I have done this. I will also occasionally pen an email to developers, musicians, etc, expressing my sincerest gratitude and how much it means to me to see and hear such great work. Yes, these things are real work with deadlines and dealing with unreasonable people. They are also labors of love and passion. Every so often, I get a response back of much the same care and attention that I try to put in.
If the phrase “a society grows richer when old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit in” does indeed ring true, then I think it equally corresponds to the qualities and textures of beauty we as an audience are privvy to that the makers may not be.