I was just at an event that I THOUGHT was basically a comic-book/vintage toy flea-market. And until I got to the end, it basically was. Small venue, a couple of people were cosplaying. There were a couple of old guys speaking to a seated crowd, but I didnt know who they were…then at the other end of the event was an ‘autograph row’. The only people I recognized were Brian Tochi and…Denise Crosby!
Now I’ve been to one other convention, it featured William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy to appear and speak. So it was higher level event but still in a venue that was kind of confusing. Wil Wheaton was there and Herbert Jefferson Jr. But when i walked past, no one was speaking to them and it wasn’t clear if i had to pay to speak to them a bit…
At the event today there was one woman kind of roaming equidistantly from each person and she’d ask onlookers if they wanted an autograph, but there wasn’t like some kind of funnel to get to the talent and it wasn’t very clear if i had to go to the woman first.
If YOU had wanted to just ask Ms. Crosby a couple of geeky questions but wasn’t interested in an autograph what would you have done? I suppose if i had been inclined I would have asked ‘the woman who may have been in charge’ how exactly this all works. I certainly didn’t want to walk up to Denise Crosby and embarress myself by saying “Do I have to pay to talk a minute”
I want to make it clear that the event was in what basically is a very large storage garage. Just to give an idea of how low-level it was and give an idea of how the whole thing was kind of confusing. So if anyone reading this has vast experience with high-level cons and is thinking “Dumbass. Its always very clear what is entailed to have a bit of natter with a celebrity”
I’ve been to a lot of gaming conventions and fan conventions which have actors there, doing meet-and-greets and signings. While a few have been pretty big names, many of them are lower-level actors, who would be well-known to fans, but aren’t generally household names, and – more importantly – probably are not making a fortune from their acting careers. Most of them are character actors, not “stars” (unlike a Shanter or a Nimoy), and may not be working regularly as actors (particularly if they are a little older). Someone like Denise Crosby likely fits into that group.
Actors in that range are almost undoubtedly making appearances at small shows specifically as a source of income; they likely get some level of “appearance fee” by the organizers of the event, but they are very likely also counting on making money from autographs and photos.
Some years, ago, when the science-fiction TV series Farscape was still on (or maybe just after it went off the air), I met one of the show’s actors (Virginia Hey, who played Zhaan) at a convention – she was selling autographed photos at her table, as well as handmade candles, which she herself had made. I chatted with her for a few minutes (it wasn’t busy, and I did buy a photo), and she explained that most of the cast did the convention circuit, specifically because it was an important revenue stream for them. They all recognized that they were fortunate to have been on a relatively popular sci-fi show, with a loyal fan base; most working actors never even get a break of that level. She was absolutely delighted to meet and chat with fans of the show and of her character (and she really is a charming person), but at a certain level, it was also something that she was doing because it helped her make ends meet, financially.
tl;dr: if you want to chat with an actor at an appearance like that, while I don’t think that you need to be as awkward as asking “do I need to pay to talk with you,” you should recognize that they are appearing there in order to make some money. If it’s clear that they are selling autographs or photos, if you’re able to afford to buy one, IMO, you probably should do so, as well as speaking with her.
20-plus years ago I was at a Star Trek convention. It was very small. The big headliners were the Ferengi family—Aaron Eisenberg, Max Grodenchik, Chase Masterson—and a Klingon (Robert O’Reilly, maybe?).
In the autograph room I saw Herbert Jefferson Jr. sitting at a table by himself. Everyone was ignoring him. I had been a big fan of Battlestar Galactica as a kid and I would have loved to talk to him. But as it was I was too shy to approach people one on one in person and I was too conscious of appearing to be the only one on that side of the room. So I also pretended I didn’t see him. I felt terrible about that. Today I would just go over to him.
Like kenobi said - these folk are there to make their living. How much was she charging for an autograph/photo? If it wasn’t outrageous and you are a fan - or only curious - you should pay the fee. I’d bet odds are good they’d be glad to chat and answer your questions. They don’t enhance their brand by getting a rep as an asshole.
I went to a comic/toy show last year that was a bunch of vendors in a big local “sportsplex”. Tony Isabella was there (DC comic guy) and I just sort of wandered over to his booth and talked to him about Black Lightning. There was no fee for talking to him - and no line for his booth. But when I asked him about his new project he said he had a book for sale and I felt like i would be a jerk if I just said “that’s nice” and walked off. So I bought the book and paid for him to sign a copy for my brother.
Anyway, I don’t think you should be expected to pay a fee just to talk to someone. Even if you stand in line to talk to them, amongst people who are standing there to pay for autographs.
I almost feel like they only charge for autographs because there’s a non-zero chance that people are going to sell them. So the either the fan is willing to pay for the autograph or the reseller is. Everyone else is just happy to say hello and gush.
At one Con, Poul Anderson was signing books, so I grabbed a few from hucksters, and went and chatted with him quite some time. He was happy to chat.
I imagine if Denise Crosby was not busy she would be okay with chatting but why not buy a poster/picture/autograph. But if not busy, sure just ask a question, but start with "Do you might if I ask a geeky question…?
Yeah, in my head I was going to open with “Ok, this is going to be One of Those Questions…one of those ‘In epishoddee 108 questions’.”
I wanted to know if immediately after doing Yesterdays Enterprise, she was aware that the events could easily be used to bring back Tasha Yar. I also wanted to know if the Star Trek Picard showrunners had reached out to her.
Thanks all for the responses. I’m glad I didn’t actually approach anyone cause there were too many ways to embarrass myself. But now I have more information at my disposal.
I visited a convention once & there were some names there. I paid my $100 and I got 5 whole minutes of John Cusack’s time. Turns out he’s heard of the SDMB and The Chicago Reader and that he reads Cecil. Nice guy. (His fists are almost 6 inches wide though, so if you’re smart, you will Never piss him off. The man has sledge-hammers on the ends of his wrists.)
I also saw Nichelle Nichols and Famke Janssen along the same row (both women were incredibly beautiful & incredibly nice). I wanted to do the autograph/ pic with a star thing, but I’d already spent my eating money. If I was flush that day, I so would have loved to meet them!
Some people take one look at you, though, and you can just see the dislike in their eyes. Lou Ferrigno? He gave me the ‘come over here. I wanna mess with you like a Varsity football player messes with a Freshman in HS’ look.
There was a local smallish mall where I grew up. They since closed it up so there is no indoor mall area. At the time they would have comic book and card “shows” about once a month. Not a con by any stretch. Just the opportunity for local vendors to set up tables and sell. One time I there doing normal mall shopping and very randomly I saw Don West from Lost in Space sitting at a table. He looked very lonely.
I once paid almost $100 to Joel Hodgson for a poster, autograph, and swearing in to his official club or whatever. I was happy to do it, but then the first thing he did was ask me if I was “straight with (my) creator.” I was a bit put off, but I said “I get along with my mom just fine” and he accepted that answer. Still, it left a weird feeling in me. I subsequently found out in a Marc Maron interview that he is very religious.
See. That ties in with my OP. When I get confused my brain tried to tackle things in a very BAD straightforward fashion
Brain: “Just go up and ask if you have to pay to talk to her. Or ask this other woman “So, how does this work?” Tell her you don’t want an autograph you just want to talk”
Me: “Brain, you realize this is a comic-book sale and not a strip club, right”?
So I’d have been confused as fuck by Joel’s question. What religious person ISNT right with their creator? Who ever says “yeah me and Yahweh arnt seeing eye to eye right now”
So there’s no way I’d have come up with as hilarious of a comment as you did.
I’m not usually so quick on my feet, but I was happy I came up with that and that it worked.
Maybe after decades in a profession that forced me to interact with people in situations I found uncomfortable helped me prepare for that day. I definitely wouldn’t have been that good with Herbert Jefferson Jr. I still feel bad for that poor man.
I got a signed photo from Russell Johnson at a convention (Creation, maybe?). I told him that I admired him for standing firm when Ronald Reagan wanted him to sign some HUAC petition. He’d mentioned it in his autobio, and added that since he’d been shot down in the Pacific theater, if that didn’t prove his patriotism, signing a petition certainly wouldn’t. Especially when the petition was being circulated by someone who’d spent WWII at “Fort Roach”, making propaganda films.
RJ seemed pleased to hear that; I’m sure it’s always appreciated when a fan knows about something besides the signature role. I was hoping he’d unload a bit about about HUAC and how paranoid they were (RJ had been in the Actors’ Lab, which to red-hunters like Reagan, made him a “fellow traveller”). But I guess it wasn’t on the tip of his tongue, and I wasn’t going to ask any leading questions. Especially when a dad with two impatient kids was right behind me.
A few years ago I was at DragonCon with my ex. She was a fan of ST:TNG, and was mostly interested in meeting Gates McFadden. She was very honest, and said she didn’t want an autograph, just wanted to tell her what it meant to her as a teenager to see a woman in a leadership role. How watching TNG was something she and her dad did together.
There was some other fluffy stuff, but I don’t remember exactly.
My other favorite meeting, beyond Virginia Hey, was with Ioan Gruffudd, at Origins (a gaming convention), about a decade ago. He was there as a guest of honor, primarily for his roles in sci-fi and superhero movies and TV (the Fantastic Four movies, the TV series Century City, etc.)
When I went by the area where they had a table set up for him, there was no one in line to see him – it was early in the convention, and mid-morning, so there just wasn’t a lot of foot traffic yet. Thus, I wound up being able to chat with him for about ten minutes. We talked a lot about the Horatio Hornblower TV movies he had done, a decade earlier (which was the first thing I’d ever see him in), and about his family – he’d met his now-estranged wife while they were making 102 Dalmatians. He was tremendously personable, and it was just a really nice conversation.
I don’t have any cool in person stories….but there was a sweet spot in the early 2000’s where it wasn’t difficult to find some authors or actors e-mails through various non-invasive means and said individuals didn’t act like it was stalky as would probably happen today
Joe Haldeman was always very gracious to answer questions through his MIT email address.
Arlene Martel had an online beauty website so I got to tell her that she was still as beautiful as in her Twilight Zone and Trek days. She responded very kindly.
I got to tell Steve Gerber before he passed that he was Alan Moore before Alan Moore was Alan Moore. He said “I’m humbled, thank you.”
I hate when some entertainment figures pass and I never got to tell them what a positive effect they had in the world.