Canned Food Drives for Prescreenings?
POSTED BY: Shiny
UPDATED: Thursday, May 5, 2005 23:41
VIEWED: 10366
PAGE 1 of 3
*** UPDATE ***
I've only received indications from two cities, Austin (FilmGoddess at FFF.net) and Seattle (koolkatz at the Universal board) that might be doing this, so it looks like we're not going to pull this off this time, at least not in all 10 locations, but we're considering planning something similar for the premire in September when we'll have more time to organize. For any cities that have already organized and contacted their theatres and local food banks already, by all means please have the drive and let us know how it goes (also in San Francisco, there was a pre-existing plan to sell raffle tickets to raise money for the 'Equality Now' charity, so we encourage browncoats attending the SF screening to bring a few dollars for that instead of cans)! But even if your city has not organized a drive, there is still plenty you can do to show people what a huge hit Serenity will be and what great and dedicated fans browncoats are:
1) Be friendly, patient and polite to theatre staff and other patrons (and of course other browncoats!!!)
2) Buy plenty of stuff at the concession stand ("nothing buys bygones like cash")
3) Applaud/cheer/laugh loudly at all the appropriate moments, but avoid going to the 'special hell' by being quiet otherwise (and turn off any gorram cellphones, etc)
4) Pick up after yourself and others around you -- leave the theatre spotless, that will leave a postitive impression!
5) Take lots of pictures (outside, of people in line, etc. -- NOT IN THE MOVIE!!!)
6) If you see any back-births using a recording device in the movie, please notify theatre management (discretely, don't cause a scene!)
7) Thank all the theatre staff and management (and any Universal folks or BDHs that may be present) for the prescreening; if anyone has brought thank-you cards, SIGN THEM!!!
More great ideas for making the prescreenings a huge success here:
http://forums.prospero.com/foxfirefly/messages?msg=22737.1
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=9792&m=135699#135699
*** END UPDATE ***
Ok everyone, if the idea of doing canned food drives at the various Serenity prescreenings is going to work out, we need to get organized right away. How can you help?
1. Post whether or not you think we should do this. Personally, I think its a great way to get a little extra attention/promotion for the movie and to show everyone (*including theatre managers and Universal*) that those back-births who made threats when the prescreenings sold out are the exception; as a rule, browncoats are friendly, polite, intelligent and too damn pretty to die. :)
2. Volunteer to help out if you live near one of the screenings EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TICKETS. How much would it rock if the media picked up on huge (and WELL BEHAVED) crowds of fans lined up at local theatres just to drop off some canned food donations as a show of support for a movie that won't be released for another five months?
3. Review the release I've drafted below and give me some feedback and any suggestions for improving it (by the way, I just made up a quote and attributed it to Renee; if she doesn't like it I may have to re-write it or attribute it to someone else)
4. Contact local media (newspaper, radio, TV) outlets, particularly the ones affiliated with Universal/NBC. Once it's finalized, you can send a copy of the below release.
---
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact(s):
Rob Cheng
Contributor, Browncoats.com
shiny@browncoats.com
Generous "Serenity" Fans Organize Canned Food Drives at Movie Prescreenings Across the Country
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- May 5, 2005 Hundreds of devoted fans of Joss Whedon's "Firefly" show have pledged to bring more than their tickets when they arrive at the AMC 14 Van Ness Thursday for the prescreening of the movie "Serenity", an epic follow-up to the beloved sci-fi show. The fans, who call themselves "Browncoats" after the show's protagonists, have organized a canned food drive to benefit local homeless shelters and to provide a little early promotion of the highly anticipated movie, whose pr
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As I said over on the OB, I am up for bringing as much food as possible, but won't be able to do any of the organization since I don't live in Austin. Considering there have been so few responses so far I am beginning to get the feeling that most of the tickets were purchased by either scalpers or else Browncoats that do not frequent the various bbs, but possibly got the news from aicn.com. If the former is the case, the theater managers need to be aware there could be some problems.
wo men ren ran zai fei xing.
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Shiny,
1. I think it's a great idea.
2. I can help out at the San Francisco screening. I'll be coming up from the mid-Peninsula area but my schedule is very flexible.
3. The draft looks good.
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Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Considering there have been so few responses so far I am beginning to get the feeling that most of the tickets were purchased by either scalpers or else Browncoats that do not frequent the various bbs, but possibly got the news from aicn.com. If the former is the case, the theater managers need to be aware there could be some problems.
It's possible, but let's give it 24 hours or so before we get too worried...I don't expect to get tons of responses on Sunday night.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SoupCatcher:
2. I can help out at the San Francisco screening. I'll be coming up from the mid-Peninsula area but my schedule is very flexible.
Great, thanks! Mrs. Shiny and I will be coming up from the Peninsula ourselves. :)
Jayne, your mouth is talkin. Might want to look into that.
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Having three small kids, I can't help out with organization much, but I'd be happy to get some cans over to the Chicago screening. Where is it, who's going, and whom do I contact to get more information? Since I have no tickets, I can be one of the "generous throng" of Browncoats. I play a good extra. : }
There is no such thing as a weed.
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Unfortunately I am not close to any of the screenings. But I do have a suggestion. Maybe you should start a "sign up" sheet for each area that will designate a donation collection attendant for each screening site.
Jenn
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I think that a canned food drive is a great idea for promoting the movie and expanding the fanbase. I also emailed the news release to the following people. I also tried CNN but they don't publish email addresses on their website.
FOXaroundtheworld@foxnews.com
Viewerservices@foxnews.com
Comments@foxnews.com
Foxnewsonline@foxnews.com
Afterhours@foxnews.com
Foxreport@foxnews.com
Studiob@foxnews.com
Newswatch@foxnews.com
FNS@foxnews.com
Living@MSNBC.com
viewerservices@msnbc.com
WebEditors@newsweek.com
Customer.Care@newsweek.com
Letters@newsweek.com
Editors@newsweek.com
That's about all I can do from Honduras.
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Charity is getting some press for another big movie
Source: www.scifi.com/scifiwire
Quote:
NY Episode III Fans Wait For Charity
Die-hard Star War fans launched a marathon "stand-a-thon" for charity on April 30 in New York in anticipation of the May 19 opening of George Lucas' upcoming Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, the Reuters news service reported. The around-the-clock line featured fans in various Star Wars costumes.
The event follows another nonstop street-side countdown kicked off by fervid Star War fans on April 2 across the country in Hollywood, the wire service reported.
In New York, fans registered for the stand-a-thon outside the Ziegfeld, New York's largest stand-alone movie theater, were fans drawn from 22 U.S. states and nine foreign countries, mainly West European but also including Japan, Peru and Brazil, Reuters reported. Line denizens are raising money to benefit Starlight Starbright., a charity for severely ill children.
Email for news tips to scifiwire (news source of scifi channel website): scifiwire@scifi.com
Please email these guys about any positve work browncoats are doing. They are big news in the world of scifi
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Shiny,
Has anything been lined up with homeless shelters? We may be able to accomplish the same goal by working with foodbanks instead. The SF Food Bank will drop off barrels and pick them up. I'm not sure how far in advance they need for scheduling. The theater owner would probably have to be in the loop.
San Francisco: http://www.sffoodbank.org/
Aside from that, here's the top canned/plastic/boxed* goods they were looking for (in case people are wondering what to bring):
canned vegetables
canned fruits
tuna
canned meats
soups, stews, and chili
peanut butter
cereal
pasta
rice
beans
* they do NOT want glass containers
Items to avoid:
sugary snacks
instant desserts
soda
candy
And it looks like there's a food bank in every city that has a screening (I didn't click on any of the links, just googled city+food+bank and got plenty of results).
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