A really specific subject is a good point, and make sure you're emailing to Dawn Ostroff specifiically. It turns out the
[email protected] email is really just spam. However, like others have encouraged us from the getgo, SNAIL MAIL is MOST EFFECTIVE.
I think I can only do one bouquet of daisies- Heidi or Rob--- Do you really think it should be Dawn to send them to???
Yes, it should be Ostroff that we send the daisies to, IMO. Whether or not she made the actual decision to cancel the show -- it may not have been up to her, could have been a bean counter, could have been someone above her in the conglomerate of CBS/Paramount whose execs (ie: Les Moonves) are more the Suits behind the network than Warners' peeps are. Sending daisies to a particular person is a more focused campaign and IMO it's that Dawn Ostroff is the one who can bring everyone back to the bargaining table, since she's the one that did it with 7th Heaven.
Please, folks- the show is tomorrow- (eeek!) pay homage by sending a letter today!!
Yes, Snail Mail is far more effective than email -- but it'll take longer. Hence, right now, so close to the upfronts, the daisies IMO are the most effective form of delivering something to Ostroff as soon as possible. Buy them today through your local florist or FTD.com or 1800flowers.com, etc. They can be ordered today for delivery tomorrow and some sites even offer same-day delivery (except on Mondays). Ordering daisies today for delivery tomorrow gets the point across. Ordering daisies tomorrow for delivery on Wednesday gets the point across, too. While the websites are geared toward kinda expensive vase settings -- the cheapest daisy arrangements I've seen run about $40, less expensive arrangements can likely be arranged through your local florist (possibly reluctantly as Mother's Day was their Christmas and they may be kinda tired right now).
Keep sending letters, too. And since Jaystar asked, I'm going to repost my letter-writing campaign welcome post.
For those of you who are new to the Great 8 Mandate Thread, Welcome! The energy that everyone is feeling is almost tangible to me and I know that a lot of you are wondering what you can do to help try to convince the CW to uncancel Gilmore Girls. This post is about voicemail, email and snail mail. Here’s what you can do:
1) SEND SNAIL MAIL.
Handwriting is fine if your penmanship is good because it's such a personal form of communication. Otherwise, typing and signing and mailing by snail mail is the single BEST way to contact them. They expect to be deluged with email and voicemail and that helps as far as it goes, but the amount of effort that it takes to write/type a letter on paper and send it in an envelope
always makes a bigger impression than email and voicemail and the like. There's a rule of thumb that floats about in various media industries that every individual piece of correspondence that's written on paper and delivered by mail represents the sentiments of at least 7 other people. So if literally tens of thousands of pieces of snailmail are received, that's going to make a MUCH bigger impact on them than electronic forms of mail.
There are various addresses you can send your correspondence to, which are posted on page 1 of the thread, but IMO, the person who has the most potential to help is IMO, the CW’s President of Entertainment, Dawn Ostroff, who is the nexus of all network realities at the CW. She can be contacted at the following address:
Ms. Dawn Ostroff, President of Entertainment
The CW Television Network
4000 Warner Blvd., Bldg 168
Burbank, CA 91522-0002
As we get closer to the broadcast of the
series season finale, email and voicemail can become handier than Snail Mail, but don't discount Snail Mail as the network can always change its mind even after the Upfronts. So I have a few tips/suggestions to help make you make your letters, voicemail and email as effective as possible:
* BE BRIEF. Keep the length of your letter down to ONE side of ONE page, double space it and use a simple 10 or 12-point Times font. (Arial font is hard to read.) If your letter goes on for
only one or two more lines beyond a page, don't sweat it, but the longer the letter is, the less of it they'll read before they move on to the next one. Double-spacing is the exact opposite in print as it is online -- it's
much easier to read on paper than single spacing is -- and again, the need to be as brief as possible will make you more concise and to-the-point. Conversely, single spacing will make you look a little wacky, especially if you go on for more than one page.
* BE BRIEF (AGAIN): If you must single-space to get all you want on one page, skip a line between each paragraph as that will help maximize readability. But definitely do not go over one side of one page at all. And I'd suggest if you're going to do single-spacing your message should take up no more than 2/3rds of the page, not counting your signature.
* BE BRIEF (FOR VOICEMAIL AND EMAIL): If you leave a long voicemail, it sounds like a ramble by somebody who's unstable. Just say who you are, where you're from, your approximate age, why you like Gg and why you think it shouldn't end/why you think the season finale is not enough. And thank them for their time.
* BE POLITE. I know that there's a lot of anger and sadness going on right now, but don't unleash any of it on the person that you're writing too (s/he may not even be responsible for what's happening to the show). Just tell them why you like the show, the actors, the stories, how it affects you, why you think it should continue, etc. If your letter is all tone and no substance, they won't read it. Or maybe the first person who reads it won't pass it on to someone else at the studio or directly involved with the show.
* BE POLITE (Again): DON'T mention the salary issues because it's not our place to address them. Some form of "I hope that you are still looking for a solution that results in the show going on" would IMO be a great way to sidestep that issue.
2) If you are going to send an email or leave a voice mail, that’s okay as a reinforcement of your Snail Mail, but
DO NOT AS AN INDIVIDUAL FLOOD ANY INDIVIDUAL AT THE CW OR WARNERS WITH MULTIPLE VOICE MAILS OR E-MAILS. It will do the exact opposite of what you intend because it's considered spamming and more or less harrassment.[/i] They want to hear from as many individuals as possible. And Snail Mail is a better way to do it than either email or voicemail because it's a tangible representation of the viewership's sentiments while electronic forms of correspondence are more abstract (because you can't hold them in your hands) and therefore easy to forget. And remember to BE POLITE AND POSITIVE. They already know that we're all upset, we just need to reinforce our presence in terms of the sheer number of individuals contacting them.
3) If you send mail to anyone other than Dawn Ostroff (ie: Lauren and Alexis), I’m sure as heck not gonna try to discourage you. Just please make contacting Ms. Ostroff your first priority. If she gets the mail, she is sure to contact everybody else involved, including her bosses at the CW’s corporate parent companies, CBS/Paramount and Warner Brothers, as well as the actors. (Or else they’ll hear it through the grapevine.)
4) And send them daisies.
Dawn Ostroff's office address above is the address that any daisies should be delivered to.BONUS ALERT: Divine has set up a word document that can be downloaded at
http://root.pcmasters.at/upload/files/2659036-List_of_Advertisers.doc If you contact any of them, please follow the same rules as I list above and also keep in mind the following:
Pllease be sure to compliment them on their support of Gg, add that you like their product if you use it (but don't lie if you don't use it) and let them know about how pleased you are for the companies' support of Gg given Gg's continued high ratings even in the face of the Griffith Park fire earlier this week and in light of how VM's ratings continue to plummet. Don't othewise knock VM (it's a good show that, unfortunately has no potential whatsoever to grow in the ratings), but let them know something like, "If the CW is so close to keeping VM around with such low ratings, doesn't it make more sense for you as an advertiser to demand that The CW keep Gilmore Girls, too, since it gets *much* better ratings?"
BTW, do NOT copy what I wrote word-for-word. It's not that I'm withholding permission, it's just that letters that are written with the same wording are considered astroturf, a type of spamming particular to letter-writing campaigns. Speak/write from the heart about why you like the show/what the show means to you, what you know about what the ratings mean and that you would appreciate the advertisers' support since the networks unveil their new fall schedules to you advertisers next week. As I said above, BE POLITE, BE ORIGINAL -- the advertisers want to know about your likes and dislikes as it helps them to decide where they're gonig to put their television advertising dollars. It's okay to tell the advertisers that you're mad at the network, just don't do it in a way that even implies that you might be mad at the advertisers as the current cancelled state of the show is not their fault. After all, they'd rather have the show with the higher ratings, y'know.
-- Rob
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Season 8: Because even though it takes a lot of hard work and patience, it can happen and
has happened before. More times than you think.
Heidi's Soapbox, now with a new poll! Vote, vote, vote! Good times. Best times! 
