Geek Girl in Hollywood: Can you keep spoilers out of the press?

Can anything be kept secret in the entertainment world? I’m pretty sure the answer is no. A certain major cable TV show that aired this weekend was just the latest example. I’m not saying what it is, but you probably know all about it. A certain character is alive again, just as fans have been insisting pretty much since he died. There was enough precedent in the story for his return. But beyond that, the actor had been spotted on set. There was no way to keep this under wraps.

Did that diminish how cool his return actually was? No, it didn’t. It’s about time networks and studios embraced the fact that spoilers are going to happen, no matter what. HBO certainly did, showing photos of said character and playing on the fact that everyone believed it would happen. They embraced the spoilers, because they know how the world works.

So when I hear about things like 20th Century Fox deciding not to show new movie footage at Comic-Con because it’ll get leaked, I just don’t understand. I wrote about it last year when a studio was super upset that fans filmed the video they showed and put it online. Did you not think that would happen? Unless you take everyone’s phones away like Disney does at D23 Expo, people are going to post it.

You can continue trying to keep things under wraps, but you just aren’t going to succeed. What was even funnier was when Fox released a statement saying it had been betrayed by fans. Oh, shut up. You put a cookie in a room full of toddlers. What did you think was going to happen?

Why not embrace this? People are seeing your trailer and the buzz is huge. Those fans who can make it to major conventions know they’re not going to get anything that the rest of the world won’t get to see. We don’t live in that age anymore. You can keep trying to hold out, but you’re not going to be able to do it. So, enjoy the leaks. Enjoy the publicity around it. Just give us all the cookie and let us tweet about how yummy it is.

Follow Jenna Busch on Twitter @jennabusch and visit her site, Legion of Leia