Truth Slash Fiction

Truth Slash Fiction is a 2016 unaired television pilot about teenage fans of a fictional boyband called "Truth". The main character joins a fan club for writing slash fanfic about the band. The boyband and its fandom were inspired by One Direction and Larry Stylinson. Many fans, including Larries, seem to have been excited about the show, but others worried about how fandom would be represented. Additionally, a Fourth Wall controversy occurred around one interview. 
The pilot premiered at SeriesFest on June 23, 2016, by Tyler Peterson, Broadway World, 16 June 2016. and was shown at a few other tv and film festivals in 2016, where it generated some good press and won awards, but was not picked up for a series.
The official Facebook page describes the show as follows:
==Fan Reactions==
A number of fans on social media expressed excitement and anticipation. Some fans replied to tweets from the official twitter account indicating that they were looking forward to watching the show and hoped it would get picked up., 17 May 2018. In September the official YouTube account posted a "fanvid" that included footage fans from various countries had submitted of themselves lipsyncing to the fictional boyband's song "Baby It's You". Comments on the video included:
*"I'm a larrie and I can't be more happy to see something like this."
*"Wtf I'm literally in tears after seeing this because of the lgbt representation, I'm so glad that some people get to share their true colors, I wish I will, someday…"
*"I love this video so much!! I just can't wait to see the series! This is gonna be a huge success and I can't wait to be part of it!❤️❤️🇫🇷"
Fans, including 1D fans, commented positively on the YouTube trailer:, SeriesFest youtube channel, 3 May 2016. (Accessed 3 December 2023.)
*"LARRY SHIPPERS UNITE!!! WE GET A TV SHOW NOW"
*"What a time to be a larrie. We literally get a TV series based on our lives. This is so exciting."
*"Never felt more connected with a series after one trailer lol. Really excited for this and thankful (as far as it seems) that people make a serie by shedding some information and positive light on (slash) fanfiction and it's readers and writers!"
*"I'm ready for this. you do not understand how ready I am for this."
Tumblr fans who learned about the show in June were a little more ambivalent:
=="The Larries Found It"==
Although the official truthslashfic twitter account had been created in April, and some articles about the pilot had been written in June, most fans seem to have discovered the show in September. On September 16, #truthslashfiction started trending on Twitter when Larries found it. The official twitter account noted the trending topic and the large number of new followers., tweet by truthslashfic, 16 September 2016., tweet by truthslashfic, 16 September 2016., tweet by truthslashfic, 17 September 2016.
On Tumblr many fans seemed enthusiastic, but others had doubts. 
tvshows-addict, who later became disillusioned, commented,
==Larries and the Fourth Wall==
On October 3, 2016, the blog Head Over Feels published an interview with the showrunners: .
In the interview, the showrunners talk about their ideas for the show and the process of making it, how One Direction and Harry Styles created a more LGBTQ+ friendly space, plus how outsider attitudes to fanfic and slash are sexist, that they want "to recontextualize fan fiction and make people realize that it’s an artistic pursuit and it’s an artistic pursuit through which people find community." The interviewer notes that fans had mixed reactions to hearing about the show ("The Larries found it"), and the showrunners say that many fans had reached out to them with concerns over whether their community would be disrespected and misrepresented:
The interviewers and showrunners then discuss specific Larry fanfics they had read, and the interviewers offer to send the showrunners more recs.
Some 1D fans criticized them for violating the fic writers' privacy., tweet by skyebyrd1, 5 October 2016.
On October 5, tumblr user tvshows-addict posted "Truth Slashfiction and the Larry Fandom: Bye bye 4th wall". The post starts by mentioning that "all your favorite fic writers/fics are mentioned" and that "They also talk about how the fandom has been treated by the media and the band handlers and how very aware of that they are and that they’re going to be careful about that." The post was later deleted, but is partly preserved through reblogs. Unfortunately, the main criticism against the showrunners was under the readmore and has been lost. bulletprooflarry reblogged it with tags:
It's important to note that Larries believe that Harry and Louis are in a romantic relationship in real life, and based on the showrunners' interviews and public statements, it's not clear if they understood thisFor example, when the resident Larrie at CelebMix.com asked them "did you know anything of the rumors before you found the fan fiction and if not, did you look into it after?", they responded, "We had read a bunch of Larry fic both before and during the process of developing the pilot and we were very much inspired by the emotional pull of those stories and the vibrancy of the fandom. At the same time, we really wanted Truth (the band in the pilot) to be its own group, with its own characters and musical style." , by Ashley, CelebMix, 27 September 2016."Reasons the Larries are crying: because the creators of Truth Slash Fiction think larries are just normal shippers who enjoy the thought of two boys in a relationship, and don't recognize that they are conspiracy theorists akin to moon landing deniers who actually believe every crackpot notion they've eagerly put online." , 6 October 2016.. One of Larries' objections to depictions of Larry in mass media is based on their belief that the increased scrutiny could result in outing Harry and Louis. (Post-Babygate, Larries have also argued that outing the Larry conspiracy could put Louis in legal jeopardy, because they believe he knowingly signed a birth certificate falsely attesting that he was a father.)
A Tumblr tag comment by adifferentkindofson, another Larrie:
The official twitter account posted an update on October 6, apologizing for not realizing that they shouldn't have name-checked fanfic authors without their permission. They also said:
On Twitter some fans said they felt reassured, while other said that the showrunners had missed the point.
Tumblr larries argued that the showrunners hadn't understood what they were objecting to:
Tumblr anti-larries thought that Larries were being hypocrites for objecting to the show on the basis that it violated their privacy:
==Links==
*Broadway World: by Tyler Peterson (Jun. 16, 2016)
*Teen Vogue: by De Elizabeth (September 17, 2016)
*Tumblr tags: truth slash fiction and truthslashfiction
*Twitter hashtag: TruthSlashFiction
==References==
Category:One Direction
Category:Perspectives on Fans
Category:Slash Fandom