March 21, 2008 March 12, 2008 February 20, 2008 January 19, 2008 was a great day. I just wanted to
chime in and say thanks to all the very great
fans 
It's all a blur...
January 15, 2007 FUELED BY “ONE TREE HILL,” THE
CW CLIMBS TO BEST TUESDAY OF SEASON IN TARGET
DEMOS. Competitively, the two-hour ONE TREE HILL led The CW to second place overall on Tuesday in adults 18-34 and women 18-34, behind only NBC; and took first among total teens and female teens. Fueled by ONE TREE HILL, The CW out-performed its Tuesday season-to-date average across all demos, including 62% in adults 18-34, 100% in women 18-34, 36% in adults 18-49 (1.5/4), 62% in women 18-49 (2.1/5), 83% in teens, 146% in female teens, and 46% in viewers. Last night’s season five premiere of ONE TREE HILL dramatically improved over the show’s fourth season finale by 50% in adults 18-34, women 18-34, adults 18-49 and women 18-49, 52% in viewers, 47% in total teens and 28% in female teens.
Hi everyone, It’s Wednesday. Since yesterday’s blog entry, I’ve been humbled by the outpouring of support from the best fans in the world. I appreciate it very much. To those of you who sent e-mails, letters or made phone calls on behalf of the show – THANK YOU. The parties responsible have heard you. LOUD and CLEAR. Mission accomplished. Now having said that… It’s OK to STOP. It’s time to STOP. Sometimes reasonable people jump to irrational conclusions. Sometimes a person’s heart is in the right place, but their means are misguided. As far as I can tell, your letters in support of the show – especially the fair-minded and even tempered ones – proved very important to the powers that be. To the fans that wrote more aggressive e-mails or made personal attacks, that was a mistake. I appreciate your passion, but that’s how this whole thing started, right? With personal attacks and false innuendo. Please remember: Hate is never OK. Malice is never OK. But I think most of you know that. And it makes me very proud to know that YOU also know that this show has always valued the rights and welfare of human beings – especially those of women – and has taken great pains to be an honorable endeavor. As I said before, when the parties involved see the first episode, and I hope they will, they might understand why their accusations and hasty conclusions were so hurtful to me personally and to you and to the show we all love. For now, let’s all STOP. The network has had discussions with the parties involved and I’m now told that the Sun Times article will not be published. As I mentioned above, I never intended for Ms. Cepeda to be disparaged personally. It’s not what we’re about. She was a reporter following a lead. I suppose if there’s a silver lining to all of this, it’s that the horror of rape and sexual assault has been discussed on message boards, and maybe beyond them. As the YWCA knows, it’s a very worthy topic (which is why we did an anti-date rape episode in season one), and if someone found a voice or the help they needed in relation to this arena, then this incident was worth it. Well worth it. At the end of the day, I’m proud of the shows we’ve aired, and the shows that are yet to air. Ultimately, those shows are the only voice we need. And that’s enough. That’s more than enough. So again, thank you ALL for having my back and One Tree Hill’s back. I appreciate you, and your voice has once again been heard. Let’s stop now. And let’s use our passion and strength toward making the world a more positive and safer place. Because our power is vast, and we must use it for good, not ill. All good things… Mark November 13, 2007Hi everyone, First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who has inquired about me and the show in the wake of the strike. As you may know, The WGA is indeed on strike and as a result, the writing of the show has stopped. We hope that the strike will be resolved in an amicable, reasonable, and expeditious fashion so that we can get back to writing great episodes of One Tree Hill, but until then, I want you all to know that we have 12 excellent episodes of the show completed – all the way through episode 100. As always, thanks for helping us get this far. It means more than you know. Now, that brings us to this… When we hired Kevin Federline to play “Jason” in a few episodes of One Tree Hill, a press release went out. It was not generated by me. Not long afterward, I received a letter from a woman named Laura Thrall. She is the CEO of YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. She read in a tabloid that Jason would be fronting a band called “No Means Yes”. This was news to me, as we never named Jason’s band. As a result, it doesn’t appear on the show. At all. Ever. It’s not even a part of Jason’s storyline. It was simply an erroneous name that appeared in a press release about a fictional band that doesn’t exist. Following me so far? The letter that Ms. Thrall sent to me was subtly threaten Today I was informed that the Chicago Sun Times plans to run an article about how One Tree Hill supports sexual assault. Do you believe that? One Tree Hill! The show I’ve protected for five years now. The show that has taken pains to preach grace and kindness and nobility. Apparently, a woman named ESTHER CEPEDA has jumped on the bandwagon following this post under the ADVOCACY and ACTION tabs on the YWCA METROPOLITAN CHICAGO website: “As part of the national YWCA A Week Without Violence campaign, and along with YWCA USA, YWCA Lake County, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, and YWCA Greater Los Angeles, I strongly object to your network’s program One Tree Hill because of the irresponsible nod your show gives to rape. This summer, your network announced that Kevin Federline was to guest star in a few episodes as the front man of a band called ‘No Means Yes’. In September, we politely petitioned you to change the band’s name and you were unresponsive to our request; we are asking again – change the name of the band on One Tree Hill because no never means yes! This is the real context of ‘No Means Yes’ for young women in OTH’s target demographic: - In a survey of more than 6,000 students at 32 colleges and universities across the country, it was found that 1 in 4 women had been victims of rape or attempted rape; - 84% knew their attacker; - 57% of the attacks happened on dates; - only 5% reported their attack to police; - 38% of the college women who reported having been raped were 14-16 years old at the time. In the real world, what does it mean when ‘no means yes’? It means that someone has forced, coerced or manipulated an unwilling victim into sexual activity. The writers’ intent may have been humorously sleazy, but when someone believes and acts on ‘No Means Yes’ they have committed a sex crime – and Mark Schwahn’s hit show will wink at, condone, and spread that message to young people all over the country once it airs. It tells the rapist his act of violence is ok and it tells the victim of it that she has no right to say No. We hope your network, and the producers of One Tree Hill, realizes that no never means yes and changes the name of the band to something that does not promote violence against women.” There is so much that bothers me about all of this. Where were the letters of COMMENDATION when we did episodes on tolerance? When we did a benefit album and storyline to support Breast Cancer Awareness? When I named Brooke’s clothing line “Clothes Over Bro’s”? When we did episodes on teen kindness and teen suicide? When we explored themes of religion and faith, and when, as we’ve done in nearly EVERY episode of One Tree Hill, we preached acceptance, and honor, girls helping girls, and girls believing in themselves and their own self worth? This show garners very little press. It doesn’t deserve this. It deserves so much better. And when these people see our first episode of the new season, they are going to look really silly, because it’s an episode STEEPED with pro-girl and pro-kindness and pro-love themes and messages. What happened along the way, that someone can read an erroneous blurb in a tabloid, dash off an aggressive and wrong-minded letter, and then the Chicago Sun Times swoops in, picks it up and runs with it? It’s disappointing. Because it calls into question all the good things that this organization probably does. It’s ignorant, and more than that, it smells selfish and malicious to me. And OK, the critics don’t like our show. But that doesn’t mean they can make up malicious LIES and print them as TRUTH. To that end, the logic behind all of this is so flimsy and false. We haven’t even explored the idea that a band could be called “No Means Yes” and have NOTHING TO DO with sexual assault. I realize that when your life’s work is in regard to sexual assault, which is very worthy work, this might be your interpretation, but it certainly doesn’t make it a FACT. That being said, IF the band name DID exist on the show (which it DOESN’T) and IF it WAS a nod toward sexual assault, you know that a regular character would protest it and it would serve as a discussion point to basically reference the stats that the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago references above. But does anyone ask that question in advance? Does anyone give our show the benefit of the doubt? Apparently not these people and not in this day and age. Sad. Finally, when you don’t receive a response from a show creator whose show has a fan base of roughly FOUR MILLION PEOPLE, to assume that it means that our network supports “rape and the perpetuation of rape culture” is really, really stupid. Maybe it means that Ms. Thrall made a hasty mistake and because there is NO MENTION OF A BAND NAME ON THE SHOW, we dismissed the letter as simply ignorant and reactionary. So this is where I’m at. It’s Tuesday. Maybe the Sun Times will run their article on Thursday. There’s really nothing I can do about it. Sadly, this is the state of journalism today. If you subscribe to the Sun Times, you might want to look into that. If you donate money to the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, that’s great. I’d still do it. But is it too much to ask them to take the above post off their web site? You might consider writing them an e-mail and asking them to do just that. At the end of the day, none of this surprises me. Our show has always quietly been a show of grace and integrity. So that’s what I’m going to preach now. As I did when I initially read Ms. Thrall’s letter, I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt. As I said, I think her heart was in the right place. The rest of it is a mess. Non-profits dashing off angry letters in reaction to tabloid press releases? Once-decent newspapers printing irresponsible articles under the guise of journalism? Politically correct whispers that make lies truth? Really? If you feel strongly about this, you might want to send an e-mail, write a letter or make a call to the people below. (Ms. Thrall didn’t include an e-mail address in her letter. Apparently she only wants to tell, she doesn’t want to listen.) It might be nice for these people and organizations to hear from a fan base, a predominantly female one at that, how One Tree Hill has done a few good things over the last five years and doesn’t deserve this HATE disguised as pro-social concern. It’s not. And for that, someone owes me and you and One Tree Hill an apology. All good things… Mark Schwahn September 24, 2007Welcome to the new and improved OTHpodcast.com! This is your official One Tree Hill blog and audio/video stop. Check out videos in the player on the right, or head to our new site OTHpodcast.tv to watch and chat with other fans! All your OTH tunes and podcasts are in the audio player below! We also have links to all your favorite OTH sites! Scroll down for all your OTHpodcast news and info, and make sure to check out a special blog from Creator/Executive Producer Mark Schwahn for you to kick off Season 5!! All Good Things...
Mark Schwahn Official Blog Hi everyone. It’s been a while. I hope you’re all well. We are. It feels strange not to be on the air right now. After five years, your life kind of falls into a rhythm with the airdate schedule. In terms of production, it’s pretty much business as usual. But not airing in the Fall is…different. Especially when you have a GREAT show. And we do. You know we’re jumping ahead four years. I’m sure there have been photos and script pages and reports from the front. I’ve certainly noticed a lot more faces in Wilmington. But it’s all out of context until you see the show. I understand that. (And FYI, Kevin did a great job, but he was never offered a series regular position. His role is small and contained. He was a joy to work with. I don’t know who those knuckleheads at TV Guide are talking to. I love Damian Holbrook, though. Nice guy…) The first few episodes are complete. Locked. I suppose I might change some music if I find something I love before we air, but know this: The show is different, but it’s very much the same. And I mean that in a good way. I’ve gotten a bunch of e-mails and phone calls from people at the studio and network who are in love with Season Five. I just thought you’d like to know that. I’m writing an episode right now and listening to an advance of the new Jimmy Eat World disc. I’m happy to be back – even though for you – we’re not exactly back yet. I’m proud of the work the cast and crew and writers are doing. I appreciate the fans who have been there from the beginning. And the ones that found us along the way and stuck around. Here’s something every music fan should do: Create a new folder on your iTunes and fill it with 100 of your favorite songs. Make sure to put songs in there that you haven’t heard in a while. Stuff you used to love. And your favorite songs right now. Name the folder. (For what it’s worth, my folder is called 101 Songs To Save Your Life. It has 101 songs. I couldn’t follow my own rules…) Then put your iPod or iTunes on SHUFFLE. It’s like listening to a radio station that only plays your favorite songs. It’s familiar. Like an old friend you’re thrilled to see again. But it also surprises you once in a while. You don’t quite know what’s coming next, but you’re expectant and hopeful. And I guess that brings us full circle to Season Five. Hope it delivers the things you love about the show. But I hope it still surprises you, too. I’ll make sure to give you a shout more often as we work our way toward Episode 100 and beyond. Make that folder. And don’t forget to be great. Because you are. All good things… Mark |
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The very awesome Courtney Voegele (sister to
Kate and
