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Old 04 Jun 2020, 20:29   #1
ajf33
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Default London Film & Comic Con Moved to November.

Official update from the organisers, (Meat still scheduled to appear)

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


. 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

Meat details, Prices and Tickets here - https://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.co.../188-meat-loaf
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Old 05 Jun 2020, 01:44   #2
CarylB
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Quote:
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.
The last ComicCon at Earl's Court was like a zoo! Even leaving aside that social distancing would rather knock the ass out of photo sessions, signings etc the likelihood that ANY social distancing would be possible is crazy!

And setting a revised date in November .. when scientists fear we could be in the middle of a second wave?

This should have been postponed until next year imo
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Old 05 Jun 2020, 11:19   #3
ajf33
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I agree Caryl, It's going to ba a farce as, social distancing will either noy happen, or be enforced, making photo's pointless.

I have a friend who was due to go, but is now unsure,and is horrified to learn if she can't go, she can't have her money back for 14 months. I am in two minds, but will wait and see what the situation is nearer the time.
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Old 05 Jun 2020, 15:29   #4
CarylB
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And given that the guy in charge of the coronavirus test-and-trace system designed to prevent a second wave has now admitted that is not expected to work at full speed until September or October .. and scientists have said lockdown measures should not be eased until the test-and-trace service is well established, let alone precautions such as social distancing, which along with endless hand washing, is the only effective means of prevention currently ..

Either a farce .. or endangering fans ... and Meat himself, who is in the vulnerable category!
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Old 06 Jun 2020, 23:25   #5
Tina.K.
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Meat shouldn’t go there. Some-one must convince him not to go. It’s too dangerous for him because of his age, weight and heart syndrom.

Imo a very stupid move from the organisers to replace the event just a few months from now. Social distancing will be a problem.

But I guess this has all to do with money.
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Old 07 Jun 2020, 05:45   #6
CarylB
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I agree, Tina .. although Meat's weight is not an issue now he's slimmed down so impressively. nor his heart (his WPWS was cured when it was discovered) .. but he does have asthma which increases his susceptibility.
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Old 07 Jun 2020, 11:08   #7
nightinr
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These events are awful. I am amazed Meat attends them especially after he was injured at one of them which led to him being hospitalised.

Surely Meat would be better hiring a private theatre tour where he could do a 2 hour talk.

I doubt Meat will be in attendance in November
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Old 04 Jul 2020, 20:39   #8
Sebastian.
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The one in 2018? Was absolutely shit. Obviously Meat was great but the event was overrun and if you didn’t get there at like 6am you weren’t getting in, luckily I found a side door.

The event needs to be cancelled outright.
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Old 04 Jul 2020, 22:23   #9
CarylB
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We got in with no problem at around 9.30am .. most of the organisation was terrible, the "gifts" were not readily available, and by the time we discovered where they were hidden they'd run out.

They hemmed in the headliners against a back wall; Meat had to make them move the tables, which were in one long unbroken line, forward on the second day .. and even then there was only about 4 or 5 ft between the tables and the wall.

The queues for headline performers were pretty horrendous .. Meat was fantastic, insisting on spending a minute or two with everyone .. including at the end when officious officials were walking along the queues shouting "No names .. autographs only. No talking", he insisted on asking people their names, and exchanging some words and writing everyone's name on their item when he signed. He was obviously the star who was signing last on each day day .. and even then was prepared to sign for anyone who came up while he was waiting for Deborah to go to the office with the numbers.

But none of the stewards knew where anything was, the place was a zoo, people packed in tightly while queuing for signing and photo sessions. I don't see how they can even contemplate running it this year.. and delaying to November when we can expect a surge in virus cases seems idiotic .. because COVID will not be gone, imo masks should be mandatory if buildings like this are opened up .. and how on earth would that work?

I agree they should have simply cancelled .. or at least deferred it to next year. That's what they've done with the musical. I'd feel safer in a theatre than in the Earls Court Zoo run by poorly trained personnel and don't see it very likely we'll see many theatres open this year.

Event Bright are simply holding on to the money for as long as they can!
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Old 05 Jul 2020, 14:32   #10
Guy
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All well and good Caryl but will there be a bar?
🤣
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Old 08 Jul 2020, 09:31   #11
Gez
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No Bar Guy, but I thought I saw Caryl sneak a wee half bottle in last year!!
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Old 08 Jul 2020, 13:24   #12
jmfreeman
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I think I remember buying a tiny plastic bottle of wine from one of the sandwich bars there. Cost me as much as the whole event did.
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Old 08 Jul 2020, 15:43   #13
Guy
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Pre drinks it shall be then.
Marvellous
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Old 09 Jul 2020, 05:56   #14
Sebastian.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guy View Post
Pre drinks it shall be then.
Marvellous
Jägertrain?
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