Why would Freeform mock the #SaveShadowhunters campaign?
By Sefket Nouri
Freeform mocked the fans of Shadowhunters for their #SaveShadowhunters campaign and that was completely unprofessional.
Fans of Shadowhunters have been fighting hard to save their show for a fourth season pick-up ever since Freeform canceled it on June 4, 2018. The reason why it was cancelled? The production company Constantin lost its deal with Netflix, which helped with the finances.
Due to that, Constantin required a lot of finance from Freeform, which the network cannot afford. The network gave them a two-hour series finale along with the second half of the third season which totals 12 episodes that will air in spring 2019.
The fans are very passionate about the show. They started a campaign for The Trevor Project. It is an organization devoted to providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention for the LGBTQ youth. Over $23,000 of donations have been made which is absolutely admirable. The fans have also created a petition which was shared by over 162,000 people. Tell me that’s not a strong fan base.
The campaign became stronger as fans flew an aerial banner over Netflix in Los Angeles, they made a billboard in New York City’s Times Square, and they also put a digital ad of #SaveShadowHunters in a subway station in Korea. The ad in the subway station was there for a month near Netflix Korea’s offices.
More from Teen Dramas
- When do new episodes of Harlan Coben’s Shelter come out on Prime Video?
- Is Heartstopper canceled? (Will there be a season 3?)
- When do new episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty come out on Prime Video?
- 3 School Spirits characters who definitely won’t be back in season 2
- School Spirits season 2: Everything to know about the second season
One of the producers of Shadowhunters, Martin Moszkowicz told Deadline in July that there were ongoing discussions about a spin-off for Shadowhunters on how they can continue to bring Cassandra Clare’s vision to television.
The fans didn’t like that idea and they want the original show renewed, which I don’t blame them for.
It’s absolutely astonishing how much effort the fans put into trying to save the show. I’m sure the actors are extremely grateful about the fan campaigns.
So something happened on December 15. Pictures and videos surfaced on Twitter of Freeform mocking the #SaveShadowHunters during Toy Story 2. Woody asked the magic eight ball a question and then it popped up asking: Will Freeform save Shadowhunters if I keep tweeting about it?
The answer: DON’T COUNT ON IT
That was completely unprofessional of a company to do. You don’t do that to the fans, especially when they are who bring you in views. Doing that will discourage fans from watching any of your shows. Freeform received a lot of backlash to the point that they had to tweet an apology about it happening:
It’s a slap in the face to the fans for all the effort that they’ve done to try to save Shadowhunters. It takes effort to edit clips, so it appears intentional to me. Perhaps someone in the editing department did it for the giggles. Regardless, that’s a shame. You shouldn’t treat your fans this way.
One of Shadowhunters showrunners, Darren Swimmer, tweeted that Freeform’s executives called and personally apologized to him.
Regardless, after all this, I really hope a network/provider #SavesShadowhunters. The fans truly deserve it.
What do you guys think about this situation? Do you feel what Freeform did was unprofessional? Comment below.
The second half of the third season of Shadowhunters returns on February 25, 2019.