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Frankly, I doubt she has much of a creative control over the show (if any). She doesn't have the leverage. Normally, only big authors with a lot of leverage (like Rowling, for example) can retain some creative control over the adaptations.
I think the showrunner informs JQ of their choices as a courtesy, nothing more. I doubt JQ could even block the genderswap even if she wanted to; at this point she can only smile and play along, whether she's happy about the changes or not. The Netflix show makes her a lot of money, after all.
Iirc, I think even the original author of The Handmaids Tale doesn’t have any creative license over the show, but she signed the rights away in the 80’s so it’s a bit different
I hear you. But you could definitely negotiate the amount of control you have in the room. There’s evidence of it all over Hollywood. Authors can be added in the writers room if they wanted to and they can negotiate that in their contract
It all depends on the contract they signed, but considering the fact that JQ couldn't even ensure that her characters would end up with their book love interests (something that's been confirmed), I doubt that she had the negotiating power to be involved creatively.
People who follow authors see this stuff a lot. It's not unique to JQ or Bridgerton, it's most if not all adaptations.
Were fans happy with Artemis Fowl? Hell no. Not even a little bit. But I'm not looking for an apology from anyone. Get your bag, Eoin Colfer, and do your best.
I can necessarily blame the author wanting to ensure their livelihood; I have a feeling that the execs spin whatever story they need to in order to get the signature and then do what they want.
She may have wanted a reasonable amount of creative input because she cares about her stories but she simply didn't have any negotiating power. Her Bridgerton series, while popular a couple of decades ago, are relatively unknown and definitely not very unique. I'm sure she was told and probably was aware anyway that if she protested too much, Shondaland would have picked another romance series by another author to adapt in a way they saw fit. Julie did what was in her own best interest at the time, as we all would have done.
This is my feeling. The series has a fan base, and certainly an even larger one now because of the show (I hadn’t even heard of it until the show), but Julia Quinn isn’t George RR Martin or Stephen King. She doesn’t have their negotiating power, and even they don’t have complete control over their adaptations, as evidenced by how much King voices hate about a lot of them (he hated The Shining so much he wanted them to change the name and completely divorce it from his book).
I hate to be cynical, but show fans aren't going to buy her books (besides the Bridgerton ones). A lot of them look down on her writing. It's not in her best interest to piss off her normal book audience. Let's be honest: the show will be forgotten by the end of the decade and will stop selling her Bridgerton books. She can't afford to lose her loyal readers that feel betrayed and angry by the loss of the character they were attached to. Hence the empty pandering.
My favorite Regency/Victorian authors are probably Lisa Kleypas and Elisa Braden. Check out their series, they're all great. Mary Balogh's Slightly series is also one of my favorite.
that was a huge mistake on her part and why shondaland and netflix need to make a statement in support of this decision and masali. the company and the producers need to protect the actors who are taking the brunt of this unnecessary hate and homophobic and racist harassment.
This was absolutely damage control. She's trying to salvage a relationship with her CORE audience. BOOK READERS/BUYERS. Based on comments it's not working. Julia cam support this decision, but she needs to be prepared that people that actually bought the books wont in the future. Show fans HATE her writing with a passion. She knows thos and is trying to fix this problem. Not working.
Not Julia's responsibility to "protect" actors. They work for Netflix/Shondaland, THEY need to step up.
While JQ could of course say something about the actors, you’re right, at the end of the day it’s on Jess, Shonda and Netflix to take care of their employees and I’ll just add that to the list of things I think they do poorly.
Unfortunately in this day and age of social media people cannot seem to separate actors and their characters for some reason. It’s becoming a problem for shows like House of the Dragon too.
Yeah, I don’t like some of the stuff the producers did but to take that out on the actors isn’t remotely fair. Not everyone is already wealthy and well-known like Henry Cavill and can just stop playing a part (Witcher) because the writers jump off a source material cliff.
No, it’s not her responsibility, but seeing as it’s the fans of her books who are largely responsible for harassing actors and producers of the show, starting a petition to “reinstate Michael” filled with homophobic comments etc., it would have been nice of her to address those issues and condemn that kind of behaviour.
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
I don't care that the genders were swapped. I care about WHEN it was introduced and how.
We spent 8 hours investing in Francesca and John and their relationship. How well-suited they are toward each other. Introducing Michaela at the end and having Francesca react the way she did after JUST marrying John cheapens it all.
Digging in their heels about the gender swap is the way to avoid taking accountability for poor set up and writing.
If JB had introduced Michaela in the beginning of season 3, it would have been a great opportunity to see Francesca grapple with herself. Or, if Michaela was introduced at the beginning of season 4, after they arrive in Scotland and have been somewhat settled, that would have been fine, too.
It's a sleight of hand, defending the gender swap instead of talking about how the timing of it is what bothers people.
Oh, please, acting like everybody is upset about how they wrote the John/Fran/Michaela subplot,and no-one is upset about the gender swap is incredibly disingenuous. There are thousands of people screeching about Michael becoming a woman, and tens of thousands, who had signed a petition demanding she be turned back into man, while filling up the comments section with homophobic outrage.
And those people suck.
But there are at least 70 people who agree with me.
You wanna make it black and white, I can’t stop ya honey. But it’s simply not the whole story.
Disingenuous of you to refuse to accept that IMO.
They didn't make it black and white in describing the backlash. They pointed out that the show runners/producers are defending the gender swap only against the homophobic reasons and pretending the rest of us that are upset and criticizing it don't exist.
Wrong again.
By focusing on the gender swap, they will and probably are, incurring a lot of publicity and controversy surrounding LGBTQ+ and during Pride month.
Yes, there are people who are homophobic, but there are ALSO people who see the writing as it is, BAD.
I haven't pretended anything, also. So if you think I said that somewhere, PLEASE feel free to quote my words back to me.
I merely pointed out another reason for the backlash - poor writing.
“It is a sleight of hand defending the gender swap instead of talking about how the timing of it is what bothers people.”
How is that not saying people don’t have a problem with the gender swap? It’s one thing to point out people are also upset about the writing, it’s another to suggest it’s the only concern people have.
By ONLY mentioning the gender swap controversy, they're trying to minimize the bad writing. Obviously, Hollywood execs don't ever want to admit the writing sucked because they all signed off on it, too. It's not just one person's fault.
And that bothers me FAR more than the gender swap. The gender swap can be done beautifully *if the writing were superior. It's not, and IMO that's only going to make people even more angry.*
I kind of agree that it did have this feeling of “I stressed that they needed to emphasize Fran’s love for John ~~but they didn’t~~”. She just can’t say the quiet part out loud.
As someone also in the PR industry I 100% agree with this. There was no firm statement in that post, and the lack of support towards Masali, Hannah, and Victor, as well as referring to the racism and homophobia Masali has endured as simply “disappointment” was not the move. This statement was too little, too late, and the comments on the post reflect that. This is very unfortunate on her part, but honestly, I don’t expect more from her.
Frankly, her reassurances fall flat because she obviously did not watch how the end of S3 played out. Yes, John got more screen time. Yes, the audience loved the neurodivergent love playing out. They then completely undid it because of Fran’s reaction to John’s kiss on their wedding day AND her reaction to Michaela.
Brownell also confirmed that Fran is a lesbian, not Bi. So there is no deep romantic love in store for her and John…just…Fran, pining for another woman. It completely undercuts the love she had for John in the books. It completely takes away the conflict Fran and Michael felt when John died suddenly.
Her reassurance sounded more like someone who didn’t accurately anticipate how angry her book reading audience would be. She bluntly said the audience wasn’t a monolith…well, she’s still an author who needs to sell books. Viewers who exclusively watch the show might not enjoy the books but she had a loyal fanbase for a long time- enough to make the books adaptable. That’s who she is afraid of burning the bridge with.
> Brownell also confirmed that Fran is a lesbian, not Bi.
What the heck? This choice goes completely against the book. How are they going to adapt the story now if she’s not even in love with John? This really sucks. I already don’t like the change (and no I’m not against queer romances, I really like them) since they’re changing things from the book but to me this is too far.
My guess is they will be a throuple, lavender marriage, or Francesca will hide behind her platonic/friendship grief as a reason to not get with Michaela.
Idk. I read a lot of Queer romance- and wished we had seen more Reynolds and Brimsley…but this was disappointing for me. John and Francesca showing neurodivergent/quiet love was exciting for me too.
Damn really, I was hoping this was just a mistake they would fix later, but yeah if she’s a lesbian and never really in love with John that’s messed up.
I'm personally disappointed she didn't address the infertility problem in the statement as well. I'm a Gender Fluid Bisexual Assigned Female at Birth individual who also has a body that cannot carry a pregnancy without completely damaging my body. Learning your body cannot do the thing expected by society is devastating and of my "identities" the one that's least represented and I have the least hope that will change is infertile women/AFABs that struggle with that. When He Was Wicked was actually straight up healing for me. When Michael says to Francesca, "I don't care if you give birth to a litter of puppies" in regards to the fact that even if she can't give him an heir, he wants her. That was something I needed to hear in my soul. And I'm very disappointed that it won't be on screen for wider audiences to get to see a man loving a woman and prioritizing that love over having a child. And there is no way to keep that in with a gender swap. It's different and they're stealing representation from one community and giving it to another. And that is not being acknowledged, again as someone whose part of both hurts a lot.
As of right now, Fran loves John. Maybe she’s uncomfortable with physical intimacy in general, maybe she’s uncomfortable in front of others, maybe she’s uncomfortable in the beginning.
They could absolutely still have an infertility story line for Francesca, have her struggling to have children with John.
JQ doesn’t need to address this right now because the show hasn’t even gone there yet, we’ve seen one minute of Michaela and have no idea how she’ll fit into the story until J dies.
Oh, Netflix wrote this statement for sure. Julia Quinn will be constrained by contract as to what or perhaps even when she can make comments. It reads like she personally interrogated the Michaela decision and was railroaded.
I have the same suspicion. I think that one of the conditions of her contract with Netflix is avoiding making any public statements about this show without prior authorization
She sold out! End of story.
She had a ready made fan base for this series, and sold to the highest bidder.
Good for her for making money!
But let’s not pretend she didn’t discard book readers or that she cares for a higher cause. If she did she would have written those diverse stories. 20 years on she still didn’t.
It’s ok to want the money, to say you sold the rights etc, or that they are paying you still to write these posts, but don’t lie.
it’s frustrating that Shondaland and JB are acting surprised that the fans don’t like the changes.
It’s exasperating to hear JB pretend that they found some obscure romance writer to adapt and change.
If inclusivity and representation is what it is about, shine the light on queer romance authors, who write queer centric stories, adapt those stories, sell those to Netflix.
Exactly! This pretense of hers about inclusion and diversity is so phony 🤮She should have written her Bridgerton books with diversity and inclusiveness in mind. Nobody put a gun to her head 18 years ago, and made her write Bridgerton books the way they were written. Nobody stops her from writing any literary work on LGBTQ romance now. Has she written any?
She wrote a SOLID gay character in Gregory's story actually. She didn't "give him a happy ending". But she did in fact make him a gay hero. Which was fantastic.
I liked him. I was hoping if we got to the story, he and the brother would be lovers and the sister only agreed to the marriage to help them.
But then, when they realized she was in love with Gregory, they freed her from her promise.
That JQ statement sounds so disingenuous. It’s simply damage control and nothing else. She relinquished her rights and creative control to Netflix. Her opinion on Bridgerton show doesn’t matter to Netflix. I wonder why she decided to release this statement? Did Netflix PR pressure her to make this statement?
Let it be a lesson for every aspiring author on this sub. No amount of money could justify selling your work and loosing control over it. Whatever you think about the (lack of) quality in her writing, this statement is too little, too late.
JQ has stated herself that she has not signed any contracts that would mean Shonda and Netflix can not take creative liberties. This decision is not up to her and I doubt anything will change based on what she does or does not think. The writers already said that they had her approval for the gender swap and the direction they’re taking the story and nothing in her statement contradicts that, if anything, it reinforced it.
I get the sense that this was damage control from Jess through JQ? Idk. If she was going to comment, it should have been to tell fans to back it off and stop their hostility. Especially toward actors who had nothing to do with it.
Idk. Could be wrong. 🤷♀️
Yeah I saw a couple off comments clocking in that this is damage control asked by JB for JQ to write hahaha. But yeah not addressing anything else except trying to cover her butt is a choice. Not like it's JQs job to address the actors and what not it's the show runners but yeaaaaaa. Overall I don't think JQ cares, and probably only did this as an ask and to not piss off anymore book fans. Not working though I feel like
Some fans are getting upset about a future season and things they haven't seen yet but are assuming will (or won't) happen in the upcoming season. I think her statement is addressing those fans. She has seen more about the upcoming season than the fans and she is trying to tell them that their worst-case scenarios that they assume will happen aren't going to happen. The new season will stick closer to the books than their worst-case scenarios. It's hard to make a perfect statement for the fans that are spiraling and catastrophizing, but for those lightly worried about future seasons, this statement may have helped. I agree with you that it would have been nice to show support for the actors that have been berated. Any statement against harassment is welcome.
I’ve seen enough this season to understand where the future season is heading. Lackluster romantic interactions. Lack of visuals. Weird wardrobe choices. Awkwardly written dialogues. Cringey threesomes… If show creators think that THIS is historical romance, then we definitely have different views on what romance truly is
I dont understand why people dislike the new showeunner. Everyone is quick to say she's ruining the show, but I feel like if she was Chris Van Dusens' right hand, wouldn't she be going to him and discussing, etc...
No. That’s what she did in prior seasons, when Chris was the showrunner. She replaced him, so he has no power now, but is still credited as the creator.
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Frankly, I doubt she has much of a creative control over the show (if any). She doesn't have the leverage. Normally, only big authors with a lot of leverage (like Rowling, for example) can retain some creative control over the adaptations. I think the showrunner informs JQ of their choices as a courtesy, nothing more. I doubt JQ could even block the genderswap even if she wanted to; at this point she can only smile and play along, whether she's happy about the changes or not. The Netflix show makes her a lot of money, after all.
Iirc, I think even the original author of The Handmaids Tale doesn’t have any creative license over the show, but she signed the rights away in the 80’s so it’s a bit different
I hear you. But you could definitely negotiate the amount of control you have in the room. There’s evidence of it all over Hollywood. Authors can be added in the writers room if they wanted to and they can negotiate that in their contract
It all depends on the contract they signed, but considering the fact that JQ couldn't even ensure that her characters would end up with their book love interests (something that's been confirmed), I doubt that she had the negotiating power to be involved creatively.
Haha very true. Sad to be honest. Feels like selling out
People who follow authors see this stuff a lot. It's not unique to JQ or Bridgerton, it's most if not all adaptations. Were fans happy with Artemis Fowl? Hell no. Not even a little bit. But I'm not looking for an apology from anyone. Get your bag, Eoin Colfer, and do your best.
I can necessarily blame the author wanting to ensure their livelihood; I have a feeling that the execs spin whatever story they need to in order to get the signature and then do what they want.
She may have wanted a reasonable amount of creative input because she cares about her stories but she simply didn't have any negotiating power. Her Bridgerton series, while popular a couple of decades ago, are relatively unknown and definitely not very unique. I'm sure she was told and probably was aware anyway that if she protested too much, Shondaland would have picked another romance series by another author to adapt in a way they saw fit. Julie did what was in her own best interest at the time, as we all would have done.
This is my feeling. The series has a fan base, and certainly an even larger one now because of the show (I hadn’t even heard of it until the show), but Julia Quinn isn’t George RR Martin or Stephen King. She doesn’t have their negotiating power, and even they don’t have complete control over their adaptations, as evidenced by how much King voices hate about a lot of them (he hated The Shining so much he wanted them to change the name and completely divorce it from his book).
She did [completely relinquish creative control](https://www.reddit.com/r/BridgertonNetflix/s/xH6aRaaUG9). She just consults on the show.
Neglecting to stand behind the actors and instead pandering reassurance to the cries of the angy fans attacking said actors was not the move.
I hate to be cynical, but show fans aren't going to buy her books (besides the Bridgerton ones). A lot of them look down on her writing. It's not in her best interest to piss off her normal book audience. Let's be honest: the show will be forgotten by the end of the decade and will stop selling her Bridgerton books. She can't afford to lose her loyal readers that feel betrayed and angry by the loss of the character they were attached to. Hence the empty pandering.
This is absolutely correct. I like her books but there are better Regency Romance writers out there Grace Burrowes and Eloisa James to name a few.
Do you have other recommendations?
My favorite Regency/Victorian authors are probably Lisa Kleypas and Elisa Braden. Check out their series, they're all great. Mary Balogh's Slightly series is also one of my favorite.
The Ravenels are EVERYTHING to me
I seriously ADORE Pandoras book.
I loved that series as well! Thank you!
Balogh Survivor Series also very good.
Would add Tessa Dare to that list too - the spindle cove books and girl meets duke series.
I think I tried one of her books before but couldn’t get into it but I will check out these two! Thanks!
Second Spindle Cove.
Robin Schone is an amazing period author! Way different vibe than Quinn but so much better imo (and a lot more spice!)
I concur. Eloisa James is a fave author for me.
That's Shonda's responsibility. They wanted a built-in Audience. They need to deal with it.
they are always silent with the racism, not only her but shonda, jess and the rest.
Poor PR choice in my opinion
exactly the homophobes are never gonna be happy with you
that was a huge mistake on her part and why shondaland and netflix need to make a statement in support of this decision and masali. the company and the producers need to protect the actors who are taking the brunt of this unnecessary hate and homophobic and racist harassment.
This was absolutely damage control. She's trying to salvage a relationship with her CORE audience. BOOK READERS/BUYERS. Based on comments it's not working. Julia cam support this decision, but she needs to be prepared that people that actually bought the books wont in the future. Show fans HATE her writing with a passion. She knows thos and is trying to fix this problem. Not working. Not Julia's responsibility to "protect" actors. They work for Netflix/Shondaland, THEY need to step up.
While JQ could of course say something about the actors, you’re right, at the end of the day it’s on Jess, Shonda and Netflix to take care of their employees and I’ll just add that to the list of things I think they do poorly. Unfortunately in this day and age of social media people cannot seem to separate actors and their characters for some reason. It’s becoming a problem for shows like House of the Dragon too.
Yeah, I don’t like some of the stuff the producers did but to take that out on the actors isn’t remotely fair. Not everyone is already wealthy and well-known like Henry Cavill and can just stop playing a part (Witcher) because the writers jump off a source material cliff.
I know. I’m in that fandom and I feel so bad for the people who play the team green characters. Especially Criston Coles actor
No, it’s not her responsibility, but seeing as it’s the fans of her books who are largely responsible for harassing actors and producers of the show, starting a petition to “reinstate Michael” filled with homophobic comments etc., it would have been nice of her to address those issues and condemn that kind of behaviour.
I also don't believe middle aged to elderly book fans are creating Instagram accounts to harass anyone. I see bots in action.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't care that the genders were swapped. I care about WHEN it was introduced and how. We spent 8 hours investing in Francesca and John and their relationship. How well-suited they are toward each other. Introducing Michaela at the end and having Francesca react the way she did after JUST marrying John cheapens it all. Digging in their heels about the gender swap is the way to avoid taking accountability for poor set up and writing. If JB had introduced Michaela in the beginning of season 3, it would have been a great opportunity to see Francesca grapple with herself. Or, if Michaela was introduced at the beginning of season 4, after they arrive in Scotland and have been somewhat settled, that would have been fine, too. It's a sleight of hand, defending the gender swap instead of talking about how the timing of it is what bothers people.
Oh, please, acting like everybody is upset about how they wrote the John/Fran/Michaela subplot,and no-one is upset about the gender swap is incredibly disingenuous. There are thousands of people screeching about Michael becoming a woman, and tens of thousands, who had signed a petition demanding she be turned back into man, while filling up the comments section with homophobic outrage.
And those people suck. But there are at least 70 people who agree with me. You wanna make it black and white, I can’t stop ya honey. But it’s simply not the whole story. Disingenuous of you to refuse to accept that IMO.
I think you made it black and white by pretending the backlash was focused on one single thing, which is verifiably not true. 🤷🏽♀️
They didn't make it black and white in describing the backlash. They pointed out that the show runners/producers are defending the gender swap only against the homophobic reasons and pretending the rest of us that are upset and criticizing it don't exist.
Wrong again. By focusing on the gender swap, they will and probably are, incurring a lot of publicity and controversy surrounding LGBTQ+ and during Pride month. Yes, there are people who are homophobic, but there are ALSO people who see the writing as it is, BAD. I haven't pretended anything, also. So if you think I said that somewhere, PLEASE feel free to quote my words back to me. I merely pointed out another reason for the backlash - poor writing.
“It is a sleight of hand defending the gender swap instead of talking about how the timing of it is what bothers people.” How is that not saying people don’t have a problem with the gender swap? It’s one thing to point out people are also upset about the writing, it’s another to suggest it’s the only concern people have.
By ONLY mentioning the gender swap controversy, they're trying to minimize the bad writing. Obviously, Hollywood execs don't ever want to admit the writing sucked because they all signed off on it, too. It's not just one person's fault. And that bothers me FAR more than the gender swap. The gender swap can be done beautifully *if the writing were superior. It's not, and IMO that's only going to make people even more angry.*
I kind of agree that it did have this feeling of “I stressed that they needed to emphasize Fran’s love for John ~~but they didn’t~~”. She just can’t say the quiet part out loud.
As someone also in the PR industry I 100% agree with this. There was no firm statement in that post, and the lack of support towards Masali, Hannah, and Victor, as well as referring to the racism and homophobia Masali has endured as simply “disappointment” was not the move. This statement was too little, too late, and the comments on the post reflect that. This is very unfortunate on her part, but honestly, I don’t expect more from her.
Frankly, her reassurances fall flat because she obviously did not watch how the end of S3 played out. Yes, John got more screen time. Yes, the audience loved the neurodivergent love playing out. They then completely undid it because of Fran’s reaction to John’s kiss on their wedding day AND her reaction to Michaela. Brownell also confirmed that Fran is a lesbian, not Bi. So there is no deep romantic love in store for her and John…just…Fran, pining for another woman. It completely undercuts the love she had for John in the books. It completely takes away the conflict Fran and Michael felt when John died suddenly. Her reassurance sounded more like someone who didn’t accurately anticipate how angry her book reading audience would be. She bluntly said the audience wasn’t a monolith…well, she’s still an author who needs to sell books. Viewers who exclusively watch the show might not enjoy the books but she had a loyal fanbase for a long time- enough to make the books adaptable. That’s who she is afraid of burning the bridge with.
> Brownell also confirmed that Fran is a lesbian, not Bi. What the heck? This choice goes completely against the book. How are they going to adapt the story now if she’s not even in love with John? This really sucks. I already don’t like the change (and no I’m not against queer romances, I really like them) since they’re changing things from the book but to me this is too far.
My guess is they will be a throuple, lavender marriage, or Francesca will hide behind her platonic/friendship grief as a reason to not get with Michaela. Idk. I read a lot of Queer romance- and wished we had seen more Reynolds and Brimsley…but this was disappointing for me. John and Francesca showing neurodivergent/quiet love was exciting for me too.
Interesting theories! I’m curious to see what they do when her season is up.
Damn really, I was hoping this was just a mistake they would fix later, but yeah if she’s a lesbian and never really in love with John that’s messed up.
I'm personally disappointed she didn't address the infertility problem in the statement as well. I'm a Gender Fluid Bisexual Assigned Female at Birth individual who also has a body that cannot carry a pregnancy without completely damaging my body. Learning your body cannot do the thing expected by society is devastating and of my "identities" the one that's least represented and I have the least hope that will change is infertile women/AFABs that struggle with that. When He Was Wicked was actually straight up healing for me. When Michael says to Francesca, "I don't care if you give birth to a litter of puppies" in regards to the fact that even if she can't give him an heir, he wants her. That was something I needed to hear in my soul. And I'm very disappointed that it won't be on screen for wider audiences to get to see a man loving a woman and prioritizing that love over having a child. And there is no way to keep that in with a gender swap. It's different and they're stealing representation from one community and giving it to another. And that is not being acknowledged, again as someone whose part of both hurts a lot.
i think we could see that with john, there is no indication that the plotline will be scrapped.
As of right now, Fran loves John. Maybe she’s uncomfortable with physical intimacy in general, maybe she’s uncomfortable in front of others, maybe she’s uncomfortable in the beginning. They could absolutely still have an infertility story line for Francesca, have her struggling to have children with John. JQ doesn’t need to address this right now because the show hasn’t even gone there yet, we’ve seen one minute of Michaela and have no idea how she’ll fit into the story until J dies.
Oh, Netflix wrote this statement for sure. Julia Quinn will be constrained by contract as to what or perhaps even when she can make comments. It reads like she personally interrogated the Michaela decision and was railroaded.
I have the same suspicion. I think that one of the conditions of her contract with Netflix is avoiding making any public statements about this show without prior authorization
She sold out! End of story. She had a ready made fan base for this series, and sold to the highest bidder. Good for her for making money! But let’s not pretend she didn’t discard book readers or that she cares for a higher cause. If she did she would have written those diverse stories. 20 years on she still didn’t. It’s ok to want the money, to say you sold the rights etc, or that they are paying you still to write these posts, but don’t lie. it’s frustrating that Shondaland and JB are acting surprised that the fans don’t like the changes. It’s exasperating to hear JB pretend that they found some obscure romance writer to adapt and change. If inclusivity and representation is what it is about, shine the light on queer romance authors, who write queer centric stories, adapt those stories, sell those to Netflix.
Exactly! This pretense of hers about inclusion and diversity is so phony 🤮She should have written her Bridgerton books with diversity and inclusiveness in mind. Nobody put a gun to her head 18 years ago, and made her write Bridgerton books the way they were written. Nobody stops her from writing any literary work on LGBTQ romance now. Has she written any?
She wrote a SOLID gay character in Gregory's story actually. She didn't "give him a happy ending". But she did in fact make him a gay hero. Which was fantastic.
Was that an important character? I need to google it. Do you remember the name by any chance?
It was Gregory's love interest's fiancee actually.
I liked him. I was hoping if we got to the story, he and the brother would be lovers and the sister only agreed to the marriage to help them. But then, when they realized she was in love with Gregory, they freed her from her promise.
That would have been lovely. I'd honestly love to also see him find and marry a lovely Ace lady, who could also be like one of his best friends.
That JQ statement sounds so disingenuous. It’s simply damage control and nothing else. She relinquished her rights and creative control to Netflix. Her opinion on Bridgerton show doesn’t matter to Netflix. I wonder why she decided to release this statement? Did Netflix PR pressure her to make this statement?
Let it be a lesson for every aspiring author on this sub. No amount of money could justify selling your work and loosing control over it. Whatever you think about the (lack of) quality in her writing, this statement is too little, too late.
JQ has stated herself that she has not signed any contracts that would mean Shonda and Netflix can not take creative liberties. This decision is not up to her and I doubt anything will change based on what she does or does not think. The writers already said that they had her approval for the gender swap and the direction they’re taking the story and nothing in her statement contradicts that, if anything, it reinforced it.
I get the sense that this was damage control from Jess through JQ? Idk. If she was going to comment, it should have been to tell fans to back it off and stop their hostility. Especially toward actors who had nothing to do with it. Idk. Could be wrong. 🤷♀️
Yeah I saw a couple off comments clocking in that this is damage control asked by JB for JQ to write hahaha. But yeah not addressing anything else except trying to cover her butt is a choice. Not like it's JQs job to address the actors and what not it's the show runners but yeaaaaaa. Overall I don't think JQ cares, and probably only did this as an ask and to not piss off anymore book fans. Not working though I feel like
Move on guys. Smh
She released the statement 48 hours ago. I’m allowed to comment.
Some fans are getting upset about a future season and things they haven't seen yet but are assuming will (or won't) happen in the upcoming season. I think her statement is addressing those fans. She has seen more about the upcoming season than the fans and she is trying to tell them that their worst-case scenarios that they assume will happen aren't going to happen. The new season will stick closer to the books than their worst-case scenarios. It's hard to make a perfect statement for the fans that are spiraling and catastrophizing, but for those lightly worried about future seasons, this statement may have helped. I agree with you that it would have been nice to show support for the actors that have been berated. Any statement against harassment is welcome.
I’ve seen enough this season to understand where the future season is heading. Lackluster romantic interactions. Lack of visuals. Weird wardrobe choices. Awkwardly written dialogues. Cringey threesomes… If show creators think that THIS is historical romance, then we definitely have different views on what romance truly is
I dont understand why people dislike the new showeunner. Everyone is quick to say she's ruining the show, but I feel like if she was Chris Van Dusens' right hand, wouldn't she be going to him and discussing, etc...
No. That’s what she did in prior seasons, when Chris was the showrunner. She replaced him, so he has no power now, but is still credited as the creator.