#hats off to the creators of Bridgerton I guess

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

I didn’t realise that getting fingered in a cab on the way home from a night out while “Give Me Everything” by Pitbull plays in the background could be so romantic.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I'm seeing some stupid arguments about how they said they got permission from Netflix and how Netflix admitted they turned a blind eye and how Netflix promoted them on social media etc etc...however none of that matters? Clearly Netflix let them do this because it was free promo and they even offered selling a licence (or something) to them in order for them to performe the show, which they turned down while also giving fake assurances they weren't making any money off of it. But I'm sorry when they started making money they crossed a big line in this unspoken agreement they made with Netflix.

Here's a big fucking lesson for everyone, unless Bear and Barlow have a rabbit in the hat that we're all unaware of--don't think that because someone says it's okay, or tweets about it, or even sends you an email being like heeeey we love it--that they won't change their minds. You need legal documentation, overlooked by their attorneys and yours, which says you have permission. You need every i dotted and t crossed, because the copyright owner can at (from what I understand) any time take you on unless you do.

And I don't want to hear the whining about how Netflix was happy to take the promo. Yeah, duh. That's not just a Netflix thing, babes. When you see David Jenkins retweet OFMD fanart--I'm sure he genuinely loves it. But that's also free promo for his show (and the OFMD fan art has netted them a lot of new viewers, I'd wager, so it works). When you see a teeny tiny author repost shit on TikTok of fans cosplaying as her characters and gives the hearteyes emoji, she's taking advantage of free promo. And I don't begrudge anyone that! If you have paid for a copyright or done the work to create something you own the copyright for, your dues have been paid in that sense--and you're probably (definitely) still paying for more marketing. As long as fans have existed, fans have given free promo and creators have taken it on, because guess what? When you create a fanwork, you are only able to do that because someone else has created the original source material. And if you're really fucking good at creating fanworks, maybe one day you will be able to take your show on the road and sell your own original work, and you got a huge boost by engaging in the fandom that exists because of that original copyright holder, and so the cycle goes on.

If Bear and Barlow had played this right, they could have minimally had a licensing deal with Netflix (which Netflix didn't have to offer, but probably offered because they're averse to bad press at the moment). They could've had a business relationship with Netflix and quite possibly Shonda Rhimes (and Julia Quinn to some extent). If everyone had gotten along, who knows what kind of doors that could've opened? They already have a fanbase, a Grammy win (which they probably won in large part because the show existing was a free campaign) and got to shake hands with people they never would've met otherwise. The natural move would've been to take that and make their own original work and profit off of it.

Any fanfic author worth their salt knows that you can't just start making money off of fanworks without putting yourself in danger. There are minors who would've thought better than to do this, lol. EL James got dangerously close to getting her ass sued by Stephenie Meyer for 50 Shades, and she was in a much better position legally as her work was more transformative, whereas this musical is literally Bridgerton adapted.

I'm already so sick of the "but the little guy" arguments. Sooooo we just allow them to do this because they're the little guy and Netflix is the big guy and set a precedent in which other little guys can get fucked when a big or little guy makes money off shit they didn't pay to adapt?