Social Media and Behind the Scenes: AKA Everything Else Not "News and Media"

[KenyaJ]

rainydawn beat me to it.  :-)

Edited September 19, 2014 by KenyaJ

[wonderwall]

Emily is weird :p

 

Edited September 19, 2014 by wonderwall

[statsgirl]

I thought I read somewhere that her parents are doctors, which would explain that bit of knowledge.

[DrSpaceman10]

It's late, but in that picture of David, Emily and Stephen, 

does it look like they're wearing the same clothes from the finale of season two?

. I may be over-thinking this, is it October 8th yet? lol

[wonderwall]

Lmao are the EPs pissed about the whole poster reaction thing and people taking out certain characters on teh show? Sorry I just read this somewhere and wanted to know :p I know Stephen is pissed (and honestly I think the poster hate is getting a little old. Yes. It's a poor poster and I would've liked a more meaningful, well edited one, but to me the content of the show is way more important than some poster that literally holds no meaning), I honestly didn't  mind him calling people out. It's just tasteless to switch people around or take out characters from the poster. 

[ban1o]

Lmao are the EPs pissed about the whole poster reaction thing and people taking out certain characters on teh show? Sorry I just read this somewhere and wanted to know :p I know Stephen is pissed (and honestly I think the poster hate is getting a little old. Yes. It's a poor poster and I would've liked a more meaningful, well edited one, but to me the content of the show is way more important than some poster that literally holds no meaning), I honestly didn't  mind him calling people out. It's just tasteless to switch people around or take out characters from the poster. 

even the switching people around, although tasteless, and immature, I don't think was THAT  big a deal. but people were like little putting a white  box right in-front of Laurel, putting quotations to her saying "Why am I here, I don't belong here" putting her in a maid costume, completely cropping her out so it was unsymmetrical, putting lamposts in-front of her, scribbling  on her and then posted it on the official Arrow facebook page. I'm sorry, but that's just batshit crazy lol. I can see why the EP's would be annoyed (Where did you read that they were pissed though?) 

Edited September 19, 2014 by ban1o

[Velocity23]

Seems Stephen deleted his post. 

[TanyaKay]

Stephen responds to random dude who did not even tag him, he is really serious about his social media presence.

[TanyaKay]

 

this was the post he referred to.

[Chaser]

I appreciate the work he puts into his social media presence, but I'm I the only one who thinks he needs to pull back a bit?

[JayKay]

I think the climate this season in regards to social media interaction is changing. And I don't know, if it was me I'd like to think that I'd stick up for my fellow work buddies. It seems like the vitriol has taken its toll and something's gotta give.

[ban1o]

LOL did he delete that facebook post too? It doesn't seem to be on his facebook page. All the drama! I can't wait until the show actually premieres people will stop freaking out over every little bit of promotional material. 

[TanyaKay]

I appreciate the work he puts into his social media presence, but I'm I the only one who thinks he needs to pull back a bit?

 

oh I totally agree with you.

No one has ever won a battle with internet trolls, neither will Stephen. He has had difficulties in past. He deleted his instagram account and deleted hundreds of photos from twitter and facebook last year, I don't know what his reasons were but it must have been serious if he did something as drastic as that. Pulling back seems like an intelligent option for now.

[wonderwall]

Ugh honestly I'm really tired of all the negativity in the fandom. The season hasn't started yet!

 

Oh withdrawal symptoms can be nasty as hell. 

[catrox14]

Why should he pull it back when there is controversy that was caused by assholes posting on HIS page?

[AnyoneButYou]

I think he needs to word things better when he's upset. He could've just said no photoshops of the poster. He didn't need to go off and call fans assholes and dinks and tell fans not to watch the show. It's social media and people will say what they want. It's the ugly part of social media and he's going to have to get used to it if he's going to be so active on Facebook. The last thing an actor should do is piss off the fans, and going by what I saw, he pissed a lot of fans off.

Edited September 19, 2014 by AnyoneButYou

[catrox14]

I understand that he probably shouldn't have called them names, but there is a lot of vile shit that he has to wade through. He's really made himself accessible to fans and IMO fans shouldn't take advantage of that. I don't think he's going to go on the offensive unless something was posted that was pretty terrible.  He's a public figure but that doesn't mean he has to tolerate OTT commentary.

[AnyoneButYou]

I get that people shouldn't take advantage of him, but it doesn't mean it will ever stop. He won't accomplish anything by calling people names and telling people to stop watching the show. If it's really that awful for him, all he can really do is step away from social media or start blocking people so he doesn't have to read any of it. People love hiding behind that veil of anonymity and they just say whatever they want no matter how rude or vile. Trust me, I get that people shouldn't say some of the things they say to him, but it's really impossible to stop it. I know a couple of people who have never commented on his FB or tweeted him who were saying they felt like he was calling them an asshole and a dink just because they didn't like the poster. It's off-putting for fans to see a celebrity go off on fans the way he did.

[fantique]

Honesty I think he was right calling these people out. I mean the guy comments most things and he went No Comment when posting the Poster. I have a feeling HE doesn't even like it. So when reading his post I didn't feel like he was insulting those who don't like poster, he was very obviously targeting who clearly had it in for KC. They are colleagues, from the interactions and pictures KC and the rest of the cast seem to be friendly so of course he has a right to defend the poor girl. And he was very clear that who he was annoyed at was people who were sending him alterations of the poster (And I am basing this on the original post; not even the edited version: "On a related note, don't send me alterations of the S3 poster. This page isn't a landing spot for negative assholes. You dinks have the rest of the internet. Leave us alone."). He was talking about posting it on his page, not the CW's, not the Arrow's, his. He has the right to ask people not to post certain things on his page. People putting it on these alternative venues would've been more appropriate because last time I checked, SA is not part of the PR team for CW. And those were the people responsible for the poster.

This is not the first instance here where we have talked about people reacting negatively towards something that wasn't even meant for them. Maybe people should actually read social media posts instead of jumping the gun and acting in outrage when the person is not even talking about them. I get that it's a danger with social media but surely we are tech savvy enough to know that every single post a person submits is not necessarily meant for everyone that will read it.

Anyway, all this to say that I feel he was right in posting this, and people need to edit themselves because certain things are just as inappropriate on Facebook as they would be if you were walking around in the street and shouting them out. They certainly have the same effect. If you go up to someone and attack their friend they are going to react. I think people thought that since the negativity is not thrown towards him, he would be cool with people basically attacking his cast-mate.

 

ETA: for the whole "don't watch" thing. Sorry but he is kind of right. If they spend more of their time bitching and sending negative feedback to a show then maybe they should stop watching it? For example, I am not happy about Laurel but the rest of the show is good so I watch. I mean even here on this forum we regularly kind of have to move on from a certain issue because it has become a dead horse and it is tiring. If at any point in time I find myself spending more time bitching about the show than I am enjoying it then yes, I will stop watching to end my own misery. Not throw hate online at the person portraying the character I don't like. Then again some people like hate-watching. But I guess this is a question of YMMV so yeah...

Edited September 19, 2014 by fantique

[looptab]

He also deleted the S3 poster from his FB page. I think he was just fed-up with the on-going nastiness, since it appears that the fact that he actually responds to fans makes some of them believe he is the person to take the complaints to. A few days ago he had to make a post to tell people he wasn't involved with the release of S2 on Netflix, (Do they really think harassing him about it would accomplish something???)I mean, I don't know about the other actors, but I believe his page must have been flooded with stuff like that, and maybe he felt like he had to say something to stop it or it'd appear as if he was encouraging it. 

[apinknightmare]

I'm hard pressd to be critical of SA for anything - he's so good to his fans and he goes out of his way to engage and interact with people who watch the show. I think he's very gracious and I love that he takes the time to run his own Facebook page and I enjoy the fact that he doesn't censor himself. But I think it's a good lesson to learn in any buisness where you're dealing with the public that it's never a good idea to call any group of fans or "fans" or anyone who's being critical of your product (whether you think it's fair or not) any kind of derogatory names. He can think that, he can express it privately, but just don't put it out there. It's just never going to have a positive outcome.

The only reason the poster is even getting that much attention is because it's been 4 months since the finale and people are chomping at the bit for new content, so every little thing that comes out is going to be analyzed to death. Working the long hours he does, it has to be rough to be putting in so much effort and having people lose their shit over a poster.

So, I get that it's frustrating to see all that stuff, and he has every right to be annoyed by it, but there are better ways to go about telling people not to post it. He doesn't have to be diplomatic about anything (and I'd really rather him not be - I enjoy him as a person as he is), but he should probably be diplomatic about THAT.

And he doesn't need to tell people to stop watching the show if they're not happy with it - don't worry, if it gets to that point, they will. And if there are certain people who are spewing hate about Katie, he should just ban them and be done with it or make a post that he won't tolerate hateful messages about his co-workers. If people are being hateful about Laurel (or other characters) it would probably be best to just ignore that.

Take a deep breath, fandom. Enjoy the gift SA is giving you by being SO accessible - it's truly rare these days, and I'd hate for a certain group of people to screw it up. No need to take any of that to his page, because he's right - that's what the rest of the internet is for.

[looptab]

I agree, he could have been more diplomatic. He also acknowledged this himself in the now-deleted post. I really hope people will just move on from this and not double their efforts and now start hating on him too.

[Morrigan2575]

Only comment i will make on the whole SA thing.  He's not wrong but he handled it wrong...if that make's any sense.

[strikera0]

The way Stephen Amell expressed himself was unlucky to say the least, but I am glad that he (finally) stood up for KC. The cyberbullying against Katie Cassidy has been excessive and it sadly reached a new all-time high because of a stupid poster. I think some people seriously have way too much time on their hands...

Edited September 19, 2014 by strikera0

[JJ928]

I think it's great he stood up for his cast-mate. My only issue is he should have done so sooner & differently. For two years people have been trashing KC on his page, posting terrible memes about LL, and the page is rife with misogynist comments towards all the women on the show - yet he's always ignored it. I like SA, I think it's important he does stand up for his co-workers, but this felt off. Too much drama, the show hasn't even started. Sometimes I feel like all of this is done on purpose to keep people talking.

Edited September 19, 2014 by JJ928

[willpwr]

I think his reaction was triggered by something, first Bex Taylor-Klaus goes off about haters and she got called out for retweeting stuff from an account that posts negative things about Laurel, then KC posted her haters gonna hate comment, maybe they as a cast met and decided that they were going to go off on people, I don't know. I know it sucks to see castmates hurt because of what fans say but reacting to negativity in a negative way just adds fuel to the fire. I think they should all jut post messages to their fans saying something like, "I appreciate all of the support I have received from all of you, I always appreciate your positive messages and funny posts, they mean a lot to me. I would like to take the time, however, to address something, we as a cast are united against cyber bullying, we understand that as fans, you are not going to like every character on the show or every storyline but we ask that you please be respectful with your posts. It does not feel good to read messages designed to hurt others. I ask that my fans please not bash my coworkers/friends,, especially not in my name."

[MsSchadenfreude]

It seems to me that SA can't win, no matter what he does.  If he ignores the internet trolls on his page, he is not supporting his co-workers.  If he calls people out, he is being mean to the fans.  Maybe, it's not just SA and his co-workers that need to developer thicker skin, a lot of fans could stand to do the same.  

 

Also, this is not the first time SA has stood up for KC.  He has done it several times including in one of his facebook Q&As.

Edited September 19, 2014 by MsSchadenfreude

[Password]

I actually can't believe how big this has become.

[wingster55]

I don't blame Stephen at all. I'm a bit surprised we're discussing this so much actually. 

[willpwr]

It seems to me that SA can't win, no matter what he does.  If he ignores the internet trolls on his page, he is not supporting his co-workers.  If he calls people out, he is being mean to the fans.  Maybe, it's not just SA and his co-workers that need to developer thicker skin, a lot of fans could stand to do the same.  

 

Also, this is not the first time SA has stood up for KC.  He has done it several times including in one of his facebook Q&As.

I know Celina Jade definitely mentioned he is very protective of his castmates and I've seen him stand up for KC before which is why I think this particular response has to have been triggered by something. He is usually very respectful. Fans definitely need to develop thicker skins and perspective, some of them seem to take it personally if their ship isn't promoted by an actor, if an actor retweets funny meme's they don't agree with, etc. Unfortunately, in this internet age, a lot of people seem to believe that only their opinions matter and they treat their opinions as fact and if people disagree then they take it as a personal slight. As fans, people need to realize that this is entertainment for us but it is very much an actor's real life and even if they interact with us that does not make them our friends, we do not know the better than they know themselves and it does not give us the right to go and tell them they suck, they need to be fired, etc.

[ban1o]

I don't think Stephen was wrong at all but i understand why he deleted the whole post because some comments the fans were leaving were ridiculous.. KC is his co-worker, and the hate she has received due to this poster is probably an all time high. Posting alternate posters with derogatory things towards her on his facebook page is ridiculous. There's no reason he should be diplomatic. I'm glad he is supporting his co-worker. 

Edited September 19, 2014 by ban1o

[KirkB]

I think commenting on your perception of an actor's talent is one thing. They put their performance out there and you are free to comment on it. It's also fine to dislike or hate a particular character on a show. What is not okay is any sort of personal attack towards the actor. The person. You don't have to like Laurel Lance but unless you are an actual friend of Katie Cassidy you aren't in any position to bash her or complain about her appearance (and even that is arguable). I would have been disappointed in Amell if he didn't stand up for his cast mate. And going after an actor for their placement on a poster, which has nothing to do with any of them, is just ridiculous.

Edited September 19, 2014 by KirkB

[abhi]

I think the best policy is not to react at all the internet trolls. But I think Amell should have handled things a bit better. I was surprised by his outburst. And this is not the first time. I do remember that he had an outburst against those who were complaining about Ra's al Ghul's casting, which I thought was legitimate complain. Celebrities get trashed all the time and this online hatred is nothing as compared to some other fandoms since Arrow has a very limited fanbase. And reacting to them gives them the fuel. The best policy is not to comment. You can't win. And if Cassidy reacts, then she is naive and giving the haters more reasons to hate.

Edited September 19, 2014 by abhi

[apinknightmare]

As fans, people need to realize that this is entertainment for us but it is very much an actor's real life

Plus, I imagine some of this must bleed over on set and it probably makes things tense from time to time. That's got to suck.

[dtissagirl]

I'll go against the tide here -- I find Amell's online persona to be a consistent overreacting drama queen, with all the posting without thinking and then deleting crap or editing to clarify, and ~announcing~ his breaks from social media, and randomly deleting Instagram and Twitter until he decides to come back, and so on. For me this is just more of the same, this time with name-calling. Basically I point and laugh at his antics a lot.

[JJ928]

@DancingNancy I agree. I love Stephen Amell, but I do find him dramatic at times. I can't wait for this to blow over.

[Password]

I'm not mad at SA for reacting because it probably just got too much. But I agree with @abhi in that the more you react the more fuel you give haters. When you actually open dialogue with people that hate it's almost as if giving them the go on hating even more. Silence is golden.

[Chaser]

I only pay attention to his interviews. I don't follow Facebook or twitter; unless I see it here or on tumblr, I don't see it. Has something like this happened before?

 

I read that edited post someone here put up. I understand why he was reacting the way he did. It must be hard to have a friend/cast mate attacked on his page. That being said his response was tacky.

[dtissagirl]

Yeah, I'm not mad at him either, I find it all super hilarious -- both fandom being shitty and his overreaction to it. I live for mocking, sorrynotsorry.

 

But I'm always gonna be more protective of fandom than of the shows and the talent and the billionaire industry behind it. So my knee-jerk reaction to an actor telling fandom how they should behave is HELL TO THE NO. And let's be honest, Facebook is the worst possible platform for it because it's EVERYBODY and not just people immersed in fannish culture that understand how this culture works.

 

Besides -- and probably why Amell felt so butthurt in the first place -- the many many MANY edited posters had the exact same theme of erasing/replacing Laurel.  That is way more symptomatic of a problem Arrow has, than a problem fandom has. Fandom is reactive, and it's reacting with displeasure [and mockage] for the part of the show that it feels it's not working. IMO he should be working on trying to fix that, not telling fandom how to react.

[Sakura12]

A trolls sole purpose is to get someone to react to them. However with the anonymity of the internet everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks their opinion is the right one. 

 

As actors they are putting themselves out there in the public to be critiqued by the masses. Actors themselves grade each other on their acting with awards shows for it. I don't have any problems with character hate, if people don't like Laurel's placement on the poster they can make their own posters that exclude her if they want. But spending time to go to an actors social media to tell them you hate them is pathetic. Hate the character all you want. But you can't someone you don't know.

 

They best thing to do is to ignore it (which is the best plan for everyone whether you're an actor or not). I know it's hard sometimes and SA wanted to stick up for his castmate but responding is like adding gasoline to fireworks. 

[Starfish35]

The whole "don't like don't watch" attitude will never not annoy me, whether it's coming from comment trolls or someone like Stephen Amell.

I'm not saying I'm not often appalled by the attitude that fans have that they can just throw whatever crap in the actors'/writers' faces and they should just take it. I don't agree with that at all, and if he'd stopped at asking people not to bash Katie and not to post alterations of the poster on his page, I would have been totally sympathetic. But the whole "don't complain" attitude annoys me. He could have easily have pointed out that he has nothing to do with the poster and he would prefer that complaints about it were kept off his page and left it at that.

[HighHopes]

I just found out that both John Barrowman and Brandon Routh will in my city this weekend for a con. I do live in a smaller city, so I'm not sure what kind of information will come from it but I do plan on seeing both panels. This will be my first ever con (small city girl who lives in the middle of nowhere Canada here) so I'm excited. There was no mention about BR being on Arrow but it did say "and hear about his upcoming projects" so there might be some information? 

[Sunshine]

@HighHopes  Brandon Routh has shot at least 6 episodes of Arrow so far but he's probably not allowed to reveal much.

[Kymmi]

I just found out that both John Barrowman and Brandon Routh will in my city this weekend for a con. I do live in a smaller city, so I'm not sure what kind of information will come from it but I do plan on seeing both panels. This will be my first ever con (small city girl who lives in the middle of nowhere Canada here) so I'm excited. There was no mention about BR being on Arrow but it did say "and hear about his upcoming projects" so there might be some information? 

 

Nice!  Barrowman is always a treat - whether he's discussing Arrow or not.  I'm interested to hear about the Brandon Routh panel - not sure if I've ever heard a recap from anything he's done.  Please post a recap!

[doesntworkonwood]

The whole "don't like don't watch" attitude will never not annoy me, whether it's coming from comment trolls or someone like Stephen Amell.

I'm not saying I'm not often appalled by the attitude that fans have that they can just throw whatever crap in the actors'/writers' faces and they should just take it. I don't agree with that at all, and if he'd stopped at asking people not to bash Katie and not to post alterations of the poster on his page, I would have been totally sympathetic. But the whole "don't complain" attitude annoys me. He could have easily have pointed out that he has nothing to do with the poster and he would prefer that complaints about it were kept off his page and left it at that.

 

I have to agree with you on the whole 'don't like, don't watch' thing. 

 

Just because I do not like one aspect of the show, or something an actor/writer has said, does not mean that I'm either going to 1) Stop watching the show completely, or 2) Ignore everything bad about the show and not talk anything but positively about it.

 

It's my time and my energy that I have put into shows, and I am therefore the only person who knows what the threshold is for me not wanting to watch it. A comment by other people is not going to change that. Even if that person is a writer or an actor. 

 

I agree that SA can decide what is posted on his facebook account, but the way he referred to his fans annoyed me. 

[foreverevolving]

@DancingNancy I agree. I love Stephen Amell, but I do find him dramatic at times. I can't wait for this to blow over.

LoL, he's an actor! of course he's going to have a drama queen (no pun intended) side to him. it comes with the territory.

 

as for the post on facebook. in all honesty i think there's something else going on back stage. someone mentioned a few days ago that Stephen looked tired, add that to his over happiness at the 4 days off when they were filming episode 5; the long hours and non -stop shooting days (don't they shot 7 days a week?), the constant cons- I'm thinking the guy is close to crashing, big time.

[KenyaJ]

Very cool, HighHopes! I'm still kicking myself for not going to see Barrowman when I had the chance back in March. And I know Brandon probably can't say much, but I hope he shares at least a few tidbits.  I have so much curiosity about Ray and what he'll be doing all season long.

[Sakura12]

It's great that SA enjoys spending so much time with his fans, but between Arrow's extra long shooting schedule, keeping up with his facebook and appearing at cons (which seems like he's at one every other weekend). Poor guy should take some time to himself when he gets a day or two off. It looks like the stress is getting to him. Crashing isn't going to be good for anyone, especially him. 

[Morrigan2575]

LoL, he's an actor! of course he's going to have a drama queen (no pun intended) side to him. it comes with the territory.

 

as for the post on facebook. in all honesty i think there's something else going on back stage. someone mentioned a few days ago that Stephen looked tired, add that to his over happiness at the 4 days off when they were filming episode 5; the long hours and non -stop shooting days (don't they shot 7 days a week?), the constant cons- I'm thinking the guy is close to crashing, big time.

The actors have mentioned a couple of times  (interviews, cons, tweets) that each episode takes 8 days to film and that sometimes they shoot through the weekend.  However that doesn't mean the actors are actually working for 8 straight days.  SA probably has the most filming days per episode; I think he said in S2 he generally filmed 7 out of 9 days and he tweeted out something recently about being happy only have 4 filming days for 305.  However that doesn't mean 7 days straight or 7 full days.  There might be some days where it's 16 hours and some days where it's 4.  

 

On the other hand they get like 4-5 weeks off between Dec-Jan and they're off from Mid-April to Mid-July, plus they get government holidays.  It's a trade off.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Morrigan2575

[blixie]

I loved that he called them "dinks" it's such a Canandian thing. Hee. I think it's difficult for SA because he loves the fandom, but he's also kind of  thinks of himself (rightly) as an ambassador of the show and the DC universe on tv, and he needs to stick up for the cast. Plus actors are fragile ego baby's, so of course they hate "negativity" famous actors in particular are used to ALL LOVE ALL THE TIME, no one tells them when they suck. The net is like wading into a acid burning fire, because the net well tell two year old babies and puppies that they're ugly and they suck and they should die. John Oliver did a great bit on youtube comments earlier this summer explaining as much.