Monthly Update:
The October CW Show is looking like another great weekend for attending fans. With another nine first time CW Guests on the list and a first time cast reunion for Wes Carven’s cult classic, The Hills Have Eyes, I must admit that even a jaded horror fan like myself is excited for the 13th Anniversary Show to roll around this Fall.
The Guest list was posted on the show’s web site last month with our usual little bios and we’ll be adding the last couple of guests to the list any day now.
Since we’ve been off the road for the last few weeks, chances are good that we’ll even get some of the Films and Events for the next show posted throughout the month of June since we have a little time this month to spend on it.
POSTCARDS: For those who have been asking, yes, postcards will be ready to mail out by mid-June. Now that we have the guest list 99.9% complete, I’ll start working on a new flier and postcard for October’s Show in the next week or so. If you live within a couple of hours of the convention hotel, right now is a great time to start to advertise October’s 13th Anniversary Show. Say the word and we’ll be more than happy to send you a stack of fliers or postcards for the October Show to pass out when they are back from the printer. Bars, specialty shops, video stores, tattoo shops, college campuses, mail order businesses, music stores... All good places for Wasteland attendees to hang out. (Please note that places like grocery stores and other places that have people pay to advertise in their lobbies is not a great place to advertise the CW Show. They call and yell at us for finding our post cards in their racks, which we actually find funny.) If you frequent any place that you think may be a good place to put a stack of cards or run a mail order business and want to toss one in with orders, then by all means, get in touch and we’ll be more than happy to send you off a stack. As always, any help in spreading the word about the show is truly appreciated and tends to do much better than generic ads or radio spots have ever done for us.
And since it always comes up after every show, here’s one last reminder as to how you can get your movie or short film screened at a future CW Show:
HOW DO I SUBMIT MY MOVIE OR SHORT FILM FOR THE CW INDY FILM FEST?:
First Rule: Your movie or short film needs to be 100% finished before we’ll consider screening it. Second Rule: The film you submit can't be older than a year or so old or already have DVD or cable TV distribution since we're basically trying to help independent filmmakers get the word out about their films to our attending fans. Third Rule: When your movie or short film is completely finished, just send us off a screener to watch and consider. Make sure you include contact information so we can get back to you if we do decide to screen your short or feature, and patiently wait to see if we get back to you. It’s that easy.
Since we’ve always supported the independent filmmaker, we don’t do things like your average every day film festival does things. Namely, we don’t charge to screen your movie or short film and just take your money and run whatever somebody sends us. We simply watch everything that is sent to us and fit as many indy films into the weekend schedule that we can squeeze in around all the other guest related movies and events that we normally cram into a Wasteland Weekend. We do keep film submissions for up to one year’s time so if we don’t screen your film or short one show, it very well could make the next show. We do watch and tend to enjoy everything we receive but please don’t take it personally if we don’t screen your submission. Chances are it just didn’t make it into the weekend schedule because we received way too many submissions in a short amount of time and/or had more films that fit a certain theme that matches the weekend we’re currently running.
Because we don’t charge to screen your film or short, a screening does not come with free passes into the show. A pass into the CW Show however is much cheaper than any film festival submission prices.
And we’ll end this update with the usual reminders since it’s never to early to save money on passes or book your hotel room when it comes to a CW Show:
EARLY BIRD TICKET SPECIAL: You have until June 14, 2013 to buy a Single Day Pass or a 3 Day VIP Pass into the October Show and save some decent money over day-of-show ticket prices. Single Day passes are only $15 in advance, and a 3-Day Pass can be had for only $35 between now and June 14th, so don’t delay and save $5 off every single day pass or $15 off a 3-Day Pass while you can.
Although whatever pass you buy into the show will get you everything we offer our attending fans, a 3-Day Pass not only includes a limited edition souvenir lanyard but all 3-Day Pass holders are admitted into the Vendor and Guest Room at 4:30pm - half an hour early - on Friday October 4th at no extra charge.
HOTEL: One thing you can always count on is that the hotel will be sold out by show time. We take over the entire hotel, so things fill up nice and steady until there’s no rooms left by the show’s weekend start time. Help support the show and avoid the headache of having to stay down the road by making your room reservations today. Reserve your room through our web site, or by calling The Holiday Inn reservation line at 1-877-408-4913. Remember you MUST ask for “The Cinema Wasteland Room Rate”, or they will tell you that they are ”sold out” and have no rooms. And PLEASE only reserve as many rooms as you plan on using. If you need to book more than one room, please call Kathy directly at 1-440-783-3006 and she will take care of your multiple room reservations.
After a couple of decades of hauling stuff around the country as a vendor at more cons than I could possibly count or care to remember, I’ve felt more than a little burned out on the whole convention scene the past couple of years. They’ve just become work… And like most everyone else in the world, I hate work. Doing the convention rounds used to be fun. These days, not so much...
I’ve enjoyed my time off the road this Spring more than I ever thought I would and with a few more weeks left before I have to haul stuff around in the blistering heat of summer, it’s just what I needed to focus on continuing to make sure that the Cinema Wasteland Show is the number one fan show in the country to the people who count most - the attending fans and the CW regulars who feel like family to us here.
With a nice break off the road and plenty of time to get some stuff done around the house, I’m looking to celebrate our 13th Anniversary this October with one helluva packed show. Here’s hoping you’ll be able to join us for our 24th round of celebrating the Drive-In’s and Grindhouses the only way we know how to do it… The Wasteland Way!
Until next month,
Ken