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Poppy
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Hi

 

We've gone to several events now and I appreciate that some guests don't want photos taken at the table (Sean Maguire springs to mind from LFCC), but we've seen so many examples where guests don't have an issue with this and Bronson definitely didn't have a problem with it.

 

We pay £100's to attend events, often making a 15hour+ trip to get a photograph and autograph if possible.

 

By about 3pm on the Saturday Shannon, Brian and Bronson were all extremely quiet. Bronson was great and pretended to look at us while signing so that we could see his face during a photo and kept apologising for the rules (the Weasley twins did the same at LFCC).

 

From speaking to fans many people were also avoiding these three as they couldn't take a photograph. Personally, had we been allowed to take a photo of Shannon and Brian then Showmasters would have pocketed an extra £40.

 

Don't get me wrong, the photoshoots are a great idea - we bought three of them but the rules at certain tables do affect busyness (or business however you want to look at it).

 

Sophie Aldred at Glasgow was great as she was taking donations for Great Ormond Street hospital for a photograph.

 

On the whole it was a great show, but I sympathise with many of the earlier comments on here.

 

Steve

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  • Showmasters Admin

As TommyT said, £1 or £2 wouldn't be enough I guess, but just to give you an example of what happened at the other event I attended, the autograph price was around £20 (it wasn't in £ but this is to give you a rough idea) and the photo alone was around £8 (and you could queue just for a photo if you didn't want an autograph, and that's what I did actually)

 

For the second point that you raised TommyT (about the photos taken twice because the first one was duff), the possible solution would be that a crew member is the one who takes the photos, and he can even take two shots right away to be sure that the photo is decent... That way there would be no problem I think ^^

 

But I'm almost sure that if Showmasters isn't already using this solution, it's for a reason that we may ignore... :D

 

can i say having a crew member for each guest would increase our crew last weekend to another 40 odd crew which has to be paid for and also have to have a hotel for and transport to get there and feed all in all a cost of around another £150 per crew member over the weekend which is a total of around £6000 so me would need to sell around 7000 at a £1 or 3500 at £2 as we have VAT on this just to cover the costs of offering this , so no it would really not work .

 

also TT is right it could effect the pro photo ops and if it did it might mean that they would not be cost affective and we would have to stop running them

 

so we will keep it they way it is as it works and what you get in the pro photo ops is a great item and something to keep for ever

 

jason :D

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we will not allow a blanket ban on photos over the table at all , we want this to still happen and also fight your corner on this point all the time , we just want everyone to know we are on your side on this all the way

 

the only time we ever stop photos over the table is when a guest is looking like he or she will not get to meet all the fans that have come to meet them, only then do we start to look at what we can do to help the fans that are going to miss out on meeting them

 

I wasnt on about a blanket ban for over the table photos, I should have prob made that clearer sorry, what I was on about was whole crew jumping in front of people with camera's way outside of the que out of the way to stop them taking any photos of the guests at all, even when said guest didnt have a no photos sign such as Jason Momoa who we were not allowed to photo even from a distance.

The ones with a no photos sign I can understand, but its just annoying the crew wouldnt let some people at least photograph anyone from a distance where there was no harm, nor any signs saying no photos for those particular guests.

 

I wanted to have a word with you about that at the event if I had the time, but didnt get around to it in the end.

Edited by crippsy_99
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Despite early doubts, I love photoshoots now and always get a few.

 

I usually get ones with guests that either 1) I know will be busy and so wont be able to do a photo over the table (JB, John Hurt, ect) or 2) I really want a professional photo with to keep and maybe frame.

 

I totally understand when guests cant do table pics because of busyness, but I also dont really mind if they refuse for whatever reason. If they are doing a shoot, its totally my choice, so if I want a picture enough, I'll go for it.

 

And yes Jason I totally dont think paying table pics would work, I would hate that to be implemented.

 

I think the current system works, its just occasionally when what seems to be a certain agent gets guests they ask for no table pictures to earn money. This isnt something SM can change apart from as Jason said, they ask for it in contracts.

 

We'll just have to trust in SM to work something out with these agents that ask for the signs to be put up.

 

Keep doing the photoshoots, they rock!

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  • Showmasters Admin

 

 

From speaking to fans many people were also avoiding these three as they couldn't take a photograph. Personally, had we been allowed to take a photo of Shannon and Brian then Showmasters would have pocketed an extra £40.

 

Steve

 

 

hi Steevo

 

let me explane this

 

Shannon is very much her own boss and she did this event under the conditons of how she wanted to do this , no one has any power to change how she wanted to run , and thats just the way it was .

 

 

Brian saw how it was laid out for Shannon and just wanted the same , and that was that

 

Bronson is a really great guy and young and his agent back in the US laid out the deal points and what we have to do to honer the contract , we did this to the letter or we would not work with him again , the fact that Bronson wanted to have photos at the table just shows he is a great guy , but the fact we had a contract laid out what we could do and could not do is still a big factor to why there were signs up saying no posed photos with this guest

 

as i have said for years we would like to keep the photos at the table in play for everyone but some times we just are not allowed , and if we push to much on this point we would just loose the guest from attending the event

 

i will also just point out Shannon is a rare guest and if anyone wanted to meet here that was the beat chance to have meet her , i do not think she will be doing lots of event so last week was your chance to have gotten a photo or auto , we bring them over and work very hard to make this happen the expence is huge so to not buy an auto just because there is not posed photos i think is a little sort sited as this may have been your only chance to have meet her ?

 

we do our best and also keep the price down all the time , and we look out for you all every time some guest go down in price as well but rarely dose anyone say about that ? Gorge Taki this time for a start ?

 

 

anyway i hope you can see it for were we are coming from

 

jason

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If every single person took a camera and wanted to get an over the table photo with some of these extra busy guests , dont they realise that it is possibly stopping other fans with VQ tickets missing out later in the day???.

These guests do no come cheaply so although I can understand where people are coming from, surely autographs are exactly that autograghs, and not autograph and photo??

For less busy guests then it may not be such a problem .

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we do our best and also keep the price down all the time , and we look out for you all every time some guest go down in price as well but rarely dose anyone say about that ? Gorge Taki this time for a start ?

 

jason

 

Hi jason, sadly I couldn't make the event this time, but I assume George was a legend as normal? :D I have to say, that in terms of customer satisfaction, there are probably no better guests than George and John Rhys Davies, when it comes to making time for the fans! :D

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From speaking to fans many people were also avoiding these three as they couldn't take a photograph. Personally, had we been allowed to take a photo of Shannon and Brian then Showmasters would have pocketed an extra £40.

 

Steve

 

 

hi Steevo

 

let me explane this

 

Shannon is very much her own boss and she did this event under the conditons of how she wanted to do this , no one has any power to change how she wanted to run , and thats just the way it was .

 

 

Brian saw how it was laid out for Shannon and just wanted the same , and that was that

 

Bronson is a really great guy and young and his agent back in the US laid out the deal points and what we have to do to honer the contract , we did this to the letter or we would not work with him again , the fact that Bronson wanted to have photos at the table just shows he is a great guy , but the fact we had a contract laid out what we could do and could not do is still a big factor to why there were signs up saying no posed photos with this guest

 

as i have said for years we would like to keep the photos at the table in play for everyone but some times we just are not allowed , and if we push to much on this point we would just loose the guest from attending the event

 

i will also just point out Shannon is a rare guest and if anyone wanted to meet here that was the beat chance to have meet her , i do not think she will be doing lots of event so last week was your chance to have gotten a photo or auto , we bring them over and work very hard to make this happen the expence is huge so to not buy an auto just because there is not posed photos i think is a little sort sited as this may have been your only chance to have meet her ?

 

we do our best and also keep the price down all the time , and we look out for you all every time some guest go down in price as well but rarely dose anyone say about that ? Gorge Taki this time for a start ?

 

 

anyway i hope you can see it for were we are coming from

 

jason

 

Im so glad I met shannon, I was umming and arring as I never got into charmed and 90210 but loved her in mallrats and the other bits and bobs ive seen her in and she is so gorgeous. I thought about it and when the online store closure was announced i knew i had to or i would regret it, im so glad i did, I did a photo shoot with her and she was so polite and nice, sexy and I think overall very very proffesional. such a joy my brief encounter with her

 

this whole posed photo thing, i completly understand and respect both the guests wishes, contract and SM choices, if the no posed pics sign is up thats that in my head, and like jason said I think some of the complaints ppl have posted from what i thought was a brilliant event are very short sighted. and if something was that bad email SM, we lost a guest cos of all our banter, some good and some bad prior to this event, Id hate to think we might loose these guests from returning cos they read on here ppl complaining about no posed pics or not talkative enough especialy in threads solely about them! Im glad that 99% of feedback from this event on here is positive. I thought it was great, as with everything there might be hiccups or minor issues but overall AND I THINK, SUPERB event from SM, THANKYOU

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Personally I would rather meet any (rare or not) guest for an autograph that has a no photo policy rather than not have them attend at all. Usually if there is one I will also have a professional photo. If they do allow posed (or candid) photos then great. I treat that as an extra perk - not a given.

 

We need to take into acocunt the guests comfort. I never use a flash but most people do. As an example I overheard Rene saying that all the flashes were hurting his eyes and giving him a headache. This was just before he went off to his photoshoot. Yet des[ite his discomfort he was still posing for photos later on. To us it's great we have that one photo. To a guest it is flashes all day long! They don't have to do it. I have complete respect for the guests that allow it, and also the ones that don't.

 

Also no photos for the busiest guests is fair. I wouldn't want a photo knowing that potentially somone else may miss out on an auto due to the time constraints.

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Bronson was only no posed photographs, he was lovely about it to everyone though, and I am sure that people got some lovely unposed photographs when they visited him :D

 

I was stopped from taking photos of him from outside the que at a distance. My friend was with him at the time and I wanted to get a photo for her of her with him signing, even if it wasnt posed, but instead I just had a crew member waiving their arms in front of me saying no photos at all.

When I said I was trying to photo Bronson while my friend was there as was nothing about no photos at all, all I got was a 'tough, no photos!', and even when my friend had finished and he was sitting there with no-one to see, the crew member still wouldnt relent!

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But as Jason has said, it was out of their control and had to just do as they were contracted to.

 

Im sure they crew didnt want to have to stop so many people, but it was their job.

That's pretty much it. We don't want to say no, it's not nice saying no and we take no particular pleasure in doing so but ultimately, we are under orders for the higher powers and we are just enforcing them. We do what we can to accommodate people but sometimes there is just no room for flexibility.

 

The adage "don't shoot the messenger" comes to mind :D

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  • Showmasters Admin

The issue in Bronson's case was he was sat in the area between Shannon and JB. Both of which we had a strick "no photos" rule on. It's possible that the crew took this as no photos in that area, I'll keep an eye on this next time.

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we will not allow a blanket ban on photos over the table at all , we want this to still happen and also fight your corner on this point all the time , we just want everyone to know we are on your side on this all the way

 

the only time we ever stop photos over the table is when a guest is looking like he or she will not get to meet all the fans that have come to meet them, only then do we start to look at what we can do to help the fans that are going to miss out on meeting them

 

we do listen and do care about you all and keep trying to get this in the contracts with the guest for you

 

jason :YAHOO:

I had a pretty good weekend overall but one thing that did get to me a little was the no posed photos thing. Normally I get a photo shoot, but for the likes of Gareth David Lloyd and George Takei, I have had pro photos at previous events so I just wanted a photo over the desk. For Gareth, he had hardly anyone going up to him early on the Saturday, and just as I approached him someone put a sign up saying no posed photos. This was a little annoying but I guess I can understand if possibly a lot of tickets had been given out for him. The one that did annoy me was George Takei(or more specifically the crew member sitting with him on Saturday) he was an open queue all day and just before I met George I thought itd be kind to ask the crew member if it was ok to take a photo, to which I was told I couldnt have a photo with him BECAUSE he was doing a photo shoot. This was annoying especially as the rule has generally always been that a guest having a photoshoot doesnt mean they wont do photos over the table

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before I met George I thought itd be kind to ask the crew member if it was ok to take a photo, to which I was told I couldnt have a photo with him BECAUSE he was doing a photo shoot. This was annoying especially as the rule has generally always been that a guest having a photoshoot doesnt mean they wont do photos over the table

 

I didn't ask the Crew Member, I asked George himself. He was more than happy to do so - even laughing happily at the notion of posing with my trilby which I try and get everyone to wear.

 

So next time, ask the guest. You might get a better response. :-)

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Hi

 

The event was fantastic and we do enjoy the photoshoots - we've bought over 30 from showmaster events. We have had guests over-riding the helpers at times in the past as they haven't a problem with photos, Jonathan Hyde and Dirk Benedict spring to mind.

 

Bronson wasn't between Shannon and Brian he was beside them - I got the impression that he felt uncomfortable telling people all the time he couldn't allow photos and I was delighted he went out his way to try and help so many people. I knew the decision for Shannon and Brian not allowing photos was there decision as there were crew all over the place trying to deter everyone.

 

The photoshoots are very well run and definitely far busier than when we started attending a few years ago. I understand where everyone's coming from, I just want to try and say that there could be scope for more income to Showmasters if guests allowed photos. I particularly remember Milton Keynes where Micheal Dorn's queue was empty for ages and no-one was going near him for an autograph because there was the no photos sign with him. I also recall LFCC this summer when we paid for an autograph with Tom Baker and was told we could take photos but when we approached him the crewmember stopped us. Thankfully it wasn't an issue as we had already bought a photoshoot earlier that day.

 

Would it be wrong to suggest that if Showmasters know in advance that a guest won't allow posed photos or any photos allowed then this advertised on the website. I know it would help us and we'd spend more on the photoshoots as we could budget better prior to attending.

 

Cheers and apologies if I upset anyone earlier. These events go from strength to strength and we do spend a lot of money (and no complaints there) on a number of photoshoots.

 

Steve

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The signs are put in place to stop the guests from having to say no etc. So yes, it can be awkward when they're still asked regardless. I don't believe they should have to be put in that situation.

 

I agree with that.

But I was replying to the person who said they'd asked the crew member if a photo was possible. There was no mention that there was a sign up saying "no photos", just that they'd asked a crew member and they'd said no.

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It's tricky in those cases. Obviously a guest is never under any obligation to do a photo with someone regardless, but yes if there's going to be a general no-photo rule then it should be on a sign, rather than left to a crew member.

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Wasn't surprised by the fact that Shannon and Brian didn't allow posed photos which is why I had bought my photo tickets in advance. I like the idea of paying for posed photos at the desk and I may be in the minority here but I woud have happily paid £20 which was the price of Shannon's photoshoot to get a posed photo over the desk with my own camera. Purely because I could have left the show a good bit earlier. Saying that I was impressed with how quickly the photos came back tho. I remember at Collectormania Glasgow my mum asked Marina Sirtis if she could have a photo (there was no sign up) and Marina said no. But my mum was fine with it because at the end of the day it's the guests choice and while they are there to meet the fans they are also there to make money.

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I managed to meet Brian outside of CM and he was overly happy to do pose for photos (he was VERY cheeky about it lol) and was totally up for it, I suppose it's different in that kind of environment with everyone watching and stuff can hardly be comfortable.

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