Photo: Wonderful Diana with our beloved Show Claire and Jamie, Pinterest
Diana works in the wee hours of the night, as most of us know. And last night, presumably on a break from crafting the much anticipated ninth book in the series, Bees, she also wrote a response to Jeffrey Hirsch:
@Outlander_Starz – Jeffrey Hirsch
“Well, I dunno, Jeffrey… At the moment, I’ve got 30+ million books in print, in 42 countries; I get a lot of mail. I can’t say I see a lot of people talking about Jamie with his shirt off, unless it’s mentioning the shock and poignancy of his scars.
I do see a lot of people (male, female, straight, gay, you name it) who love the books and love the show—and what they like about the show is how much it reflects what’s in the books. (Might be worth noting that when a woman is watching OUTLANDER, her husband or boyfriend is usually watching it with her…)
What they mostly say they like is the intelligence of the story and the complexity and strength of the relationship between Jamie and Claire. They also love the visual beauty of the show and the emotional depth of the acting.
If you’re looking for a place to lean in, though, I think maybe “intelligence” might be a good place to start.”
<Mic drop>
Source: Diana on Twitter.
My greatest hope in all of this, is for the decision makers at Sony and Starz to understand that the audience is communicating, in various ways, what we want. All they have to do is resist the urge to come up with internally originated, ill conceived spins, and truly listen. The market is here, we are more than willing.
To that end, if you feel like being (skillfully, hopefully) heard, the execs I’m aware of are:
Board of Directors, Lions Gate.
CEO Lions Gate (I do not have contact info, sorry. If someone finds it, please leave in the comments, thanks). – Jon Feltheimer
Sony Exec Advocate for Outlander – Chris Parnell
For back story, go to COO Alienates… and please see Dear People Who Make This Show We Love, too.
Have a wonderful day. x
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The perfect response….
A brilliant response from Diana G
she is a genious!
Yea Diana!
Un-huh!
You tell ‘em, Diana! Says it all!
How succinctly effective !!
Thank you Diana!!
PERFECT!!!
Classic response, the lady demonstrated her ability to deal with this self-promoting exec in such an effective manner. 30+ million books and the Outlander fandom are not to be messed with!
Self-promoting exec. Yes, that is how he came across to me.
Diana hit the nail on the head when she described the reasons why I watch Outlander. Intelligent relationship between 2 people, each character’s strength and complexity, beautiful location and emotional depth of all the actors. And it’s so exciting to see Diana’s words come to life on the screen!
Awesomeness.
Thank you Diana for Outlander and the escape to a world of fantasy and love!
Succinctly put!
Where is the clapping emoji when you want it.
30million BOOM
If it was just eye candy I wanted , I’d have Jamie and Claire naked from the toes up !! Not just his shirt! 😉
I love the romance, passion and the history, I have learned so much about Scottish, Native American and English history.
I’m so glad she responded. And it is certainly pure Diana! Ergection!
Perfection! LOL. Have no idea how that happened!
Yes! Way to go Diana! You have hit the nail on the head.
Yay, Diana!
Nobody does it better! Nobody does it half as good as you. La, la, la! ?
Intelligence is the key word. This fanbase is the most intelligent, well-read group I have encountered.
Hoping Jeffrey learns something about himself and us from the overall response.
I’m still smarting that I’m not considered a Premium Woman – apparently I’ve aged right out of that category……
Thank you Diana!
I was in Scotland in June for several weeks on an Outlander tour run by novel Adventures. The average age was 63 and included both men and women I was the oldest at 76. We all loved it. Many of my friends in my age group love Outlander for its intelligence the equal relationship between Jamie and Claire and their love for their family. beautiful visuals that stars has done have enhanced it a great deal but they’ve messed with the story in season 4 Beyond what I find acceptable an adaptation because they’ve changed the characters especially Roger. They’ve also made clear into a judgmental shrill know-it-all at times. I particularly dislike her standing with both arms wide and saying things like no more it’s over etcetera.
The premium women category includes all of us over 50 until we die and we’re living a lot longer than we used to.
Jean, what do you mean by “her standing with both arms wide and saying things like no more it’s over… ” who?
Great! I re-tweeted her response w/my comments to Starz and Chris Parnell. Hopefully it will have an effect.
And I continue to love Diana’s writing, especially this response
Thank you, Courtney, for bringing all the important Outlander news to my attention. I can carry on with my work, assured that you’ll let me know when the latest “kerfluffel” occurs. Diana’s response is right on! I couldn’t respond earlier – was too mad at the COO for not understanding his own show.
“Intelligence” is the word that kept coming to mind as I tried to craft a response. This is not The Bachlorette, after all. His remarks were insulting to the existing audience.
Amen Jane!
For cryin’ out loud, what century is this?! Seriously?! Pray tell, what focus group is he using to base such demonstrably ridiculous, insulting commentary? Honestly, it is so tiresome. Thank you, Diana. Thank you, Courtney. I concur with you both.
Nailed it!
Diana, you were too gentle with him! Hopefully Mr. Hirsch will hear shortly from all the “premium women” (and post-Premiums??). He needs some schooling.
Yes! Jeffrey, don’t screw with our Outlander!
AND DON’T SCREW WITH OUTLANDER FANS!
Hit the nail on the head. STARZ take notice. This is a 65 yo intelligent romantic responding.
yes !! perfect response !!
You go girl!! What people dislike is when they change the book without a good reason.
Yay for Diana … and for the rest of us as well! She is a National Treasure, IMHO. ❤
Damn straight, Diana! You tell ‘im!
So glad she weighed in with the rest of us. When I read that interview I wasn’t just insulted for myself and the fandom, but on her behalf as well. The combined arrogance and ignorance in that man’s comments had me fuming for half of the day!
Matt Carter said something rather brilliant on his website yesterday that stayed with me: “There’s a vast difference between knowing who your audience is, and understanding it.” Hirsch would do well to try to do the latter before he ruins not just the show, but STARZ as well.
I hope to see a respond from that Mr. Hirsh unless he is too dumb to understand.
I am so glad Diana put him back to his place. He cannot compete with an intelligent woman.
HAhA love that Diana! Hey STARZ! Hey Jeffrey Hirsch! The only reason I pay the $$$ monthly for your network is OUTLANDER. Truly the only show you have that I watch. Hello! this is an Intelligent 74 year old romantic speaking. If you’re so smart why don’t you personally have millions of fans? O because your talent is just to muck up what the actual talented one created. Please…. I hope someone will explain to you what is real and true and what is not…It takes a real strong person to look around and note that perhaps an error in judgement has been made but luckily you are in the chair that make it right. thank you…
Diana’s response is as perfect as her books.
So glad that Diana has given her thoughts, do hope some notice will be taken and the balance of the series restored.
I love her books for the intelligence and diversity of storyline. It is impossible to capture all this in a 45 minute show . However , there are many important moments that can be written to fulfil the drama of the story.
English drama is going the same way seemingly needing a strong woman character. It the fashion at the moment.
Thank you Courtney for voicing an important aspect to the show and let us hope it is listened to and acted upon.
Well done Courtney and thank you Diana for enriching my life with your storytelling and brilliant writing.
Angie Reynolds
And Claire in the books IS a strong woman. You can be strong without being a shrew.?
I just sent Starz an email expressing my displeasure with Mr Hirsch’s comments. If we all do the same, maybe they’ll get the message.
I had done that as well, and yes, let’s spread the word…
yes, Absolutely right!!!
Well said Diana..Can’t wait for BEES!!!!
I was waiting for DG to respond. Quick witted, sharp and to the point. Love her intelligent smack down!! I just wish I had twitter to see all the Hallelujahs and high fives she’s getting about now!
Yes! For the love of Pete! #metoo #woke – I am like Biden and I will never get it yes yes yes – As Sam once said, “In Gabs We Trust! “
DG is the genius of words. Put hirsch in his place.
I am an 84 year old Outlander fan, did read all 8 books 3 times. Only subscribe to Stars when Outlander is on. My daughters, daughter-in-law plus my SON are fans. What you are doing to us putting this great show off to the side is criminal.
I am an 84 year old Outlander fan, have read all 8 books 3 times. Only subscribe to Stars when Outlander is own. Have purchased all 4 seasons DVDs, so I do not have to continue with Stars. You have no other shows I am interested in. Please rethink your decision to postpone Outlander to 2020. I would like to be around to see the next shows.
Well if it is postponed to 2020 it is because it will take a w’hile before filming S5 ends. They are still filming and then there are still works to be done. That has nothing to do with him. But for all the rest he said, he is completely wrong and has no idea about what he is talking about. I am glad Diana put him back to his place. I did send him a Twitter. I have the feeling that his level of intelligence is not very high but hope he got the messages that everybody is sending.
great all true…Diana hit the nail on the head…Jamie is so much more than Hirsh’s comments it’s all about $$$ hope he rethinks a lot of this…It’s our beloved Outlander Story empty w/out Jamie..Claire…Bree..Roger and sooo many more in the Outlander acting family!!!
The true artist of words succintly put Hirsh in his place.
Oh Hell Yes! That “lean in” crap irritated me too!!
As always, Diana has the perfect words to rebuke the unfortunate comments of an out of touch COO.
A much more eloquent response than mine was…
I would expect no less of Diana of course.
While yes, Sam has a beautiful physique, I personally wouldn’t care on the slightest if he never took his shirt off again, it has exactly 0 to do with why I watch the show. If this exec really thinks the only reason we watch Outlander is because Claire is strong and to look at Jamie’s chest, he is woefully misinformed.
And for the record, with going so over the top making Claire a strong woman, they have taken it too far, ruined the character of Claire as so beautifully written by Diana and made her quiete I likeable a lot of them time.
The contact details the writer asked for; his Twitter is JeffreyAHirsch
Oh his comments made me just fume as it was so belittling to us “premium” women fans. Come on! I got so mad that I canceled the channel from my DirectTV package. So when I saw Diana’s response it made me love her even more. I hope the executives of Starz take notice as without Outlander, they don’t have much else that I care to watch. As we get closer to season 5 I will again subscribe to Starz for the duration of the season and series. Thank you Courtney for showcasing Diana’s perfect response in your blog.
My family & I traveled to Scotland 2x in the last 2 years because of the beautiful scenery we were not aware of, for a taste of Scottish culture & to better understand Scottish history and put it in context. I am 68 my sister is 64 and my kids are Millenials. I am not a granny and neither is my sister. We are both voracious readers as are my children. My son has begun to read books on British and Scottish history and has become an Anglophile. None of this would have occurred if not for the Outlander books and series. Eye candy? Really? I have the utmost respect for Mr. Heughan and his art and think he is owed an apologizing by Mr. Hirsh trivializing and devaluating him and his audience. I need Mr. Hirsh to help me understand how we fit into his narrative of premium audience.
From the moment on I started reading the Outlander-books I was fascinated with the beautiful description of nature, the terrific work of historical research, the loving description of the persons involved and the overall excellent story-telling !
I would say Diana Gabaldon is my favourite author : I have read and reread no other books as often as hers and I was a bookworm all my 86 years. (at least when I started to read ! )
I am really happy that outstanding actors brought this story and persons to life !
I truly dislike all the judgemental critisizers to say the least !
By now I am just waiting for book #9 and the continuation of the TV series and hope to stay alive and healthy (as good as possible)
Mr. Hirsch…..All you have to do is LISTEN! Diana has created wonderful, complex characters who speak to modern people with the ability to appreciate her skills . Just PAY ATTENTION, and , for the love of God, do not trivialize the Outlander saga!
[…] Line picked up Diana’s note to Jeffrey Hirsch, publishing an article about it yesterday, which Cait reposted on her Twitter feed overnight, with a […]