Seeking more hockey romance, thirsty “Heated Rivalry” fans are turning to TikTok, where stories about fictional romantic entanglements within the sport have thrived for years.
Book lovers on the platform, many of whom are active in the “HockeyTok” community, had long anticipated the adaptation of the series by author Rachel Reid. The story follows two top hockey players, Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (played by Connor Storrie), who find themselves at odds on the ice but entangled in the bedroom.
Since the show’s Nov. 28 debut on the Canadian streaming service Crave and HBO Max, “Heated Rivalry,” produced by Accent Aigu Entertainment in Canada, has become the latest internet obsession, with hundreds of people posting fan edits that have racked up millions of views across social media.
“I’m nothing if not a yearner, and ‘Heated Rivalry’ had the yearning down,” said Amber Appelman, 24, who makes viral edit videos from her home in the Netherlands. “The rivalry and the sex between these characters is exciting for sure, but the cracks that start to form in their feelings towards one another through the years is what really sold me.”
Fan edits, or social media user-made compilations of clips from a show or movie, often set to music, are not a new phenomenon. But in recent years, their popularity has become an indicator that something has broken through to the mainstream. The format has become a way for Hollywood studios to see what resonates online authentically, and how they can leverage the fandom even further.
Lionsgate, which is behind the “John Wick” and “Hunger Games” franchises, revealed last year that it enlisted TikTok fan editors to help it market its movies, a strategy that the studio says has paid off.
The studio first capitalized on fan edits when it noticed fans were posting nostalgic videos of its popular franchise “Twilight.” Though the first installment, based on books by Stephenie Meyer, was released in 2008, the franchise found new fans in younger TikTok users who were just discovering it for the first time.
Felipe Mendez, the Gen Zer who was behind Lionsgate’s decision to hire editors, said he’s gotten feedback from fans that they feel the studio understands them.
“That’s meant a lot to me in the discourse in the comment section, because it’s like, no, I understand you because I am one of you, right?” he said. “I’m in the same group chats as the fans.”
Mendez hired a team of 18- to 27-year-old editors from around the globe to keep creating the type of content viewers were loving. He said he feels strongly that fan edits “are here to stay.”
