Disappointed with the talks

[topangacanyon]

So cheeky!! Didn't see that happen, but I will reiterate annoyance over whoever mentioned the girl who asked Gillian Anderson for a hug. It was cringeworthy to watch but Gillian handled it like a pro. Funnily enough, I was on tumblr and the very same hug-hungry fangirl smugly blogged about Gillian's offer of a virtual hug. I seriously felt like spamming her with boos for being in such poor taste.

 

I also felt that the talks were a let down, for the most part. I am a fan of Gillian's work on the X-Files but I felt that she did not give the talk audience (mostly made up of X-Files/Scully fans) their money's worth. Fans will choose to see that Gillian was funny, giggly, cute etc. Truth is, I found her quite snide, smug, haughty and condescending when answering. She gave half-hearted, monotonous responses deliberately- practically eye-rolled at most questions and made it perfectly obvious that anything related to the X-Files was distasteful to discuss. On on-set practical jokes, best memories, favourite story arcs and a possible 3rd film, I found it painful to watch her feign enthusiasm and loyalty to the show. She clearly did not want to go there and was even a little snappy at the people asking. I know some of the reason was the idiocy of those who repeated questions. But the fact is, like it or not, she was at a sci-fic/ comic themed fan event, and thus should have not agreed to participate if she couldn't even muster a coherent answer without coming across so startlingly aloof.

I do sympathise with what she was saying about people's adoration really being for Scully rather than her personally, or for her other work. I sensed her frustration. And I'm sure she was warm and bubbly in the photoshoots and signing, but honestly, I think she treated the talk audience like idiots. "Anyone want to help me out?" she answered after struggling to find one good memory of the show. "....I liked the funny episodes." she sighed redundantly; after reminding fans- once again- that she supposedly has no memory of any of the story arcs. Worst part was when she very flippantly stuttered through describing a nondescript scene in which Duchovny threw rice (fake maggots) at her as a practical joke. Her heart just wasn't in it. She has a firecracker personality when she's free to be herself and in these moments I was certainly as entertained as everybody else. But I can really see now why she's often described as being standoffish.

Oh well. All disappointment (and our beloved Scully) aside, she is only human. And a very busy one, at that.

Edited July 10, 2012 by topangacanyon

[milestone]

I agree with you Topangacanyon. I think it was poor form from both sides. I struggled to hear most of the questions and answers, but from what I could hear the response from the questions could have been a little nicer and somewhat less condescending. I could also understand frustration from Gillian too as maybe she was expecting better questions.

 

However, the last question fired at Gillian was cool and was answered well by Gillian too. I'm just glad the girl in the audience managed to get a chance as she had her hand up through the whole talk and I thought she'd never get her go. It was intense to watch!

Edited July 10, 2012 by milestone

[topangacanyon]

Glad someone agrees All I've heard are good accounts- and I'm not saying peoole aren't entitled to have enjoyed it but I really felt like her answers were often at the audience members' expense. She probably was expecting (or at least hoping!) for better questions though. And I hold no biased, as she actually answered mine gracefully and genuinely. But I did feel sorry for pretty much everyone else, who got a lackluster or defensive reply.

 

I don't remember the last question, which was it?

Edited July 10, 2012 by topangacanyon

[chrismk]

Sorry to bring this up but my biggest issue was that so many of the talks were paid for. I have been to a number of showmasters events and am well aware that there are usually a couple of paid for talks (usually for the 'biggest named' guests). but this weekend most of the talks on the main stage were paid for. I was honestly staggered by this. The talks are my favourite part of these shows, I love the Q & A and always find them interesting. Even when it's a talk for something I'm not hugely into I enjoy listening to them. But when you consider the cost of travel entry autographs photoshoots etc frankly I think having so many paid for talks is one step too far. I truly hope Showmasters don't make this a habbit.

 

I agree that some its a shame that there are more pay talks, but at least there are still SOME free ones (unlike Collectormania). As Jason pointed out during that debate, there is a cost to Showmasters for having a talk, in that the guest is not bringing in money (which pays their fees). You could argue that the increased number of pay talks this year, just represents an increase in the quality of the guests.

[chrismk]

I personally was disappointed that almost all the talks were charged for. Last year I really enjoyed the Back to the Future and Harry Potter talks, which were for free (no charge to see the legend Christopher Lloyd talk!). I couldn't afford to go to any talks this year since I was already spending so much on autos and photoshoots! I guess I was lucky because from what's being said here it wouldn't have been worth the money

 

As I mentioned in my previous reply, there is a cost to the talks, in that the guest is not bringing in revenue unless the talks are paid. Christopher Lloyd may have been free last year, but he had to stay until 7 signing autos to meet as many people as possible (to his credit), which means a fair number of people who wanted to meet him didn't get the opportunity.

[topangacanyon]

Pricing sounds fair to me- although perhaps not as high as £10-£25. £8 seems more accurate.

 

As long as those attending are given their money's worth in terms of quality of sound, seating, etc then it's pretty standard that a profit must be made. You can only hope for guests to do their part to make it worthwhile, and for the most part they were excellent.

Edited July 10, 2012 by topangacanyon

[chrismk]

]Of course, even for those who can afford going to them, they need to be worth the expense. For example, I would have loved to attend the five doctors talk in Milton Keynes but had a Brian Blessed photo I was NOT going to miss. So with the talks now cut down to 30 mins, even if I had run over from photo to talk I would be paying for about 20 mins? And how much was the talk? 40-odd pounds? Just not value for money. Especially when you consider that Brian's photo started about 20 mins late - I would have wasted money on a talk I would have been lucky to see a couple of mins of.

 

That's what SM need to remember about paid talks - in the past if I had a free 5, 10, or 15 mins, I would gladly catch my favourite actors talk. But with busier shows and more clashes in the schedule, it's not worth the financial risk. Especially since schedules aren't known till the last minute.

 

I think people need to realise that the long term aim of this show is to emulate (as much as is possible) a famous overseas event (that I am not allowed to mention). At that event (and to a lesser extent this one just gone), there is so much going on that it is simply not possible to see and do everything that you want. I can see how this is a problem if you book photo shoots with people, not knowing what the schedule is going to be like (and I can also understand why its not possible to publish the schedule until the last minute, due to changes/last minuet guests), so maybe its time to look at other ways of selling talk/interview tickets?

[lunglock]

I personally was disappointed that almost all the talks were charged for. Last year I really enjoyed the Back to the Future and Harry Potter talks, which were for free (no charge to see the legend Christopher Lloyd talk!). I couldn't afford to go to any talks this year since I was already spending so much on autos and photoshoots! I guess I was lucky because from what's being said here it wouldn't have been worth the money

 

As I mentioned in my previous reply, there is a cost to the talks, in that the guest is not bringing in revenue unless the talks are paid. Christopher Lloyd may have been free last year, but he had to stay until 7 signing autos to meet as many people as possible (to his credit), which means a fair number of people who wanted to meet him didn't get the opportunity.

 

Not sure how him doing a talk uncharged made any difference to the amount of people who were able to get his autograph... I'm not entirely begrudging them charging, but to charge the same price that's charged for autos and photos (where there's less of a chance the paying customer is left disappointed) is a bit too much imo. As someone said earlier, £8 or as I said £5 (depending on guests) sounds a fairer deal. As loads of people attend talks, that's still a lot of money being brought in, and due to it being a lower price would probably get people like me who have spent so much already, swayed into paying a bit more for their favourite guests :)

[topangacanyon]

I personally was disappointed that almost all the talks were charged for. Last year I really enjoyed the Back to the Future and Harry Potter talks, which were for free (no charge to see the legend Christopher Lloyd talk!). I couldn't afford to go to any talks this year since I was already spending so much on autos and photoshoots! I guess I was lucky because from what's being said here it wouldn't have been worth the money

 

As I mentioned in my previous reply, there is a cost to the talks, in that the guest is not bringing in revenue unless the talks are paid. Christopher Lloyd may have been free last year, but he had to stay until 7 signing autos to meet as many people as possible (to his credit), which means a fair number of people who wanted to meet him didn't get the opportunity.

 

Not sure how him doing a talk uncharged made any difference to the amount of people who were able to get his autograph... I'm not entirely begrudging them charging, but to charge the same price that's charged for autos and photos (where there's less of a chance the paying customer is left disappointed) is a bit too much imo. As someone said earlier, £8 or as I said £5 (depending on guests) sounds a fairer deal. As loads of people attend talks, that's still a lot of money being brought in, and due to it being a lower price would probably get people like me who have spent so much already, swayed into paying a bit more for their favourite guests :)

 

Agreed! If it was a more structured Q&A- perhaps hosted- I can even understand a higher charge. But in Gillian Anderson's talk 3/4 of questions the audience came up with were sadly quite stupid, and the poor sound system only made miscommunication between Gillian and foreign attenders in particular (no offense!) even worse. The event turned out to be a bit of a rip off for £25. Controllable factors like a decent sound system and a reasonable price would be appreciated for next time

Edited July 10, 2012 by topangacanyon

[riversidejon]

Having to pay for Talks for the likes of Shatner, Scot Bakula, Gillian Anderson etc.. is understandable and for these class of guests thats something I dont mind doing. But with the recent trend of free talks now being paid talks and not just £5 or £10, but £15, £20... is just wrong. Free talks were one of the highlights of these events and should remain. PLEASE bring back FREE TALKS tell the agents the guests thats its free Publicilty, that in their interest to do them for free.

[TerraHawk]

Her heart just wasn't in it. She has a firecracker personality when she's free to be herself and in these moments I was certainly as entertained as everybody else. But I can really see now why she's often described as being standoffish.

Oh well. All disappointment (and our beloved Scully) aside, she is only human. And a very busy one, at that.

 

I'd respect the honesty to be erm... honest!

 

Being the cynical indvidual I am, when I hear guests say they've had a lovely time etc etc, I can't help think - well, you're actors! If anyone is going to be any good at giving an audience what they want want to see and hear its that lot

[chrismk]

I personally was disappointed that almost all the talks were charged for. Last year I really enjoyed the Back to the Future and Harry Potter talks, which were for free (no charge to see the legend Christopher Lloyd talk!). I couldn't afford to go to any talks this year since I was already spending so much on autos and photoshoots! I guess I was lucky because from what's being said here it wouldn't have been worth the money

 

As I mentioned in my previous reply, there is a cost to the talks, in that the guest is not bringing in revenue unless the talks are paid. Christopher Lloyd may have been free last year, but he had to stay until 7 signing autos to meet as many people as possible (to his credit), which means a fair number of people who wanted to meet him didn't get the opportunity.

 

Not sure how him doing a talk uncharged made any difference to the amount of people who were able to get his autograph... I'm not entirely begrudging them charging, but to charge the same price that's charged for autos and photos (where there's less of a chance the paying customer is left disappointed) is a bit too much imo. As someone said earlier, £8 or as I said £5 (depending on guests) sounds a fairer deal. As loads of people attend talks, that's still a lot of money being brought in, and due to it being a lower price would probably get people like me who have spent so much already, swayed into paying a bit more for their favourite guests :)

 

Because if he hadn't done the free talk, more people would have got the chance to meet him. Also means that he would have generated more revenue to cover his fee (obviously I don't know the exact figures, but big US guests are clearly not cheap to bring over and I would imagine some of them actually work out as a loss (but generate more footfall into the event, which helps raise revenue elsewhere.)

 

The cost would depend on things like the speed that the guest is signing at. When a guest goes to a 30-40 minute talk, they probably aren't signing for an hour (moving between locations, etc). If a Guest is charging £20 per auto and gets through 250 autographs in an hour (maybe 150 attendees), then it costs SM £5K to put on the talk. If you charge £5 for talk entry, then you need 1000 people in the talk to generate the same revenue. Awkward, because Olympia probably only had 700 ish seats in the main area... which is considerably bigger than previous and other events.

[pez]

still missing the main point of the thread its not about how much money that the guest may or may not revinue for me its about the quality of the product sold.

 

if you forked out 20 to go to the imax to watch a movie you would complain if the sound went out , now imagin the sound went out the 3d decided not to work and the cut the end off the film, you would kick of and want a refund.

 

thats the eqivalant of what happened at almost all the talks this weekend.

 

i have no problems paying for the talks if there value for money. and sm are normlly quite good at fixing a problem, so when we complained about haydens talk to the organisers to be fobbed off with ' well no one else has complained ' is a bit low.

 

to be told by crew (and there crew that have been doing it for a long time) that theres no point in complaining about a free talk despite telling them that it was a paid talk several times and to be told that your just being petty is pathetic and just plain rude.

 

whoever decidied to put a paid for talk area in the busyest bit of the stalls and have no walls was obviosly having a bad day, we were sat at the back and yes crew were telling people to move along but even so that became the only thing that the last few rows could hear because of rubbish sound, oh yeah and the shouting of the crew members in the photo shoot area next to the talk area.

 

to have only two microphones that were on wires and could not move caused it to become a que of people who eneded up having one on one conversations with hayden rather than the room , not that it mattered anyway cause we couldn't hear.

 

i cant fault the one crew member who was trying her best to get things in order but to actually cringe at the unorganisation of the talk was hard to sit through i felt embarrassed for the guest im sure others did too. not all actors are comfortable adressing a full room of people let alone organising one not to mention how much of a fire risk that area must have been when it was that crowded.

 

after seeing how much efort was put in to stop people seeing in to area a its a shame that the other talk areas were left to fend for themselves.