Fanfiction Factory

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Fanfiction Factory: The Podcast (formerly known as Bad Fanfiction Theater and Fanfiction Factory) is a miniseries produced by Gatorbox where hosts read, react to, and commentate on poorly written fanfiction.

Bad Fanfiction Theater Era (2014-2017)

The series originally had no definite "host" and featured Draco, Trustsuperjail, and Davidmurry among others. Hosts normally focus on the "cringe" aspect of the stories they read and include things such as spelling and grammatical errors in their narration. The first live fanfic reading happened in September 2014, however the series did not have a proper production schedule so new additions and episodes were very sporadic. The series also formerly did not have a defined format and alternated with various presentation methods over the years. Upon its debut the show was referred to as "Bad Fanfiction Theatre", however in order to avoid confusion with other projects with the same or similar name it became "Fanfiction Factory" in 2017.

Though the show was never in regular production it still managed to spawn the Chocolate Wagon meme with a particularly bizarre fanfic of Dragon Tales in 2017.

Fanfiction Factory Era (2018-2019)

To kick off the formal 2018 production season of the show another fanfic from the same author as the "chocolate wagons" story was featured, however the rest of the stories showcased in that episode all lined up with that month's "theme" (Goosebumps).

Fanfiction Factory was retooled into a series where each month has its own "theme" and everything read on the air fits into that category in some way either by franchise source, characters, or other content. As Fanfiction Factory became its own proper show, Draco provided four "rules" that he said he would adhere to when producing the series. They are:

  • No monetization of the videos.
  • No explicit sexual content. (Due to Twitch/YouTube ToS.)
  • No author names provided.
  • At some indeterminate point one of the stories read on the air will have been written by Draco.

The series carried on for approximately one year before lack of interest from the community caused it to be put on hiatus. Upon further reflection Draco felt soured toward the idea of effectively "making fun" of people on the show by reading their old fanfiction and later went back to make the series unavailable on-demand.

Fanfiction Factory: The Podcast Era (2022-)

In early 2022 Draco expressed interest in reviving Fanfiction Factory as an offline show separate from Gatorbox. He named the project Fanfiction Factory: The Podcast and explained that it would consist of a reading of uncomfortable fanfics that didn't feature adult or sexual content. The podcast version of Fanfiction Factory is set to debut on Spotify later this year and Draco has said that the first episode will feature his own work. Following episodes will consist of a "greatest hits" of sorts from the series' original Gatorbox run.