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Latest Update - 28th March 2020


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17 hours ago, Raylenth said:

They actually don't have all of Olympia any more as another event is now scheduled for the same weekend so LFCC will take place in a smaller space, which means we actually don't know what halls they have and where anything will be, so it's possible that they auto's might take place in the older halls with higher ceilings, but it's a moot point anyway because, yeah, the likelihood is that even a reduced LFCC won't be allowed to go ahead.

The wait for information concerning this is really taking it’s toll…

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I really hope they reschedule or cancel this event, because I m from Germany and I wont fly to UK until everything gets a little better. If they really do the con in july but smaller - with probably just UK celebs this will be really not fair to lots of people who already bought entry tickets.  I hope they cancel/reschedule and because I will coming back 100% I would be fine taking vouchers ;) 

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21 hours ago, MrsCorleone said:

I really hope they reschedule or cancel this event, because I m from Germany and I wont fly to UK until everything gets a little better. If they really do the con in july but smaller - with probably just UK celebs this will be really not fair to lots of people who already bought entry tickets.  I hope they cancel/reschedule and because I will coming back 100% I would be fine taking vouchers ;) 

Even if the event does go ahead you may have problems as UK government will soon be introducing a 14day quarantine period on arrival to U.K. for all international travellers. Not sure if this will extend to July but it seems likely 

Edited by benweblight
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The way I'm seeing this, I probably won't be going at all. There's now two months until LFCC is due to happen and that's a very short time to buy all the tickets I want (usually I space out my purchases over several payslips so I don't bankrupt myself). Not to mention we have no idea whether the situation will be better or worse by July. But yeah even if things do clear up in time, which seems unlikely, I don't think I'll be going. 

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I would love for this to happen as it'd mean some kind or normality back. However, sadly I don't see this going ahead. The government is unlikely to allow for any gatherings larger than a cinema or theatre to open until September. Also wish social distancing, which will likely still be happening them, there's no chance of staying two meters apart from everyone. Photo shoots will be non-exsistant with that rule and you won't really be able to speak to the guests that well :-( Thats not even thinking about the entry queue. I read if Heathrow did social distancing for every aircraft then each queue would be over a mile long! That's just a couple of hundred people. Change that to a queue with a few thousand as LFCC would have, you're looking at an entry queue that would have to be almost 10miles long!

That all said, I would likely still come along if it does go on as I'm a massive fan of Showmasters and love your events. I'm just not that optimistic.

A suggestion though, if it didn't go head, perhaps you could do some kind of behind closed doors event? Have some guests come along and do signings for postal orders only. You could maybe have some online Q&A's with each guest through the weekend and people could pay something to tune in.

 

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On 5/17/2020 at 3:02 PM, MrsCorleone said:

I really hope they reschedule or cancel this event, because I m from Germany and I wont fly to UK until everything gets a little better. If they really do the con in july but smaller - with probably just UK celebs this will be really not fair to lots of people who already bought entry tickets.  I hope they cancel/reschedule and because I will coming back 100% I would be fine taking vouchers ;) 

Unfortunately due to health (& timing) issues, I am unsure if I will even be able to attend a rescheduled event at the moment, so a refund is currently my only option.

I am due in hospital next week & possibly again before the end of the year. I have emailed Eventbrite directly about this but am yet to hear anything back from them.

Edited by Starbuck73
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 I don't think you can reschedule it anyway as SM runs multiple events through out the year, they may be able to move guests to another event but as I see it if it can not go ahead it will be cancelled. and we can start planning for LFACC Summer 2021

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On 5/21/2020 at 7:01 AM, scifisteve said:

 I don't think you can reschedule it anyway as SM runs multiple events through out the year, they may be able to move guests to another event but as I see it if it can not go ahead it will be cancelled. and we can start planning for LFACC Summer 2021

Apparently from what's going on is that anything massive event wise i.e. LFCC, Collectormania etc will not be back up and running until next year. I can't see the likes of pubs/clubs reopening quickly if they have to place the rules of COVID-19 in like 2 meters apart etc, I honestly can see everything media and stuff we do like cinemas, conventions, shows, pubs/clubs will be reopening not at least until 2021.

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With the 14day quarantine for incoming travellers announced today, unless these restrictions are lifted by the middle of July, we are unlikely to see any International guests/visitors even if the event does go ahead 

Edited by benweblight
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On 6/1/2020 at 2:52 PM, Litafan83 said:

I’ll look forward to an update on lfcc july please. I really hope that this event is still happening. Fingers crossed 

I wouldn't keep my hopes up...but we'll see. I think the winter edition might go ahead tho. 

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For those people who feel comfortable going, I hope the event still goes ahead for you. For those of us who do not feel comfortable going, I hope we are going to be entitled to refunds or an exchange for vouchers to be used at a future con. I know this isnt the usual process but hopefully there will be flexibility in the bizarre times we are living in :rolleyes:

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Dear Friends,
 
What a crazy time the last 4 months have been! First off I want to say that we hope you are safe and well, and we want you all to stay that way.  

We do have some news that many of you may have worked out by now, but with the Corona Virus issue still affecting our day-to-day life we have had to take the hard decision to postpone July's London Film and Comic Con until a little later in the year, November 2020.
 
I want to take a moment to bring you up to date on our plans with the on-going situation and also some of the things that we have had to take into consideration so we are in a position where we can deliver the events you have come to expect from us. 
There is a lot to go over and its important to us to be transparent and honest with you all, so please take some time to go though it. Thanks so much :-)

1).  Thank you everyone for being patient and understanding as things have unfolded with the continuing fluidity of this exceptional situation. We wanted to weigh up what’s best for you all, the guests, and the hobby that we all love and enjoy, and having this time over last few weeks has been helpful to get our plan together, so thank you for that. We have been able to learn as much as we can about what we are dealing with and as such we do have a plan that will work to bring all events back online as soon as it's safe to do so and we can all enjoy them again.
 
2). London Film and Comic Con will now take place on 20th to 22nd November 2020. This will still be a 3 day event and will be pretty much the same as what we had planned for the summer date. There will clearly be some changes to protect peoples health and safety and we will have much more info about this and the guidelines that will be in place in the next few weeks and months, as your health and safety is our number one priority. 
 
3). All tickets for London Film and Comic will be automatically transferred to the new November date. YALC will also be moved, but to our July 2021 London Film and Comic Con ( 23rd to 25th July 2021), and all tickets for that will also be transferred to its new date. If you cannot attend the new dates then a digital credit voucher will be issued upon request. This voucher will be good to use for any future Showmasters events up until the day after July 2021 London Film and Comic Con, (26th July 2021). At that point, should you have not used your voucher, upon request you will get a full refund. 
 
 
4). Guests that have all confirmed to attend the new London Film and Comic Con date in November :
 
Alan Ruck
John Wesley Shipp
Clark Gregg
Robbie Coltrane
Elizabeth Mitchell
Steven R McQueen
Andrew Gower
Ashely Walters
Noel Clarke
Staz Nair
Natalia Tena
Anjili Mohindra
Sacha Dhawan
Misty Rosas
Nick Frost
Simon McBurney
Mark Boone Jr
Kim Coates
Harry Manfredini
Amanda Tapping
Ben Browder
Tom Skerritt
Veronica Cartright
Jason O Mara
Mark Pellegrino
Clare Kramer
Karen Allen
Barry Bostwick
Emmy Raven-Lampman
Sam Humphrey
Julian Glover
Julian Holloway
Meat Loaf
Riz Ahmed
Sylvester McCoy
Colin Baker 
Mandeep Dhillon 
Omid Abtahi
David Ramsey - Fri only            
 
5). There are a few names below we do not yet have the final sign off to attend the new date, but that is just a formality and it looks like they will be attending. 
 
Ming-Na Wen
Aaron Paul
Alice Cooper
Mat Fraser
Danielle Nicolet
Scott Ian
Jesse T Usher
 
 
6). We also have a few guests who we know cannot make the new November date and we are working on them being rescheduled to future events as follows. They are : 
 
Ernie Hudson - LFCC July 2021 TBC
Henry Thomas - LFCC July 2021 Comfirmed
Dee Wallace - LFCC July 2021 Confirmed
Robert MacNaughten - LFCC July 2021 Confirmed
David Warner - LFCC July 2021 TBC
Sean Biggerstaff - London Comic Con Spring 27th & 28th Feb 2021 Confirmed
 
7). We also have 6 brand new guests for our November London Film and Comic Con and they are : 
 
Marc Blucas - Riley from Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Anna-Louise Plowman - Osiris from Stargate SG-1
Ron Millkie - Friday 13th
Sin Cara - Wrestler
Road Warrior Animal - Wrestler
P J Black - Wrestler
 
 
8). The above are just the start of the guest line up for London Film and Comic Con in November and now we have this new date set we can start to book in and close more amazing guests to complete the line-up . The one positive thing from the virus is that so many new guests are wanting to get out and attend our Comic Con. Productions are being bumped and put on hold and there is a back-log meaning we are now being offered amazing guests we have wanted to book for years! So watch this space as we will have a great line-up for you :-)
 
 
So this is how it's going to work if you have already purchased tickets to London Film and Comic Con :

1).        All tickets will be transferred to the new November date for London Film and Comic Con automatically. You do not need to do anything for this to happen. 

2).        If you cannot attend the new date in November then you will need to contact us on shop@showmastersevents.com and we will issue you a voucher for the amount of money you have paid. That voucher will be good to be used up until the day after July 2021 London Film and Comic Con, (26th July 2021), at which point any amount not used on the voucher will be eligible for a full refund. 

3).         Thank you for your support on this and because you all are working with and helping us in this crazy time, we plan to keep each of your names on file and we will find additional ways of thanking you over the next 12 months. We have great working relationships with many of film companies and we have talked at length with them with some very cool ideas in the works. So you will benefit in helping us though this crazy time as well as ensuring the next event will again be a world class Comic Con that you will play an integral part in as always.
 
Some facts that you may not know and will help you understand why we have taken this path with vouchers for this year.
 
1).        Because the government has not put a ban on public events all the contacts between venues and events still stand and are still binding to us. Venues are also in a tough place and while most are now starting to agree to transfer the booking to later dates, none are prepared to just return money already paid to them. So we can run an event in the future with the money we have pre-paid a venue, but we can’t get the money back. Consequently we have a lot of funds tied up with venues over the year that we cannot use right now. 
 
2).         This is also a similar case with most airlines and tickets we have booked for guests. They will only give us a refund if the flight is officially cancelled by the airline itself and that will not happen until around a week out from the date of the flight, (immediately before the show's dates). As we book around £300,000 worth of flights this also ties up a lot of funds that we again cannot get back until the show takes place.
 
3).        The guests that are booked to attend our events we either have already part paid or fully paid in advance, which is fine normally. Also, most of these guests have agreed to attend the new dates so again this is funds that are tied up with them and not with us! 
 
So I think you can see what we are saying here. We have a lot of money that we have already paid out to venues, guests and flights that is safe but we will not be able to get it back before we run the event!
 
Everything here is in a good way but if we were to refund everyone right now it would start to limit the planned guest line-ups and could make it harder for us to get the shows back on track as soon as we hope. There are people saying that things will not be back to normal for years, but we have a plan to buck against that with issuing the vouchers and transferring the tickets to the new date. It will make it possible for us to deliver the amazing events you know and love and get back to how they used to be, or even bigger, sooner. Your money is totally safe and in many cases it's 100% where it should be, with the guests, the venues and the flights needed to run these huge events! The issue is we have just had to move the dates. It does sound so simple when I say it like this!!!! :-)
 
We now  have all this in place and it has taken a lot of our time up to ensure we have the best system for this to work smoothly. We can now spend our time on new guests. As said before many films and TV shows are on hold and its looking like the backlog of production is going to help us with availability of guests for the next few big events so closing some of these A List guests is now our first priority and booking them in to the November show :-).
 
I am sure all organisers find themselves in differing situations as every event is unique. We have acted to solve our challenges this way. Our events are quite different to other comic cons where we book around 500+ guests and many big names a year, and we are locked in and dependant on booking guests. So this is our fix and it may be different to other organisers who also have there own challenges to deal with and we do wish them and everyone in the hobby well in this odd time.
 
We will implement all health and safety requirements at all our events until this virus is under control. We care and respect your safety and we all need to look after one another to get though this tough time.
 
No one could forsee any of this last year and we are stable and sensible people and would never risk damaging the trust you have built up in us and the events we run. With such an unexpected chain of events we wanted to be honest and upfront and tell the truth and share with you all that we have planned and the challenges we had to deal with. We have been running events in the hobby for around 30 years and we are good, honest, trustworthy fans that just want to get back to putting on some of the best Comic Cons in the world. With your help and trust we will get back on track very soon. We really do miss you all and it has left a big emptiness with the entire team here.
 
Fandom is a very powerful thing and together we will once again create many amazing new memories that will last a life time.

Thank you, friends, and we will see you soon. Take care and stay safe!

Jason and the Showmasters family
 
 
OUR COMIC CON DATES FOR 2020 & 2021
 
2020
 
15th & 16th August                Film & Comic Con Glasgow                          Braehead Arena, Glasgow
 
5th & 6th September               Collectormania Birmingham                          The NEC, Birmingham
 
12th & 13th September                      Collectormania Milton Keynes                        Planet Ice, Milton Keynes
 
20th to 22nd November                      The London Film and Comic Con                        Olympia, London
 
2021
 
27th & 28th February             London Comic Con Spring                             Olympia, London
 
8th & 9th May                                                Film and Comic Con Belfast                         Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast
 
23rd to 25th July                                 The London Film and Comic Con                        Olympia, London
 
14th & 15th August                Film & Comic Con Glasgow                          Braehead Arena, Glasgow
 
20th & 21st November                       London Comic Con Winter                            Olympia, London

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