111 replies to this topic

[Drebble Darkwing]

SM /Jason,

Is it possible that contact details / agents details could be posted so those of us that wanted Cathy authograph could write to her?

Don't know if this would be against any work ethic you may have?

[DavidB]

I'd have to assume that SMs would want to bring Catherine to a future event, so selling online or giving contact details would probably not happen.

[jonny3x]

DavidB, on Nov 30 2006, 01:12 PM, said:

I'd have to assume that SMs would want to bring Catherine to a future event, so selling online or giving contact details would probably not happen.

So profit comes before disappointed fans?  

[dazzlerjames]

As mentioned before these events barely (if ever) make a profit and JAson does them because it's what he's interested in.  The likelyhood would have been that her auto would only have been £10 anyway and if they can get her to a future event then surely that's better than getting her auto through the post?

Guests cancel - these things happen and whilst it doesn't help the likes of bounty hunter who is a dedicated fan and collector it's to be expected nowadays

and before I get lynched I don't work for or crew or even care that much about showmasters but welcome to the real world - things happen that we don't like, let's not dwell on it and get on with our lives at the end of the day it's anly an autograph!!

[jonny3x]

dazzlerjames, on Nov 30 2006, 03:11 PM, said:

As mentioned before these events barely (if ever) make a profit

Woah! Woah! Woah! … hold up there; what’s this about barely making a profit?.

I don’t believe that one second; lets just get our calculator out here [and I’m not being negative, I’m just speaking as I see it]

Taking an average of 30 guests per event;

The top 10 stars can sign 400 autographs a day; for 3 days… at 15 pounds

That’s 18.000 per guest.

That’s 10 x 18,000 = 180,000 for all 10!

Add 20 lesser know stars at say 200 autographs a day; for 3 days; charging 10 pounds

20 x 200 x 10 x3  = 120,000 for all 20!

My figures have been a little bit ‘low’ but I expect that the event in Milton Keynes has gross turnover of well above 300,000; I assume that Showmasters take a pretty hefty slice of this pie at around 30-50%;

That’s 90,000 – 150,000; from which, they have to pay a bit of tax; a few flights; a hotel bill; a bit of advertising; and rent a hall.

It seems somebody’s making money!

[dazzlerjames]

I was specifically speaking about Empire Day events.

[jonny3x]

dazzlerjames, on Nov 30 2006, 03:46 PM, said:

I was specifically speaking about Empire Day events.

I agree; it's fair to assume that the massive profits from the other events counter balance this one;

This one has little overheads, little risk, and I assume its objective is to break even, and push the showmasters name.

But with all this money slushing around; couldn't they just sweeten the disappointment of fans like Bounty Hunter or Drebble Darkwing a little?, by giving out the address of how to contact them?.

Edited by jonny3x, 30 November 2006 - 04:00 PM.

[DavidB]

Will you not open the floodgates to people expecting contact addresses for EVERY guest that cancels? After all, why is this case any different to any of the others? So, we can expect Brandon Routh's contact details etc etc yeah? I don't think so unfortunately.

And all this assumption about massive profits is based on the thoughts of people that have no idea of the finances involved in an event such as Collectormania so it's a bit pointless. Plus, Showmasters won't be giving a financial breakdown of events anytime soon so I don't see much point in speculation.

[jonny3x]

DavidB, on Nov 30 2006, 04:21 PM, said:

And all this assumption about massive profits is based on the thoughts of people that have no idea of the finances involved in an event such as Collectormania so it's a bit pointless.

I guess; but it’s not that difficult to calculate revenue; and spending is it… the only ‘speculative’ bit is actually the percentage...

But this isn’t on the same scale as Brandon Routh; he was the lead character of a block buster movie.

This is a few disappointed fans; hoping to see an uncredited star wars character.

But I think your missing the point; this was meant to be an act of kindness; proving that it isn’t all about money. But it seems in reality it is…

[DavidB]

Hoping to see an uncredited star wars character, not write to her agent or whatever ...

[jonny3x]

DavidB, on Nov 30 2006, 05:01 PM, said:

Hoping to see an uncredited star wars character, not write to her agent or whatever ...

So your point is that the majority want to ‘see’ her;

Let’s have the address then; because assuming your right nobody [apart from those who have asked for it] will want it anyway…

[Aspen]

Both of you let it lye.

[DavidB]

It's just a discussion Aspen, no harm done

[Dannyboy]

Her agency that represent her for conventions is www.convention-guests.com, and they sell autos too. Although I believe she has not attended a signing yet.

The reason I posted 'shame on you' to SithLord and Bounty Hunter is because SithLord was rude in his post. We're all upset and as others mentioned we are all entitled to voice our opinions as free speech yadda yadda, but plain rudeness I dont believe is justified.

Bounty Hunter lectured me in an earlier post because I expressed disappointment at there only being 7 guests this time around. I never said I was unhappy with this 7 as he has, actually i'm very pleased and they are very interesting guests. He then claimed they are not worth the Eurostar as C. Munroe had cancelled. Seems a little 2-faced. Personally I wouldnt have posted that in case a guest may browse this forum but oh well.

Quote

Re: Actors and Crew,
None of the people listed for this weekend's show fall into that category.

Bless you SithLord, IMDB and other databases only compile info from contributors and 'spider bots'. If you think theyre concrete CV's of each actor and crewmember and you think you know everything they do outside Star Wars, think again.

Edited by Dannyboy, 30 November 2006 - 06:48 PM.

[Bounty Hunter]

theThinWhiteDuke, on Nov 29 2006, 08:29 PM, said:

At dutch event where I was working we had this solution: one of our guests cancelled because he had been offered a role in a new movie.
He sent a fax (signed) in which he explained it to the fans.
We scanned this fax and posted it on the forum so everyone could see the cancellation was 'legit'.

Using this method no one was 'flaming' us. They still were sad, but understood our position and that we could do nothing about it.

Maybe all other events should use this method too?

You may have a point there, Duke, but I presume sometimes the guest star doesn't want the reason to be known to the general public.  SM has been known to mention the reason when they can.

I have just been in touch with Cathy's agent and she said it was an obligation she couldn't get out of.  That's fair enough for me.  I'm sure Cathy will turn up at another event soon enough.

Fingers crossed.

[Bounty Hunter]

nicky, on Nov 30 2006, 10:01 AM, said:

Dannyboy, on Nov 29 2006, 09:27 PM, said:

Bounty Hunter, on Nov 29 2006, 07:16 PM, said:

Damn, she was the reason for my coming over... Since my Eurostar Ticket is non-refundable, I have no choice but to come over for these few guests... Pity.

Shame on you two!

WTF?! I think most people would be pretty pissed if they bought a non-refundable Eurostar ticket and the guest pulled out after just a few days of being announced!! Bounty Hunter has a right to be upset and have a favourite guest that he prioritised...maybe he's met the others already.

Thanks for being able to see it from my perspective too!
Now, I do fear I failed in making myself clear completely.  With or without Cathy, I would still come over (regardless of the eurostar-ticket not being refundable and having to travel for 6 hours to visit this convention).  ED is a fun convention.  I am happy with the guests there (and, no, I haven't met any of them and am very much looking forward to it), but got carried away when Cathy was announced.

This was going to be a blast as I've been collecting since 1992 and have a collection of close to 800 different autographs (I'm sure most of you know where to find it, Google can help out :-)).  Cathy is one of the autographs I have been looking for for ages!  And I was bringing loads of stuff to get signed!

So her cancellation enhanced my dissappointment and I posted too fast, without thinking it through.

I apologize if I stepped on anybody's toes, but I meant well.  Besides that, I do feel I have the right to moan once in a while.  A forum is a public place where you can express your views, be them positive or negative.  

I rest my case

See you all next Sunday.

[jonny3x]

Dannyboy, on Nov 30 2006, 06:46 PM, said:

Her agency that represent her for conventions is www.convention-guests.com, and they sell autos too. Although I believe she has not attended a signing yet.

Thank's Danny for that information. That site is very indeed very interesting.

Bounty Hunter, on Nov 30 2006, 07:20 PM, said:

I'm sure most of you know where to find it, Google can help out :-)).  

It's nice when people can give you little bit of help though; which sadly seems to be something we're not allowed to do here. Despite having a 'common interest'.

Edited by jonny3x, 30 November 2006 - 07:30 PM.

[showmasters]

hay jonny3x

I will let you know, if I was to run events just for profit then I would have stopped running them a long time ago!

If you think we're getting rich from this then maybe you should borrow £350,000 and have a go at running a Collectormania yourself. I for one would like to go to someone elses effort and just have fun for once!

Looking forward to it jonny  

And no, we will not be giving out  Cathy's address as we will be working with her at one of our events soon.

One last thing; we work with several fans to find new guests and bring them to an event. We all spend a lot of time and effort to make this happen, so just remember that its easy to just turn up and buy an autograph but it takes a lot to actually get them to the show.

Thanks to those of you who make these things happen (you know who you are!)

Jason

[showmasters]

[/quote]
It's nice when people can give you little bit of help though; which sadly seems to be something we're not allowed to do here. Despite having a 'common interest'.
[/quote]


How would you know! You only joined this forum on the 17th Nov and now you seem to just want information without being a part of what we do here.

You are not very friendly and you don't seem to care that we have been doing this for many years and have managed to get over 50 guests to their 1st event, so we must have helped Star Wars fandom over the years

maybe you should think about it

Jason

[jonny3x]

I’m confused where the 350,000 figure came from; and why I would wish to borrow it. For I said that was ‘turnover’ and therefore not cost.

Please also don’t humor me; I don’t believe you’re not in this business for profit. If that is so please can we drop some of the autograph prices then; and why don’t you tell us the figures and names… for you would be just like us ‘fans’.

This is a discussion; and I’m not being intentionally rude here.

But may I say that your message does contain a little bit of ‘arrogance’, from reading this message board you fast become aware that ‘Showmasters’ isn’t in anyway customer focused.

I do applaud you in many of your efforts [notably Autographica]. But anybody with a hint of a business brain can see glaring weaknesses in the Showmsters format; and how there seems to be little in the way of boundaries to entry into the market place.

For despite your attempts to silence links to actor agents; and rival websites; we all know who they are.

You might also be aware, despite what you think, there is little loyalty in this market; for the fans will go to see the stars, for as long as the price is right.

I know through your arrogance you’ll laugh and say ‘why don’t you try then’…as a consumer; I hope they do; but as a owner aren’t you secretly a little scared?.