âWait, there are people blaming the writers?â
Are you surprised? Fandoms have become notorious anti-writer spaces. Studios love you guys. They can cut the budgets, cut the number of writers, cut the wages of the writers, and you guys always blame the writers. âThe writers ruined the show!â Itâs never âthe studios ruined the show.â
I hate to break it to you: more than half the shows you complain were âruined by the writersâ, were ruined by the studios. Studios cut the scenes and arcs you were excited for. Studios cut the budget of the show, or even raise the budget of the show and force a âbigger, louder, bolderâ tone on shows that were unexpected hits (this is where we get âthe Netflix lookâ on every show post-Stranger Things and Queenâs Gambit).
You guys do not do your research. Half your fanfics are tagged with bad faith digs at the writers, when a few searches would reveal how strapped that show was and how poorly the writers were treated. Writers are being given a 10 weeks to write 10 episodes. How are good arcs and scenes supposed to happen under that time limit, with a max of only four writers?
Tumblr, the self-proclaimed âpro-union, pro-worker, pro-artistâ site is also a major fandom site. You guys rarely practice good faith consumer etiquette for television and film writers, because your fandom salt always turns you against writers. And studios love you for it.
Yeah, individual writers do create bad writing from time to time. But so do painters, chefs, and musicians. Directors and actors sometimes refuse to film certain scenes or follow a showâs projected style and arc, and the writers always get the crap for a bad performance or a poorly directed episode. This isnât to blame actors or directors; itâs to point out that you guys have one villain, and itâs always the writers. You guys never give writers the same grace you give animators, designers, directors, actors, composers, and editors.
Studios love you every time you say âthe writers ruined the show.â Every single popular fandom is guilty of this. View any of the âwhy did the writers cut this scene, they hate my charactersâ talk when leaked scenes hit the internet. Writers barely get paid for what they do write. You think theyâre writing scenes and then happily throwing them in the shredder? You guys just eat the talk that studios put out. Always have.