How much control should fans have over movies and TV shows?

[Rabbitearsblog]

So, how much control do you think that fans should have over TV shows or movies?  I wanted to ask this question because I saw this article on Screen Rant about how it can be problematic if fans have too much control in regard to the movies and TV shows.

For me personally, I do see some positives and negatives to this.  In the positives, fans are able to get exactly what they want without worrying about the movies and TV shows straying too far from the source material.  Also, the movies could have the potential to do well in theaters if the fans enjoyed the movies.  However, in the negatives, this could cause the fans to take over the movies and TV shows and not allow the people making the movies to create their own visions of the properties.  Also, making movies and TV shows is not cheap and can cause the studios to go down under if they spent too much money on making the fan demands.  Like for example, while I liked the fact that Paramount listened to the fans to change Sonic's design in the first movie, it did cause the studio that animated Sonic to go down under since it was quite expensive to make those changes.

[JezMM]

The answer is pretty much always "as much as the creators want" - and that decision should always be taken like any other, with consideration for the consequences.

Feedback is always good, but sometimes what fans say they want and what they actually want are different.  Less mature fans often go at each other's throats for complaining about stuff they don't like without offering solutions - but it's not the fans' job to fix the problems.

There are some projects where a lot of fan involvement can be a boon, and some where it's best to keep to the creators' whims, because while fans might think they want loads of fanservice familiarities, what few people ask for is to have whatever the fresh experience was that turned them into fans in the first place over again somehow.  There really is no one-size-fits-all answer.

[Rabbitearsblog]

6 minutes ago, JezMM said:

The answer is pretty much always "as much as the creators want" - and that decision should always be taken like any other, with consideration for the consequences.

Feedback is always good, but sometimes what fans say they want and what they actually want are different.  Less mature fans often go at each other's throats for complaining about stuff they don't like without offering solutions - but it's not the fans' job to fix the problems.

There are some projects where a lot of fan involvement can be a boon, and some where it's best to keep to the creators' whims, because while fans might think they want loads of fanservice familiarities, what few people ask for is to have whatever the fresh experience was that turned them into fans in the first place over again somehow.  There really is no one-size-fits-all answer.

Agree.  I think the biggest issue would be whether or not the fan's suggestions are even good for the movies or TV shows.  Like you mentioned, there are some fans out there that don't explain what they want clearly and that can cause the company to take the wrong message of what the fans actually want and do something totally different, just because the fans weren't being specific with their demands.  Also, if the movies or TV shows are meant to be child-friendly and the fans want something more "mature," then of course, networks or studios shouldn't listen to those types of requests.