From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V7 #36 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Wednesday, March 14 2007 Volume 07 : Number 036 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: [chakram-refugees] Creations ["Xena Torres" ] Re: [chakram-refugees] Creation ["Xena Torres" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:14:37 -0700 From: "Xena Torres" Subject: RE: [chakram-refugees] Creations > I'm not going to get in the middle of this tussle. However, I do want to > mention that at the annual con both Lucy and Renee have taken questions from > the audience for the last few years, separately and together. I know this > is true because I was there. Well that's news to me. From the one big con I attended (Pasadena 2001) and all footage I have seen from big conventions with Lucy and Renee all quetions were asked by Sharon or another interviewer. Sure, fans could email in questions - but, so what? The fun is asking it yourself. :P But, hey, if you have fun, by all means, go nuts. I personally don't have as much fun as that cost should give me - for big cons anyway. Small cons - I don't have as many complaints - the prices are GENERALLY more reasonable. Julie "XT" Ruffell www.bitchofrome.com "I don't do this to die. I do this to live." - Laura "Seconds" ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:12:16 -1000 (HST) From: "Jackie M. Young" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Creation On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:04:43 -0700, "Xena Torres" wrote: >$5,000 isn't a lot of money. It SOUNDS like a lot because you aren't a >company - you don't have the funds to put into creating an event that >people will pay to see, nor can you afford up front to hold it at a venue >to fit 5,000 fans. Also, you don't have the money to market your event. - --That's right--I'm not a company, and I don't have dozens of employees to pay, either, or storefront rent, liability insurance, or the other costs of running a _real_ business, which all can add up to quite a bit! I'm also not asking for more than one talent to perform at our event, in fact, dozens of actors, all asking for a cut of the profit.....;P >Gold seats for Creation cost, what, $300-$400 now? And they tend to be >the first 30 rows? So, what, 40-50 fans per row, that's >$360,000-$600,000. Does $5,000 still sound steep? ;) - --Yes, it does. Remember this $300 - $400 is for the entire 2-3 days, with many events/actors appearing each day. If every actor performing at Creation cons asked that amount, that would add up pretty quickly. Plus, we can probably guess LL and ROC would be charging far more than what Mindy Clarke would charge. Add up all the costs of a venue that would hold 5,000 folks, the talent fees, the transportation fees, the employees' costs, and $360,000 - $600,000 is looking smaller and smaller. Oh, and let's not forget those "charity" events like coming to Honolulu, when holding an event for a lackluster 200 folks actually _costs_ you money, rather than makes you any money......Been there, done that. ;/ I'm not saying the Creation folks are all angels, but I certainly don't believe they're the devils you're painting them to be, either. Just MO, - --Jackie ****************************************************** * Proud to have the same birthday as Lucy Lawless! * * * * "I think New Zealand geographically comes from * * ... Hawai'i." --Lucy Lawless, Late Show, 4/9/96 * * * * "Feel the fear and do it anyway." --Lucy Lawless, * * Evening Post, 7/4/98 * * * * "I LOVED forgetting it because it really made it * * so _live_ and so _immediate_...!!" * * --Barry Manilow, Manilow Talks CD, 1998 * * * * JACKIE YOUNG, JYOUNG@LAVA.NET * * * * * ****************************************************** ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:02:34 -0700 From: "Xena Torres" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Creation > If every actor performing at Creation cons asked that amount, that > would add up pretty quickly. Plus, we can probably guess LL and > ROC would be charging far more than what Mindy Clarke would charge. No, not really. Melinda Clarke is more well know than Renee right now. > Add up all the costs of a venue that would hold 5,000 folks, the > talent fees, the transportation fees, the employees' costs, and > $360,000 - $600,000 is looking smaller and smaller. The $600,000 was for the gold seats only. That did not included preferred and reg seating. Been there - run events - oh yeah, we are being ripped the hell off. Sorry, but Creation isn't the only game in town - compare their prices to that of other events - Starfury, Dreamwerks, Comic Con - all with speakers - comic con brings in more guests, including the entire casts of movies, for a longer event. Blah, blah, blah. But, hey, spend what you want. I'm not telling you what to do. If you're willing to pay it, they will continue to rip us off. I personally am standing very strongly on the "Up yours, Creation" line. Julie "XT" Ruffell www.bitchofrome.com "I don't do this to die. I do this to live." - Laura "Seconds" ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:42:31 +0000 From: "Bianca Russell" Subject: [chakram-refugees] Convention Alternative Well, at least you lot get to pick and choose if you should or should not attend the convention. Personally I'll be buying a case of port, and settling in for another winter of Xena DVD watching. Hmmmm, actually that doesn't sound so bad... suddenly I feel better! Thanks everyone! B. _________________________________________________________________ Live Search delivers results the way you like it. Try live.com now! http://www.live.com ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:07:18 -0500 From: "bookdaft" Subject: RE: [chakram-refugees] Creations <<<>> There were some years when questions were not part of the plan. At the risk of seeming rude and condescending (not my intention), let me give you a brief rundown: 2002 - That year the convention turned into Kevin Smith's wake. Renee was only appearing in 'Love Letters' with Michael Hurst and not taking questions. Lucy was pregnant and in New Zealand. The phone call to wish Renee a happy birthday began the start of the celebration of Kevin Smith's life. 2003 - Renee performing vignettes for the fans. Lucy schemed with Sharon and Creation to surprise her after Renee's performance. I don't believe many questions were taken because it was such surprise and Lucy and Renee weren't on stage much longer after that. 2004 - Both on stage together. I think this was the year that Sharon had prepared questions, but fans started asking questions down in the front and Lucy and Renee answered them. And if my memory is wrong, then.... 2005 - Was the year they decidedly answered questions from the audience. They've been doing it ever since. It's my own interpretation, since I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but both Lucy and Renee do what they feel comfortable doing. It's been a bit of a journey, but the sense I have is that they run their appearances as they choose. I have a hard time seeing Creation and Sharon as the performance Nazis and 'making' them restrict what they want to do. <<>> I've been doing some thinking about this. I've been to a lot of different conventions over the last 35 years. My real favorite is the science fiction fancon, where a group of people gather together and talk about books, films, television and anything else of interest to the members. No celebrities, nobody famous. And they are dirt cheap. But that kind of con doesn't appeal to a lot of people today. If it's cheaper that you want to go, then DragonCon can (or did, now that it has no Xena track) fit the bill. It actually achieves economies of scale. Memberships are time-graduated: the earlier you buy the chaper it is. I looked at this year's con website and for a 4-day adult membership, the most you have to pay is $85. The drawback, other than there is no Xena track and probably no independent Xena panels, is that the membership list tends to run into 22,000. I think this is one reason they can charge so much less, plus get film and television, books and comic books, and gaming personalities/celebrities to come, even though they have to pay them for appearing. My understanding is that the only paid DragonCon staff are the people who recruit and schedule the guests. All the rest are volunteers. That's a lot of volunteers. (Who probably get some complimentary things like rooms or freebies.) Comic Con is another much like DragonCon, although I can't vouch for the numbers of members. BSG was there last year, as was Lucy (which I'm sure you are aware of). I've never attended a Comic Con and had thought of doing it this year, but I'm undecided now. Even I'm not THAT rich to go traveling around from convention to convention, being a spendthrift. Thinking on it, Creation's business model is essentially to build each convention around a particular genre or fandom track: One for Xena, one for Star Trek, one for Battlestar Galactica. Obviously there is no economy of scale, especially with the fandoms that don't attract large numbers of fans. Perhaps if they were to combine the conventions into one single con, with multiple television shows attracting multiple shows' fans, it would likely be more cost effective. That isn't likely to happen. For that, I do agree with you that Creation does not provide the most cost effective memberships that are available. But it depends on what the individual is willing to accept. Since you believe you are not getting the proper bang for your buck, then by all means, stay away. bd ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V7 #36 *************************************