now I'm even more impressed.

[kashicat.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, he was my very favourite Canadian comedian, just before he decided to go for the screen writing gigs. As the quote goes on his Blogger profile for the blog (Kung Fu Monkey): "John Rogers started doing stand-up in 1988, got his Physics degree in 1990, began writing television in 1995, writing movies in 1999, writing comics in 2005 and writing for RPG's in 2007. He plainly needs to focus." Terribly funny guy.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is just awesome.