In March of 2010, our podcast, Sarcastic Voyage, was in its infancy. We’d produced just over 50 episodes since the previous August, and the show was still finding its legs. A handful of friends were gathered at the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle (practically in my back yard), and we recorded episode 54 from the con floor — partially at our friend’s table, on my laptop; partially on my cell phone, wandering the con floor.
The following year, we decided to up the ante a bit. We invited about a dozen friends to join us for a live recording in a hotel room near the convention. That handful of friends — ostensibly in town for the convention, but also happy to support us — had grown to about a dozen.
Bolstered by these experiences, we went for something bigger in 2012. We held a fundraiser and successfully raised the money needed to rent our own presentation space within the convention center during ECCC. A group of about 25 friends gathered to see live performances of both Sarcastic Voyage and our Star Trek review show, The Post Atomic Horror. We also got ourselves a table on the con floor, though the logistics of setting up our live shows meant that we weren’t at that table nearly as much as we should have been. But we learned our lesson, and...
In 2013, we had a table, and this time we got it right. We entertained people on the con floor with puppets, and we handed out something like 1000 CD samples of our shows. We also had an official panel for The Post Atomic Horror. And an audience of 40-50 people, many of them strangers, came to listen to us talk about Star Trek. At the same time, across the convention center, Sir Patrick Stewart was speaking and signing autographs. 50 Trek fans decided that they’d rather see us than see Captain Picard.Â
In 2014, we were unable to secure a venue for a live show, but we had a table on the con floor and won over a number of new listeners. ECCC was now a traditional annual gathering among our listeners and friends. 20-30 people were coming to Seattle from around the world for an entire weekend of activities.
This past year, we had both a table and a panel — this time, for Sarcastic Voyage. The room for our panel held 250 people. We filled it, and a number of people were turned away at the door because there wasn’t enough room. Our table also enjoyed the usual success.
The Emerald City Comicon has been inexorably linked to our podcasts for almost six years now. Neither of our shows are specifically comics-oriented, but they are at the very least comics-adjacent and extremely nerd-friendly. The beyond-capacity attendance at our most recent panel (labeled “Sketch Comedy for Nerds”) would seem to support this. Our attendance in 2016 was, at this point, a no-brainer.
ECCC changed management this past year. No longer would we be guaranteed a spot for 2016 just because we’d had one in 2015. We filled out the usual paperwork and were told that we would now have to await a decision. This decision would be delivered, they promised, no later than May 8 — about a month after this year’s con wrapped up. It was not an ideal situation, but we had little choice. Besides, a May decision gave us plenty of opportunities to make alternate plans — Rose City Comicon (in relatively nearby Portland) was in September. Geek Girl Con (here in Seattle; focusing on more female-centric topics) was in October. There was a plan B and a plan C if the unthinkable happened.
May turned to June and July and then August. We tried to touch base with the con people every month or so, and were continuously assured that a decision was right around the corner. One ECCC staffer, whom had always been exceptionally pleasant to me and knew who I was any time I needed anything, used the phrase you have nothing to worry about the last time I checked in. I foolishly read this to mean oh, you’ve been here for four years running; of course we’ll let you participate. I don’t think she misled me. But I do think I made a fairly reasonable assumption based on past interactions with the convention.
Yesterday, August 24, we received this message:
Thank you for waiting patiently as we reviewed all of the applications for ECCC 2016. We were honored to receive hundreds of applications from so many talented artists and the team had some difficult decisions to make.
Unfortunately, due to this high demand, we are unable to offer you a space in ECCC's Artist Alley this coming year.
There was no specific explanation offered — only that we didn’t make the cut. I learned shortly thereafter that Chris Page, the friend who so graciously loaned us the use of his table that first year and who has been our table neighbor since 2012, was also turned down. Ditto my old and dear friend Mark “Bob” Boszko, who had hoped to promote his Optical podcast at the show. They were also given no explanation beyond the above form letter.
The main rumor I’ve heard is that the new management wants to keep the show more comics-centric going forward. None of us are specifically comics guys at this stage — I’ve published a handful of comics over the years, but don’t sell them at our table; Chris has been making the transition from comics to prose for awhile now. But this show has always been home to nerd pursuits of all flavors. Maybe that’s changing now? I just don’t have enough information at this point to know for sure.
I’m not gonna lie: this decision hurts. ECCC has been the cornerstone of our marketing plan for more than half a decade. Taking that away from us is, of course, their right. Maybe we don’t bring in the numbers that next year’s guests will. But I can point to an extra 20 or so attendees from other cities that fly into town for this show just because of is. And I can point to over 250 people who wanted to see us perform last March. That must count for something.
More importantly, I’m local. So are Chris and Bob. We’re Seattle-based content providers seeking the opportunity to widen our audiences among like-minded individuals. I’ve often been perplexed by the question where are you guys based? since a podcast can come from literally anywhere that can support human life, but that’s an important thing for some people. They want to support Seattle-based enterprises. Obviously, it’s in my best interests if they can do that as well.
I only got this news 24 hours ago. It’s still registering in a hundred different ways I hadn’t thought about: no table. Probably no panel. (We’ll apply, but if the same decision criteria exists for panels as for tables, we’re not likely to get one.) No massive gathering of listeners. No karaoke. No organizing force for me and my crazy brain. (Seriously, the logistical madness of preparing for ECCC has done wonders for my depression — I simply don’t have time to slow down and wallow with so much to do.)
None of that is really ECCC’s fault. Not really. Our success and my mental well-being are not their responsibility. I am very conscious, as our profile continues to grow just the tiniest bit each year, that we have a responsibility not to scream and swear and make baseless accusations in public. This show has helped us immeasurably in the past five years, and nothing can take that away from us. But what I see is a show that pulled in eighty thousand people last year and I’m reminded of that expression about things that ain’t broke. Maybe this move will get them to 100k or beyond. Maybe it won’t. Only time will tell, I suppose.
It’s the end of an era, I said yesterday on Twitter. Chris Page, who is also trying his best to keep positive about all of this said hopefully it’s the beginning of a new era. I hope you’re right, old friend.
