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WelcomeToEssex

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About WelcomeToEssex

  • Birthday 08/23/1974

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    http://welcometoessexmovie.com

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    Brentwood, Essex, UK

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  1. Anyone from Entourage. Kris Kristofferson. Tricia Helfer. Kevin Smith. Eliza Dushku. Keifer Sutherland.
  2. I've posted this on one of the unofficial LFCC Facebook pages this morning (Sunday 13th) and it's got a lot of people agreeing and discussing it. A few have also said I should mention the points on the LFCC forum, so that's what this is; copied and pasted. (It goes on a bit but there were many points to cover) I've been going to LFCC for many years now and I've always had a grand time. Sure, it's always busy and it always takes a very long time to get from one end of the hall to the other, but it's not Tesco so you allow for that. However, Saturday was a farce. I got there with two friends at 06:30am, knowing there would be more people than usual, thanks to Stan Lee and Carrie Fisher. We queued up outside the venue and waited for the gates to open. That was all fine; everybody was in fine spirits and the weather was already warm. The gates opened on time and everybody made their way to their respective queues. (Experience has taught me to not pre-purchase Early Bird entry tickets, as that queue is always really long. Pay on the day is always the best way to go for that.) Our pay on the day queue was, at that point, quite short and we were about 20 away from the door. We settled in for the two hour wait until the doors opened. This part, for me, is always one of the more enjoyable bits of the convention, as you get to meet new people, smile at people just as tired as yourself, struggling to wake up and, of course, see the cosplayers arriving. By 08:30, our queue had grown massively but the pre-paid queue was already ridiculously long and had snaked back around the building and was now growing back out towards the main road. This is still nothing new though and all the queues were happy and lively. 09:00 and the doors open. Nobody pushed or rushed in and everything was orderly. The LFCC crew were friendly and we soon got our tickets and went into the main hall. We'd all pre-bought our photoshoot/autograph/talk tickets way in advance online but we fancied seeing what tickets were still available, as we all had gaps in the day to fill, so we went straight for the tickets stand. Here is where the first bad bit of organising came in. Six lines of people, all waiting to buy tickets whilst straining to read the tiny writing on the whiteboards, (if they'd made those larger, people could make their minds up in the queue before they got to the front). It soon turned into a mass jumble, with people hopping from one line to another. However, it went quick enough, despite the LFCC crew members getting a bit overwhelmed (not their fault: bad organising). Tickets bought, we headed off to our shoots. I had Summer Glau first. The crew guy, who looked a bit like Brian Dennehey, was brilliant. He had figured out that the numbering system wasn't working straight away and just got anyone with a ticket for her to queue up. This had the effect of things moving nicely and, before long, I was in and out. By now, the cosplayers were in full effect in the hall. Now, for me, it's always awesome to see the cosplayers. Personally, I'm there for the film side of things; photos, autos, talks, etc., and I'm not that bothered by the cosplay stuff at all. That said it is cool to see some of the outfits and grab a photo or two with them. I would say 90% of cosplayers there yesterday were brilliant. And by that, I'm not talking about the costumes but rather their attitudes. Most were polite, friendly and apologetic when trying to move through the now-rammed venue. However, there was a small percentage of, (mainly younger), cosplayers that seemed to treat the event as if it was all about them. They would stride through the busy crowds, expecting people to move out their way, (even though there was nowhere to move to!). They would be carrying props that were wholly unsuitable for such a busy event, such as 7 foot battleaxes or be wearing a costume with a 5 foot trailing veil/cape. They would regularly stage battles in the busiest areas, hoping people would start taking photos of them. They would congregate up by the main entrance doors, thus blocking the tops of the market aisles and creating a dangerous bottleneck. They would form large groups and just sit down on the floor in the middle of the signing halls (no problems at lunchtime when the celebs have gone to lunch and the hall is emptier but not cool when they’re in the way of people queuing). They would be really rather rude to people trying to get past or just snooty and entitled to others. Their whole attitude seemed to be that this was a convention all about them and that there just happened to be some film and TV stars there too. It really felt, for most of the day, like there were two conventions going on at the same time; The London Film & Comic Convention and The London Fans & Cosplay Convention! IMPORTANT: This was just a small percentage of cosplayers. The majority were lovely, polite and respectful. The LFCC crew were, by and large, brilliant. It was far too hot in Earls Court 2 yesterday and the aircon was barely on, probably to keep the famous types at a comfortable temperature. People’s nerves and patience were being tested as the temperature started to rise but the LFCC crew kept smiling and being very helpful and polite for the whole day. Except for the one guy who, at about 1pm, came crashing outside (where I had nipped for a cigarette), barking at people that they would not be letting anyone back in from right at that moment. I managed to get his attention long enough to tell him I had a photoshoot coming up and that I would indeed be re-entering. A short dialogue opened up between us. I say short because his little stressed out power trip hit a brick wall with me. I’m 40 years old, very tall and can be quite intimidating-looking (I don’t try to be: I’m actually a nice guy!). I also know my rights and where I stand legally and this guy was way over his line and very, very rude. He soon agreed that photoshoots would be honoured but nobody else would be allowed in. I started to ask him about the event’s maximum numbers limit but he’d had enough and went away to shout at other paying attendees as if they were scum. I went for a spot of lunch around the corner and came back an hour later for my shoot. I walked straight in, as most of the door staff had simply vanished. There was nobody to show my hand stamp to. Floods of people were now pouring in. It was a bit like that bit towards the end of ‘2012’, where everyone is rushing to board the arks. I’ve worked in security and event security for a decade and I know that yesterday Earls Court 2 was a massive accident waiting to happen. A fire or bomb scare or any other panic-inducing situation would have definitely resulted in some fatalities. And this was all down to very bad management. The fact that people were STILL queuing to get in when I left, about 4pm, just showed how little care or though was given to safety. It seemed to be all about money through the door. Now that’s a long rant but I don’t want to give the impression I had a bad day. I had a great day. A very long one but, because it wasn’t my first con, that was to be expected. I got photos with Summer Glau, Jason Mewes and George A. Romero. I chatted to Edward James Olmos, sat in on the BSG talk, had both Dina Meyer and John Hurt walk right past me and got some great pictures. I saw some amazing cosplay stuff, met some lovely cosplayers, grabbed a few pics with some of them and generally thought they were, by and large, great. I was a bit pissed off by the event management’s lack of organisation, the few cosplayers I spoke about above and the poor layout of the venue. I found the entrance price to still be reasonable, the photoshoot and autograph prices to be very reasonable and the running of the photo areas to be bloody excellent given how badly they were positioned too. So there’s a bunch of problems and here are some possible solutions: If I was running the show, I would add another day that was purely for the cosplayers. Sort of like a mini-con all about cosplay. I would make the sale of tickets exclusively online. No on-the-day selling. This would make managing numbers so much easier, as well as organising the day, both for the event and the public. I would have soft drink/water sellers dotted around the venue, as it gets very hot in there. I would have an express lane on the right on the main entrance (where the ATM is) that is barriered off and only allows you to go from the entrance to the signing area. I would have another express lane on the opposite side of the hall that only flows back to the entrance. Both of these lanes would allow people to get about quickly and easily. I would have a dedicated, cordoned off area for people wishing to go out that intend to come back in again a very short time after, such as smokers or people that just want a bit of fresh air. People that haven’t got in yet would have no access to this area. This would reduce the need for hand stamps and queuing at the entrance. Lastly, I would have Charlize Theron there every year. (That’s more of a personal choice though, to be honest.) LFCC: always a great day out. LFCC 2014: Not one of the better-run cons.
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