Kristen Bell on the Veronica Mars Movie: “Not gonna happen.”
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
When asked about the condition of the forever-devolping Veronica Mars movie, Kristen Bell had somber, yet expected news.
“I don’t think it will ever happen, and here’s why: Rob Thomas and I had a powwow, and we were both 100 percent on board. We took our proposal to Warner Bros. and Joel Silver told us that there is no enthusiasm to make a Veronica Mars movie, and that is unfortunately a roadblock we cannot compete with. Maybe if we bombard them with letters? Maybe they will change their tune.”
Please, please please…no more letters, no more peanuts, no more petitions. If the studio doesn’t think a movie will make money or win Oscars, they will not greenlight it. Personally, I like the adult career Bell has forming. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was great and Couples Retreat looks very funny. Can’t we just move on?
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“No more Peanuts”? Funny that a successful campaign was mentioned.
I’m sorry Randy, but I simply refuse to believe that a ‘fan campaign’ brought that show back.
Me suspects behind the scenes shenanigans…
You can refuse to believe it all you want, but I followed that thing from beginning to end. It may have very well ended up getting the last few episodes because of agreements on budget cuts, advertising, etc. But that was one of the best organized fan campaigns I’ve ever seen, and I have no doubt that the talks wouldn’t have went any further if it wasn’t for that out-pouring of support. Much like I have no doubt that Serenity would not have been made, if not for the fan support in purchasing Firefly.
The truth is, the issue of whether or not to renew a show comes down to how much they can make on it between products and advertisements. When fans launch a campaign like that, the number goes up. When it’s all over the news that several thousand pounds of peanuts are being sent from fans, advertisers see the potential in the show. It’s suddenly clear that people are willing to spend money to keep their favorite show on the air.
See also Chuck and Subway. If you guys seriously think that vocal fan support doesn’t have an effect on whether or not a show gets renewed, then that’s pretty short sighted.
Yup, the show lasted SEVEN whole episodes after that! Talk about knocking it out of the park
It got an ending. That’s what the whole campaign was about. If you watched the show at all, you would know that it didn’t originally have an ending at all, but a cliffhanger. And it almost got even more than that.
Besides 5 hours of additional content is more than a movie would be.
Now, following my argument of how fan campaigns can work, I will say that in this case I don’t think it would. It’ just been too long. If you had a show that was mildly popular, the time to save it is immediately after it has been canceled. Waiting multiple years complicates everything to a whole new level. You are talking about losing the interest of some of your already limited fan base, losing a lot of the support the show had internally, etc.
As much as I would love to see more Veronica Mars, you are absolutely correct here.
As good and successful as the campaigns for Firefly and Jericho were, the most impressive and well-organized fan campaign to save a show that I have ever seen has got to go to Farscape. In fact, several of the sites involved in the Farscape campaign also helped out with the campaign to save Firefly.
Anyway, the Farscape fans did a ton of stuff including (but not limited to) creating several television commercials that aired in several different markets, donated Farscape DVD sets to libraries, donated Farscape DVD sets to the military, sent letters and emails to the studios, placed ads in Variety and Hollywood Reporter, etc. What makes it more impressive to me is that the campaign lasted a rather long time, and it didn’t lose any momentum after only a few weeks. It actually got stronger as time went on, lasting for well over a year. The campaign got mentioned on several news outlets, and some of the people behind the it were even interviewed on air (most notably by CNN Headline News and the BBC).
All that effort was successful in getting a concluding miniseries made, and I think it helped to pave the way for future fan campaigns by showing lots of different avenues that can be successful.
Part of a DVD feature talking about the cancellation and fan reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVK3YnTM7g4&feature=related
My favorite fan-made trailer for the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBZmWFgeeI
Randy, I think you’re affection for the show makes the fan campign seem a lot bigger than it actually was. And besides, it doen’t matter how many angry Jericho fans sends peanuts to the studio, it matters how many Nielsen families are watching the show. This is Hollywood, they don’t care about wheter or not your favorite show has been cancelled, they care about whether they’ve got you glued to your sofa so you can keep watching commercials. The qaulity of the show itself is just icing on the cake.
The only cancelled TV show that got a second chnace and actually ran with it was Family Guy. Other than that, Jericho got cancelled, Serenity bombed and now the Veronica Mars movie isn’t happening. I think we all need to snap out of it and realize that they don’t care about our happiness, they care about our wallets. Or THEY’RE wallets to be more accurate. Lost isn’t on the ai becuase its innovative and fasinating, its on the air becase it makes ABC a lot of money
I hadn’t watched a single episode of Jericho when the “Nuts over Jericho” campaign was going on. I was not a fan, and had no interest in watching the show. A friend at worked got into it, and convinced me to give it a try. I finished season 1 one week prior to season 2 airing. I remember thinking, “No wonder so many people got pissed off about this”. So no, actually, I had no bias when paying attention to that fan campaign and seeing how well it worked and such.
I agree that generally Neilsen viewers are the only facts that matter, but that’s exactly why these campaigns are actually effective. They can prove to the networks that there is a loyal fanbase. And more importantly, they can prove to the advertisers that there is a loyal fanbase. Because a loyal and vocal fanbase is more likely to do anything necessary to keep a show on the air. Including buying products advertised (See Subway and Chuck) on the show, buying the DVDs, purchasing movie tickets, etc.
Jericho almost got renewed a second time, and that’s despite that they didn’t even blink when they canceled it the first time. Friday Night Lights was on the verge of being canceled, and they got 3 more seasons out of it, because Dish Network saw it’s fanbase and realized the potential. Serenity may have “bombed”, but it made back it’s budget from the ticket sales alone, and that’s before you factor in the inevitable DVD purchasing frenzy.
You are absolutely right, they could care less about making us happy. Otherwise TV series would never get canceled mid-season. But it happens. The only thing they care about is the dollar aspect. And that’s exactly why fan campaigns can and do make a difference. It’s put up or shut up, and in many cases, the fans put up enough to save a show. Plus, beyond all that, the publicity that these campaigns raise for the show is often an added bonus, as they often equate in at least an initial boost to ratings.
I’ve said before, the only bad thing about fan campaigns is they often come to late. If the show is already canceled, the task is made infinitely more difficult. But I think the evidence is there that success is definitely possible. Though again, not likely in this case.
Also, it’s very likely that the only reason Lost is still on the air right now is because the end is so close. It’s not making nearly the amount of money you think it is anymore.
Nither is Tiger Woods, but he’s still in the game. (Sorry to drag sports into geek talk)
I don’t even get that argument, sorry.
LOST is on the air because it’s DVD sales, Itunes downloads and tivo numbers are all great. It’s also rated first among the most desirable demographic.
Neilsen ratings are less and less relevent these days. Lost is a very well rated show, that’s why the execs didn’t want them to end in season 6.
It definitely is not on the air just because “the end is so close”. Weren’t you just telling everyone that the networks don’t care about pleasing the fans if the ratings are bad? I swear you just said that.
Randy’s arguments are really loose and wiggly; capable of change and revision whenever needed