SAVEFireFly.org by FongLuh

FIREFLY AND SERENITY GUERILLA MARKETING

SAVEFireFly.org

POSTED BY: FONGLUH
UPDATED: Monday, September 8, 2008 14:22
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 16093
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Saturday, August 16, 2008 6:24 AM

If you haven't been following the thread at http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=2&t=34491 ("What more can we do?") I'd like to introduce you to the newest project dedicated to the goal of bringing back FireFly, or producing a sequel to Serenity: http://www.savefirefly.org

Currently (our first phase of the project), we are planning to pick a day to mail blue surgical gloves (two by two, hands of blue) to FOX, along with a card that says "you can't stop the signal".

If you want to help, check out the site (it's still under construction so there will be changes made daily over the next week or so) and spread the word.

Let's show the world what brown coats are really made of!

wuh tzai chien shr ee-ding ruh dao shuh-muh run luh bah

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Saturday, August 16, 2008 12:03 PM

MRSUNIVERSE832

Hands of blue, two by two? With a card that reads "You Can't Stop the Signal?"

I like!

Mrs. Universe

MR. UNIVERSE---->

<----MRS. UNIVERSE

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Saturday, August 16, 2008 12:03 PM

MRSUNIVERSE832

Hands of blue, two by two? With a card that reads "You Can't Stop the Signal?"

I like!

Mrs. Universe

MR. UNIVERSE---->

<----MRS. UNIVERSE

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Sunday, August 17, 2008 1:22 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

Good job posting here. I hope more people pick up on it.

Come on folks let's go to work on this.

Shiny! Let's be bad guys!

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Sunday, August 17, 2008 5:30 AM

KIMBER

That's so damn SHINY!!

Kim

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Sunday, August 17, 2008 1:07 PM

YELLOWJACKET

I joined the savefirely site today and I'm already spreading the word.

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Monday, August 18, 2008 5:35 AM

GWEK

Don't get me wrong, I love Firefly and I think this is a great idea, but what exactly are we ASKING for?

If I'm a studio exec and I get a pair of blue gloves with a note that says "Can't stop the signal", I think "Huh, creepy," shrug, and give it to my assistant to throw out.

So what's the GOAL? The objective? What are we all asking for? And, unfortuately, I think "bring back Firefly somehow" may be too generic.

This may already have been discussed on the savefirefly forums, but once there's an objective, it should be clearly stated here, too.

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

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Thursday, August 21, 2008 4:09 AM

DUN

nods head

Watching and bookmarked.

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Sunday, August 24, 2008 7:06 AM

TVCHICK

The site doesn't feel very user-friendly to me.

The header seems too big... keeps me from being able to read a big bit all at once... have to keep scrolling.

I find a background image w/text on it to be distracting when I'm trying to read.

I didn't see anything that indicated I should click on "2x2..." to see the current/upcoming plan.

I'd like to have a way to sign up to a list that would email upcoming/current plans. Dunno if it's possible, but I think you'd get a lot of people who'd do that, but who might not think to stop in to the website often to see what's going on.

I know it says, "Newsletter option added. Enter your email address on the left if you'd like to receive updates on our plans," but I don't actually *see* that anywhere.

Just my thoughts. It's always a good idea to have organization to keep trying to get more of the show, so kudos!!

---
You know what the secret to flying is? Love.

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:02 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

Well you can get more info at the site SaveFirefly.org but......

The Blue Gloves will go along with a letter telling the Fox execs exactly we want and why - more episodes of Firefly. We will tell them that thousands of new fans are clamoring for our BDH.

You make a good point about clearly stating our purpose here at this site as well. I will make an attempt to state our case shortly.

________________________________________________

Quote:
Originally posted by GWEK:
Don't get me wrong, I love Firefly and I think this is a great idea, but what exactly are we ASKING for?

If I'm a studio exec and I get a pair of blue gloves with a note that says "Can't stop the signal", I think "Huh, creepy," shrug, and give it to my assistant to throw out.

So what's the GOAL? The objective? What are we all asking for? And, unfortuately, I think "bring back Firefly somehow" may be too generic.

This may already have been discussed on the savefirefly forums, but once there's an objective, it should be clearly stated here, too.

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

Shiny! Let's be bad guys!

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:18 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

Your criticisms are valid and I posted a link on that site to this one. I will alert Fongluh to respond and see what could be done to improve the "user-friendliness" of the site.

We have to do whatever we can to get the word out to as many Browncoats as possible for this to work. Our main goal is to get Firefly back "on the air" and whatever you can do to help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by TVChick:
The site doesn't feel very user-friendly to me.

The header seems too big... keeps me from being able to read a big bit all at once... have to keep scrolling.

I find a background image w/text on it to be distracting when I'm trying to read.

I didn't see anything that indicated I should click on "2x2..." to see the current/upcoming plan.

I'd like to have a way to sign up to a list that would email upcoming/current plans. Dunno if it's possible, but I think you'd get a lot of people who'd do that, but who might not think to stop in to the website often to see what's going on.

I know it says, "Newsletter option added. Enter your email address on the left if you'd like to receive updates on our plans," but I don't actually *see* that anywhere.

Just my thoughts. It's always a good idea to have organization to keep trying to get more of the show, so kudos!!

---
You know what the secret to flying is? Love.

Shiny! Let's be bad guys!

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008 10:28 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

More on the SaveFirefly.org site, but here's a sample of what you'll find there:

Hey there guys,

A couple of different thoughts about this:

1. We do have time to work with here but not much; so here's my take on it - we could send a letter (to Fox) with Blue Gloves drawn or printed on. We still are "sending" the blue gloves but we're using paper which can be recycled. Not as impactful as thousands of gloves but we still get our message across to Fox. There's still the logistical problem, but that goes for the actual gloves as well.

There may be a solution: we could have all the different Browncoat organizations and clubs order them for their members and distribute to them (still a problem without a central location). Or, we can e-mail them to Fox with each individual sending their own message as to why they want Firefly back on the air.

Just a note: There was an article on July 18, 2008 http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.ph ... 1&id=57653, that makes me think we're on the right track with contacting Fox. Now we have a name, Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment. (Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding - we have a winner!)

2. I agree with Deltarat that sending the post cards to Universal would also help our cause. I think this is possible to do as a separate plan from the Blue Gloves project. So we would have 2 fronts:

A. Fox - Blue Gloves (or reasonable facsimile) Message: We want TV series
B. Universal - Blue sun post cards (or reasonable facsimile) Message: Movie or 6-hour straight-to-dvd mini-series.

Both mailings must be large numbers in order for it to grab their attention. That was easy, now comes the hard part - getting the word out to all browncoats around the world. The "around the world" part is key, especially in the case of Universal. They must be convinced that their investment will bring them embarrassingly large stacks of cashy-money.

Okay, now that I've laid out the plan. What do you think?
__________________________________________________________

"I can see it all now. We'll have a line of chorus girls. Kick, turn-turn, kick."
Roger De Bris, The Producers (1968)

"On some planets they juggle geese!"

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Thursday, August 28, 2008 4:37 AM

FONGLUH

I totally understand the criticism about the site. I am a graphic designer, but not a professional website designer. I tend to focus more on looks and not so much on content.

I volunteered to make the site because there was a need for one, and no one else stepped in to take over. So don't be too critical, because in all likelyhood this might not have gotten off the ground if I hadn't stepped in. I spent my time and money to get the Hands of Blue idea organized, and I think it has been well worth it.

Better than nothing right? Everyone who wants FireFly to come back, raise your hand!

(by the way, the reason there 2x2 couldn't be found is because I temporarily removed it. We needed to discuss some things, and now it's back up: http://www.savefirefly.org/blue.html)

Aiya! Huaile.

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Thursday, August 28, 2008 12:10 PM

SIGMANUNKI

I sorry, but it's this sort of non-argument that really *really* irritates me. It doesn't matter why the usability issues are there. That's moot. What matters is that when found and/or pointed out, the answer is something like, "My bad. Fixed." What you've effectively done is "But, I did it and you didn't. So, don't complain."

There's still issues that remain, such as the text being hard to read with that background. Do you honestly expect us to believe that graphic design never has text on it or text that is expected to be readable?

You see, welcoming constructive criticism really *really* helps things out. It creates a feeling of openness to all aspects of the site especially if action is taken in a quick manner. But, doing nothing but defending what has been done has rather an opposite effect.

On a last note, regarding wanting Firefly back, it's long past that now. Very long past that. Letter writing campaigns will not do anything besides allowing the few fanatics announce themselves.

If you want to actually do something, then actually do something. Write fan fic, help out the EV Nova game project ( http://s4.invisionfree.com/GunRunner/index.php?act=idx), or something else that will actually produce something. Something that can be pointed to to say that the community is still active. Something to say to FOX/Universal, "YOU aren't doing something so WE WILL!"

Wonder why the Wing Commander community is still around? Here's a hint: Even though the last game came out in 1997 (with XBL /arcade/ lately) the community was very active modding the game engines. This has produced several fan made games. Also, there is the Flight Commander project ( http://flightcommander.solsector.net/) that made an open-source engine to create missions, etc in that is still ongoing. Another new one is ASCII Sector ( http://www.asciisector.net/) which looks kind of neat (don't have windows so I can't play it).

But, none of the above is really going on in the FF/S community. Probably because it takes more effort than 5 minutes writing a letter and those that spend more time than that only organise the letter writing campaigns or make the websites for them. Not good enough.

Basically, stop waiting for someone to do something for you and/or telling someone to do something for you and actually do something! I got a couple ongoing projects that might help this community. But, quite frankly, my experience with such things in the past has not been encouraging. Perhaps if this community shows that it will actually do something I'll pop up and create a sub-project to do something here. But, until then...

----
I am on The Original List (twice). We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

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Friday, August 29, 2008 9:15 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

Tour effort is appreciated by this BC.

Shiny! Let's be bad guys!

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Friday, August 29, 2008 9:22 AM

PSN64SAT

I agree with the previous post. I really appreciate the effort, but I found the site extremely hard to read. The graphical background is kinda cool, but it definitely needs to go, and the header is even worse. I feel like I'm trying to read a website through a mailbox slit.

Don't be angry with me for my comments, or anyone else for that matter. I'm just throwing my two cents in (hopefully) for the betterment of the Save Firefly movement. If we're going to do something, we should do it well, because I REALLY want to see Firefly back on the air, but even I almost didn't read the plan because the site was so non-user-friendly.

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Saturday, August 30, 2008 4:22 AM

FONGLUH

Quote:
You see, welcoming constructive criticism really *really* helps things out. It creates a feeling of openness to all aspects of the site especially if action is taken in a quick manner. But, doing nothing but defending what has been done has rather an opposite effect.

I'm sorry if I came across as not accepting criticism. I actually appreciate it. You're actually the first to offer a complaint, a legitimate one especially. I would, however, have prefered you mention it in the Suggestion Box at the site. In any case, I'll see what I can do about the background.

Quote:
On a last note, regarding wanting Firefly back, it's long past that now. Very long past that. Letter writing campaigns will not do anything besides allowing the few fanatics announce themselves.

Well....I understand your view. I wish though that you would be a bit more optimistic. The fact that there was ever movie made for the canceled show should be proof enough that the impossible can be done. In the end I don't think it matters so much whether we succeed or fail. It gives us browncoats some hope, something to strive for. We may not get what we want, but who knows what we might get that we didn't expect?

Aiya! Huaile.

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Saturday, August 30, 2008 4:39 AM

FONGLUH

Okay, I got rid of the background, and shrunk the header. I can shrink it more if necessary, just let me know.

Aiya! Huaile.

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Saturday, August 30, 2008 9:23 PM

SIGMANUNKI

Quote:
Originally posted by FongLuh:

Quote:
You see, welcoming constructive criticism really *really* helps things out. It creates a feeling of openness to all aspects of the site especially if action is taken in a quick manner. But, doing nothing but defending what has been done has rather an opposite effect.

I'm sorry if I came across as not accepting criticism. I actually appreciate it. You're actually the first to offer a complaint, a legitimate one especially. I would, however, have prefered you mention it in the Suggestion Box at the site. In any case, I'll see what I can do about the background.

I wasn't the first one. Hell, you even responded to someone else criticising the site before me. I was actually criticising your response to earlier criticism.

Seriously...

Quote:
Originally posted by FongLuh:

Quote:

On a last note, regarding wanting Firefly back, it's long past that now. Very long past that. Letter writing campaigns will not do anything besides allowing the few fanatics announce themselves.

Well....I understand your view. I wish though that you would be a bit more optimistic. The fact that there was ever movie made for the canceled show should be proof enough that the impossible can be done. In the end I don't think it matters so much whether we succeed or fail. It gives us browncoats some hope, something to strive for. We may not get what we want, but who knows what we might get that we didn't expect?

Yah, let's not mention that Nathan and Joss both said that it would *unreasonable* for the fans to ask for anything more in an interview after the movie came out. Point of fact, the only thing that can be expected is that there will probably be more comics. That's it. Nothing more.

(Aside: What we got was NOT because of us, but because we were supporting something that Joss, etc were doing /directly/ after the show was cancelled. Without them (and the time period), we have /zero/ chance of accomplishing anything. Have you seen just how inactive this forum has been lately?)

Also, 62 registered members on your forums doesn't exactly spell mass mailing. Honestly, I don't see you getting that critical number of people willing to do this to make it work. Seriously, think about doing something else. If you want something to strive for that'll actually add to the community, I've already suggested some actual productive endeavours. Any of which would produce something and as a side effect promote FF/S.

Honestly, all that I really see these letter writing campaigns as, especially now, is just *something* for people to do. Why not change that something to something that will produce something instead of the standard asking people to produce something that have historically ignored every request? After all:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. "

-Benjamin Franklin

A last bit of advice if you actually go through with this:

Some of the gloves that you linked to to purchase are powdered. You might want to recommend to people to NOT buy the powdered ones, or if they already have (or do) to remove the powder before sending. After all, getting white powder in the mail tends to freak people out now-a-days.

Your letters are too long, especially the one to the FOX execs. These people tend to only read a paragraph, possibly two before they toss things out. In general, I'd suggest keeping it to two or three short paragraphs which get straight to the point. And remember to know your audience. They don't care about how great the show was. All they care about is the "bottom line." So, if you re-work the letter (recommended), keep focus on revenue, merchandise, etc. Do *not* mention on-line polls as those are meaningless (too often/easily manipulated). Effectively give them a business case for doing what you want them to do based on hard numbers/facts (i.e. marketing research). And for god's sake, do *not* resort of emotional appeal or any such thing.

----
I am on The Original List (twice). We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

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Sunday, August 31, 2008 2:47 AM

FIREFLY151

I have one thing to add to SigmaNunki's last post- ~~DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!!!~~

There's nothing wrong with what you're trying to do. Just take all advice (optimistic or pessimistic), take your time, and then take your actions. It can be done.

Are there, however, alternate targets you could use for your plans. Or multiple targets? Even if you don't send in a lot of (letters?gloves?or whatever you send) you could send things to a range of people.

Anyhow, people really need to spread the word to give this a greater scope and a larger following. Now for me to check out that site.. (I don't think it matters I said this before checking out the site).

GOOD LUCK

Keep Writing, Keep Flying

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Sunday, August 31, 2008 6:52 PM

SIGMANUNKI

@Firefly151:

There have been countless email/letter writing/poster/etc campaigns that have yielded effectively zero results. To ignore that is delusion. These current campaigns need a serious injection of realism i.e. it is unreasonable to ask for something that Joss and Nathan have both said is unreasonable to ask for.

For the love of god, do something else that will produce something for the community or please, don't do anything. All these things do is give the FF/S community a worse name than we already have. I'm seriously sick of having to explain that while I'm a FF fan, I'm not one of /those/ FF fans.

Here's a decent project litmus test:

1) Will it increase the activity of the community?

2) Will it produce content for the FF/S community?

3) Does it depend on others?

If the answers are Yes, Yes, No then it's probably a good project. Email campaigns on the other hand are answered Possibly, No, Yes i.e. failure.

A video game project has Yes, Yes, No. Similarly, for fan fic as well as fan art. A youtube type thing like "The Guild" would result in yet another Yes, Yes, No.

But, all the above requires the people involved to expend time and energy. And in case you haven't noticed, the community is rather burned out. The number of people signed up for the forums on the savefirefly.org's site and the activity here is indicative of this fact.

Sorry, but the only projects that are feasible at this time are ones that don't depend on community involvement at large. In fact, this has been true for some time.

If you really want more FF/S, you're going to have to show that there is a significant profit to be made from further projects. And given the inactivity of this community, that isn't the case. The stages of getting something done is something like:

1) Re-build the community

2) Ensure a stable community

3) Show there is enough "disposable income" in the community to ensure at least a 10% return on investment for any further FF/S projects

Stage (1) sucks and is exceedingly difficult. But, regardless, it's where we currently are. Pretending and acting like this isn't the case will only hurt the community further.

So, want more FF/S? Start there. And that starts with producing new content and/or making an "expanded FF/S universe." FF/S has a nice framework to build from so that makes a difficult thing a little bit easier. But, it's still a *long* uphill climb.

----
I am on The Original List (twice). We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

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Sunday, August 31, 2008 10:01 PM

FIREFLY151

Well that's putting it plain, simple and absolutely spot on.
I'm only 15, so I can't really comment properly and I can't make much of a difference either.
Anyway, good luck to those people who try to continue Firefly and Serenity. It's gritty determination, but there's nothing really wrong with it. Anyhow, I'll leave this to the experts.

Keep Writing, Keep Flying

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Monday, September 1, 2008 8:46 PM

SIGMANUNKI

Quote:
Originally posted by firefly151:

I'm only 15, so I can't really comment properly and I can't make much of a difference either.

Not really true. On your blog you said you want to write fan fic. That's something that adds content and increases the activity of the community. I also gave a link above to a game project that needs help in (I believe) all areas: side missions I believe has been mentioned as an immediate necessity. So, being a programmer is not a requisite as that all starts with with a story-line. That might be something that you might want to help out as well.

Basically, the real solution is trying to thunk this community from a 'corporate sustained' mentality to a 'self sustained' mentality. In other words, shift the prevailing method for getting new content from asking for something to producing something.

Starting an expanded universe project would be something else that could be done that might send things in a good direction. Especially given that it can take various forms e.g. fan fic, games, comics, etc. So, just about everyone could participate.

One of the problems with this (type of) project is that a solution would have to be found for the "everybody's input matters" problem. Basically, if everyone's input matters then contradictions would arise and the verse would go in many different directions at once. Obviously, a very bad thing to have happen. But, any solution would be something like one of:

1) One dictator would rule
2) A "council" would rule
3) Democracy

(1) and (2) are problematic because it means that some people will be ignored (people don't like that). (3) is a problem partially for reasons already mentioned but also introduces a new type of inconsistency. Namely, that though things would remain somewhat consistent universe wise, the direction would change randomly depending on peoples moods and suggestions given. (2) and (3) also have the "blinders" problem. Namely, that given enough people, inconsistencies can be ignored and something gets into the project that really shouldn't ((1) has this as well depending on the dictator). And that's just off the top of my head.

But, if this project is done, the logical starting point would be to read/watch everything official. Then to document where things could be filled in and finally where things can likely be expanded without impacting canon. After that, every addition would have to be vetted for contradictions before inclusion. This would be time consuming on both the submitters part as well as the people involved in the project.

That said, IMO, it's a good place to start. A little "administration" never hurts. After all, a framework is necessary if something is to be built. But, one must be careful to not go to a bad place with the "administration." It should be a tool as a means to an end. Not an entity in and of itself.

----
I am on The Original List (twice). We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

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Monday, September 1, 2008 11:08 PM

FIREFLY151

Thanks, hopefully lots of people read this and get inspired to get active as Firefly fans! Over and out!

Keep Writing, Keep Flying

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Monday, September 8, 2008 2:22 PM

RALLEM

I tried logging on today but it wouldn't accept my password and when I tried to get my new password it wouldn't send it. I asked for a new welcome letter and got that but not the new password.

http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html

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