Women don't read SF/Fantasy/Horror...

[rhienelleth]

...even when there's lots of romance sex (and romance), apparently.

IFC is teaming with Lionsgate for a TV movie based on the "Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter" books. The telefilm could be the basis for more Blake projects if successful.

Laurell K. Hamilton's novels, at 16 books and counting, include elements familiar to fans of "True Blood" (vampires are part of regular society) and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (tough young female fights supernatural forces). The project will be adapted by Glen Morgan ("The X-Files," "Final Destination"), who also is an executive producer with Courtney Solomon ("Dungeons & Dragons").

IFC is targeting the movie to its core base of men 18-34 and plans to air it next year.

"The popularity of the network in this demographic indicates that there is a clear demand for films that delve into provocative topics, and nothing is more classically provocative than vampire lore," said Jennifer Caserta, executive vp and GM of IFC. "Anita Blake fits perfectly with our successful original programming."

I would just like to point out that the target demographic is being decided/commented upon by a woman.

Really?? REALLY???

First there was the 'fanboy' SF assumption, now Anita Blake is being targeted at MEN? W. T. F.

I'm sure LKH has her share of male readers. I am positive of this. But you CANNOT TELL me that the majority of her readers aren't WOMEN. I WON'T BELIEVE YOU WITHOUT SUBSTANTIAL PROOF.

DUDE. How can executives in charge of our entertainment world be so freaking clueless about what women watch/read/want?? Fandom is like 90% women, most of whom either write or read pr0n based on their favorite movie/TV show/book characters of the moment. OMFG. i am so tempted to write a politely phrased letter explaining to Ms. Caserta how they're targeting the WRONG DEMOGRAPHIC. SEXY VAMPIRES AND WERES + TOUGH FEMALE VAMPIRE HUNTER = FEMALE AUDIENCE. For serious. Probably the vampires alone could have sold it. I cringe to even bring it up, but HELLO DIMWITS, did you not read about this little book/movie called Twilight???? Teenage boys did not make up that demographic!

Comments

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

Jeez. That's exactly the sort of thing that prompted me and hundreds of other women to send Skiffy's Bonnie Hammer bras during the Save Farscape campaign, back in the day (women support Farscape).

[tessagratton.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is indeed baffling. And offensive. And... makes me wonder how much they're changing the story. Boo.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Apparently, no one has learned!

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

The fact that the people involved are in any way associated with the abomination that was the Dungeons and Dragons movie does not fill me with confidence, either.

Charlaine Harris gets HBO and True Blood, but LKH (who came first) gets...IFC and a male demographic? I am still reeling.

[randomeliza.livejournal.com]

What the unmitigated fuck.

I just... really? There is so much stupid in this story I don't even know where one stupid ends and another stupid begins.

[indiefic.livejournal.com]

Just wait until they retcon Jean Claude into a girl. Because guys love hawt lesbian vampires.

FAIL, IFC. FAIL.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

ah, allow me to translate that press release for you:

"We here at IFC would LOVE a soft core porn property that we own and can promote the heck out of. We've discovered those Anita Blake comics sell really well (so boys must be buying them, because everybody knows only boys buy comics). So we're teaming up with the people who help produce the Saw series, to make a movie that we can promote as "edgy and dark and full of sex." Boys dig hot chicks who can kick ass and take off their clothes - it'll bring people to our channel in droves! and if a few of em are women, well,that's okay too."

[aka-paloma.livejournal.com]

So... like, the "F" in IFC stands for fail, right?

[frenchroast.livejournal.com]

I don't read LKH...I don't even much like her...but for chrissake, what the HELL is wrong with these people? SF/Fantasy/Horror is FULL of female fans. Probably even dominated by, at least within fandom. This assumption they keep making really pisses me off. Seriously, what the fraking, frelling fuck?

[kistha.livejournal.com]

5 points to House "insert your Harry Potter sorting here" for using two of the most popular Scifi fake swearing words!

Would have been 10 if you'd included some from Firefly.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes it does. IF = Infinite Fail!

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

OMG. The STUPID. IT HURTS.

Imagine if a network was smart enough to hire some fandom-centric people to guide their programming choices. You know, people with an actual finger on the pulse of what fandom wants to see.

What a world that would be.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

...

I...almost have no words for that mental image. Thank goodness this doesn't appear to have occurred to them - YET.

[woodrunner.livejournal.com]

Someone needs a bitchslap.

[frenchroast.livejournal.com]

I'd have used "gorram" in there, but it would've messed with the alliteration.

[dragonsinger.livejournal.com]

For some reason some people still think women only want hearts and flowers, not explosions and fight scenes. *Headdesk*

[monimala.livejournal.com]

It's odd, because I totally didn't read "we're doing this because chicks don't dig vampires and sci-fi" coding into the announcement but, rather, saw it more as a "guys like vampires and shoot 'em up stuff, so that's what we're aiming for." Like the Blade series on Spike.

Plus, Anita in her current LKH-verse incarnation, is far from a "tough female vampire hunter." So anything IFC or a male production crew does to "slut her up" for a male audience can't be any worse than what Laurell's done herself.

[purple-shoes.livejournal.com]

::headdesk::

This reminds me of the wank that came up when one of the writers for Doctor Who said he was dumbing down the science stuff because women don't understand technobabble.

I don't know why the idea that women aren't a target audience of science fiction is still so prevalent. Especially since women characters who are scientific (Sam Carter, Beverly Crusher, and Dana Scully, just to name a few) have become almost token characters in science fiction. Women like having a character in these genres to identify with. Not to mention, like you said, fandom is mainly women. Why are these people so consumed with belittling that to aim it towards a target audience that isn't even the right demographic to begin with?

I think you should write that letter. I don't know if it would help any, but it would be at least something. :-(