An emerging documentary premiering this weekend in Toronto aims to explore the world of fan campaigns to save failing TV shows.

“United We Fan,” part of the Hot Docs Film Festival lineup, takes a deep dive into how fans mobilize to persuade networks into preserving a show, what made the campaigns successful and how social media has changed the landscape.

Director Michael Sparaga told CTV News Channel the idea for his documentary came out of his own experience of trying to persuade the entertainment industry to keep producing episodes of his favourite show.

“When I was 13 years old I wrote a letter to try and save a show that I loved called ‘Crime Story’ and that stuck with me,” he said. “I couldn’t vote for five years, but it felt like I was taking part in something very democratic.”

One of the subjects in the documentary, Dorothy Swanson, started a movement in the 1980s to keep “Cagney and Lacey,” an American television series about two female detectives who led very different lives, on the air.

The show was cancelled after two seasons, but following a public letter-writing campaign, was renewed and eventually aired for another five seasons.

“It was just a beautiful show and I thought: ‘This just has to continue,’” Swanson said.

The movement eventually led Swanson to help form Viewers for Quality Television, a now defunct organization that advocated against the cancellation of high-quality programming, regardless of ratings.

With the emergence of the internet, voicing support for a dying program has become easier. In recent years, fans of “Jericho,” “Kim Possible” and “The Killing” have all been able to mobilize and preserve their favourite shows.

With how easy it can be to sign a petition on the Internet, Sparaga says networks need to see more support if they’re going to be persuaded to keep producing a show.

“It’s evolved to the point where I think the numbers have to be different,” he said. “I don’t think 10,000 clicks is going to do it, I think (it takes) 500,000 clicks to really push things through.”

Campaigns have also evolved to the point where fans can open their wallets if they really want to see their favourite characters again. As an example, in 2013, a Kickstarter campaign for a full-length “Veronica Mars” movie raised US$5.7 million in just a month.

Aside from fan campaigns, the internet has also provided options for shows outside of traditional cable television, such as Netflix and YouTube. Netflix has made a habit of renewing shows that had been previously cancelled by the big networks, in hopes of attracting nostalgic fans. “Arrested Development,” “The Magic School Bus,” and “Fuller House” are all examples.

That said, when a show is renewed following a fan campaign, Sparaga worries sometimes fans can have too much influence when it comes to the storyline.

“I think it’s important that creators have that distance from fans, but it’s really about community, I think that’s what TV viewing is about,” he said.