The fandom that stems from the After series was born in 2013 when the series creator Anna Todd began writing stories one chapter at a time on the online writing platform Wattpad. Each story published on Wattpad received immediate interaction and feedback from online readers who eagerly waited for each additional chapter on the love/life story of the beloved protagonists Hardin and Tessa. This departure from traditional publishing has intertwined the readers of the After series in a way that has made Anna Todd an essential element of the After experience. Due to the over 1.5 billion reads amassed on the Wattpad platform, the After Series has since been published by a traditional publishing house, remains on international bestseller lists in the United States and all over the world and has two commercially successful movie adaptations under its belt, primarily as a result of its ferocious and dedicated fanbase. However, seven years since Anna began publishing her story on Wattpad using her cell phone and an app, the After fandom continues to be a large but closely-knit community that is bound together by the author that gave her readers so much more than a fictional story. Despite enormous success and fame Anna Todd has remained readily available to fans while ensuring that her published works continue to be available free of cost on the Wattpad platform for new and old readers.
 
As long-time fans of Anna Todd and the series, we are now reeling over the recent events that seem to indicate the departure of Anna Todd from involvement in the last two film adaptions of the After series. No public statements have been issued by Voltage Pictures, the production company behind the last two installments, addressing the obvious absence of the Author who has served as script writer and producer of the previous adaption. Much to the dismay of her fans, the last two installments are currently being filmed in Bulgaria without Anna Todd’s input or contribution. It is with a heavy heart we must accept that is now an immovable fact and the reality of the situation at hand. However, it is not too late to rectify this situation as postproduction and promotion of the two films has not yet began.
 
Voltage Pictures, the fandom has supported you financially and made your films a huge commercial success. Any article published on the box office success of After We Collided in the middle of a struggling pandemic ridden box office season points to the fans. We now ask that you support the fans that support you. We now ask you listen to the fans who backed you.  We need Anna Todd involved in all post-production undertakings as it relates to After We Fell and After Ever Happy. We want Anna Todd involved in reviewing the footage that is currently being filmed and we want her involved in editing, music selections and all other matters, to the extent she was involved before. We want Anna Todd involved in the promotion of After We Fell and After Ever Happy including social media marketing. Her perspective of the book to movie adaption is integral and we need Anna Todd involved. We want the chance to interact and enjoy and rejoice with the author who gave us these stories and to have a meaningful experience doing so. It means nothing for the books we have supported for nearly a decade to be made into movies if we can’t celebrate it with person who originated, created and breathed life into the stories and brought together our community. We are not naïve or ignorant to legal implications, production plans or agreements and creative differences and all other line items that may have your hands ties. We only ask that you look past the red tape to give the fans the due consideration and respect they have shown your projects.  The past seven years are full of precious and irreplaceable memories for the after fandom and without Anna Todd any future adaptation threatens to permanently tarnish our overall experiences and make any future installments a hollow version of what they could have been.
 
Talk to us, the self-proclaimed Afternators and it not rare to find men and women whose lives have been tremendously affected by the After series. Looking past the screaming fans and what may appear as obvious “fangirl mania”,  you will find people who have not only left permanently inked marks on their bodies with quotes from the series but whose lives have been permanently affected by the bonds they have created and the friendships they have formed. You will find women who have named their children after the beloved characters, you will find people who met their best friends or significant others through this fandom. You will hear the testimony of men and women who thank the After fandom for giving them a safe space from the turmoil in their individual lives or the turmoil within themselves, fans who credit Anna Todd’s series for helping them get past dark times in their lives and struggles with mental health issues or loneliness and depression. We have a protective and ferocious love for Anna Todd and we cherish her stories and we cannot fully maintain our love for your production of the stories without the story’s creator. This series means too much to too many people, and please make people and fandoms matter to Voltage Pictures.