I would hate to be a TV writer.
That's not true, I would love to be a TV writer but
there is a huge element that would put me off and I'm sorry to say it's
the part of fandom that disappears up its own ding dong, because it
makes me uncomfortable.
Vast majority of fan out there are lovely,
insane, enthusiastic, creative and have cracking sense of humour. This
is the good part, this has value. But there's a dark side, those who
seem to revel in complaining and have no compunction
in using twitter to harangue the writer.
I follow a number of writers on twitter and they
have all felt the force of an irate corner of fandom. Curiously enough,
the writer only has to be one of a team for the vitriol to flow in their
direction and that makes me sad. For one
thing, if you call yourself a fan, then really you should know who is
writing what and adjust your views accordingly.
For instance, Torchwood Children of Earth, was
written by three people Russell T Davies, John Fay and James Moran. RTD
wrote eps 1 and 5, James Fay 2 and 4, and James Moran co-wrote ep 3 with
RTD. Now episode 4, was a game changer for
Torchwood as a beloved character was killed off in the most incredible
way. In my opinion a good death utterly compelling as part of the arc
of Children of earth and afterwards a sizable section of the fandom went
off the deep end. James Moran was the only
writer of the three and he got bombarded with abuse, how dare he kill
off said character, so much so he had to leave twitter for a week. But can
you spot the deliberate mistake? James Moran didn't write the episode.
On twitter he wrote about the process of writing
COE to be a team effort so in a way all three were responsible in a way, but he didn't pull the trigger. But it
is not right to ever harass anyone to the point of leaving a social
networking site.
Likewise, Steven Moffat can't seem to say anything
without offending some corner of either the Doctor Who or Sherlock
fandoms. I've read a number of articles and blog posts which all seem to
be picking up on things he's said in interviews
that I just don't see. There are those who seem determined to paint him as a
misogynist, which I've written about before and still don't get.
The other thing I fail to understand is why Steven
Moffat is picked out for the Sherlock vitriol? Mark Gatiss as co-creator doesn't
seem to get the same amount of flack and Steve Thompson who adapted the
Blind Banker as well as The Reichenbach Fall
is not attacked in the same way. Is it because Moffat is more visible?
He get's interviewed more often and is therefore more open to being
misrepresented by the press in the first instance and then
misinterpreted by people reading the interview in the first
place.
I also struggle to get my head
round is the idea that some people in fandom seem to think that they can
produce better work than the people writing and making the show in the
first place. Deep breath is required here.
Really, fandom? Take a look at yourself here and answer honestly, could
you really write something better than an experienced writer has already
done? For the vast majority it's a definite no. There is a lot
of terrible fic out there, where plots are
hackneyed and writing is cliché ridden. There is also good fic, but
I'd argue there is a huge canyon between decent fic and writing for tv.
It is arrogant for anyone to suppose they could do a
better job than a particular writer who is getting paid to do the job,
because it kind of begs the question: then why aren't they?
It's also not a question of just accepting, I
criticise a lot of writing, there are many things which don't quite work
for me, but I don't make an assumption that I can write something
better than a paid writer of a TV series.
