From Nick Edwards of The Signal
"Well, that time of year is fast approaching once again when Browncoats all over Earth That Is gather together to honour Joss Whedon's birthday by watching the Big Damn Movie on or around the 23rd of June. In the process we also traditionally (look, this is the 3rd year now, that makes it a tradition in fandom terms alright?) we raise money for Equality Now and other charities close to our hearts and have a damn fine shindig doing it as well.
As anyone who listens to any of the Firefly podcasts or frequents any of the Firefly forums, most of you will no doubt be aware that the Can't Stop The Serenity screenings this year are facing a few more challenges than usual. Principal among these challenges is the lack of prints of Serenity that are available for the USA screenings in particular, due to the accidental destruction of all but 12 of the US prints – a story we covered last episode - against the express internal wishes of Universal I might add. Oddly, this is not a challenge that bothers me that much. Universal are doing a lot to put right the situation by shipping in spare prints from elsewhere and also hopefully arranging for DVD performance licences at reduced cost. Making new prints is not an option because theatre quality prints cost around 3000 pounds sterling or around 6000 US dollars. But as I said, this doesn't bother me.
Speaking to Beth Nelson as part of an interview for Sending A Wave, the wholly UK based Firefly and Serenity podcast, she assured us that this situation was not going to result in any US screening being cancelled as far as she was aware. And that it was more of a minor inconvenience than a disaster. With 40 cities around the world signed up and around 10,000 US dollars raised already this year, increases in the number of screenings in Australia and Canada in particular, T shirts and posters already arranged and some great guests and events planned around some of the screenings, things are off to a good start. But we need to do more.
Now some of you may be aware of the Affiliate Event programme that is coordinated via the Can't Stop The Serenity folks, information on which can be found at
www.cantstoptheserenity.com . Basically this is all about holding a shindig in association with an existing screening, but not necessarily in the same city, in order to have fun and increase the money raised. This is a truly excellent idea. But I want to go further than this.
I have spoken on earlier episodes about shindiggery, conversion season and maximising your "hit rate". This is all connected to the idea I'm about to present to you, but it didn't all come together until a discussion in a pub, appropriately enough, between myself, Jill Arroway and Odile Thomas while we were all attending Serenity Complete.
It couldn't be simpler.
Have "Phantom Screenings". What in the name of god and all her wacky nephews is that? I hear you ask.
Easy. On or around the 23rd, or indeed whenever the hell you damn well like, you sit down at home and watch Serenity. You can do this alone or with friends or with potential converts, but you watch the film at home. Then you go to the pub or have a picnic, barbecue, or shindig to celebrate the fact. Doesn't have to be on the same day as you watch the film, though it would be more fun that way. The main point is that everyone who watches the film or attends a shindig or whatever, sticks a donation in the pot that will be sent to Equality Now via CSTS.
That's it.
The beauty of this is that ANYONE can do this. It also does not require direct input from Can't Stop The Serenity, though I can assure you that this idea does have the blessing of Beth Nelson and her dedicated crew. All it needs is for any number of Browncoats from 1 to…well however many the hell there are of us now to a) watch Serenity and b) send a donation big or small. Doesn't matter if it's equivalent to a few bucks or hundreds or more. It all helps…which is kind of the whole damn point.
Now clearly you can take it a bit further than this…and this is where the simplicity of the idea comes in again…of course you can. You can organise a raffle, have a quiz with a small entry fee…whatever you like, it's entirely up to you. All that matters is that as an individual or as part of a group, you watch the film and you make a donation so more money is raised. Simple.
I'd suggest a sensible minimal donation might be what you might pay to go see a movie, but again, it's entirely up to you. Anything from doing this on your own all the way up to organising a full scale screening is fine. Of course, once you get beyond a certain stage, this is when you should contact Beth Nelson and bring in the CSTS expertise and support and another official screening is born. It is certainly not too late in the day to do this and the period of time during which screenings can be considered part of CSTS 2008 has been extended.
Beth indeed has offered to hook people up with organisers of official screenings if you'd like to be partnered up and send your donations via them to boost their take. I personally plan to try and hook up with the screening organised by Sheila in Toronto, who I met at Serenity Complete and who has the only other copy of the Badgers Word CD signed by Mark Sheppard, which will be up for auction.
So. It's all up to you now. Support a local screening by being involved or attending, run an Affiliate event in support if you can, but if all else fails, hold a Phantom Screening. In fact strike that. Hold a Phantom Screening anyway. Hold 2 or 5 or more over the year…the only limit on these is your willingness to do it and your imagination. We're Browncoats and that makes us mighty and there is no excuse NOT to do this and help this year's Can't Stop The Serenity be the most successful yet.
Over at the Signal, we would love to hear about how you get on with this. This is Fanac at a grass roots level and I hope to be able to read many reports of events of ANY size on the forums so that we can share them with our listeners in the same way as we have with the What's Your Serenity? segments.
So it's over to you. Make us proud. "
Nick Edwards"
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