Конспекты будут в ближ. дни. А сейчас я привожу один интересный пост, который провел Марк Б. Ли (Церемонимейстер FedCon) с Ианом Смитом, репортером официального журнала фанклуба. Обсуждение идет о фанах, о том, какими их видят звезды, и почему с каждым годом труднее вести переговоры с артистами появляться на конвентах. Интересно узнать, что организаторы РингКон умудрились не только заполучить Хилла за две недели до события - но и отговорили его от решения, которое он было принял - не ездить больше на конвенты!
Hello everyone. In staying with the tradition of "ARE WE EXCITED YET", I thought I would share a little email exchange between Ian Smith
Webseite, journalist and one of our biggest supporter and myself. I guess I am doing this to make some of you aware of what some people think of us as fans and how hard it is for Dirk and I and all of the RING*CON staff to do our jobs in trying to keep RING*CON exciting for you.....so this is sort of still on topic!! Here's the conversation:
Marc said:
Negotiations with LOTR actors has gotten more difficult every year. Some of the fees are outrageous and some actor agents I have spoken to have slight chips on their shoulders. They see us as "obsessive children with dolls and halloween costumes". This was a direct quote from an agent I contacted. Of course he's pulling my boot out of his !@#$%% by now.
RING*CON ROCKS!!!
Ian said:
Well you've got to admit the agent does have a point to some extent.
Ring*Con DOES rock - it's the best of the bunch in my view - and 98% of the fans at any of these events are wonderful. But you gotta admit that there's always that 2% who DO fit the charicature that agent mentioned - and unfortunately it's the 2% that stick in the memory when looking back on these things
Marc said:
I agree with you Ian. In my years of being on the organizational end of fandom, I have come across people that need serious psyhcological help or better parenting. I sometimes don't have the heart to tell a few Star Trek or LOTR fans to "GET A LIFE" because I'm afraid the shock of them thinking "I'M" the one with the problem would kill me.
It's my job to be diplomatic to everyone, No matter what their mental state is. In the 17 years of doing this, actors, agents, producers, writers and other organizers have frequent conversations with me about the state of fandom and I find myself educating them each and every time. Most actors are a little terrified of their fans, and rightly so. It only takes one occurence with that 2% to make an actor a little jittery about attending events like RING*CON.
Too bad, huh?
Ian said:
Well all I can say, on behalf of the vast majority of us fans who go to some of these events, is "Thank God" for people like you (and Dirk and Stefan) and also Louise over at Fellowship. By the way I'm so glad you guys are hooking up and working together - I see that as great news for fandom and events in both the UK and Germany.
I know I'm sometimes a thorn in your sides when I do my whole "value for money" thing or pick at things that weren't 100% in my weblogs but we both know that the work you do is for the most part a pretty thankless task and a lot of the small things that happen which fans in general tend to get so annoyed about are usually outside your control.
Putting on any kind of fan event is hard work and pretty thankless - the only way you're going to make 10,000 pounds at an event is if you started off with 100,000! And still people would want more! Unfortunately there are one or two cowboys (no names, no pack drill) who ARE just in the business to play politics, rip off the fans (or the cast and crew), but I know the guys at Ring*Con and at Fellowship do it for the sheer love of it, and it shows. Which is why I'm excited about coming over to Germany next weekend (despite being 'between contracts' and 'officially broke' at the moment).
Hopefully more of the actors will hear about the RingCon/Fellowship experience and pass the words on to their agents about the 98% of fans and the organisers who do the right thing, instead of letting the scary tiny minority colour their decisions. I believe your reputation with the cast and crew is part of the reason why Bernard Hill went back on his decision to do no more convention appearances, and that's a credit to you guys and Louise at Fellowship, not to any short-sighted agent.