Written by MrCere (mrcere@theonering.net) - Salt Lake City Line party Leader

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

Friends - I have had some great fan-centered Lord Of The Rings experiences in the last year. Even beyond the movie, I have had a great time meeting people of the Ring. I hope to continue to share those experiences with you. Here is one way...

- Larry Curtis  

Purpose What is a Line Party? Line-Up-And-Go Party Small Party Hearty Party Tips

PURPOSE:
To experience magic

There is something magical about viewing a movie the first time it plays in your home town. The stars and film makers see their art on the screen at glamorous premiers with spotlights and cameras flashing while we catch highlights of their walk into prestigious theaters on entertainment shows or the evening news. As fans, we too want to celebrate the event in our own way and see the film that not only is near to our hearts but will be the talk of the town. We want to have the little edge of seeing the film on the finest screen and seeing it first.

Another bonus of seeing the opening night of a film is part of the reason we love movies in the first place. Yes we love the big screen and the big sound but there is something magical about seeing the movie, for the first time, with an audience. While it might be fun to have Led Zeppelin perform live in your basement, it could never duplicate the incredible experience of enjoying the group-experience of seeing them at Woodstock. We have all marveled at the unique fanbase that J.R.R. Tolkien's books and Peter Jackson's films have inspired and sharing the experience with friends or strangers that are passionate about our passions is an amazing experience. Seeing The Two Towers live not just with an audience but with an audience that deeply loves Tolkien is absolutely unique and not to be missed.

WHAT:
Many already know or can surmise what a Two Towers line party is. However, all of us can probably expand our definition of what that can be. A party can simply be a group of like-minded individuals lining up to buy tickets the night of the show or it can be a show all by itself with no limits. There is no boundaries to the kinds of line party that can be planned but here are a few suggestions.

LINE-UP-AND-GO PARTY:
This type of party can be easily organized through TORN's line-party page and requires almost no extra work. This line requires one TORNado to simply step up, designate him or herself as a line-leader, locate an appropriate theater and write a few emails.

TORN already provides the foundation and groundwork for getting a line-party started. Organization is the key and they give all interested parties a way to reach Tolkien fans on-line and a way for solitary fans to find and latch on to a group. A bit of website goes a long way. This type of party takes the least amount of work to organize but even for those who want more this is a great way to spread the word. This line party, while showing solidarity among the fans, can be made into even a more special event with some effort and confidence.

SMALL PARTY:
Sometimes, for whatever reason, specific communities do not respond as well as others to TORN and the organizer is left with a small group. This might turn out to be a great thing rather than a bad thing. Small groups can meet together for a dinner, a trivia contest or just a group photo. A small group can bond and have more fun than a large one. Organizers should try to think about including people of all ages (i.e. don't head to a local pub) and try to keep the cost reasonable. Most libraries have areas to reserve for such things.

HEARTY-PARTY:
This is the party that I did and will do and it takes work and planning, guts and help, but it sure was worth it all.

First let me explain what I did and then what I will be doing: Just about the time that bookstores across the nation were planning their "J.R.R. Tolkien Day" sponsored by Houghton Mifflin I had signed up for a TORN party and had received a decent response. I took it upon myself to make a flyer with some pictures from the internet and some text and I brought a few copies with me to the book event at Boarders to give to Tolkien enthusiasts who may not be familiar with TORN. I went early and asked those in charge of the book event if I could take just a minute and tell people about my line party organized by TORN and distribute flyers. They were happy to help and excited to talk to me. I addressed the crowd, explained my plans and included on my flyer a hotmail email account that I set up just for this line party. The response was GREAT to say the least and the email account remains busy to this day, with people still making sure we will be doing another line party for The Two Towers. Almost the entire staff of the bookstore attended the midnight screening and Boarders ended up donating some GREAT gifts and prizes to the line party for things like "best costume" because they wanted to sell books and they knew I had their exact market on my email list.

The enthusiastic response from the few people at the bookstore was so good that it sparked in me a desire to post flyers around other places where Tolkien geeks (like me) might lurk. I hit one college and asked somebody from the book event to carry word to another college. Before I knew it the main Library in Salt Lake was in contact with me requesting help with their "Tolkien Night" for kids and so was a science fiction club at one college and so were lots of folks I didn't know. The point is, there are a LOT of Tolkien enthusiasts "out there" waiting to be contacted.

At this point, I really started to dream big. I had cataloged all the emails I received and started emailing specific instructions to people. I also decided that if I was going to do all this work it had to be for more good than just a movie so I adopted the library and their targeted teens as a charity and began to tell our list that we would try to buy some books for kids to help with literacy. I began talking to theater managers who thought I was crazy and thought that this Lord Of The Rings movie might be a minor film and they weren't sure if a midnight screening was the way to go. HA! In my email list I asked everybody to sign up on the TORN list AND to send me exact reservations for ticket numbers. Soon, we were climbing into the 200-300 people range and I began to think we might buy-out an entire theater. Nobody had spent a penny yet, but the enthusiasm was building and so was our list at TORN as we moved into the top 10 lines in the world, eventually to moved to the top of the list.

I still had doubts but figured I would go forward.

Then came the tricky part. I stayed in contact with theater managers, especially the ones with the best screens in town, until somebody finally committed to holding a midnight show, sometime in November. I kept "my" list updated on the progress and told them if a manager bailed on us, we might need to move the line at a moment's notice. Managers told me, "We don't think it will do Harry Potter numbers, but it MIGHT be worth an opening night." They also gave me the option of buying out the theater but decided NOT to give any discount or help of any kind except the use of their microphone on the night of the event.

Now the scary part. I took out a P.O. Box at the post office and told my list that first-come, first-serve, I would now be accepting checks for the tickets. I admitted to them that trusting me was crazy since sending a stranger a check is a little foolish but I promised to take care of them and I could be lynched later. I also asked for a few extra dollars per ticket (completely optional) to buy books for teens as part of our charity fund-raiser. A few people didn't trust me or wanted to meet me in person which I completely understood. Our theater sat 415 people with no bad seats and so the checks began to pour in. I was scared to death that we couldn't pull it off, that we couldn't get enough money or that I would be laughed out of all Tolkien social circles.

I was dead wrong.

I had to open a Pay-Pal account so people could pay on-line and made trusted friends go into accounting to keep tickets and payment organized. People sent in money so fast and so generously donated money that we soon had to turn folks away. I encouraged them to come to the midnight show at our theater but they would be seated in a different auditorium and would be responsible to buy their own ticket and wouldn't be part of our charity event or, if we had any, giveaways. A few people that had already sent me money were kind enough to go to the other auditoriums anyway since I had more people than I could deal with.

In the end we ended up filling FOUR auditoriums that night. A few of the guests were walk-ups, but mostly these were people excited and organized by our line party. A conservative estimate would be that we sold 800 tickets that night for the Midnight showing of Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Rings all because of TORN and one meeting at a bookstore. We also gave out more than 50 copies of Fellowship Of The Ring to teens from the public library group to promote literacy. Harry Potter numbers indeed!

I also finally prevailed upon the theater to donate 15 seats to our cause on the condition that they be offered to members of the media covering both the film and the event. Our line ended up being a column in a local daily paper which attracted yet more people wanting to be involved.

A group about 200 strong met in the very cold Olympic Square downtown a few hours before the event, many in costume, to have a group photo taken for TORN, which Calisuri was kind enough to exhibit at Comic-Con this year. We attracted some sponsors who donated various prizes to give out just for our public and email thanks. Decipher, as it did in many cities, donated game-cards to be given away. We elected to give them to those in costume but even the very boxes that held the cards were snatched away by eager fans.

A medieval musical group asked to play in the reception area which sparked yet another group to do performance medieval dancing at the event. Chain-mail artisans and sword-fighters came to demonstrate their craft and magically, upon request, the audience refrained from talking, turned off their cell-phones and enjoyed the first public Utah showing of Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Rings. They also loved the group experience and asked over and over if we were doing it again this year. We are.

TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL LINE PARTY:
So, what does this mean to you, a potential line organizer? A lot. Here are my tips on how to proceed and make your own hearty party:

#1. BE ENTHUSIASTIC: Excitement, like the flu, is contagious. Line leaders must infect as many people as possible.

#2. CONTACT THEATER MANAGERS/OWNERS NOW, TODAY: Call information, get phone numbers, get manager names, send letters to managers (much shorter than this one) and be active. Do NOT bother these people but be polite, explain what you are doing and ask them if their theater would be interested in helping you to host an event. They may decline or they may see a gold mine of customers available only through your keyboard. If you are turned down, don't worry, just take your business elsewhere. It is unlikely that every single theater manager in a given town will be short-sighted. If you wish, you and the manager may want to shut down any seats that are obstructed or too close to the screen. Again, communicate with managers about this in a friendly way. You might even make a friend.

#3. GET EMAIL READY: Go to hotmail.com or excite.com or yahoo.com or lots of places and start an email account that will be used ONLY for Two Towers stuff. You will want to have it separate from the rest of your life when it gets overwhelming and you will need it to remain organized. Starting with TORN, many of your line-party will be computer-competent and able to use your email. Mine is "SaltLakeLOTR@hotmail.com" obviously Rings related. You may consider a PO Box at the post office as well.

#4. MAKE A FLYER: This is as hard as going to the library with a photo-copy machine and printing out some words. Easy stuff. I will include a sample flyer or two to help you. These can be simple and you can be creative but they should be A. Eye-catching and easy to read (short and sweet) B. Include the time, date, location and BRIEF details about the event along with your EMAIL address that you made up in item #3.

#5. GET THE WORD OUT. Post those flyers you made all over. Ask permission from bookstores, colleges and look for local sci-fi, fantasy or Dungeons & Dragons groups. Places that carry Decipher or Sideshow Collectables are also good. As shown by gigantic box-office and DVD numbers the fans ARE out there, you just need to let them know you exist. Build the flyer, they will come.

#6. ACCEPT HELP: In my experience, people will want to help you and contribute just like you want to help and contribute to TORN and the movies themselves, so let them. When medieval bands come crawling out of the woodwork say "YES" to them. Every line will be different based on the community it springs from. Be glad of that and take help. I had a few close friends who helped me along the way but especially on the night of the event. You cannot do it alone.

#7. DON'T DO WHAT I DID. It is probably best NOT to collect money for group tickets even IF people decide to trust you. If you can, arrange with the theater to sell tickets to your event separately until say, the day of the event, accessible by special request. For example the theater only sells tickets to your show if somebody asks, for example: "I want to buy the TORN tickets for theater #1 at midnight.". Or, if you know you will never have enough people to buy out a theater, perhaps arrange to buy your tickets as a group the day they go on sale which is usually 7 days prior. Still, as in #2 above, try hard to arrange with the managers to bring in those with special talents or have a costume contest or do something that will be extra fun and might attract media attention.

It is a special thrill to purchase 415 tickets all at once, they make quite a stack that will not fit in your pocket. Distributing them is a whole separate logistic problem that we had to overcome. Write me if you need details. (SaltLakeLOTR@hotmail.com) It does have the advantage of NOT waiting in line for hours (which for some is the point - but not me) and giving you, the line-leader, a lot more control over what happens. If I ever hear that a line-leader ripped a group off, I will dispatch a couple of orcs with pliers and a blow-torch to visit them and make them pay.

#8. INVITE THE MEDIA: Let local papers and television stations know there is a news-worthy event. This is another good time to work WITH your theater if they are cooperative. Encourage your line to dress up and the news will show up in droves. Geeks make good pictures for the Dec. 19 morning news or even the evening news if you are meeting before their deadlines.

#9. BE A LEADER: Be confident, excited, unafraid, reliable, creative, unembarrassed and others will follow you.