Protection From Editors: Difference between revisions

When the creator is first starting out, the editors have the advantage in the artist-executive relationship. The creator's priority is just getting their stuff out there where people can see it, and in order to make that happen most people will acquiesce on the smaller details. The creator has no real leverage -- ifleverage—if he objects ''too'' strenuously to [[Executive Meddling|executives meddling]] with his "vision", the executives have the option of shrugging their shoulders and moving on to one of the hundreds of other desperate artists looking for a break.

Due to editors not being willing or able to fight back against a brand-name star, the resulting new material from an old creator can end up being lower-quality. Sometimes very much lower, as the author's bad habits, [[Mary Sue|Mary Sues]]s, and [[Author Appeal|Author Appeals]]s come to the fore (sometimes to the horrified shock of the creator's fanbase), where before, such excesses would be quickly and ruthlessly excised. The creators get away with it because it'll sell anyway, and we don't want to risk pissing him off and having him bolt for another company.

[['''Protection From Editors]]''' can also foster in some minds a feeling that they are also, by extension, given Protection From ''Critics'' as well, which results in great displeasure whenever any criticism is raised -- evenraised—even if that criticism is constructive, well-meant, and particularly if it is ''valid''. Expect [[Take That, Critics!|snide attacks on anyone who dares criticise them]] to follow.

Contrast [[Executive Veto]], [[Executive Meddling]], [[Tough Act to Follow]], [[Scapegoat Creator]]. Not entirely uncoincidentally, many creators with [['''Protection From Editors]]''' are also [[Small Name, Big Ego|Small Name Big Egos]]. [[Mis Blamed]] might result if the executive is blamed for what it actually the creator's fault. The trope's name is inspired by the TCG [[Magic: The Gathering]], for a card ability that "protects" the card it appears on from something else in the game outlined by the ability itself. ("Protection From X", where "X" in this case is editors.)

* One of the strangest examples is Ernest Hemingway, who actually negotiated [[Protection From Editors]] in his contract with his publisher. Specifically, he had the contract state that no editor was allowed to change a word of his text without his approval. It's thought that the stipulation was meant specifically to prevent his editors from bowdlerizing his copy, since his very next novel contained the word "fuck". (It helped that Hemingway's drafts didn't actually need to be edited for grammar, syntax, or spelling.)

** Then the [[Author Filibuster|Author Filibusters]]s started.

* [[L. Ron Hubbard]] was considered a reliable pulp author -- youauthor—you needed a story, he'd hack one out, and the editor could fix it. Then he founded a religion, had some success, and decided he'd go back to writing thirty years later. Robert Vaughn Young, former head of PR for the [[Church of Happyology|Church of Scientology]], tells [http://www.holysmoke.org/rvy/rvy2.htm what it was like] editing ''[[Mission Earth]]'' for publication. When you have millions of dollars and many thousands of followers with a ''literally'' religious zeal, it's hard to accept the need for editors or proofreaders.

* [[Jules Verne]] is probably one of the most glaring examples. As it turned out, Verne didn't really think much of humanity, and that bright and cheerful atmosphere and the belief in science that made his ''Voyages Extraordinaires'' series so popular in the world, were, in fact, mainly a product of pressure from members of his social circle, such as Nadar and his life-long friend and editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel. Hetzel, being Verne's ''publisher'', was in position to pressure his friend the most, and outright rejected a couple of Verne's especially bleak early novels ,<ref>These were later found in Verne's papers and published. One of them, ''Paris in the XX Century'', was so dark that it would've make any [[Cyberpunk]] author proud.</ref>, and heavily edited others. Verne, who was doubly not in position to argue ,<ref>He didn't want to fight with his newfound friend and, besides, he was nearly broke at the time so he couldn't afford losing royalties</ref>, complied, and thus the writing tandem was born. After Hetzel's death his successors weren't that insistive, and Verne's latest novels became increasingly dark and gloomy.

* R.A. Salvatore is in an unusual state where he's both subject to this trope and strangled by [[Executive Meddling|the opposite]]. On the one hand, there's less and less oversight of the content and style of his ''Legend of Drizzt'' series, and quality has suffered grievously. On the other, his attempts to end the series were bluntly denied--hedenied—he doesn't have the copyright, and his publishers [[Franchise Zombie|solicited another writer to continue the series]] before he backed down. One can't help but wonder if the recent [[Wallbanger|Wallbangers]]s are deliberate attempts to wreck the series so he can move on.

** It's worth noting, though, that this doesn't extend to the movies. Even though ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|The Motion Picture]]'' (which Roddenberry produced and co-wrote) was financially successful, his job on ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Wrath of Khan]]'' -- and—and all subsequent films up to his death -- wasdeath—was "executive consultant," which meant the movie makers were free of ''his'' meddling. Namely the fact that he incessantly pitched a bizarre story that involved the crew of the Enterprise travelling back in time to 1963 and either preventing or ''causing'' JFK's assassination; the producers' routine was to smile politely and completely ignore Roddenberry for the rest of the filming process.

* The entire ''company'' of Image Comics is perhaps one of the quintessential examples of why [[Executive Meddling]] is not always a bad thing. Image Comics was founded in 1992 by a coalition of former Marvel comic creators, mostly so they could have greater financial and creative control over their work (Marvel's policy at the time was to merchandise the crap out of their characters while only paying artists freelance rates and modest royalties). Now in fairness, the success of Image did lead to a lot of changes in the structure of the comic industry, many of them for the better, and Image itself has changed a lot over the years. On the other hand, the early history of Image Comics in many ways practically ''personifies'' all the things modern comic fans despise about the Dark Age of Comics. The company's success only exacerbated the growing popularity of infamous Dark Age comic tropes like [[Darker and Edgier]], the [[Dark Age of Supernames]], and the [[Nineties Anti-Hero]]. Many of the more reviled icons of the Dark Age originate from or were associated with Image Comics. And all because someone thought it was a good idea to found a company based entirely on [[Protection From Editors]].

* During the "[[New Hollywood]]" of 1970s cinema, the star power of directors like [[Francis Ford Coppola]] (who became a star with ''[[The Godfather]]'' and ''[[Apocalypse Now]]''), Michael Cimino (''[[The Deer Hunter]]''), [[Martin Scorsese]] (''Mean Streets'', ''[[Taxi Driver]]''), and [[Dennis Hopper]] (''[[Easy Rider]]'') all saw them [[Follow Up Failure|follow up with flops]], most being of the mega variety, due to studio execs leaving them alone in their creations -- Coppolacreations—Coppola tanked with lavish romance-musical ''One From The Heart'', Cimino with the disastrous [[The Western|Western]] epic ''[[Heaven's Gate]]'', Scorsese with the dark musical ''New York, New York'', and Dennis Hopper with the widely-derided ''The Last Movie''. Some of these films were such grand disasters that they almost [[Creator Killer|destroyed the careers of their creators]] (and, in the case of ''Heaven's Gate'', bankrupted entire film studios), and led to a backlash that saw the executives [[Blockbuster Age of Hollywood|firmly back in control]] by [[The Eighties]].

* [[George Lucas]] directed his most acclaimed films (e.g., ''[[American Graffiti]]'' and ''[[Star Wars]]'') under the financial constraint typically [[Executive Meddling|imposed]] on B pictures to ensure profitability. Twenty-two years later, Lucas returned to direct without fear of meddling, and gave the world [[The Scrappy|Jar-Jar Binks]], [[Romantic Plot Tumor|lines about hating sand]], and one of the [[Narm|most hated]] [[Big No|Big Nos]]s in film history.

** The Beatles gained a first-hand lesson in why this trope isn't such a great thing when they founded Apple. The initial idea for Apple was that it would be a place where people would be able to gain funding for their pet projects without having to debase themselves before "[[The Man]]", thus enabling the flower of creativity to blossom in all its glory (it was [[The Sixties]] -- there—there were lots of drugs), in a wide variety of fields -- artfields—art, film, literature and, of course, music being among them. Of course, this ultimately translated to every random drug-soaked yahoo with a half-baked idea bombarding their mail room with completely worthless and unpublishable drivel when they weren't camping out in their offices sponging off them, thus leading them to the brink of financial ruin. They eventually came to their senses, shut down pretty much everything and turned Apple into a smaller operation which handled their management and finances. That said, the Apple Records label wasn't without its successes, both Beatles-related and new discoveries, but then the Beatles ''were'' pretty good musicians and pretty capable of identifying same.

* Long-time [[Professional Wrestling]] writer [[Vince Russo]] rose to prominence as the architect of the [[WWE|WWF]]'s Attitude Era, the time in the late '90s when wrestling was at the peak of popularity thanks to a [[Darker and Edgier]] style (mostly pioneered by [[ECW]], but that's besides the point). However, most wrestling fans discounted the contributions of Vince and Shane McMahon in keeping Russo's raging ego, short attention span, and strange proclivities in check. Since leaving the WWF, he ran WCW into the ground, buried under a morass of dangling plot threads, ridiculous gimmicks, and [[Worked Shoot|Worked Shoots]]s.