We strolled across the parking lot to the convention center and scoped out the lobby. The security guards downstairs were very officious, and turned us away from the main hall, but we *did* find the freebie bins, and grabbed a couple of Electronic Medias. Then we went upstairs, and scoped out the NATPE store. A life-size cutout of Hercules, lots of stuff for X-files, Party of Five, etc, etc, but no FK stuff that *I* saw, at least then. [They did have stuff the next day, though. And I was very tired and may have missed it.] We wandered around the upstairs lobby a bit, then managed to sneak by a distracted guard and actually get onto the second-floor floor. Wandered around, grabbing anything SF-related in sight for Bjo [Trimble]. Toni did her stealth routine in the Tri-Star booth, and we both talked to the women at Paragon. After that, we had dinner at [the] Treasure Island [Casino's buffet] and by the time that was finished, the LA contingent had checked in.
Angela wrote up an account of our evening activities as part of the NATPE 7 Quote List.
Catherine:
Wed morning Dianne and Angela and I went over to Diane and Cherri's room, all dressed to kill (no literal remarks here, nope, not at all... ;) and Diane was about ready to hit the ceiling, she was so excited over the article that the nice man from New York wrote about us in the NATPE midweek EM mag. No, actually, hitting the ceiling wasn't quite right. More like she was hitting escape velocity. :)
Diane:
Somewhere around Jupiter, *I*'d say. It was really the perfect way to start the day, and we decided then and there that, since we couldn't take our bouquets home, anyway, we'd replace the florist cards with our generic FoFK cards and drop them off at the EM people's hotel....
Catherine:
But then we all read the article, and we were all in orbit. The article was **extremely** favorable, likening us to Trekkies, except more intelligent and sophisticated, on and on. The whole article will be transcribed by Diane as soon as she gets home and gains conciousness, so I'd expect it sometime next week. :) Anyway, it was on page four, and quite prominent. It even had a first season promo pic of Ger and John, with the Elvis burns. We were ecstatic. We couldn't have *paid* for this kind of publicity.
So we loaded up the car and all our bags, and headed out . Some took the front entrance, while Dianne and I took the top of the escalators. We passed out about 75 flyers and bags each before we got kicked out, in a half an hour. I think the others did about the same, if not better. Unfortunately, yes, we did get kicked out in very short order. But only a few of us were actually approached by security, so Debbie and Toni kept working the front entrance, while the rest of us either scoped out the main floor, or went outside to keep going there. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day, and today is the same. There was a chilly breeze, but not bad. And so we started the real work.
Okay, at this point, we all had our own stories about the people we talked to and the things that happened to us, and while I'll hopefully write down all the ones of us in the car, I didn't have time to get those of Toni and Diane, so they'll have to add their own little addendums when they get home.
Diane:
Myself, I was working the far left side of the lobby, where mostly foreign folks seemed to be going. Think I may have been a little *too* eager, and got too close to the convention doors. I wasn't exactly kicked out, just told I couldn't hand anything out in the lobby. They were really very nice about it, if very stuffed-shirt. Then I went in search of another FoFK, and found Dianne at the top of the escalator. A minute after I arrived, a woman coming up the escalator spotted our badges, and gushed about the show for a minute. (This happened *all day* and really helped us keep going!) Then she asked us to stop by her booth(!) because her friend in there would want to meet us. We explained about not having memberships, so she said she'd send her out, and would we be here? We said yes, and a minute later a security guard told Dianne *she* couldn't hand stuff out, either. He did say we could wait there for the woman (who never came back) and give business cards to people who asked. So we waited.... but she never came back.
Finally gave up and went to lunch, after checking out the locations of the rest of our team. Gave brochures and bags to our waitresses, who promised to watch the show on USA Tuesday, and dropped a stack of brochures in the Treasure Island lobby. Then met our landlady on the way back, walking down the Strip, and explained to her why someone who didn't like vampires *or* cop shows *would* like FK, and *she* promised to watch it! {g} Dropped brochures at the Sands, and back into action!
Dianne, for those of you that don't know, is a very fair, very pale redhead-- almost strawberry blond-- and she spent HOURS standing in the bright Vegas sun to hand out bags. When Cherri and I got back from lunch, we took over her spot and sent her under cover to keep from getting sunburned worse than she already was.
Shortly after that, one of the guys I handed a flyer to doubled back, and asked me why USA was cancelling. About half-way through my answer, I realized his card said "PRESS" and "Spin the Bottle"-- anybody heard of these guys? [They do Pop-Up Videos on VH1] Anyway, I explained about the split showing, and how that meant USA was getting the equivalent of second-run ratings, and he got all indignant and said (not an exact quote) "USA shows nothing but re-runs. I don't understand why they wouldn't support a great first-run show like FK." Then he asked me what cons we'd gotten our demographics from! I said, "Several cons, and a survery on the Internet". We chatted another minute or so, and *then*, when I asked him to ask Tri-Star for a fourth season, he said, "I'm seeing Kay this afternoon, I'll ask her!" and I nearly lost it! Of course, I don't *know*, but I entertain this fantasy that Ms. Koplovitz was in the middle of a press conference/interview on her award, and this reporter jumps up and asks her "Why is USA cancelling an excellent show like Forever Knight? Do you know the fans are here in support of the show?" Like I said, my own personal fantasy...
And several times, people would rush by us, shaking their heads, *then* spot that classy-looking brochure you all worked so hard to get ready for us, and double back and take one! That, and the number of people who *recognized* and *liked* the show, really blew us all away. Never, ever again will *any* of us even *consider* that no-one out there knows about the show! *Then* Paul DaCruz from EM wandered by, just as Dianne and Catherine got back from lunch. He said all sorts of nice things about us, and explained how he'd pitched the article, and how he thought we (meaning, I think, FoFK and EM) were a great 'partnership' or 'team' or 'combo' or some sort of thing-that-fits-nicely-together type phrase. Wanted a picture of us to take back to 'show around the office', but his camera wasn't working. We offered to mail him some, and swapped business cards. *That* impressed him, I think, because he said "Wow! You guys did business cards for this, too?" We just smiled, and pointed out that it was amazing what you can do with a laser printer and a PC these days, wasn't it? {grin}
Shortly after this, it started to get dark, and a few 'ladies of the evening' started wandering by (black lace body stockings, *way* too much makeup, and looking *nothing* like the ones from FWTD) so we decided it was time to stop standing on streetcorners smiling at strange men. {vbg}
We went back inside and bought the last two FK mugs. I asked the guy running the booth if he had any *more* FK stuff, and he rooted out some T-shirts (there weren't any on the racks). They're identical to the ones Parriott gave you folks lucky enough to fight the first renewal campaign, and very, VERY cool.
Then we got Angela to show us her secret way onto the convention center floor, and joined Toni & Catherine in the Tri-Star booth. I think the poor PR flack was a little overwhelmed by us all. I'll let Toni give you the details of what she said, since she was there for the whole time, and I only got in on the last few minutes.
Catherine:
In front of the convention center, there's a long covered walkway that goes between where the buses park and the entrance, with taxis stopping all along it. Since I was one of those to get stopped by security, I was extra careful, and went about halfway out before I stopped and started distributing. I figured that whatever happened, even if everyone else got booted, I'd be okay. After a few hours, the security guy directing cars across from me started talking, and he offered to trade jobs ($12.75 an hour isn't worth this!). I was *really* tempted, but I said no. I had one guy who was walking in a group, so I couldn't get him before he passed. But he saw me, stopped, and came back. He put his stuff down and started reading through the flyer right in the middle of the walkway, with all these people passing all around him. He just kept saying "Wow. You guys are great. This is so great. Keep it up." And while I didn't catch his name before he turned around, I was able to see the Colombia TriStar logo.
Okay, so there's the song over the radio, the whistling song from Brdge Over the River Kwai. I decided that should be our theme song. Just a little diversion.
There was one guy that stopped while I was still giving them out at the elevator. Not only did he stop to talk to us, but he recognized us as "Hey, you guys are with Lynn Ackerman, aren't you?" So whatever you're doing, Lynn, keep it up!! :) There was a group of people from Atlanta (at least one of them was) who stopped and said "Wow! This is my favorite show! Yeah, I'd heard it was being cancelled, but we're going to try anyway. You guys keep it up! We're not all bastards!" And yes, that is a direct quote. They were very nice, and I steered them in the right direction to TriStar.
Another guy stopped and talked with me for a long time. He asked what I did regularly, asked if I was with TriStar, the TV industry, so on and so forth. I gave him the full spiel, with why USA dropped, how good the ratings are, how loyal the fans are, yadda yadda. He was *really* impressed. He kept asking "Is the show really that good?" until I wanted to shake him by the shoulders "YES, YOU FOOL!!". But he ended by being really supportive and saying "TriStar is lucky to have viewers like you." My reply was "Why don't you go tell them that? {bright smile} They're at ..." and he said he definitely would.
When I got on my lunch break, people had already scoped everything out, and they were selling FK merchandise upstairs, really nice embroidered shirts, both long and short sleeved, and black mugs with the logo, and a bite-sized chunk taken out of the rim. I told Dianne later that it was eminently Knightie-ish, especially for me. We Knighties always take out our addiction deprivation on the vessel of our addiction. For Nick, he hucks his blood bottles at the walls. Me, I gave up caffeine for FK, so I start chewing the mugs. :)
Anyway, we walked around the floor (you can't get in the front way, but there's an entrance through the bathrooms that works extremely well) and checked out all the booths. There was a Rysher booth, but no Highlander stuff. The TriStar booth, while advertising all over the place for Baywatch, had not a stitch of FK. Well, to be expected. On the whole, the booths are very boring. But we were also hungry, and had been on our feet for four hours straight at that point, so that might have had something to do with it. :)
After lunch, back to work. The sun was starting to set, and one nice grandfatherly type made me promise I'd go inside after dark fell.
Close to the end of the work day, Toni and I went to go see if we could actually get into the TriStar lounge. See, the TriStar booth is actually like a little lounge in the corner, with a bar and chairs and tables, etc. But there are tons of security around, and Toni had tried three times before to get in, and failed every time. But this time, it was totally open, and we just waltzed right in. I asked the secretary in front if they'd had anyone asking for a new season of FK. She looked fairly helpless, and I took pity on her and asked her to point me in a direction. She routed me to a nice man (I know, I know, but I'm so pitiful with names, bear with me. Toni might remember.) ,who didn't know, but he was very helpful and rooted out the PR/ad person for FK from the back rooms.
Okay, now I asked Toni for this lady's name at least four times... and I can't remember. Arrgh! [Sandie Currie] Oh well, she was very sweet, and very informative... kinda. The most important thing she said (and she repeated it several times) was that everyone at TriStar has been *overwhelmed* and amazed at the fan response. She just kept emphasizing that. She said that the guys over in sales just started laughing whenever they saw her, because they were all just so floored by all the letters and all. But she also said that the decision wasn't hers, she just passed on the things she heard (it sounded like she was passing on a *lot*), and the real decision was in the upper levels. She was very apologetic, until I finally ended up in the position of cheering *her* up! Don't worry, honey, it's okay! We already knew it was going to be cancelled! :)
She said that they have to look at the overall national ratings, and they wanted their shows to get at least a 2 (we've got a 1.7), and basically that was that, as far as the execs were concerned. We tried to slough off all of our extra bags on her, since they're generic FK, instead of FoFK, but she said no, that she had enough. We asked if people had been asking for a new season of FK, and she said she didn't know, that that was really with the sales people, but that she would probably find out soon (like a week or two, from the sound of it), and that she would let us know when she found out. So we both gave her our cards, and if Toni or I ever get anything, we'll let y'all know right away. So anyway, we had a nice half hour chat or so, and I for one left feeling much better, because it sounded very much like, even if we had no impact at all here (which was emphatically not the case), that TriStar office gossip was about the tremendous work we're doing.
Everybody do the happy happy joy joy dance! We're making an impact! So by the time we got out of there, it was dark, and everybody was fairly screaming (through our poor feet) that we wanted to go home. Dianne was a trooper, and stood out and handed out bags out in the cold while we were inside shmoozing. We waited until she ran out of bags, and then we collapsed in our hotel.
Oh yeah, I forgot. We caught up with Paul DaCruz, who did the EM ad, and he was really cool. He was very very supportive of what we were doing, and wanted to get our picture (there was Dianne, Diane, Cherri and me) but his camera spazzed. So we got his card, and promised to send him the best half dozen of our pictures when we developed them. He said that what we were doing was great, and we should all be proud.
Continued...
The Pewter Gryphon's Lair
