Why Creatives Shouldn't Try to Appeal to Toxic Fandom
Hello my friends, and welcome back to my blog. Today I wanted to talk about several topics that have been on my mind for several months now, but have all kind of come to head and coalesced after an article from Variety last year that seems to have highlighted just how prevalent these issues have become, and how long they have been an issue. The article published by Variety in October 2024, titled " Toxic Fandom: How Hollywood Is Battling Fans Who Are ‘Just Out for Blood’", and available here , starts by discussing some prominent examples of recent toxicity levelled by fans towards some high profile shows, before exploring several steps that studios are taking in order to prevent these vitriolic pushbacks, with one idea specifically cited being that of special "superfan" focus groups to assess marketing materials for major franchise projects, in addition to standard focus testing groups. Now focus group testing is a important part of any film and television pro...