Summary of the last 14 pages
Dr. Giggles: demented entertainment@yahoo.com 760-613-7232
Jim Warfiled
N2SPOOKINU
Front Yard Fright
Mike Goff
Greg Chrise
Robos99
Screamline studios: 440-205-0111 home or 440-392-2666 shop
MidnightEvil
JamBam
Imax
Asvane
Dr. Giggles: demented entertainment@yahoo.com 760-613-7232
- Starting off small would be smart to grow throughout the next 5 years
- Selling stuff on eBay is a good cheap source of revenue for raising funds
- Being a charity haunt might be a good way to get sponsors
- After some experience you could switch to a pro haunt but that includes some timely changes and new costs. Bottom line start as one and stick to it.
- When making deals of any kind stick to making a contract for safety reasons
- If you use volunteers reward them some how to boost morale and promote for next season
- He likes long walks on the beach and a good scare in his corpse skin from spookywoodsfx.com everyone once in a while cause its his passion
- Don’t down yourself on your acting abilities, if you have passion for it give it your all and you will be great
- Don’t concentrate on your first year turn out focus your people and your show
- Care for your show and care for your customers and they will come
- Printing out flyers( maybe 200) at kinkos or something would be a good cheap way to spread the word
Jim Warfiled
- Save your money and figure how much time you can devote to this realistically over the next SEVERAL YEARS
- I had to ask people I really didn’t know and I was not related to for money
- Work and build up your haunt over time and get as much done as possible before the final goal
- Don’t boast and promise more than you can deliver
- I have never had a dot room but I’m not opposed to it
- Blasphemer that I am, I don’t have any music playing here or any back rough music, It only distracted the customers and made them uneasy
- Room ideas will cost several hundreds of dollars to make happen, unless all you do is turn out the lights
- 250 people well entertained and impressed versus 600 people of which 25 were entertained and 575 forget that they were ever there….. Think about it
- Walls, floor space, displays, but then what about showmanship?
- Steven Kind wrote something like terror is more that dark at the top of the stairs, rather then seeing something that we can then degrade and diminish once we see it and define it and explore it’s weaknesses
- Keeping the mystery can keep them remembering it and returning
- Customers pull out their bic lighters and cell phones to kill your “black”
- Hope for non windy days as a 13 year old setting up wall panels
N2SPOOKINU
- You’re too young to actually be hired by a haunt near you so start by volunteering so you can learn all the things first hand that you are wanting to know
Front Yard Fright
- I agree with the start small statement
Mike Goff
- The quality of your show, and the amount of customers you can send through are inversely proportional
- To increase on, you must sacrifice the other
- I would advise you to build the best show that you possibly can for the amount of traffic that you expect
- Big crowds will come when you are ready for them
- It is important to know your market, and know your customer
- Don’t sell yourself short, be realistic about your goals but NEVER impose limits on the possibilities
Greg Chrise
- Obviously the problem is raising funds, getting people interested and having it all come together years down the road
- Keep your blog going no matter how mundane you might think it is
- To raise funds, sign up for some affiliate programs
- Focus on doing things in a manner that don’t take money like creating your displays from dumpster finds
- Become a bargain shopper
- Raise funds by having a car was and expecting a $5 donation per car
- Until then the game is to spend the next 5 years gathering as many potent ional customers
- I don’t like business plans but don’t leave one out find the happy medium as tc says
Robos99
- Kelly’s book isn’t really going to tell you how to build your haunt as to how to manage your haunt
- JB Corn books helped me with the construction stuff quite a bit
- Don’t let your lack of equipment get you down
- For a first year haunter with no experience you can pretty much count out major sponsors
- You can’t claim all these fundraisers are for charity unless your haunt is a 501(c)(3)
- Business plan is not so important but don’t leave it out
- The key point in dealing with the sound in your first haunt is CHEAP
- In general you’d want a lower dynamic range than most typical music, a haunt can be a high noice environment so music with lots of quiet little details might get lost
- 60 vs. 90 walls http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_ho...ead.php?t=7029
Screamline studios: 440-205-0111 home or 440-392-2666 shop
MidnightEvil
- You need to get Tim Harkleroad’s Krone Daddy new book “Make Your House Everything You’ve Ever Haunted” http://www.kronehouse.net/booksales.html
JamBam
- Research also means going to the haunts in your area
- Other research would be into the are you live in
- Create a business plan and revisit it every few months to update it
- http://www.census.gov/popest/countie...ST2007-01.html is a great source to research your market size
- Mark Butlers Monster List google it
- He who fails to plan, plans to fail
- Be careful how you word things so you intrigue the audience, but don’t offend them
Imax
- Find anything you can for free or near free
- The wall panels will likely be the most costly part of your startup
- Screws and scrap lumber to brace the tops works well to secure the wall panels without messing them up
- 98% of our entire show is done with LED lights we build by hand
- ACTORS ACTORS ACTORS
- Basically any system that will loop continuously will be fine more or less
- Anything at eye level can be dangerous
- I say go for as many illusions as you can! People are suckers for them when they are executed well
Asvane
- Check out Craig list several times a day under the free section for any supplies towards anything
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