Nash, TN NASHVILLE- WE ARE GO FOR LAUNCH!!!- The Thoroughbred it is

I just got great news from Carmike Corporate,

"We would love to have you guys line-up at our theater!"

She is going to get in touch with the manager at the Thoroughbred and have him call me and arrange things for us. She also said that if there is anything they can do for us, just let them know. They are even arranging for security for us when we line up. FANTASTIC!!!

I'll go ahead and get a design for the flyers finalized and bring one to "Ice Age" for everyone's comments.

I also spoke with Stacy Battles from the NDRF and she is excited that we are wanting to incorporate raising funds for the NDRF with our line-up. She just E-mailed me (and Jedi-Toren also) some third party fund raising info. I'll mill over it tonight and get back to you all tomorrow.

LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!!

 

I'll be a commin' down with a posse of Kentuckian Jedi.

LMK if you need help whipping up a flyer. I can put one together and e-mail a JPEG of it to you for printout - or if you're going to have them printed - I can arrange the art and file for that too.

 

Thanks for the offer , but I already have a preliminary design done, I just need to finalize it in photoshp and we are good to go. I appreciate it though.

EDIT On second thought, if you want to come up with a flyer design, by all means go right ahead . It will give us more than one design to consider, and we may even end up combining the best of both into one. Can you get us something sometime next week? Thanks for your help!

 

AWESOME!!! Now we can get this party started.

Scott, did you let Stacie Battles know that the Thoroughbred is in?
Did you ask the Thoroughbred about running a slide? If so do you know what the details are? Anyone know where we can get a slide printed from a computer graphics file?

 

I spoke with her prior to Carmikes confirmation. I told her it was contingent on their permission. She said that Regal is already doing something for them due to Regal being based out of Knoxville. She was excited to get Carmike involved too. Like I said I'm going to mill over the info she e-mailed us tonight and get back with you all and her tomorrow.

As far as the slides go, that is something to speak with the Thoroughbred manager about. She said that she was going to call him and get him in contact with us. Once we get a flyer design finalized and agreed upon, we can get it made into a slide. BTW, any clue as to how many we will need? Also, I would suggest putting these up in doors, so we won't have to buy expensive paper to put these on. I doubt they would have any problems putting a slide up in a few theaters. It will afterall be advertising their theater.

IDEA! Does anyone have a STAR WARS EPII Teaser Banner that we could borrow? No. Better yet, Lets see if Carmike could get us one to put up above our line. That would be awesome

Brainstorm everyone!!! Carmike said to let them know if there was anything they could do for us. Let's take advantage of that and make our requests to them all at once. IDEAS please!!! But, be reasonable too We'll get a list together for when we talk to the manager.

Another necessity is power. In order to run a VCR, TV, or movie projector like Wampa_stompa suggested, we will need access to an electrical outlet or an alternate source.

 

I'm sure they have a few exterior outlets, probably protected by locked covers. We need to ask them. As soon as we get togethor with the Thoroughbred to hash out the details we need to figure out:

-Power
-Banners
-Flyers in the doors
-Slides

 

Kanos -

E-mail me the pertinent info and I'll get to work on it - hopefully having it ready by late weekend for you.

e-mail: mdeering13@mchsi.com

Color or B/W flyers? How are you going to print them?

Also - did you see the thread about placing ads? I might be able to place a small display ad in the W. KY Thrifty Nickel at a price I can afford since I put their display ads together for them once a week.

LMK

 

As I mentioned at a meeting, I have a portable generator I can bring. It will provide 2 outlets. Noise might be a problem, I dunno. Would it be unreasonable for us to request port-a-johns?

 

My friends, I will be making a documentary about all of this hoopla from the original line-up until the premeire date. Let me know if you'd like to be part of it and if there are any events you'd like me to record (meetings, important release days, etc.) You're also more than welcome to post it on your site once it's completed and if it's good enough, I may enter it into the Nashville Film Festival along with another of my works ("This is getting out of hand. Now there are TWO of them!") If anyone has a projector, let me know. You supply the pod and I'll supply the boy.

 

as far as port-a-johns go, we won't need them. The bathrooms at the Thoroughbred are right inside on the immediate right and the theater is open pretty late. You don't have to have tickets to go inside the lobby. At night, there are two gas stations across the way that I'm sure are open all night. McDonalds opens pretty early as does Starbucks and Chik-fil-a.

As far as the documentary goes wompa_stompa, I'm sure you are more than welcome to cover our next meeting and the line-up. Are you going to the SW Celebration? If so, the road trip and hoopla surrounding the convention might be good to include. I hear there is going to be some kind of parade and grand opening ceremony including the 501st. However, I don't believe you are allowed to bring a movie camera or camcorder inside the convention center. Regular cameras are O.K. You might want to check though.

I just spoke with Stacy with the NDRF this morning and we bounced a couple of ideas around about rasing funds for the NDRF including such things as collection jars, a raffle, and if the Thoroughbred might be interested in donating a portion of concessions proceeds the night STAR WARS opens to the NDRF. She is going to talk with her executive director and get back to me. When we get a couple of ideas solidified, then we will talk to Carmike and get their permission and or assistance.

 

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend Celebration because of work and school. However, if any of you ARE going, if you'd like to let me use your footage, I'd gladly give you credit for it. Damn, I wish I didn't have to miss that.

 

Well bro, I will be taking my miniDV camcorder to the event to record everything I am allowed. So, you are more than welcome to a copy of my footage.

 

GREAT! I will also be recording in Mini DV, so the footage will match. This is shaping up quite nicely...

 

Hey again folks.

Been chatting with my bro in Chicago - and was checking out the Chicago-Force forums.

There's a rumour that Fandango.com is going to sell tickets for Clones a month in advance. I hope that's not the case - but you never know these days.

Does the Thoroughbred 20 partner with Fandango?

I hate the idea of having to get tickets for the midnight show online - I wish that the midnight show tickets were available at the box office only - such would be a proper reward for those of us that waited in line for the length of time we do.

I got in line for tickets at 4:30 A.M. the Wednesday tiks went on sale for Phantom at the H-27. Was a blast of fun.

Can any of you local folks check with the Mgmt at Thoroughbred to get a pulse on that rumour?

 

In talking with corporate reps for Cinemark Theaters USA, Inc. here in Fort Worth, the issue of advance ticket sales has also come up. Currently, theater chains have not been given information as to how Fox/Lucasfilm wants the issue of advance tickets being handled. However, "word" is that it will happen much like it did in 1999 for TPM. They think that Fox/Lucasfilm will limit advance ticket sales to one week prior to the movie's premiere. On top of that, there may be a window of opportunity (a couple of hours or so) for fans who are actually physically present in lines to have first shot at buying tickets. For example, box offices may open at noon to sell tickets to people in line. Then, two hours later, tickets will be sold online, over the phone, etc..

I'm pretty sure that's how it happened for TPM, and I'm hoping something similar happens again for EP2. It's bad enough that we have to have two lines - one for tickets and one for the premiere itself - but that would be made even worse if there was a ticket free-for-all when tickets went up for sale online and created the potential for fans who had been in line for tickets to be totally left out in the cold (literally and figuratively).

 

I hope so too GMJ . That worked out very well for TPM.

And "yes" LordInvar, Carmike advertizes Fandango to death. So much so that some movie goers actually boo in the theater when the add comes up before the trailers. But, a month in advance? That seems a little extreme, especially since if that happens, the extra marketing the theaters would gain from fans lining up would be lost as tickets would surely be sold out by then. I just don't think the theaters are that ignorant. Besides, if Lucasfilm says that tickets will go on sale on a certain date, you can bet full well that Fandango will not be able to sell them a minute earlier, and probably as GMJ said two hours later. If tickets were available online a month in advance, there would be such an outcry from STAR WARS fans everywhere that Lucasfilm would end up changing the policy before they actually are available. Imagine that. People wanting to stand in line Only in the world of STAR WARS fandom! Its tradition to line-up for STAR WARS tickets at least overnight. Anything less would be almost sacriligeous. I think FAN- DANG is the least of our worries, believe me. I hope

 

I just spoke with the District office at Carmike in regards to both Charity involvement and getting a SW banner as well as media advertising:

* NDRF needs to submit a proposal to Carmike for their Corporate office to approve. I spoke with the NDRF and they will do that soon. As far as a percentage of concessions going to charity (which would have been the best case scenario) that is out. Raffles are considered gambling in Tennessee, so that is out as well. I pretty much decided to put the ball in the NDRF's court and let them come up with an idea of how we could help them raise funds. Its they're job anyway, and they will probably better than we would at doing this anyway.

*The banner idea, while it would be cool, is not up to Carmike. Lucasfilm sends each of them that stuff and usually asks for it in return. The banners have been sent out already. If they don't have one now, they won't be getting one in the future, no matter how many people we could promise them. So if you know anyone who would be kind enough to let us borrow one, we would be most appreciative and take good care of it.

* Media coverage. Well, its up to us again. Carmike doesn't advertise with anyone, save for the little add they run in the weekly newsapaper for showtimes. Perhaps the week that tickets become available they could mention that the Thoroughbred is proud to be the official theater of the STAR WARS Nashville Fan Force Chapter. Anybody seeing that would realize, "Hey, the STAR WARS line is going to be at the Thoroughbred!" I'll mention that to her once we get a date that tickets for AOTC will become availalbe. Anything else we need us going to be in cooperation with the Thoroughbred manager.

As far as flyers go, I will be posting a preliminary flyer shortly for your comments. We can pass these out in April once we get a ticket sale date and we know how we are helping the NDRF raise funds.

 

Kanos,

If you can get the River of another radio station to be a 'sponsor' of the official line-up - they may provide all the advertising you could want before, and during the line party. The River gave out alot of T-shirts (I have one) and other stuff at their live broadcast.

Getting them to actually sponsor you (since you're non-profit - yes?) could be relatively easy. They may run promo spots to benefit not only the theatre, but the charity you decide to benefit.

I've got a flyer design I'm finishing - and a small ad I will try to put in the KY issue Thrifty Nickel - ALSO; does someone have space to put up a color web page advertising the event?

See if you can get a station to sponsor you folks - they may also have ideas for charity from their media people.

It's a total bonanza to anyone wanting to be identified with the Official Fan Club Line Party, and the amount of impressions and exposure will benefit not only you folks, but the theatre and the radio station.

Maybe you guys could offer a 'spot in line' contest or 'free tickets to the premiere' from the radio folks? Think big and it will be big!

 

I'm the Nashville Force webmaster, just e-mail me the file at jeditoren@nashvilleforce.com

 

Good points LordINVAR! We'll contact the River by maybe the weeks end and see what we can arrange. I'm hoping that the NDRF will have some ideas for raising funds. Stacy from the NDRF is supposed to get back to me this week sometime with a proposal for the Thoroughbred. I would rather wait to contact the river until we get a better idea of how we are going to go about raising funds for the NDRF. Then the River can be totally informed of how we are going about this and possibly help us advertise for it too. We still have plenty of time to get things organized, but I also know that it will be here before we know it.

 

O.K. Here is the story. I just got in touch with my contact at Carmike. While she could not give me a definite "YES, we will have a midnight showing if given the opportunity", she said that Corporate told her, "Because Episode II is a blockbuster, that if given the option to have a midnight showing, they will in all probability have one." I think that is about the best answer we can hope for at this point seeing that both Lucasfilm & Fox are determined to string this out as long as they possibly can. I mean for Pete's sake, they are already selling tickets in the U.K.! Only God knows what's going on at this point. Either way, we need to get the ball rolling or we are going to be behind the 8-ball come the end of this month. Let's just proceed as planned with the Thoroughbred as our "official theater" and just have faith that we won't regret it.

 

That's good to know. That's one less problem we have to worry about. We know that it's the Thoroughbred no matter what happens.

 

"in all probability" Could they shove bamboo shoots under our finger nails while we wait for a "yes we will have a midnight showing"? I don't want to be a pessimist, I just want them to quit jerking us around.

 

As they say, it starts from the top on down. Luscafilm & Fox gave the release date of May 16th months ago. It's not like this is a new thing to them. They just went through this 3 years ago. You also have to understand where Carmike is coming from. They don't want to give us an absolute "yes" until they have all the facts. Because they don't, they can't. So basically, the likelyhood of having the first showing in Nashville at the Thoroughbred is extremely favorable. I would be less inclined to believe a 'B' caliber small town movie theater on something like this than I would an 'A+' large theater chain like Carmike Cinemas.

We just can't wait any longer to get advertisers/ sponsors, produce programs, flyers & hopefully a banner. Printing lead time is 2-1/2 weeks minimum for the programs. We only have about two weeks to garner sponsorships for advertising. No programs, no fund raiser. I think we've already put too much time & effort into this to bail out at the last minute. And most importantly, it's for a good cause. So think positive and don't worry about it too much. It will all work out for the best.