COMIC CON PALM SPRINGS:
Christopher Spellman
interview + photography Jorge Perezchica
Since 2010 Christopher Spellman, Founder/Executive Producer was envisioning a Comic Con in Palm Springs. He was raised in Los Angeles and Palm Springs — his family bought a house here back in 1974 and traveled extensively. Christopher’s experience ranges from the talent and entertainment management industry, the comic book industry and the military. Coachella Magazine caught up with Christopher on a Tuesday, August 23 just three days away from the inaugural launch of Comic Con Palm Springs set for Friday, August 26th. The event brings together some of the most passionate and talented people from the world of comic books and entertainment industries. To commemorate the event, comic book legend Stan Lee will join the ribbon cutting ceremony and make appearances throughout the weekend.
Planned events for Comic Con Palm Springs at the Palm Springs Convention Center and Renaissance include: Celebrity artists, Celebrity Cosplay, BBS Costume Party, Kissed Alive, Geek Film Festival, Lego’s Room, Zombie Escape room, Virtual Reality Lounge, Symphony Pop Live, Zombie Walk, Cosplay Contest including a $1,000 prize, Live Podcasts, and more.
Christopher says has spent the last few years raising money for the event, planing, building, arranging and now it is all about the execution. “There’s so many moving parts. There’s a lot of moving parts… It’s like a cruise ship, the closest thing is like a cruise ship because you’ve just got so many different things going on, it’s like producing a cruise ship versus just a festival that’s geared around one idea or theme,” explains Christopher. “Just make it happen,” is his mantra. If the analogy of Comic Con is to a cruise ship, then Christopher appears calm, collected and poised like the captain of the ship, ready to take Palm Springs for new adventures and pop culture in the Coachella Valley to new heights.
Here are excerpts from our interview with Christopher Spellman at the Renaissance Hotel in Palm Springs.
JORGE: When did the idea for Comic Con Palm Springs start?
CHRISTOPHER: About five years ago. In 2010, around there, I started putting the idea together because living here, knowing that there was no Comic Con here. I was working in the comic book industry with some stars in that industry, and seeing the explosion that was happening with Comic Cons. So I pursued it. I just went after it and pursued it to bring a Comic Con here if I could.
JORGE: At what point did you go full swing into promoting and marketing — going from an idea to what it is now?
CHRISTOPHER: Different steps. I would say the spring of last year, the spring of 2015 is when I started to put more of the pieces together. I was starting it about 2010-2011, putting things down on paper, talking to people.
A lot of the time is spent trying to raise the money and put the business plan together, so that took up a lot of the time. Then I went full force reaching out to contacts on the producing side, the creative side, the spring and summer of last year, and putting it together.
Then at Comic Con San Diego last year, approaching a lot of people and starting to put myself out there.
JORGE: Now that we are just a few days away. What’s going through your mind right now, and what are some of the last minuet things that need to get done before the inaugural launch?
CHRISTOPHER: It’s everything. It’s all the building process. Before it’s the planning and the arranging. Now it’s all about the execution.
JORGE: How does it feel seeing your vision come to life?
CHRISTOPHER: Pretty remarkable. Seeing the way these guys build and all that. You see it in different blocks in the entertainment business. I always imagine if I did a feature film, like when you walk on a movie set, like when they’re filming the movie and they’re setting up a shot or something. You see all these guys come in with massive amounts of equipment, all these tech guys setting up.
JORGE: What has been the biggest challenges throughout this journey? Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would do differently looking back?
CHRISTOPHER: Just keeping the logistics tighter, keeping the focus on logistics a lot tighter as far as what needs to be done with coordinating things. There’s so many moving parts. There’s a lot of moving parts, there’s a lot of people.
You know music festivals and things like that. You’ve got all these different bands coming in and all that. Here we’ve got so many different people coming. People come from different areas. We’ve got people coming just for panels, we’ve got people coming for the comic book side, we’ve got people from the theatrical side.
You’ve got the artist tables, you’ve got the vendors. So you’ve got to deal with that whole umbrella too.
Then you’ve got to remember, you’ve got your parties, then you’ve got your music things, then you’ve got your costume contests.
The closest thing is like a cruise ship because you’ve just got so many different things going on, it’s like producing a cruise ship versus just a festival that’s geared around one idea or theme.
JORGE: One thing I noticed that you have done pretty well is the marketing. I see ads or flyers everywhere. Can you tell us a bit about your support team?
CHRISTOPHER: I have a great support team. People that are not even on our little circle, in the sense that the team in the convention center, the team at the Renaissance, people have been working with us to put this together as if we’re all one team, which we are, which has been really great to kind of come together. We’re already talking about 2017 with ideas and stuff.
JORGE: What about the city of Palm Springs, has it been fully supportive?
CHRISTOPHER: Totally, very supportive. All the different areas: local businesses, public people, people working in public vicinities.
JORGE: How do you see your vision being different or standing out from other Comic Cons?
CHRISTOPHER: We have a great roster of comic book artists coming. We have great stars coming. I think we kind of went higher by setting the bar without going to the extreme of getting $75,000… Some of these actors charge a lot of money to be at Comic Con. $75,000, $15,000. It’ll go way up when you’re talking about the Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth, and the Nathan Fillion.
We didn’t spend the money to do that, but we got real ones that are attributed to a lot of comic book fans. Like Doctor Who’s huge, and getting an actor from Doctor Who or Walking Dead is huge. We were able to find that middle ground of when you talk about a Lou Ferrigno or a Sam Jones From Flash Gordon. People that have iconic roles behind them that people really are fans of.
JORGE: What are some of your favorite comic books or superheroes?
CHRISTOPHER: I’m a fan of Batman. I like Batman. I have fun reading comic books, Manga books, but I don’t read them on a nightly basis or anything… I’m more of a film and TV kind of buff.
JORGE: Can you tell us about comic book legend Stan Lee making his first appearance in Palm Springs?
CHRISTOPHER: The biggest thing of all this is having Stan Lee to really anchor this. He’s a legend for this and he’s very much behind it. Palm Springs brings a huge attraction to itself. Doing it in Palm Springs, that’s what also separates it from a lot of other Comic Cons in the interest of making this great, is that Palm Springs is so renowned and people are attracted and drawn to wanting to come here.
So even the guest artists and exhibitors, the VIPs, those ones, the celebrity ones with the comic books. They all want to come to Palm Springs.
JORGE: Were there any challenges getting Stan Lee to attend Comic Con Palm Springs?
CHRISTOPHER: It actually worked out very well. There were challenges in the beginning, but it was only from dealing with people that weren’t as close to Stan Lee as possible. So when his manager and I got acquainted, when I finally got to go to get to his manager, and he and I got acquainted, then it took off right from there.
Having Stan Lee, it’s huge. It’s not just that he’s appearing or a legend, but he’s cutting the ribbon. It’s three days with him, he’s doing multiple panels. There’s a dinner in his honor on Saturday. He’s definitely kicking the first one in Palm Springs off with a bang.
JORGE: Has there been any pressure to live up to expectations?
CHRISTOPHER: You have to roll with it, you just have to treat it like you’re running it like a business, and at the same time still maintaining your creative flow. Also treating it like a business in a sense that, like an operation. Like a cruise ship.
I worked at a very renowned talent management and agencies, and those are like a New York firm. You have to be on your toes. You have to really get along with people… understand that taking care of the people that work with me, respecting everybody, understanding that things might not be perfect. Somebody will be unhappy with their booth, placement, or something. People will get mad, some things will happen, people will complain. Then you just make it work, you just fix it and get the job done. Just make it happen kind of a thing, is the mantra.
JORGE: What are some highlights we can expect at the Comic Con Palm Springs?
CHRIS: We have a Zombie Walk which is pretty cool. We got the Symphony Pop Live, a great costume contest. We’ve got a great roster of cosplayers. BelleChere’s coming out from Boston, she’s a top cos player. Nicole Marie Jean, she’s one of the biggest cosplayers. LeeAnna Vamp, she’s probably the biggest one on the rise. Ivy DoomKitty, up there, her and BelleChere.
JORGE: Can you tell us briefly about Symphony Pop?
CHRISTOPHER: That’s a cool thing that you don’t see at many Comic Cons. It’s where you watch video game or movie scenes, but the live music to those are playing by a symphony. So you really get this whole experience and energy in a room that’s a lot of fun.
JORGE: Are we going to see any movie props?
CHRISTOPHER: There’s going to be about four Zombie Cars coming. There’s going to be the Ghostbusters car coming, the DeLorean from Back to the Future is coming. There’s going to be a whole Star Wars set up in the lobby.
JORGE: And film screenings?
CHRIS: There’s going to be a whole Geekfest screening going on.
Then Jon Schnepp is coming and he’s got a big documentary that was very famous called the Death of Superman. That’s going to be done Saturday night.
JORGE: What do you love the most about Comic Cons?
CHRISTOPHER: That it’s just full of character. They’re full of all this pop culture verve. Everybody gets to dress up, be themselves, be a superhero, have fun, be silly, and be friendly. It’s not about trying to be super cool, it’s not trying to be super sexy, that kind of thing. Yeah, people try to dress up, but they’re still a kind of dorkiness to it, kind of a thing. You get to be yourself kind of a thing and have fun. At the end of the day it’s wholesome fun.
WHAT: COMIC CON PALM SPRINGS
WHEN: AUGUST 26-28
WHERE: PALM SPRINGS CONVENTION CENTER & RENNAISSANCE HOTEL
TICKETS: comicconpalmsprings.com