Felicity Blake and Melanie Teychenne-King

[marianne]

Felicity Blake and Melanie Teychenne King will be chatting at PP on the 3oth, 31st May and Ist June. Take the opportunity to find out what it's like to run a big event like Supanova and to work with writers, directors and actors.



Felicity Blake

Felicity attained her degree in Film at Australia's University of New South Wales. Upon graduating, after a brief stint in the ad industry, Felicity took up a position with RGM, one of Australia's foremost artist representation agencies. Initially working in the writers' and directors' department but soon transitioning into project development and packaging, she remained at the agency until leaving narrative film for documentary in 2003.

After several years working and travelling in Iran, Libya, Egypt, Europe and the USA, developing her interests in travel writing, video-journalism, ethnography, interfaith dialogue, and the middle east peace process, Felicity now divides her time between Byron Bay and New York City, partnering with Hatchling Productions as a writer/researcher, AD, and production manager. The team has recently completed the BBC/ABC/National Geographic/CBC documentary 'The Burning Season', about Indonesia's role in climate change. The program will screen on ABC TV in Australia later this year.

As an antidote to wandering the world's trouble spots, Felicity is part of the organising team for Australia's Supanova Pop Culture Convention. As Guest Services manager alongside Missy Teychenne-King, she works with Supanova's celebrity guests during the event's annual four-city tours. Scheduling media interviews for Star Trek stars and lunch breaks for the Hulk provides a welcome contrast to her documentary work.

Melanie Teychenne-King

Melanie “Missy” Teychenne King's foray in to the entertainment business started at University, where she studied Film and Media Communications until the bills caught up and she had to bail to find ‘real work’ in Sydney.
As a hobby she volunteered at various media and sci-fi conventions, and having finally found her calling, returned to study Event Management in Brisbane.

Finding work at various, large scale event venues in Brisbane, including the Royal QLD Show grounds and their annual ‘Show’ (aka ‘EKKA’), Southbank Parklands and Brisbane City Hall, Missy has worked on everything from trade shows and conferences to gala balls, rock concerts and dance parties, as well as major Brisbane festivals such as River Festival, Buddah’s Birthday, Brisbane Writer’s Festival (BWF) and Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF).

The professional training and intensive event and venue experience aligns with her love of science fiction and fantasy through a position on the Guest Services team of Supanova Pop Culture Expos, alongside Felicity Blake - to work with the celebrity media, graphic and literary guests from all genres of the entertainment and creative industries. She still lends a helping hand to other local sci-fi clubs and events around Australia, which she hopes to be able to do for years to come.

[Sheyana]

Oooh, excellent Marianne! The questions are forming already, but I'll hold them back to the 30th, or maybe the 29th at night to have something to get started on on the 30th

[Chirugal]

Very cool - looking forward to it.

I'm at a conference up in Edinburgh with work on the 30th but I'll leave some questions, and I should be back on the 31st.

[marianne]

I'm posting this a little early, as tomorrow is kick off here but:

Welcome to Felicity and Missy. Thank you for taking the time to come and chat. I know how crazily busy things are for you in the first half of the year with four Supanova events.

I'm going to kick off the discussion with the same question to both of you.

1. Would you each describe your roles with Supanova in more detail?
2. What are some of best and worst moments you've experienced being part of this event?

MDP

[Sheyana]

since Marianne added a couple early - I'll add a spin-off to her second question;

What are the best and worst experiences you've had with stars/special guests? (at Supanova or something else)

Is there a general category of people (writers, actors etc) who are particularly good/easy/interesting to deal with?

[Chirugal]

Hey, guys! Hope you have fun here...

1) Who were you most excited to meet as part of your job?

2) How hectic are your schedules?

[missy]

Howdy all!

Lets kick off with Marianne's questions - although I'm sure there is an ulterior motive and wants to know what we do besides swanning around looking fabulous and hanging out in hotel bars, I’m sure

1. Would you each describe your roles with Supanova in more detail?

My role is officially ‘Guest Liaison’, which means that once the guest hit town (or the hotel, depending on where they are from), we are responsible for their every movement – be that making sure they find a nice place to eat or drink, and transport to get there; organising tourist activities for them to experience their host city; getting to and from the airport and event venue if required; making sure they’re on time or know about their meals, seminars and autograph sessions; making sure they get to their media engagements and night time parties in good time and good health; getting them any and all discounts or freebies we can muster – although I have to say Fel is much more talented in that department.

Unofficially, there is a lot more work behind the scenes in the preceding months – collating travel and accommodation information, catering requirements and going through the processes of bookings, making deals, organising party venues, arranging their long list of requirements and riders (eg: AV requirements for their stage presentations, no-meat-no-anything meals, phones that work in Australia, art supplies, power adapters, enough sharpies and mints and Band aids and all sorts of little knickknacks).

We could, combined, list another 2 dozen little tasks that are thrown our way over the course of the lead up and execution of the show. Anything from arranging external promotional events, to finding that one particular brand of gum a guest will want while they’re here. It’s hard to say ‘No’ in our job.

2. What are some of best and worst moments you've experienced being part of this event?
2.1 (and from Sheyana) - What are the best and worst experiences you've had with stars/special guests? (at Supanova or something else)

Oh hmm… Well I can safely say that I've seen red on many occasions – pure frustration for the most part. Probably the worst that comes to my immediate recollection was a particular party that was populated by a large number of guests, staff and volunteers, but not only did the venue stop service at a disgustingly early time - when it came time to pay the bill, people seemed to have vanished OR they’d lumped our bill in with other tables.

I felt horrible, and furious, that a select few of us, who had in fact missed out on anything more than someone’s left over garlic bread, forked out considerable amounts of money to pay before they would let us leave. I walked out to get some air (ie: fume), to find that the last of our crew (about 20 odd) had turned up to party, only to be turned away because the place had closed at 10:30pm. That was the final straw of crushing disappointment. We went on to find an open-all-night and sparsely populated bar/night club, and ended up having a fabulous time. In fact it turned out to be one of the best night I’d had after an event.

Various hangovers also rate up there as ‘worst moments’ Do not go on a boat, of any kind, when you have no memory of how you got in to bed a mere three hours earlier.

Worst experience guest wise was relating to a ‘missing’ guest who must remain nameless. Left America. Didn’t arrive in Australia until nearly 72 hours later. Missed them at the airport when we finally heard they’d arrived, and a mad search of the hotel found them happily eating a steak burger in the restaurant. They ended up being one of the most fun guests we had, but boy that was a hair raising few days…

Best moments – wow. This is actually rather hard. Most of them revolve around ‘late night room shinanigans’ with fellow staff or guests, but they fall under the ’what happens at the con, stays at the con’ rule and I can’t give away details…

Colin Cunningham from Stargate SG-1 (and other various things) was by far the most entertaining, friendly guest you could ever meet. He’s an illusionist and was doing the most AMAZING things with normal objects – including snapping a (probably gold plated) sthingy from a rather posh establishment, with his MIND. I kid yea not. He was exceptionally intuitive and was a great boost for the ego when we sat down to talk.

Despite how this sounds, I actually had a great time going around Sydney City shopping for men’s underwear. Some guests’ luggage had gone AWOL (not fun in itself for any of us) and the poor bloke needed to stock up on the essentials, literally from underwear up, to last him a few days. As thanks he bought me a ‘No worries – Down Under’ tourist shirt that I actually quite dig (‘no worries’ being a regular saying of mine. How ocker)

Sheyana also asked: Is there a general category of people (writers, actors etc) who are particularly good/easy/interesting to deal with?

Oh this is the easy one – and I’m not playing favorites for this forum – our Australian Literary writers are by far the most casual, easy going, and accepting of any and all guests groups that we have. It helps that they’re Aussie – the familiar cultural background and general laid back personalities (as compared to say, pretty much everyone else) is such a pleasure to be around, that I usually can’t wait to ‘step down’ from the ‘yes man’ role and be in the company of those I genuinely like and respect.
Guest are often either very demanding, particular, or just so shy/closed off (for whatever reason, and not that it’s a bad thing) that it is very hard to make a connection with them. Working with guests is a very ‘job’ mentality. It is work, plain and simple, and any breakdown of professional or social barriers happens by chance and usually much alcohol or other gift giving.
I sometimes think that the Australian guests perhaps see this as a lack of professional treatment from Fel or myself, but, and this is hard to define, it’s not *work* when you enjoy being of assistance or performing a certain role with people who treat you with respect and friendship.

The other ‘groups’ (being actors, vs. artists, vs voice actors, vs. comic writers) each have their own particular interesting aspect, and yes, their personalities can oftentimes be quite stereotypical, but it is usually an individual that will make a difference in your day – a kind word or unassuming personality, easy going nature, or hilariously entertaining and friendly – each guest is different in their own way, and 9 times out of 10, they’re all great to work with for one reason or another.

And from Chirugal
1) Who were you most excited to meet as part of your job?

Jewel Staite (Melb/Bris 2008) was a winner for me. I am a HUGE Stargate/Atlantis fan, and Firefly/Serenity was a wonderful series. I spent the week prior to meeting her scared out of my brain that I would turn in to a gibbering dork. I didn’t. But I blushed a lot. So too Nicki Clyne and Aaron Douglas from Battlestar Galactica. Sadly not at the same time, but they were a lot of fun to hang around and gave me HEAPS of excellent inside goss on the show. I really dig when actors are in to what they are working on, as much as any fan.

2) How hectic are your schedules?

In what type of time frame…? Depends on how much pre-work gets done prior to the shows. Sometimes it’s a case of rocking up and just hitting the ground running. More often over the last few shows, as we start to get more involved in the organizational/operational side of things, the pre-work ramps up.
If we run out of time to complete x-y-z task, then we will spend pretty much any waking, non-guest related moment on the phone or in front of a laptop, making last minute bookings, changes to schedules or plans, finding that elusive piece of equipment…

From when the guest arrive in Australia until the majority have left again, Fel and I are on call 24/7. The hotel lobby/bar/business centre is our office, and we can be found there almost any time of the day or night. Calls will come in at all hours – and if that cheap bottle of wine is still floating in the system, the snap back to professional reality is both cumbersome, and amusing to watch, I've been told.

At the opening days of Supanova, the first few hours are often times very hectic, as we have to ensure that our guests – spread far and wide across the exhibition floor, have everything they need, are aware of their schedules, are in the right place with the right equipment, and that things are running smoothly where they are queues. By mid afternoon, there might be time for a sit down, but I know that neither Fel or myself are happy unless we know what is going on in every area at any given time, so rest is more out of necessity (ie: food = still standing) than any actual down time.

Sunday is a little different, as we’ve got the schedules down pat, and I use my free time to browse the stalls and spend stupid amounts of money on comics, books, collectables, posters, t-shirts, toys, etc etc.

[missy]

wow that was a long one!! Hope it was interesting. I'm having a ball being here and want to thank Marianne for the invitation. Bring on more questions!

[Dove]

Hi, MDP supporters! It’s so kind of you to have us here to visit your community. Sorry we haven’t been able to respond before now – Supanova is only three weeks away and we’re a wee bit preoccupied with the guest wrangling!

I thought I’d respond to the first six questions all in one post, so here they come. Thanks again for your interest!
☺ Felicity

1. Would you each describe your roles with Supanova in more detail?

Missy and I work together in Guest Services, but we play to our strengths: Missy’s qualifications are in event and venue management, and she is an absolute gun with spreadsheets, schedules, and hotel / transport / flight /catering negotiations. On the other hand, my background is in film & TV and PR, so I handle artists, “creative temperaments”, interviews, media liaising, sometimes-fragile egos, peculiar requests… that sort of thing. I’m also peripherally involved in Supanova’s image in general.

Because we compliment each other’s skills so well, I think Missy and I make a great team.

2. What are some of best and worst moments you've experienced being part of this event?

High Points: enjoying being part of a close-knit, supportive team who are all totally unabashed geeks, and being able to do fabulously geeky things with them. One of my favourites was the Supanova Sci-Fi Night we hosted at Warner Brothers’ Movie World in 2007… At the end of the night, after seeing off Star Wars’ Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) I managed to grab a VIP ride on the Superman Rollercoaster with our event director Daniel Zachariou… I think we might still be grinning.

Low Points: Stress and exhaustion during the two-week tour. When it’s your party, you can’t go to bed before your guests do. Sometimes after they’ve all crashed out at 2am, we’re still up for a couple of hours working, and then we have to be up early again the following morning. Luckily all of this is remedied with twilight cocktails and copious amounts of Berocca.

3. What are the best and worst experiences you've had with stars/special guests? (at Supanova or something else)
High points: In a previous job, I once had to video Cate Blanchett. As actresses go, I think she is Queen of Planet Earth.

At Supanova, I love sharing our Aussie tourist attractions with overseas guests. Australia really is a remarkable country in this astonishing world… seeing the guests experience our native flora and fauna, our beautiful landscapes and our unique culture is really rewarding. It stops you from taking things for granted.

Low points: To be honest, there aren’t really any. Errors, maybe? I hate those. Sometimes it is upsetting when you try to be a great host and make sure people have a wonderful time, but their insecurities get in the way and nothing you do can please them. It happens occasionally.

4. Is there a general category of people (writers, actors etc) who are particularly good/easy/interesting to deal with?

My dad is a voice-over announcer and I grew up around recording studios, (I also did lots of VOs as a kid), so I have always enjoyed the company of our voice actors, who are usually a fun bunch. They do impressions all the time and it cracks me up. As a writer myself, I also tend to share the general sensibilities of the authors and comic writers, and I confess to a certain fascination with illustrators!

5. Who were you most excited to meet as part of your job?
Part of the job is that you don’t really get all that visibly excited to meet anybody… celebrities don’t faze me, especially once you get to know them as people. It would be hard to do our job if Missy and I couldn’t treat all our guests like regular humans.

That said, several years ago I found myself at dinner seated between Chewbacca and R2D2 (Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker, and their lovely wives, Angie and Val). Star Wars formed a lot of my spiritual philosophy as a kid (like many kids who grew up in the late ‘70s), so that was pretty neat. There was also another dinner at which the Shakespearean-trained Welsh actor John Rhys Davies recited the Reverend Jenkins’ sermon from "Under Milk Wood” by Dylan Thomas to myself and Sean Astin (Goonies, Lord of the Rings). It was a delicious monologue; we were both beside ourselves.

One of the most exciting people I’ve met in my documentary line of work is Irwandi Yusuf, the new ‘green’ Governor of Aceh, Indonesia. You can read all about him here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwandi_Yusuf

6. How hectic are your schedules?
Uh… put it this way… Last ‘night’ I got to sleep at 3am, but my last email from Missy was at 5am, so I guess she wins. However, I called her this morning and got her out of bed to book about 20 hotel rooms. We both have careers in addition to Supanova (mine in documentary and TV production, Missy’s in event direction), so luckily we thrive on adventure and adrenaline. I also have a doco coming out next month called "The Burning Season", which is screening in Parliament House the same week that SydNova is on, so I'm kinda busy...

Sometimes my work wrangling visitors for Supanova makes interviewing heads of state and billionaire businessmen seem like a walk in the park!

[Dove]

Wow, you guys have a serious profanity filter here, don't you? I mean, cocktail? Spoon? Missy and I will be practically mute.

Missy is absolutely on the money with Colin Cunningham. Those close-up magic tricks took my breath away. Again, a 'party trick' at dinner.

And I have to agree - the Australian author(esses!) are absolutely the most charming and easygoing of the bunch, and that's not flattery. Unfortunately for the authors, I tend to think of them as "family", not guests, so they don't get the 'sucking up' that some people do but they do get into the staff parties in our room, and I think they're the best ;-)

[lynnejamneck]

Hi Felicity and Melanie,

My question to each of you is this: Which Science Fiction novels (old or new) do you think would translate well to film, and why? These do not have to be novels you especially personally liked. I'm interested in hearing, with your unique backgrounds, what your thoughts are on what kind of SF can be filmed well.

Cheers!

Lynne Jamneck

[Dove]

Hiya, Lynne,

I think John Wyndham's 1951 novel 'The Day of the Triffids' [1] is a masterpiece crying out for a remake. It has been adapted twice - once as a rather florid B-movie and once as a naff ABC miniseries. The post-apocalyptic tale of genetically-mutated killer plants has never really been adapted faithfully or successfully, which I would attribute to the earlier directors' and production designers' inability to make foliage look really scary. Contemporary CGI and a respectable budget should have some affect on that credibility problem... It's a really compelling story.

The tale takes on new relevance in our era, when genetically engineered crops are becoming increasingly prevalent in industrial monoculture. Biotechnology corporation Monsanto sells genetically modified Soya beans [2] resistant to their leading brand of pesticide, and has implanted terminator genes (which cause the seeds to last just one generation) in seeds sold in India; Frankenfoods [3] infiltrate our supermarkets day by day. And we don't really know what ecological and health effects all this is going to have in the long term... what IS going to happen now that we've started splicing flounder genes into tomatoes to make them frost resistant?

One thing's for sure - read "The Day of the Triffids" and you'll think twice about watching shooting stars for a while. It's a cracking good story.

That said, an adaptation of "Planetary" home.earthlink.net/~rkkman/frames/index.html would just be totally, unequivocally kickass.

-- Felicity, AKA Josella Playton.

[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids
[2] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto#Soyabean_in_Argentina
[3] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenfood

[Chirugal]

May 30, 2008 9:40:51 GMT Dove said:

Wow, you guys have a serious profanity filter here, don't you? I mean, cocktail? Sthingy? Missy and I will be practically mute.

*gasps* Ohhhh, Proboards is annoying! *goes into mod settings and removes a couple of filters* Cock(tails) cock(tails) cock(tails)!

*ahem* Sorry about that! ;D

Really fascinating to read all this - it sounds like a wonderful job to have. Stressful, but wonderful!

More questions:

1) How's the current Supanova coming together? Is it going according to plan?

2) What do you like to do in your time off?

3) Who would you love to meet who you haven't had a chance to yet?

[marianne]

And two from me:

Fel, tell us more about The Burning Season. What prompted you to get involved?

Missy, can you tell us about your involvement with Conquest.

Both of you: what would your dream jobs be?

[lynnejamneck]

Felicity -

Day of the Triffids indeed! And a really nice angle there on the genetically modified food issue.
Frankenfoods. Yikes.