X-CON: X-Files Convention in Berlin 16th -18th October 2009

[ethsnafu]

Thank you so much for such an informative read. Ideas about having a convention have been discussed a time or two and reading the above I can see how much work and effort would be involved in the putting this together. I have to say that I think Fox are probably more receptive to the X-Files than they are to Millennium (as you mentioned, the former is still very much alive) but who knows. I think a Ten Thirteen convention would be a fantastic idea and certainly the idea of a combined Millennium/X-Files event would be awesome. Put it this way, if you guys laid on a few Millennium guests I would have no qualms at all about travelling to Berlin for the event. I'm in the UK so that's no bother.

All food for thought but thank you so much for sharing your advice.

Eth

[Guest Lady3Jane]

Well, that brings to an interesting question: Who would be some interesting MillenniuM guests? I guess not all of them "do" conventions. I know that Frank Spontitz and Lance seem to be open about it. If it's somebody who is a fan favourite and worked both shows there may be a possibility.

Would MLM fans come to Berlin if Frank Spotnitz showed up? Or Mark Snow? Actors are asking for pretty high pay so "behind the camera" people are easier to get...

[ethsnafu]

Hi there,

Interesting points. To be honest a lot of them did both shows but whether or not they would do the cons is another matter. Lance would most probably do it as he has suggested this to us before anyway, he's interested in a Millennium convention and is a regular at cons the world over anyway. Dough Hutchison, Kristen Cloke, Sarah-Jane Redmond, Stephen E. MIller and Terry O'Quinn are all fan favourites and have had roles in both shows and in the case of Terry and Sarah-Jane, in three out of the four Ten Thirteen franchises playing major roles in two of them. Behind the scenes folk I can see being draws would be Chip Johannessen, Frank Spotnitz, Glen Morgan and James Wong with only Chip not having a hand in more than one 1013 franchise. Mark Snow and Chris Carter are without question of interest to both franchises. I guess the added bonus would be that thanks to BTFB we are in communication, to some degree, with all of the above except Terry so if an approach was made about convention appearance they would be dealing with names they already know which might make it more of success.

Obviously a few choice episode screenings, the MM community could set up a stall showcasing our memorabilia collections and so on. The more I think of it the more I can conceive of us doing.

Interesting stuff,

Eth

PS Wrote to Fox about a few other things I needed to run by them so thank you for suggesting how to go about it. Hopefully they will respond this time ;)

[Guest WaveCrest]

I've been keen about the idea of a Millennium convention during the past few months. If combining it with an X Files convention brought more attention then that would be great. These are the people I can think of at the moment, who worked on Millennium, who I would like to see at an Millennium/X Files convention (bear in mind, these are just suggestions):

Lance Henriksen (you've got to have the main man!)

Frank Spotnitz

Chris Carter

Megan Gallagher (I think the last UK convention she attended was Collectormania 10, back in Sept/Oct 2006)

Brittany Tiplady

Klea Scott

Kristen Cloke

Terry O'Quinn (he must be finishing work on Lost in the new year)

Stephen James Lang

Bill Smitrovich

Sarah-Jane Redmond

Peter Outerbridge

Missy Crider

Marshall Bell

John Hawkes.

[ethsnafu]

Wasn't there some talk of a second X-Con this year? I wondered if plans were afoot for this? If there is I am definitely buying a ticket to Berlin for it.

Any gossip from behind the scenes?

Eth

[Guest Lady3Jane]

Wasn't there some talk of a second X-Con this year? I wondered if plans were afoot for this? If there is I am definitely buying a ticket to Berlin for it.

Any gossip from behind the scenes?

Eth

As things look like there will be no CON but some kind of a weekend or three day fan meeting. The ideas at the moment are Sight seeing and renting a cinema screen to show the bot XF movies.

It could also be that this will not be in Berlin...but nothing defenitve at the moment.

It turned out that the organiser won't be able to organise another CON due to her real life obligations. She also would have to lay out the money before and at those times that would be rather bold.

[ethsnafu]

Thank you so much for the information and please do keep us updated with any and all developments if you have the time. I wonder if I can, again, be nosey.

When the first convention was arranged I assume the lady in question didn't do this alone right? And when it came to booking guest appearances I assume their fees were paid for out of the sales of tickets?

Sorry to be a nag but I am free from the campaign now and am seriously thinking about arranging a little something for Millennium/X-Files/LoneGunmen fans in the UK if I can get my head around it.

Eth

[Guest Lady3Jane]

The lady in question did the most organising work like making enquiries to potential guest stars, getting the approve from FOX etc. She also laid out all money for the flights, the location, the hotel rooms, GEMA etc from her personal accounts.

As far as I know she had to make a deposit for all three guest stars.

I think it would be wise founding a limited or a registered association or something to make sure that nobodys private money is lost in case break even is reached. It also makes a lot things easieler when renting equipment or you nead to buy things, tax wise...X CON is a private association at the moment, which means the lady in question is a debitor with all her personal accounts in case something went wrong...

[Guest WaveCrest]

Sorry to hear that the X-CON isn't happening. Hopefully there will be one in the future sometime.

Mark, that would be cool, an X Files/Millennium/Lone Gunmen event in the future.

[Guest Lady3Jane]

Sorry to hear that the X-CON isn't happening. Hopefully there will be one in the future sometime.

Mark, that would be cool, an X Files/Millennium/Lone Gunmen event in the future.

Well, there is something happening, but not a convention.

More about this here

Dear Philes,

after abundantly consideration - and this decision wasn't easy for us - we have decided to not conduct an X-Con in 2010.

"Why", you might be wondering.

You may have noticed how long the evaluation of the past con takes and we are not even close to have finished.

In order to finance and conduct another con we would have had started yet with the planning phase. Yes, it takes at least one year to get everything started and to organize. Because the three of us (and also our supporters) had to cope the organization once again besides our actual jobs, it would mean a second year in a row with like no spare time. Furthermore, we will be even more busy in our jobs due to various reasons. Therefore, a reasonable planning would be hardly implementable which is the reason why we had to decide against the X-Con 2010.

Of course we take your suggestions and critics serious! And especially because of this we do not want to disappoint anyone by doing the next con unreasonably. We are deeply distressed that we had to make that decision and we would gladly do the con. However, above-mentioned reasons just force the opposite. In addition, there would be a tremenduous higher financial effort to make for guests and rooms which had to be - once again - prefinanced by a private person. The amount would be higher than the last time.

So, one thing affects the other. Therefore, we are asking for your understanding.

In order to cut the waiting time until a possible next con (and believe us, we continue to look for a solution to organize a second con), we would like to organize at least a Phile gathering in 2010.

Until now, we have thought about meeting in a city for a weekend or three days. The city will be chosen by election. We would commit a sightseeing tour, have a meal together and rent a cinema to watch both movies.

At least that is the rough plan.

We will be releasing further info on this on our various platforms some time soon.

Of course, Philes from abroad are hearty welcome as well!

We hope this gathering will ease you a bit for the cancellation. As already mentioned, it is tough for us as well.

Hoping all of you had a good and healthy turn of year, we wish you a positive and successful course of 2010!

Your Organizational Team