Did the creators change their tune?

[Smashing]

My hypothesis based on conjecture:
Before the creators were discovered, they had a storyline in mind that would run until early November, and then the show would end. As partially evidenced by Bree saying "fucking" in an August 15 video, their story was not intended to be PG-rated. It was a dark tale that hinged on Bree's Crowley-inspired religious ceremony. The ceremony was not run by merely a "secret society," but an evil, deeply religious cult. Had the creators not been discovered, we would've seen the ceremony on Oct. 12 and the sensational events surrounding it (what those were we may never know). People would be totally freaked out who thought it was real. After the show ended, the creators would then step forward to take credit for the hoax.
But in early September they were identified, and everything changed.
Sometime between the time the creators were identified and they disavowed the controversial CiW (which they may or may not have initally authorized), they made a decision to 1) change the plot to continue indefintely 2) be PG-rated.

The only problem was they had already established several plot details, namely her religion, the ceremony, and the date. They dealt with this by having a ceremony on Oct. 12, then calling it fake. They had Bree decide to not do the ceremony and go on the run with Daniel, setting up the "endless show" that we have now.

If the creators had known they would be discovered, and the darker elements would be seen as controversial, perhaps they never would've introduced the idea of a ceremony at all.

[buckwheat]

smashing said:

My hypothesis based on conjecture:
Before the creators were discovered, they had a storyline in mind ... a dark tale that hinged on Bree's Crowley-inspired religious ceremony. all.

Or....Mesh just stuck a picture of Crowley on his wall to play with everyone's heads without a clue as to where it would all lead....but then, I'm an Occam's Razor kind of guy....

[Terryfic]

I agree that I don’t think M&M necessarily had a story in mind before they were found out. I think they had characters in mind, but were pretty much making it all up as they went along – and from their first interviews it sounds like that was their plan, to make an evolving story that changed as the audience would affect Bree’s decision making.

I could easily see them throwing in the Crowley picture just to stir up some controversy. They did do the close up of the picture after a big ratings slump. Now around the time of the outing a set story did start to take hold. In fact one of the last posts on the old phorum as we were moving here was about how the cookie scores could be a data. Perhaps it was because of the imminent outing that felt they now needed a more concert storyline to maintain views.

[milowent]

I don't have time to pull together all my thoughts right now, but this question of if/how/when the creators changed course has always intrigued me. Bree The Cookie Monster came out on August 31, 2006. That was when the Bree search was in full swing -- the Ken Goodfriend connection for the trademark filing had been made, the Phorum 3 had published their 1st (though erroneous) findings, and two botanists had connected the production to California. So, they probably knew time was dwindling, though i cannot think they knew how little time they had left. if the creators meant to keep their identify private through october 12, they would have created complete mayhem on youtube -- people would have been going crazy.

and the concept that crowley was just stuck on the wall for fun!? blasphemy!!!! :-)

[Smashing]

Okay, scratch my above hypothesis. Perhaps it is 180 degrees wrong.

My point is that in the beginning, the plan must have been to do the show for a limited amount of time, and at some point they switched over to doing the show indefinitely. My question is when did that change occur, and did it affect the plot?

My next guess is essentially what Terry said. That they didn't have a plot at first, but they adopted one around the time of the outing.

But the timing is confusing to me!

It seems to me that "I'm Really Really Really Excited" is kind of the end of a story. There weren't any loose ends plotwise at that point. Then we got "Swimming," which introduced Cassie, "Bree the Cookie Monster" which introduced the date 10/12/06, and "A Change in My Life" which introduced the ceremony. Boom, boom, boom. Foreshadowing like crazy.

Could it be this story change was inspired by the discovery of the trademark application (that has ironically been abandoned)? That's the only part of the outting that happened before those videos. It would be another week before "A Message from the Creators" came out, and two weeks before the creators were identified. Then again, maybe they never really planned the story, and maybe they still to this day don't plan out the story, and just say they are. I don't know. If they are reading this, let me know. I'm reminded that they said they were working on a DVD. Maybe the special features will have some answers?

[Terryfic]

Abandoned? What does that even mean? Milo can you help us out on this. Can I make my own LG15 clothing line myself now?

It is hard to really know when or how the plot has changed over time and just how much is planned and how much is altered to match what the fans seem interested in. I think the only 100% clear alteration to the story is all the OpAphid\Tachyon stuff. I too hope when the long overdue dvd comes out they include the abandoned storylines as well.

[milowent]

terryfic said:

Abandoned? What does that even mean? Milo can you help us out on this. Can I make my own LG15 clothing line myself now?

not my area, but it looks like they voluntarily abandoned their trademark claim.

some guidance: "After about four months [of filing a trademark application], an attorney at the USPTO will examine your trademark application for acceptability. If it is unacceptable, the USPTO will inform you of this, their reasons for so determining, and any corrections you must make. This correspondence will also contain information about available appeals processes. At this point you can make the corrections, appeal the decision, or abandon the trademark. If the trademark is acceptable, the trademark will be posted in the USPTO's Official Gazette and a notice of publication will be sent to you."

so, its possible the application was rejected and they gave up on trying to trademark it. that could be for any number of reasons. they may try to refile also. i wouldn't run off to make your own t-shirts yet, though i doubt the creators would have ready funds to prosecute potential infringers in other countries, to be honest. i think if they came up with a distinguishable logo (more than just trying to trademark all uses of the term "lonelygirl15"), they would have a better shot at getting protection.

[stantheman]

We know from interviews that the series took major course corrections when various trial balloons were floated. The earliest change came when the "My Parents Suck" vlog sent ratings through the skylight. They said this was a turning point in terms of making the content more about relationships.

The Crowley pic was a trial balloon of a different sort in that its impact on plot hinged on whether it was identified and the resulting fallout. I was not impressed with the level of discussion in the comments section which were mostly kneejerk outcries of "Satanist!" The emerging fan phorums produced a smarter analysis of Thelema and I do believe the creators took their cue from that.

I feel that the series is guided more by trial balloons than by a loose, semi-improvised plan. Right now the winds are shifting dramatically as Jessica takes on better-paying work. They may have to pull out all the stops to stay afloat.