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Don’t forget the previous Con Wars:
http://www.chron.com/business/article/Judge-refuses-to-stop-show-7361787.php
“The hearing was the latest development in the dispute between Space City Comic Con, a three-day festival scheduled for NRG Center over the Memorial Day weekend, and the convention and visitors bureau, which has a 50 percent take in a rival pop culture event, Comicpalooza, scheduled for the George R. Brown Convention Center in mid-June. The convention bureau sued Space City Comic Con and its owner, George Comits, for trademark infringement earlier this year.”

Attendance in 2014: about 30,000.
—
The bigger problem, especially for the organizers, will be refunds for the VIP tickets.
At best, they take a hit in the pocket book. At worst, they get hit with a class-action lawsuit.

Meanwhile, in Houston, will be
Amazing Houston Comic Con (Sept 9-11, 2016)
Comicpalooza (June 17-19, 2016)

Meanwhile, in Orlando, MegaCon (now part of Informa, which runs Fan Expo) expanded to four days, and not much happened. (I wonder if they’ve evolved past their comics-centric origins?)

“I totally get that but when you screw over your fans and punish your fans because of it well to me that’s totally unacceptable.”

He didn’t screw over his fans. The promoters did.

If you show up to work and your boss decides not to pay you that day, do you owe it to your customers to still work your shift? No.

The Sons Of Anarchy don’t own anybody anything.

100% of the blame is on the promoter. If Hunnam were to stick around, he’s basically rewarding the con for unacceptable behaviour. I suppose he could have gone to a Denny’s or somewhere and tweeted that he’d be there for a few hours to sign, but even then, he was there to sign for money.

This whole paying for autographs and photos is still a baffling business to me. Charging for an autograph itself seems like punishing your fans.

Some of this is true, some of it is false. I will openly state this – the Sons actors did NOT “revolt” by not doing the panels. The AVI business that was brought in was not paid on the first panel. The “reunion” panel that had 4 actors was canceled, then on then canceled then a few actors were told it was on or to go or not. One actor I spoke with thought it was a joke but decided to double check because of all the lies and misinformation, and he arrived halfway through the 4 person panel.

On Sunday, all the actors but Charlie (who had left the night previously) and Ryan Hurst (who was downstairs signing autographs), attended a shortened panel, despite being on their 3rd day, without pay – shoved into a tiny room, where half the cast had to literally stand on their feet behind the other 8 chairs wedged on this tiny stage.

I am Mary Peterson and I’m spokesperson and co-admin of the Facebook group of disgruntled VIPs who were so readily screwed while the actors profusely apologized to us and treated us like royalty. I couldn’t say enough especially about how awesome and apologetic Kim Coates, Michael Beach, Chris Reid, Danny Trejo, and even the twins parents were to us and more, knowing how screwed we were. Feel free to message me on Facebook if you have any questions.

The SOA cast didn’t punish their fans, the convention organizers did. Remember that many of the guests are still active in the industry. That means it’s on the Space City Comic Con organizers to make it worth their while to attend. If these people arrive only to find that the con is suddenly not going to pay them, THEY DO NOT HAVE SHOW UP! The SOA cast had every right to demand payment, and the promoters had taken on the responsibility of doing so. I get that there were SOA fans who went there to see their favorite actors from the show, and I can understand how frustrating it is to learn that the cast wasn’t going to be there, but the only way to keep the fans happy is to run a tight ship on the business end of things, something the SCCC people failed to do.

I went to a rally in Newton, Iowa several years ago to meet Charlie Hunnam. The event was mismanged and people including myself waited over 8 hours in line even with wristbands. After we were the last group to get in and there were still about 200 left outside promoter was trying to shut things down and turn them away Charlie sat with no break and made sure all those fans were let in. He was charming (no pun intended) and saw all his fans were treated well. If he left this event there was a good reason I’m sure.

“but the show apparently has a good rep before that.”

No, they didn’t, but no one reported on it. At the Galveston event in ’14 they failed to pay guests and Moody Gardens, screwed over their investors, and had to change names and legal stakeholders to The Houston Con to avoid lawsuits. George Comits has a storied history of this sort of behaviour if you dig into it, I’ve seen some of it firsthand.

The Cast didn’t screw over the fans, THE PROMOTER DID. The Cast deserved to be paid for their time, the same as anyone else. These huys do care about their fans, but you cannot expect them to work for free. The only ones who deserved to be tarred and feathered or the unscrupulous promoters. YOU DON’T !@@#$# WITH SAMCRO!!