Archive for January, 1999
Stash Opening: FULL DISCLOSURE
- The good news: no one’s going to have to dress up like anyone.
The bad news: we’re saving that for the ‘Dogma’ premiere in the fall.
The good news: folks are going to have two hours in the new Stash on grand opening day.
The bad news: only three hundred are going to get in.
The good news: it’s linked to the Virtual Reality Tour, hosted by either Mewes or Brian O’Halloran (Dante, to the uninitiated).
The bad news: it’s going to cost you.
The skinny: So we went over it and over it, took all the feedback (from here, the phone calls, the faxes, etc.) into consideration, and arrived at the conclusion that the store isn’t nearly big enough, nor are there enough hours in the day to accomodate the masses for this grand opening shindig. It was becoming unwieldy, and had it been tied to another event (as mentioned in one of my initial posts, say, another Vulgarthon), it would’ve been doable. However, the notion of five hundred to a thousand folks lined up outside in the cold along the streets of Red Bank, dressed up in fake beards and hair… well, I wouldn’t do it myself. And if I wouldn’t do it, I don’t think I’d want to subject other people to it either. All that waiting, all that ‘God, look at me…’-type self-loathing, all for a strict half hour in a comic book store (regardless of the frills) doesn’t equate to satisfaction in my book. So we’re tabling the dress up affair for the ‘Dogma’ preem – at which point, admission WILL be limited to those in costume, but you get to hide from the general population in a dark movie theatre, in the warmer months of Sept/Oct, and you’re getting something REALLY special for it all. So while I’d never personally dress up like a character just to go to a comic book store (and meet folks, see stuff, etc.), I WOULD dress up to see a movie I really wanted to see a month before anyone else (like ‘The Phantom Menace’ or something; I’d go like Jabba for some of that magic). And if I would do it, then I could be cool with other folks doing it for one of my flicks (and for future reference, for those who don’t agree with the dress-up thing or think it lacks dignity, then I urge you – simply don’t go, little boo-hoo’s).
Like I said, however – this version’s going to cost. It’s looking like $30. That’s less than the Vulgarthon, but more than the last version of this idea (which was free, save the price of one’s dignity – and who can put a dollar value on that). We’re limiting it to three hundred people, and we’ll be selling the tickets via the phone, on an announced date (like we did with the Vulgarthon tix; and for the record, we’ll be turning off the voice mail feature that day, so all you’ll get is the busy signal until you get through – I remember a lot of folks complained about the cost of the phone calls when they got that voicemail greeting).
Remember – if you want to get in and see the Stash, minus the stuff, feel absolutely free to pop in anytime (except that chosen Saturday). If you’re going to bitch about this as a money-making scheme or some such shit, do so knowing you’ll be ejected from the site. Your voice of discension, should you feel the need to opine, will be heard in your refusal to attend such an event (ie – I’m tired of you fucking whiners who’ve got nothing better to do than bitch, bitch, bitch – b.buster being the exception, as that’s the only thing he knows how to do; at least he’s consistent). No – this isn’t a money-making scheme (it’s a money-recouping scheme, yes) – it’s a way to give folks what they want. And if I’m wrong, and it’s not what they (meaning you) want, well then don’t call and order tickets that day. I’ll get the message pretty clearly.
We’re 99% sure this is how it’s going to be done (leaving that 1% margin in case there’s any last second brilliance waiting to rear its head). I feel like it’s going to be a good event – somewhat intimate, and a hell of a lot more orderly. I hope you’ll join us, for what I consider to be a pretty decent variation on the Vulgarthon (until such time as we can figure out if we can have a Vulgarthon again; the old Sony Loews is now under new ownership, and we’re not sure if they’re up for such an event).
Meantime, I’ll be preparing my tour-guide voice.
The general public seems to LOVE this idea, so the 300 of you lucky souls that make it in are gonna have a blast! We’ll see you there. As always, watch News Askew for more details on this exciting event.
By the way, Jimmy Palmiotti checked in with us to assure that he’d be at the event, along with a special guest:
- Just letting you guys know that Amanda Conner is responsible for the Mad magazine DD video tape art , and also for the upcoming appearance of Jay and Silent Bob as kids in the new Painkiller Jane #0 coming out 3rd week in February. It’s one panel in a halloween scene. Amanda and I look foward to coming to Kevs new store opening in March. Amanda promised to wear something short and skimpy. Me… I’ll be covering as much as possible. You can thank me later.
Thanks, Joe! We’ll see ya there.
Commentary
View Askew NewsBites™
- Butt, Why?
Director Kevin Smith explains his idea for a ”Truman Show” sequel
by Joe Neumaier
One of the surprise winners at Sunday’s Golden Globe awards in L.A. was ”The Truman Show”’s Jim Carrey, who nabbed Best Actor in a Drama. In his acceptance speech, Carrey remarked how it would be much harder ”to talk out of my butt now.”
Though Carrey’s win was unexpected, filmmaker Kevin Smith (”Clerks,” ”Chasing Amy”) — whose next film, ”Dogma,” starring Matt Damon and Alanis Morissette, is due later this year — tells EW Online that the high-priced comic would have to rethink his remarks if he were to star in a Smith-directed sequel to ”Truman”
What would the hypothetical plot be? Once Truman Burbank breaks free of his 24-hour televised life, Smith says, ”he’d become a major celebrity, getting $20 million a picture to talk out of his buttcheeks.” And would Truman hate his new-found fame? ”Nah. He’d get used to it and embrace it.” Wait, isn’t Carrey already starring in that role?
Kevin’s Final Plan…
- It’s settled then – this is how we’ll do it.
Some food for thought: the new Stash is opening for business next Wednesday. What we’re talking about holding is a grand opening. Does this mean you can go to the Stash between Wednesday and the grand opening day? Absolutely. The difference?
Well, the new Stash is chockful of memoribilia – not the least of which is stuff on display from ‘Dogma’ (the Buddy Christ, No-Man, the Golden Calf). But we’re going to cover that stuff up with sheets until the summer/fall (Lent-style, for those who speak Catholic). However, for that one, glorious day, we’ll pull the sheets, and display all. In addition to that, we’ll be showing stuff on the monitors that folks won’t get a chance to see elsewhere for quite some time, we’ll have guests galore, some free giveaways, and the chance to see hundreds of other folks dressed just like you… being dressed just like me (and that other guy). And it could make the papers, as they say.
So if you just want to see the Stash, drop on by as of Wednesday. However, if you want the whole Magilla, then waiting ’til the shindig is in order – which begs the question of ‘when’.
We’re thinking early March – maybe the first weekend. It’d be held on a Saturday. The conservative estimate right now is two hundred people. The worst-case-scenario is a thousand. Either way, all will be accomodated. Based on the amount who show up, we’ll have a system in place that allows for folks to get in, see stuff, meet folks, then filter out, allowing the next round in (we’re thinking in blocks of fifty here). I realize this may disuade those who feel that travel from a distance for maybe a half hour of Stash-time isn’t worth it, but that’s about the best we can do right now. It’s not to say you’ve gotta leave Red Bank once you’ve seen the inside of the store, Heavens no. Feel free to hang out, mingle with other board folks, meet, greet, fuck, get back in line, tour the area, come back in when things have died down, etc. We’re thinking of an all-day, possibly all-night affair here, starting at ten a.m., and going until we’ve all had enough (though I can’t guarantee some of the guests won’t bag out around five or six, as – unlike most of us – these folks have lives). It should be a lot of fun, and something to shamefully share with your children one day (“One time, I dressed up like Jay and Silent Bob to get into Kevin Smith’s comic book store.” “Who’re Jay and Silent Bob?” “These characters that Kevin Smith used to exploit to no-end.” “Who’s Kevin Smith?”).
All that being said, we’ve decided that – in the interest of fairness – you may come only as Jay or Silent Bob (guys or gals). It doesn’t have to be stunning likeness, but unless you’re a bearded Bob or a long-haired Jay, you ain’t getting in (the lone exception being Breckiono, who’ll be coming as the Slinger).
Not to belabor a point either, but the store looks phenomenal. Today, the sign was delivered. It’s gorgeous. They’re putting it up Saturday, for those who’re curious. Ratface and his team did a masterful job and pulling it all together (the colors… oh, the colors…). I’ve yet to disappointed (and I’m paying the bills), so I’m sure you’ll dig it too.
We’ll be in town to cover the event for the site (as well as do the usual fanboy type stuff), and will be dressed as ourselves, unlike most of you, so we should stick out pretty well when all’s said and done. Hope to meet a lot of you there!
Commentary
- Howdy folks…Lots of stuff to talk about today. You may notice that we removed the Mallrats DVD release date from the above countdowns…The reason is that we’ve heard that the date is indeed just speculation, and that Universal has not said anything to Kevin or Vincent about the disc being out in April. That doesn’t mean it’s not impossible, hell, we hope it’s true, we’d just rather not mislead anyone. Anyway, we’ve got some news and of course all the info on those new Comics Askew that hit shelves yesterday, so let’s get started:
View Askew NewsBites™
- The South Park Clerks trailer is now available HERE. It’s another variation on the original Clerks trailer, similar to Trooper Clerks…A lot shorter, though. Check it out.
- Those of you who listened to the Chasing Amy commentary on the laserdisc or watched the extra scenes on that disc are familiar with John Sloss, Kevin’s entertainment lawyer. This article on Mr. Sloss ran in the L.A. Times, and it mentions Kevin as well as Ben.
Sharing All the ‘Slossperity’
Part relentless, part goofy, he’s king of the indie deal-makers and wants you to know it.
By AMY WALLACE, Times Staff Writer
PARK CITY, Utah–He has a boyish face and a skinny, 6-foot-4-inch frame, and when he walks down Main Street here at the Sundance Film Festival, a knapsack on his shoulder and an orange T-shirt peeking out from under a woolly gray sweater, he looks less like a deal-maker than a sophomore in the middle of final exams.
But the single, sibilant syllable of this lawyer’s last name has power in the independent film community. It can open doors. Which is why the cleverest party crashers here have been dropping it lately to gain entry to the festival’s wild bashes. No matter what film is being celebrated, they figure, he is probably involved.
John Sloss, 42, may look like a gangly college kid, but to his filmmaker clients–and particularly at Sundance–he is The Man. If you’re an indie filmmaker and want to remain one, many say, you need Sloss in your life. “King Sloss” is what writer-director Whit Stillman (“The Last Days of Disco” and “Barcelona”) fondly calls his lawyer. And to see Sloss in action here is to understand why.
One minute he’s huddling with distributors pointing out the merits of a documentary he’s selling about the rise and fall of an execution expert. The next, he’s lunching with a potential film investor (Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS) or getting noogies on a snowy street from Ben Affleck, the rising star who has worked with writer-director Kevin Smith, a Sloss client.
There he is talking with Michael Stipe, R.E.M.’s lead singer and the co- producer of another film Sloss is selling, “American Movie,” a documentary about a struggling Milwaukee filmmaker.
And throughout the day, Sloss can’t go five minutes without talking on his cellular phone, cajoling, finessing, cracking wise. It’s all part of what he calls “trying to work my magic.”
“The only guy here who’s as busy as me is Cassian,” Sloss said with typical self-reverence, referring to the head of the William Morris Agency’s independent film arm, Cassian Elwes. “My job description is: doing everything I can to get films made and protecting filmmakers. I’d like to think that I’m seen to a certain extent as the gatekeeper of the next generation.” Then, teetering on the brink of unbridled egotism (a familiar precipice for him), Sloss caught himself. Sort of. “You happen to be covering my favorite subject: the legend of Sloss,” he said charmingly to a reporter. “Let’s perpetuate that.”
Two Big Sales at 1998 Festival
He has reason to be pleased with himself. Last year at Sundance, Sloss negotiated the festival’s biggest sale: Brad Anderson’s “Next Stop, Wonderland,” which Miramax acquired for about $6 million, including a three- picture deal for Anderson. Sloss also sold “Slam,” the tale of spoken word artists in the ghetto, to Trimark for $2.5 million, a hefty sum for an urban drama about the power of poetry.
Sloss’ clients, who also include directors Victor Nunez (“Ulee’s Gold”) and Todd Haynes (“Velvet Goldmine”) and writer Paul Rudnick (“In & Out”), say that just as important as the dollars he secures for them are the ways he finds to contractually protect their creative freedom.
“He really is on the filmmaker’s side in the right way,” said Stillman, a client since his first film, the 1990 “Metropolitan.” “It’s not just about trying to jack up prices, but about making sure the [filmmakers’] experience is as good as it can be.”
Smith, who signed with Sloss just before his first film (the 1994 “Clerks”) went to Sundance, credits the lawyer with getting him more profit participation on subsequent projects (“Chasing Amy” and the upcoming “Dogma”) than he would have ever known to ask for.
“He’s not afraid to be mercenary on your behalf,” Smith said, adding that Sloss’ healthy ego aids in this process. “He’s working for you, but he’s also working for him. He’s definitely not afraid to let that be known: ‘It’s not just about you, it’s about what’s best for us.’ ”
At Sundance this year, Sloss is involved with a dozen films that range from the established (he’s selling the new film by Errol Morris, who made the acclaimed “Thin Blue Line”) to the unfinished. Earlier this week, for example, Sloss sold a feature film to Fox Searchlight based on just 20 minutes of footage. A true story about a Nebraska teenage girl who posed as a boy, then was found out, raped and murdered, the film–tentatively titled “Take It Like a Man”–just completed shooting and has yet to be edited.
Sources say Fox paid the first-time filmmakers between $4 million and $6 million, at least 5% of which will go to Sloss.
On films like that one, Sloss is a producer’s rep, or sales agent, seeking to close a deal with a distributor. On others, he handles the contracts if another salesman makes a deal. If necessary, he will fend for his director clients in any discussions they have here about future work. And he’s always on the lookout for money, having arranged financing for scores of his clients’ films.
That said, Sloss does not work alone. Here at Sundance, his associates Micah Green and Joy Newhouse help expand the Sloss presence, attending parties that he must miss, chatting with nervous filmmakers before screenings and generally trying to build the Sloss empire.
People are still talking about the way Sloss financed John Sayles’ recent “Men With Guns,” a mostly Spanish-language film with no big stars that was considered a very tough sell. Raising money from Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s Clear Blue Sky Productions and the Independent Film Channel, among other sources, Sloss then turned around and signed both Allen and IFC as clients.
Actor-writer-director Ed Burns left Sloss recently, reportedly because he felt that to become a big studio player, he needed a lawyer with more of a Hollywood presence. Sloss admits that he was stung.
“I’m as sophisticated as any lawyer in Hollywood, and I mean any lawyer,” he said, adding that he has considered opening a Los Angeles office–his office is in Manhattan–if he could only find the right partner.
Clients, like director Ted Demme (“Monument Avenue” and the upcoming “Life” starring Eddie Murphy), say that Sloss has just the right mix of indie sensibility and mainstream smarts.
“I’ve made a commitment to go back and forth between small films and big films,” said Demme, who hired Sloss to help make his production company, Spanky Pictures, a reality. “I can’t just have an indie guy repping me because he has to be able to speak the language of Universal. And some Hollywood lawyers can’t move in the indie world. John can speak both languages.”
And if that weren’t enough, said Stillman, Sloss also gives great Christmas gifts: a slang dictionary, flannel pajamas (with a Sloss insignia) and last year’s Chinese fortune cats–ceramic felines that are supposed to bring financial success, or what Sloss calls “Slossperity.”
Sloss grew up in Michigan in a “middle-class family living beyond their means.” He discovered film at the University of Michigan, where he ran the film society and paid his college expenses by working as a projectionist and theater usher.
But his passion for cinema (marked by a near obsession with German New Wave directors Wim Wenders and Rainer Fassbinder) did not translate into wanting to make movies. Once he ruled out his first career choice, playing professional basketball, he decided to become a lawyer.
After his first job at a huge Wall Street law firm, he became a partner at a boutique entertainment firm. And then, at a pickup game in a high school gym, he met Sayles shooting hoops. Eventually, Sloss became the lawyer for the director and his producing partner. His practice grew from there.
“I owe my practice to them. I’m a young-looking guy and what they gave me was complete credibility,” he said. Asked to explain why he and Sayles ended their 11-year lawyer-client relationship in 1997, Sloss said amiably: “We went through a lot of intense stuff together. Sometimes you just need a break.”
Quickly, Sloss became known as an aggressive advocate who really knew film, a good judge of cinematic talent who could also go for the jugular on a client’s behalf. He invested himself in clients’ work, often serving as an executive producer on their films.
Six years ago, Sloss opened his own firm, and in its offices his unusual personality–part relentless, part goofy–finds perfect expression. People who have been there talk about two framed pictures on the wall. One is a portrait of Sloss, adorned with a generic plastic label: “Our founder.” The other says “Employee of the Month.” It is empty.
Part relentless, part goofy, he’s king of the indie deal-makers and wants you to know it.
By AMY WALLACE, Times Staff Writer
PARK CITY, Utah–He has a boyish face and a skinny, 6-foot-4-inch frame, and when he walks down Main Street here at the Sundance Film Festival, a knapsack on his shoulder and an orange T-shirt peeking out from under a woolly gray sweater, he looks less like a deal-maker than a sophomore in the middle of final exams.
But the single, sibilant syllable of this lawyer’s last name has power in the independent film community. It can open doors. Which is why the cleverest party crashers here have been dropping it lately to gain entry to the festival’s wild bashes. No matter what film is being celebrated, they figure, he is probably involved.
John Sloss, 42, may look like a gangly college kid, but to his filmmaker clients–and particularly at Sundance–he is The Man. If you’re an indie filmmaker and want to remain one, many say, you need Sloss in your life. “King Sloss” is what writer-director Whit Stillman (“The Last Days of Disco” and “Barcelona”) fondly calls his lawyer. And to see Sloss in action here is to understand why.
One minute he’s huddling with distributors pointing out the merits of a documentary he’s selling about the rise and fall of an execution expert. The next, he’s lunching with a potential film investor (Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS) or getting noogies on a snowy street from Ben Affleck, the rising star who has worked with writer-director Kevin Smith, a Sloss client.
There he is talking with Michael Stipe, R.E.M.’s lead singer and the co- producer of another film Sloss is selling, “American Movie,” a documentary about a struggling Milwaukee filmmaker.
And throughout the day, Sloss can’t go five minutes without talking on his cellular phone, cajoling, finessing, cracking wise. It’s all part of what he calls “trying to work my magic.”
“The only guy here who’s as busy as me is Cassian,” Sloss said with typical self-reverence, referring to the head of the William Morris Agency’s independent film arm, Cassian Elwes. “My job description is: doing everything I can to get films made and protecting filmmakers. I’d like to think that I’m seen to a certain extent as the gatekeeper of the next generation.” Then, teetering on the brink of unbridled egotism (a familiar precipice for him), Sloss caught himself. Sort of. “You happen to be covering my favorite subject: the legend of Sloss,” he said charmingly to a reporter. “Let’s perpetuate that.”
Two Big Sales at 1998 Festival
He has reason to be pleased with himself. Last year at Sundance, Sloss negotiated the festival’s biggest sale: Brad Anderson’s “Next Stop, Wonderland,” which Miramax acquired for about $6 million, including a three- picture deal for Anderson. Sloss also sold “Slam,” the tale of spoken word artists in the ghetto, to Trimark for $2.5 million, a hefty sum for an urban drama about the power of poetry.
Sloss’ clients, who also include directors Victor Nunez (“Ulee’s Gold”) and Todd Haynes (“Velvet Goldmine”) and writer Paul Rudnick (“In & Out”), say that just as important as the dollars he secures for them are the ways he finds to contractually protect their creative freedom.
“He really is on the filmmaker’s side in the right way,” said Stillman, a client since his first film, the 1990 “Metropolitan.” “It’s not just about trying to jack up prices, but about making sure the [filmmakers’] experience is as good as it can be.”
Smith, who signed with Sloss just before his first film (the 1994 “Clerks”) went to Sundance, credits the lawyer with getting him more profit participation on subsequent projects (“Chasing Amy” and the upcoming “Dogma”) than he would have ever known to ask for.
“He’s not afraid to be mercenary on your behalf,” Smith said, adding that Sloss’ healthy ego aids in this process. “He’s working for you, but he’s also working for him. He’s definitely not afraid to let that be known: ‘It’s not just about you, it’s about what’s best for us.’ ”
At Sundance this year, Sloss is involved with a dozen films that range from the established (he’s selling the new film by Errol Morris, who made the acclaimed “Thin Blue Line”) to the unfinished. Earlier this week, for example, Sloss sold a feature film to Fox Searchlight based on just 20 minutes of footage. A true story about a Nebraska teenage girl who posed as a boy, then was found out, raped and murdered, the film–tentatively titled “Take It Like a Man”–just completed shooting and has yet to be edited.
Sources say Fox paid the first-time filmmakers between $4 million and $6 million, at least 5% of which will go to Sloss.
On films like that one, Sloss is a producer’s rep, or sales agent, seeking to close a deal with a distributor. On others, he handles the contracts if another salesman makes a deal. If necessary, he will fend for his director clients in any discussions they have here about future work. And he’s always on the lookout for money, having arranged financing for scores of his clients’ films.
That said, Sloss does not work alone. Here at Sundance, his associates Micah Green and Joy Newhouse help expand the Sloss presence, attending parties that he must miss, chatting with nervous filmmakers before screenings and generally trying to build the Sloss empire.
People are still talking about the way Sloss financed John Sayles’ recent “Men With Guns,” a mostly Spanish-language film with no big stars that was considered a very tough sell. Raising money from Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s Clear Blue Sky Productions and the Independent Film Channel, among other sources, Sloss then turned around and signed both Allen and IFC as clients.
Actor-writer-director Ed Burns left Sloss recently, reportedly because he felt that to become a big studio player, he needed a lawyer with more of a Hollywood presence. Sloss admits that he was stung.
“I’m as sophisticated as any lawyer in Hollywood, and I mean any lawyer,” he said, adding that he has considered opening a Los Angeles office–his office is in Manhattan–if he could only find the right partner.
Clients, like director Ted Demme (“Monument Avenue” and the upcoming “Life” starring Eddie Murphy), say that Sloss has just the right mix of indie sensibility and mainstream smarts.
“I’ve made a commitment to go back and forth between small films and big films,” said Demme, who hired Sloss to help make his production company, Spanky Pictures, a reality. “I can’t just have an indie guy repping me because he has to be able to speak the language of Universal. And some Hollywood lawyers can’t move in the indie world. John can speak both languages.”
And if that weren’t enough, said Stillman, Sloss also gives great Christmas gifts: a slang dictionary, flannel pajamas (with a Sloss insignia) and last year’s Chinese fortune cats–ceramic felines that are supposed to bring financial success, or what Sloss calls “Slossperity.”
Sloss grew up in Michigan in a “middle-class family living beyond their means.” He discovered film at the University of Michigan, where he ran the film society and paid his college expenses by working as a projectionist and theater usher.
But his passion for cinema (marked by a near obsession with German New Wave directors Wim Wenders and Rainer Fassbinder) did not translate into wanting to make movies. Once he ruled out his first career choice, playing professional basketball, he decided to become a lawyer.
After his first job at a huge Wall Street law firm, he became a partner at a boutique entertainment firm. And then, at a pickup game in a high school gym, he met Sayles shooting hoops. Eventually, Sloss became the lawyer for the director and his producing partner. His practice grew from there.
“I owe my practice to them. I’m a young-looking guy and what they gave me was complete credibility,” he said. Asked to explain why he and Sayles ended their 11-year lawyer-client relationship in 1997, Sloss said amiably: “We went through a lot of intense stuff together. Sometimes you just need a break.”
Quickly, Sloss became known as an aggressive advocate who really knew film, a good judge of cinematic talent who could also go for the jugular on a client’s behalf. He invested himself in clients’ work, often serving as an executive producer on their films.
Six years ago, Sloss opened his own firm, and in its offices his unusual personality–part relentless, part goofy–finds perfect expression. People who have been there talk about two framed pictures on the wall. One is a portrait of Sloss, adorned with a generic plastic label: “Our founder.” The other says “Employee of the Month.” It is empty.
- DP Dave checked in to let us know that the American Cinematographer story ran in the March issue. He says, “It’s mainly about myself and director Michael Valerio and the picture we did “Carlo’s Wake” but in giving some of my history, author David E. Williams writes about Kevin, Scott, Vincent Pereira and Ed Hapstak. Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy are all mentioned.” Sounds like a good read. We’ll work on getting the piece on the site for ya.
DareDevil Hits Shelves
Judd Winick’s Upcoming Comic…
Your Chance To See The New Stash FIRST?
- I think I’ve found a way to do this tickets thing, and it doesn’t include downloading, databases, tickets, or anything…
Except maybe a subverting of one’s dignity.
Frank, an irregular poster but all-around good guy, emailed me and asked if he could come if he and his friend dressed up in their ‘Bluntman and Chronic’ Halloween costumes. Of course, I said sure.
Then I got to thinking…
What if the only way you could gain admitance was if you came dressed as Jay or Silent Bob? It’s in the spirit of the store, and it gives anyone and everyone an equal shot at getting in, so long as you’re costume is convincing enough. And man, would it make for one helluva photo op.
I’m almost 100% sure this is how we’re going to do it – Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash’s Halloween in February Grand Opening (or Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash’s Grand Opening Clone Wars, in a nod to that other trilogy). We’d hold it on a weekend, so folks wouldn’t have to take off work or school, invite the press (and a few special guests as well), make it an all-day affair to accomodate the numbers that may show up. If it’s at all possible, maybe we’d link it to the new Vulgarthon (though no promises).
Could be priceless. Could be the most transparent publicity stunt we’ve ever pulled. Could be memorable at least, shameful at worst.
But it looks like it’s how we’re going to do it.
Thoughts?
Keep in mind this isn’t official, but usually when Kevin takes the time to post about something he’s pretty sure that’s how it’s gonna be. While we’re not sure if the crowds will be more immense than the store can handle. Either way, we’ll be there covering the event for News Askew, so we’ll see ya there! Watch the site for more details, of course. We’ll have ’em.