Three Stargate Creation Cons in the US this year ...

[Gary Berman]

Response to Gatecon

Allan:

I really appreciate your post and verifying the facts as I presented them. We've admired your event and what you guys have accomplished and you are right: there is room for every kind of convention. It's really not a competition: Stargate is a worldwide franchise, certainly there should be lots of conventions and gatherings year-round, all-over!

We'd like to be present at Gatecon to display our new line of licensed merchandise for Stargate. There will be a lot of fans there that will not be present at some of our events so I think this will be a good way to increase the awareness of the fact that there will be a full line of good quality stuff that the studio has approved. So, if we can buy some vendors tables please let me know.

I think everyone will be pleased with the merchandise we are doing and we're always looking for feedback from fans as to what they would like to see. In fact I've gotten quite a few good ideas from some of the other message boards.

If there are any gift packages or charity auction stuff you guys need, please let me know as well as this is something we often supply. Your group has done some amazing charity things, much as we've done. One of the things we're most proud of here is our charity work, particularly in the area of helping kids affected by cancer go to college and also working with Bill Shatner as a co-producer of his annual charity Horse Show event.

Thanks again,
Gary

 

[Rowan]

Hey!

Gary, I'd love to see you at Gatecon. And would certainly love to see what sounds like some interesting goodies for the Dealer's Room.

You can *never* have too many 'Goodies' [TM].

Rowan

 

[Gatecon]

Hi Gary,

We would love to see you at Gatecon. I will send you a PM with the details about who to talk to about the dealers tables.

Allan

 

[Texane]

well . . .

Originally posted by Gary Berman
Best,
Gary Berman
Creation Entertainment

here I am, a moderator, and I've never been to a Con. I do my best to keep the Farscape fans up to date on the Cons that are available to them, deadlines, who to contact, what guests will be there, but I have never been to a Con. So . . .

in the spirit of being positive , why don't y'all (including Gary, if you can make the time) who have been to a Con tell us what goes on, what you liked best about them, what Con you participated in was your favorite, and that sort for we the Conless fans.

 

[Rowan Green]

Hi Gary. Right from the start what I've done is pointed out that you getting the license seems to have coincided with Gatecon, as an unlicensed event, being told they can't hold the set tours. I still think that the link may well exist.

I accept that this was never your intent and that it appears we should be blaming MGM not you, and as such I apologise for suggesting people should reconsider if they are planning to attend Creation cons.

As for the cases you bring up... I'm not on the Buffy circuit, but I have heard of the DB fiasco. Not sure how it relates to this though!

I guess the other one you are referring to is E1. And yes you are right, that was licensed if I remember correctly. Nobody knows what happened there (there are all kinds of rumours), but personally, having met the organiser several times, and attended another con where he was one of the organisers, I do believe he intended to put on a good con for his attendees. I wonder if the financial pressure of having a license made things worse?

And yes, maybe it is down to a lull, but I have also heard that a license for Trek costs a huge amount, and has put off UK organisers.

Personally I'm not bothered about buying a load of branded merchandise. I'd rather not have licenses because it seems all they do is cause trouble.

 

[baterista9]

Small world...

*surfaces from ASciFi lurkdom*

Hi, Gary, Allan, the two Rowans, and other friends old and new!

Gary, I'm Gilder in San Antonio, TX, USA, publicity/guest coordinator for ChimaeraCon as well as a Gatecon veteran (this year will be three in a row). We've corresponded a couple of times recently. I look forward to meeting you in Vancouver in July!

Allan G., thanks for saying that this thread is for ALL cons. How are Carmen, Bel, and the boys?

Glad Gary surfaced. I've been virtually holding my tongue on other boards over the recent issues. But Gary and Allan have confirmed what I suspected from my correspondence with SG-1's LA publicist and from the fact that Bill Vigars is no longer the on-set publicist.

That is, that MGM recognizes SG-1's growing popularity and has decided to support the franchise with merchandising and licensing...for which many fans have begged over the two years I've been around.

There's room for all of us, if we'll cooperate and share what info we can.

Thanks to Rowan Green for providing the link to this discussion in the GateGoers Yahoo Group.

Gilder:circle:

 

[baterista9]

Re: well . . .

Originally posted by Texane
here I am, a moderator, and I've never been to a Con.

Texane,

Remind me where in Texas, please? Maybe we can meet for a con. I'm headed to Trek Expo in Tulsa in a couple of weeks.

Gilder

 

[Draco]

Creation in Canada

Why have there not been any Creation cons in Canada since I believe the 1990's? East Coast or West Coast?

I can't afford you events in the US due to the money charged for Gold Passes etc. Due to the exchange rate I'd have to take out a loan just to attend.

 

[Texane]

Re: Re: well . . .

Originally posted by baterista9


Texane,

Remind me where in Texas, please? Maybe we can meet for a con. I'm headed to Trek Expo in Tulsa in a couple of weeks.

Gilder

I'm in Dallas, but it would be easy for me to get to Austin or Houston. That would be great!!!:rolly2:

 

[Rowan Green]

Hi Gary, I'm pm'ing you too!

 

[Gary Berman]

RESPONSE TO ROWAN GREEN

Quote from Rowan Green:
I'd rather not have licenses because it seems all they do is cause trouble.

Hi, Rowan:

I think we all have to remember that the series and films we love as fans are produced as businesses and the studios that put up the money, as well as the creative folks and actors that work on them, are doing this as a business/job.

Therefore, to me, it seems that they would deserve income if someone is selling products with their images, logos, artwork. So, when a licensee does a product they have to send a percentage of the sales to the studio which then goes back to the talent behind the show as well. Also, as licensed goods have to be approved and some actors have approval rights, buyers know that they are getting things that have the okay from the people involved in the show.

When it comes to websites and ventures that are not "businesses" and are fan driven; well, our company has been probably the number one advocate of telling the studios we work with to have a hands-off policy on these things. Can't be too specific here, obviously, but I can say that we've been instrumental in many cases over the years in saving fan websites in particular a lot of grief.

Take care,
Gary

 

[Gary Berman]

Reply to Draco: Creation Events in Canada

Hi, Draco:

We had some of our most fun events in Canada over the years, but they were run when Star Trek was at its peak of popularity.

The fact is that the guests have not lowered their fees for appearances based on their smaller "draws" and running in many cities (not just Canadian) is economically not feasible at the moment, at least with Star Trek.

We're hopeful that this will change, or other opportunities and conventions around different themes will present themselves for us to be back in Canada. In the meantime, there are lots of other promoters running events there as well.

Thanks for the inquiry.
Gary

 

[Draco]

Thanks for the repy...

The only problem is the *only* Stargate con in Canada is Gatecon - which is the best by the way..

Toronto Trek has SG guests this year and it's the first one in Toronto to do that.

I can't afford to travel to England and the States for cons as that's where most of the SG guests appear. It's very frustrating as some of my friends can't afford to travel to Vancouver for a con either.

I'd just like to see a few SG guests in my own city for a change.

Patti

 

[skydiver]

I'd just like to see a few SG guests in my own city for a change.


~~~

LOL

wouldn't we all. Actually, within a thousand miles would be nice.

That's the disadvantage of living in the midwest, things like this just do not happen here. Maybe chicago...but that's about 10+ hours of driving.

Iwould love to go to some, but they're so far away that airfare becomes a factor, and add hotels to that and food, it's easy for just the basics to rack up 500+ very quickly, and then know that autographs and pictures have a fee, plus anything else....it isn't unreasonable for an average con trip to be a thousand dollars....and not something the average person can just do on a whim. (I know i could slap it on a credit card, but i refuse to just put frivilous stuff like this on a credit card and go into debt for it)

Unless you're fortunate enough to live in the UK or a big city (like out in california), cons quickly become a 'once a year' trip to most folks. And if I can only have one trip a year, I'm going to make it a good one and go where I personally feel more comfortable, where my friends go and where i know i will have a good time rather than risk it on an unknown.

You folks that live in the bigger cities really do have some advantages and I downright envy the folks over in the UK. Over there, the cons seem to be less about making money and more about the interaction, and i'm the kind of fan that likes the interaction.

 

[Rowan Green]

Just a quick note: my hard drive failed on Wednesday, and I'm now back on with a 'new' second-hand computer. Absolute chaos as I'm trying to recover as much as I can, and I have a very busy few days with a convention and other stuff going on as well! I'll try and get back to answer things properly, but for now, I don't have access to my old email accounts yet, so if anyone's written privately, give me a few days!

 

[skydiver]

Originally posted by Rowan Green
Just a quick note: my hard drive failed on Wednesday, and I'm now back on with a 'new' second-hand computer. Absolute chaos as I'm trying to recover as much as I can, and I have a very busy few days with a convention and other stuff going on as well! I'll try and get back to answer things properly, but for now, I don't have access to my old email accounts yet, so if anyone's written privately, give me a few days!

ick, hate when that happens. good luck rowan

 

[philoSCIFI]

I know there are already three Stargate Creation Cons that will be in the US, which I am extremely greatful for; however, I was wondering if there was any chance of there being any more for 2004.

 

[Texane]

Originally posted by philoSCIFI
I know there are already three Stargate Creation Cons that will be in the US, which I am extremely greatful for; however, I was wondering if there was any chance of there being any more for 2004.

particularly as Dallas (final contender for the Olympics) and Houston (2004 Super Bowl), Texas have millions of people living in the official area of the cities alone (Irving, Texas/Dallas Cowboys is not officially part of the City of Dallas). Outside of the "official," i.e. taxable area of both of these major cities, but in easy driving distance (or Southwest Airlines; local and very popular airline, very reasonable costs) is Clearlake/NASA (think International Space Station), Katy, Jersey Village, Conroe, Huntsville (Sam Houston State University), Waco (Baylor University), The Woodlands, Sugarland (see ice skaters, Olympics), Plano, Euless, Bedford, Fort Worth (1.4 million people in Tarrant County alone), Waxahachie, Weatherford, San Antonio (San Antonio Spurs, 13 colleges and universities), Arlington, Frisco, Mesquite (yes; can you believe that name?), Burleson, Grapevine (one of the largest shopping centers in the USA), Cleburne (do not get put in jail there; known as "The Fortress"), Denton (37,000 college students at North Texas State University), Austin (52,000 students at the University of Texas) Wichita Falls, Decatur, Rockwall, Richardson, College Station (49,000 students at Texas A&M), Canton, to name a few . . . with over 40 universities, colleges and junior colleges filled with kids and their parents' money and credit cards . . .

in other words, more millions of people . . .

you could sell a lot of merchandise here . . .

Come visit the Lone Star State.

 

[Highlander II]

LOL!

Texanne - you are too funny!


However, I agree - Texas is lovely -- been to Dallas once - liked it there -- nothing like 70-ish degrees at the end of November...

 

[JacksLover]

I have been to Texas once. My friend was living in Galveston.

We went to Houston one day and saw Johnson Space Center. That was very interesting especially mission control.