Xena Media Review

When Fantasy Meets Reality:

The Aftermath of Lucy Lawless' Accident

By Diane Silver

Copyright 1998 by author

(used with permission, bold and color emphasis added)

This isn't one story. Instead, it is a series of stories

that are linked by one event: Lucy Lawless' October

1996 accident.

One of those stories, of course, is Lawless' own tale

of pain and recovery from a fractured pelvis, yet that

is one story I wouldn't tell even if I had the

information. Being a celebrity doesn't take away a

person's right to privacy, although some media act as

if it does. The part of Lawless' story, though, that is

important to tell is its happy ending: She has

recovered completely from the accident.

Even without telling that one story, there are a host

of others to tell: the story of fans who suddenly found

their safe fantasy world confronted with reality,

glimpses of what was happening behind the scenes, an

illustration of the power of the Internet and the

changes it is creating in society, and a look at media

power and mistakes.

THE FANS

For one group of fans, the story is very personal

because they saw the accident happen. They are among

the 40-50 fans who traveled to Burbank to be in the

TONIGHT SHOW audience. They had to stand in line to get

tickets. Many were standing next to the parking lot,

watching the filming of the skit, when the accident

occurred.

Some fans like Robbie (robbie@gte.net) were surprised

by their reactions.

"After seeing the horse fall and knowing that Lucy was

not getting up, I got a very sick feeling in the pit of

my stomach," Robbie said. "I didn't eat for three days.

That night, by the time I got back to my hotel, I

couldn't sleep...I had trouble sleeping for a couple of

weeks. Every time I closed my eyes I could see Lucy on

the horse, ride down the driveway, stop, turn the

horse, smile that beautiful smile of hers, wave and

then turn the horse some more and urge it back up the

driveway. As the horse turned, it slipped and down she

went."

One fan told me privately that the first few hours

after the accident were very tense. Immediately after

the horse fell, security guards moved fans away from

the parking lot and closed a security gate, making it

impossible for fans to see what was happening.

The fans had no information about Lawless' condition

until two hours later when they gathered for dinner at

the Acapulco Restaurant across the street from the NBC

Studios. Their dinner at the Acapulco had been arranged

via the Internet.

Soon after fans arrived, Executive Producer Rob Tapert

and Co-Executive Producer R.J. Stewart along with other

staff members joined them. Tapert said that Lawless had

suffered a bump on the head and four to five pelvic

fractures. He said she would recover fully, although

the recovery would take time. He added that Lawless had

insisted that he go to the restaurant to tell fans she

was all right. After talking briefly about what fans

might expect in future XWP episodes, Tapert left with

Stewart. Their visit lasted about 20 minutes.

"I thought it was exceedingly kind of Rob to come to

talk to us," said DarkMuse (darkmuse@earthlink.net),

"and the fact that it was at the apparent insistence of

Lucy touched all of us more than I think most people

can understand. It was obvious from every (Xena)

staffer there that they truly cared about Lucy, that

they, too, were fans."

For other Xenites, their experience of this day was

based solely on what happened online. By 11 p.m.

Pacific Time on the day of the accident, eyewitness

accounts were being posted o the Internet, Production

Assistant Robert Mellette had posted to the NetForum

under his handle of "Xenastaff," and fans were posting

their accounts of Tapert's comments at the restaurant.

Mellette talked about what online Xenadom was like that

evening in an unpublished article he wrote about public

relations and the Internet.

"By 11 p.m. in Los Angeles when I first got to a

computer to check the NetForum, THE TONIGHT SHOW had

already aired throughout most of the country," Mellette

said. "Fans from the east coast were staying up late to

watch the NetForum for news. By the time I logged on, a

fan had posted Tapert's announcement, but without any

details, just that Lucy had a broken pelvis.

"The rumors started. Many people thought this meant a

crippling injury. They thought the horse had actually

fallen on Lucy. And worst of all, they thought Leno was

making fun of the accident. A 'flame war' (directed at

Leno) via email and snail mail was in danger of kicking

up."

Over the next few days, online Xenadom was churning.

Cloudcat (cloudcat@aol.com) described the range of

reactions to the news.

"There were fans who thought Lucy's injury was sad and

wished her a speedy recovery," Cloudcat said. "There

were fans who thought Lucy's injury was the most tragic

event in the world. There were fans who were wondering

what hospital to stake out to see if they could see

Lucy, and there were fans speculating on who they would

get to replace Lucy as Xena."

For other fans, the period was doubly difficult because

a well-known Xena fan had also been injured in an

accident that was announced online that day. The fan,

known by her nickname "Roo," would awaken from her coma

in a few days.

"The worst part was personal," said JulieCal2

(juliecal2@aol.com). Almost simultaneously we got the

devastating post from Visitor that CToups (Roo) was in

a serious auto accident. Roo was my very first and

closest Xenite friend on the net. Her last email to me

was only an hour or two before her accident. To learn

that Roo had suffered severe head and injuries and was

comatose crushed me to the core. The bulletins on the

NetForum about both Lucy and Roo were running neck and

neck. Will I ever forget that dreadful day? Never!"

BEHIND THE SCENES

Little is known publicly about what happened behind the

scenes at Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal during

this period, but glimpses can be seen in Mellette's

unpublished article.

Leno's announcement on the night of the accident was

actually written by Leah Krantzler of The Lippin Group

(XWP and HTLJ's public relation's agency) and Dan Filie

of MCA/Universal TV. The announcement was coordinated

with NBC. Krantzler and Filie wrote it in the hospital

emergency room.

"At the time the announcement was being put together,

the diagnosis at the hospital was a bruised pelvis and

a bump on the head," Mellette said. "About the time

Leno was saying 'we hear she'll be fine' on the air, we

learned at the hospital that her pelvis was fractured

-- not crushed, not crippling, but certainly more than

a bruise."

At the time, RP (Renaissance Pictures) was told that it

would take three months for Lawless to return to work,

but that information was not cleared by MCA/Universal

for public release.

Mellette said one of RP's fears was that fans would

take out their anger on Jay Leno and NBC by starting a

hate-mail campaign.

"Forget that sending hate mail to THE TONIGHT SHOW

isn't a real good public relations move, and forget

that we were going to have to go into delicate

million-dollar insurance negotiations with NBC over

having to shoot around our star for the next eight

weeks; the fact is that Jay Leno and his staff were

terrific. Some of the Xenites on the Leno staff felt

terrible as they had begged to get her on the show."

THE INTERNET

I'll admit to being an Internet newbie at the time of

Lawless' accident. I was probably impressed by Internet

phenomena that are common knowledge to online veterans.

However, the aftermath of Lawless' accident provided a

vivid example for me of how the Internet is changing

the information flow in our society. Two things stand

out: How RP used the Internet to keep in touch with

fans, and the fact that the Internet was a better

source of information than the news media.

RP's use of the Internet is one of the most fascinating

aspects of this story. At the time, MCA/Universal

appeared to want to say as little as possible about the

accident. Meanwhile, RP appeared to be making every

effort to step around MCA/Universal's corporate

restrictions and connect directly with fans.

This began with Tapert's talk to fans at the Acapulco

Restaurant only two and a half hours after the

accident. Tapert's comments gave fans more information

than any of the official press releases ever did.

Details of Tapert's statement were posted to the

Internet and flashed around the world within a few

hours. If the Internet had not existed, then Tapert's

comments would have only been heard by about 50 people.

Meanwhile, Mellette was posting on the NetForum to

dispel rumors. Because MCA/Universal earlier had

forbidden staff to post to the NetForum, Mellette could

do little more than correct misinformation.

MCA/Universal's ban meant that the unofficial channels

of communication, like fan-run mailing lists, were the

only channels open to RP.

Because of this, the XenaVerse mailing list became the

best place to find up-to-date information. XenaVerse

was run by fans and appeared to be free of monitoring

by MCA/Universal. It was also the Internet home base to

Tyldus aka Supervising Producer Steve Sears, who took

on the role of unofficial spokesman to the fans.

Sears would post messages to XenaVerse and ask fans to

repost them to other online forums, including the

NetForum. Within minutes, the information would be

flashed around the world. The day after the accident,

for example, Tyldus posted a short note describing his

visit that morning with Lawless.

"She looked a little worse for the wear but was in good

spirits," Tyldus wrote. (See item #28)

Throughout the next few weeks, Tyldus kept fans updated

on Lawless' condition, gave hints about what the

upcoming "Lucy-Lite" episodes might be like, and on

October 21, 1996, relayed a thank-you note from

Lawless. The note, available at the XENA FAQ on WHOOSH

(http://www.thirdstory.com/whoosh/faq), thanked fans

for their well wishes and "good vibes", asked fans to

stop sending gifts, and noted that she was "raring to

get back to work." It also provided yet another example

of the power of the Internet by including a personal

message for Roo, the injured fan who's plight probably

would not have been communicated to Lawless if the

Internet had not existed. Among other things, Lawless

said in her note: "Lot's of love to you, Roo! From me

and Renee (O'Connor)!"

Lawless' statement via Sears is a good example of how

anyone depending on the news media would get half the

story. This statement, for example, was never released

to the news media.

Along with Tapert's appearance at the restaurant on the

night of the accident, Mellette's posts to NetForum and

posts by XWP Editor Rob Field (aka Avicus) to the

Chakram mailing list, Sears' posts to XenaVerse

probably did more than anything to guarantee that the

rumor mill did not run out of control.

Think about what might have happened if Tapert,

Mellette, Field and Sears had not acted as they did.

Fans would have been in the dark, relying on the

mainstream news media, which had little information,

and MCA/Universal press releases, which said even less.

If RP hadn't acted, the fans main sources of

information during October would have been the

eyewitness accounts of fans at the scene who saw a

frightening fall and a star who did not get up or even

move afterwards.

Tapert, Mellette, Field and Sears are to be commended

for their actions. Not only were their actions smart

public relations, but perhaps more importantly, they

provided a compassionate response to worried fans. In a

time when MCA/Universal was providing meaningless pap

in its public statements, RP appeared to have

side-stepped their own bosses so that they could give

fans the information they needed.

While all of this activity was occurring online, little

was appearing in the mainstream media. Associated

Press, the main information source for out-of-town news

for all media in the United States, did not pick up the

story until October 10 after Stephanie Reader, an

online fan who is also a journalist, wrote a story

based on information from online sources for her

newspaper. Because The Boston Globe also published a

story that day, it is impossible to say which story AP

borrowed for its news wires. However, it is interesting

to speculate that the Internet and a fan may have

scooped the powerful AP and have generated the flood of

newspaper stories that were to come.

THE MEDIA

What can you say about the news media coverage? It

began with ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT videotaping Lawless as

she lay on the pavement and then replaying that tape

every time ET mentioned her for the next year. It

included cutesy stories that confused the real-life

actress with the character she plays and chortled over

the fact that "Xena" had been hurt. At the same time,

the majority of the media repeated the basic facts of

the accident, staying close to the tell-little press

releases issued by MCA/Universal. All of this is pretty

ho-hum and seems to illustrate, yet again, the

shortcomings of the news media.

However, you should never under estimate the power of

the old fashioning media, which still reaches far more

households than the Internet. The coverage of the

accident came in several waves, starting with a wave of

stories reporting the accident. Another wave reported

Lawless' release from the hospital about a week later

and another wave about two weeks later reported on her

appearance on THE TONIGHT SHOW. According to TV Guide

and Lawless, all of this publicity provided XWP with an

unprecedented amount of free advertising, and that

helped boost ratings.

Perhaps the ultimate lesson here is that while the

Internet might seem all-powerful at times, the

traditional media are still supreme.