Dust

There are people in Hollywood who suck. They don't appreciate their audience, they don't care about their audience. After their fans help them get to where they want to be in their career, these people turn their backs on their audience and betray them. 

Like Dan Stevens, for example, who I adore, but who left his fans high and dry with his exit from Downton Abbey after the third series* without an explanation. He's a wonderful actor and he did his character justice, but not his fans.

Then there's Sarah Michelle Gellar, who everyone knows is my favorite actress. But when she had a chance to guest star on the one hundredth episode of Angel, she turned it down. Her schedule was too "busy." Seriously, woman? Your schedule wouldn't have been busy if it hadn't been for Joss Whedon's genius and his genius (if I do say so myself) fans.

And then there are people like Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. There's also the cast of Firefly. There's Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins (known to their fandom as J2M, I kid you not).

I certainly respect actors, producers, and directors like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Dan Stevens. They're great at what they do, and I have so much admiration for their skill in their chosen art (let's face it, I'm a little bit obsessed with them). 

But the people who will get my loyalty and love as a fan? Joss Whedon gets my loyalty for his smart writing, which shows that he knows his fans are intelligent people who don't need their shows dumbed down. He, and the cast, get my respect for hearing the call of their fans and coming back together to film Serenity, the movie that takes place after the events of Firefly. (I could go on and on about Joss, but for your sake, I won't.)

The people who do this : Supernatural Shake (Jared Padalecki, and the cast and crew of Supernatural), and the person who does this: Eye of the Tiger (Jensen Ackles), are the people who get my loyalty. My devotion goes to Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles, who are aware of, and play into, their fanbases's love for Dean and Castiel's relationship on Supernatural. They see it and they utilize it as inspiration and motivation, instead of ignoring their audience and leaving them in the dust.

J.J. Abrams and the rest of the writers for LOST get my respect because they worked out a plan for their show and stuck to it- six years, end of story. They could have capitalized on great ratings to make more money by airing more seasons, as I'm sure the network would have loved for them to do, but they didn't. They respected the story, the actors, and the fans, and ended it.

You don't have to buy each of your fans a piece of pie and tell us over coffee how much you appreciate us as we gush to you about how Buffy changed our life. You just need to know that we're here and show us that you know. 

I mean, without us, your work would be sitting on the shelf, collecting the above-mentioned dust, wouldn't it?

*In Britain, seasons are called series.