The fans have been trying to save the soap genre long before "All My Children" and "One Life To Live" were canceled. They began when that first soap was canceled. Then they fought harder when slowly a few more were added to that cancellation list. Then on that sad day of April 14, 2011, many fans began to band together. What changed?
First, the show that Susan Lucci starred in was canceled "All My Children." Fans were furious. One did not cancel Erica Kane and then sneak quietly into the night. If they canceled this famous character, the fans were determined that the powers that be were going to hear their thoughts. True to their word, ABC has been hearing them since that day. Then the fans became more furious when ABC continued on with their plan to cancel "One Life To Live" after the show continued to have high ratings. This didn't make sense to the fans. Why cancel a show that was being watched by millions?
Now it is months later. ABC thought by now the fans would have grown bored and would have found new ways to entertain themselves. They have even stated in the press as saying that they assumed the fans could be trained to watch these new shows. ABC thought the fans would watch their version of lifestyle type shows. Instead, the fans having been turning away from ABC and have been campaigning harder to revive the soap opera genre.
Now comes the interesting part. This is the part about fans being in high places and the part about fans having connections.
Enter a fan and the wife of John Grossman. He is the owner of a production company known as NYPS. She is a big fan of "General Hospital." She wanted to do something to help save the soap opera genre. She knew they had the means. Her idea was to film a documentary that would call attention to the industry.
Her idea became the documentary known as "Soap Life." This is a collection of interviews. These interviews are of soap fans, soap actors, writers, producers, directors, bloggers, fan club leaders, etc. These are real interviews. The idea behind the documentary is to create some buzz. This buzz may help keep the soap opera from completely dying?
Could this documentary actually achieve this goal? Their plan is to show this film during all the major festivals this June. Next, they hope to air it on Showtime. Airing it on Showtime will allow a bigger audience to see it and will allow more fans to see it. They also hope this will create a buzz in the industry and will help save the soaps.
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To learn more about this project and learn ways you may actually be able to help check out this site:
kickstarter.com
