Actor Con
| Synonyms: | procon |
| See also: | Creation Con |
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An actor con is a fan convention where the guest speakers include actors who have appeared in productions of interest to fans. For example, a Star Trek actor con might invite William Shatner.
Actor cons are usually for-profit, due to the expense of paying big-name actors to appear. However, some fan-run conventions do invite actors and other industry people.
Examples of Actor Cons
- Creation Con
- Visions (convention)
Fans in Favor
Rubbing elbows with actors and other celebrities in room parties and autograph lines is a plus for some fans.
See: Groupies.
Fans Not in Favor
Not all fans are fans of mixing the actors and other PTB into their conventions, citing boundaries, a chilling effect on fan creativity, and fans doing unwise things in order to be close to the objects of their affections. Meeting the people behind the characters also led to strife regarding fanworks and visibility, as well possible disappointment that the actors were not, in reality, their characters.
See: The Blake's 7 Wars for one example.
An example of a con that aggressively resisted actors' involvement was MediaWest*Con.
Fan Comments
Yes Please!
No Thanks!
...the way the actors embody their characters is key to the appeal of the show, so in that sense we "need" the actors. IMO, Starsky and Hutch loved each other (whether or not one feels sex was involved) because Paul and David loved each other, and weren't afraid to say so. That said, do we "need" them to have a fandom? Not in my opinion. Years ago, I mentioned to someone at work something about SH cons. They asked if the actors ever came, no doubt thinking about the better-known Trek cons. I said that we really focused more on discussing the characters and episodes, blah blah, drop the subject and never bring it up again. Inside, my gut reaction was "NO! And we wouldn't want them to!" You get the ball rolling, guys; we'll take it from there. JMO. 8-) [1]
I finally met David Soul at Collectormania London last year. He was very nice to me but told someone else he didn't like doing cons/events and was only doing it because he was out of work. So he probably wouldn't want to do the S&H cons any more than the fans would want him to. (And I totally understand how having an actor present would mean changing the topic of much fans' con conversations!) [2]
References
- ^ comment by Linda McGee at Zinelist, quoted with permission (Oct 3, 2010)
- ^ quoted anonymously from Zinelist (Oct 3, 2010)