So, of course, the Buffy Sing-A-Long has managed to book itself into Portland on the very same dates as our charity Serenity screenings. And, of course, at the venue we used last year. Considering how much the sing-a-long thing annoys me already, this might not have been the best move on their part.
Addendum: To be clear, that last bit is not some sort of threat. It’s just an expression of annoyance. Also to be clear, the venue issue is a little surreal, but not the problem. The problem is the potential for siphoning away some of our audience, which can’t happen because we are, after all, a charity event that needs to actually make money for the charities involved.
The problem is, even if the competing event has been slotted for its usual midnight showtimes, it might not matter. A lot of people are not going to spend money on both events, they’re going to choose one or the other. And a lot of them are going to choose the experience they’ve never had before, rather than a movie they’ve already seen.
Addendum: They’re booked for Seattle the following weekend, and than “TBA” for the next weekend. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t book for Portland on that TBA weekend instead.
Addendum: For the record, I got email from the Sing-a-Long, concerned that our respective events might actually be booked for the same time of day, and wanting to make sure we didn’t conflict in that manner. So, gold star from me for not wanting that sort of problem to crop up.
As for the real concern (splitting the potential audience simply due to the combined cost of attending two events), I still don’t know what to do about that possibility.
Addendum: They’ve raised the interesting counter-point: Both events during the same period bring the possiblity of a sort of “weekend of Whedon” angle bringing media attention to both events.
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