This last Saturday, June 23rd, I had the exciting experience of playing to a crowd of 300 Browncoats at the Can't Stop the Serenity 2007 event in Arlington, Texas. For those not familiar with it, Can't Stop the Serenity is an international celebration of Joss Whedon's birthday; in nearly fifty cities around the globe, Firefly fans host charity screenings of Serenity to raise money for Equality Now, an organization that promotes gender equality around the world. (You can learn more at www.equalitynow.org ) Different Browncoat groups compete to see which one will raise the most money for the organization, and this year many chapters got a head start by fundraising at the Bedlam Bards 2007 Shindig Tour last April.
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Almost a year ago, Devin Pike contacted me about performing at the DFW screening. (That was before he volunteered to coordinate CSTS efforts worldwide on top of organizing his local event.) Hawke and I have always been big supporters of Browncoat charity work, having contributed quite a few CDs to various screenings in 2006, so I circled the date on my calendar, wrote "DFW" next to it, and promptly forgot about it.
Before I go on to talking about what a great time I had, let me give some props to Devin Pike and his team. This was the second year for CSTS, and I was pleased to see how well global efforts were coordinated. For the first year of CSTS, we were contacted by a group of Browncoats in Canada and asked if we would donate 9 CDs to their effort. We gladly sent off the 9 CDs. Then we were contacted by a theater in New England, asking for a pair of autographed CDs, so we autographed those and sent them off. Next I saw that an organizer in North Carolina had purchased some CDs through our website to use in their raffle. More and more different requests came in. Not that we were unhappy to help the cause, but Hawke and I were running to the post office every few days and feeling a little guilty that we couldn't help out all the groups equally. (The whole fundraiser is about equality, after all.)
This year, Tara Fallon, who was playing Zoe to Devin's Mal, collected raffle prizes (including 60 autographed On the Drift CDs, numerous copies of Done the Impossible, and lots of shiny stuff from Quantum Mechanix, Dark Horse Comics, Browncoat Cruise, BenBella Books, Things From Another World, ReadMyChest.com, and Black Market Beagles) in one location and then distributed them to each screening site. This made my life much easier and gave me the satisfaction of knowing that we'd been able to contribute to every single screening.
But it didn't end there. As a thanks to each of those organizations that contributed globally, Devin Pike's team put together a prescreening montage, listed our URLs on the CSTS website, and even put our names/logos on the back of the CSTS 2007 tee-shirt! (I about fainted this morning when I noticed that "The Bedlam Bards" were listed as a sponsor. Wow. What an honor!)
Of course, the raffle prizes from the global sponsors were just the start; each Browncoat group also collected on their own. The DFW screening had an actual costume from Serenity (which I ended up standing next to while at my CD table before and after the show). It was the one worn in the opening sequence by River's classmate, the boy who goes on about the terrors that Reavers commit. That was donated by the Prop Store of London. They had a set of full-size action figures from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They had "the Big Damn Bag" of shiny prizes, including box seat tickets to a game at the Ballpark in Arlington, which auctioned for $1100. They had over thirty smaller bags full of shiny swag from Read My Chest and FanDone.com.
Even more awesome, the DFW team had arranged for the incredible Jane Espenson to do a Q & A at the screening as well as a book signing beforehand. If you don't recognize that name, let me explain: Jane Espenson was a part of the Mutant Enemy writing team. She worked on over 22 episodes of Buffy, not to mention Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica, and of course Firefly. (She wrote "Shindig.") She edited Finding Serenity, a collection of essays about Firefly. She is also going to be at the helm for the next (and final) season of Battlestar Galactica. I've thought for years that meeting her would be incredibly shiny, and then I found out that we'd be the two Guests of Honor at the DFW screening. I'm luckier than I deserve.
(Another brief digression: It's amazing how the real Big Damn Heroes, the cast, the crew, the writers, and everyone who worked on our favorite show, continue to support ongoing fan charity efforts. I know that Jewel Staite hosted a screening in Canada, and many screenings had prizes autographed by Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, and Adam Baldwin. And that's just the ones I've heard about.)
Whew! Okay, enough raving and onto my weekend.
Joyce had a gig in Austin Friday night and a social commitment on Saturday, so I asked April to accompany me and help with the CD/tee-shirt table at the show. We were able to head up Friday night, because Devin had generously secured a hotel room for me for both nights. Now I stay in a lot of third-party-provided hotel rooms, so I've learned to expect hassle and confusion when I'm checking in; I got none of it this time. Smooth as butter. And the room was nice. Heck, it had a kitchen bigger than the one in my old apartment. Those DFW Browncoats really know how to treat a guest.
We had some free time the next day, so April and I decided to go see the movie Waitress, which co-stars Nathan Fillion (our captain from Firefly). It was an entertaining if predictable chick flick. I kept hoping Nathan Fillion would pick up a wrench and hit the protagonist's abusive husband with it, but that really isn't part of the genre.
When we got out of the matinee, I checked my phone for messages and found that Devin Pike had left one for me. With his usual calm, he was managing a minor crisis: Jane Espenson's plane had broken down, so she wouldn't be arriving at the book signing (scheduled for six p.m.) until about seven. He asked if I'd be willing to play a few tunes for the people waiting at the bookstore. I called him back and told him it was no problem, so long as he'd checked with the store management (which he had).
At the Borders in Arlington, the staff had lined up a dozen chairs in front of the book signing station. After all, here was an author they'd never heard of, signing a book that had been on the market for over two years. Like the Alliance, they didn't see what we had a-coming. *smile*
All the chairs were filled and the staff was scrambling for more at 6 pm when I went in front of the crowd. Of course, they were expecting Jane Espenson, so I made a joke that I was now James Espenson, ever since the surgery. One particularly clueless fellow in the second row took didn't figure out I was joking until around the third song.
In fact that guy was so clueless that he asked bizarre questions between pretty much every song, including, "So you do this all the time? You don't have a real job?" I could feel the room tense when he said that, so I smiled really big and said, "No, thanks to the support of people who enjoy my music, I no longer go to an office every day!" The crowd cheered at that. (Later, the same guy asked Jane Espenson if something in Firefly could be attributed to "bad writing." A BC next to me offered me five bucks to go smack him. I found out later that security was actually debating throwing him out.)
As I played, the crowd just got bigger and bigger, cramming the aisles on every side. When Jane Espenson did arrive, I quickly stepped aside despite her protests that she didn't want to interrupt my performance. (I'm still amazed by how humble and unassuming the Firefly folks are.) A brief Q & A followed, during which Jane explained a lot about the TV writing process. I had never known that each episode is planned and outlined by the whole writing team; the writer is the team member who gets assigned to do the actual scripting of the episode. Jane also mentioned that Joss had once told the writing team some information about Shepherd Book's back story, but she wasn't allowed to reveal what it was. (Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgh!) Near the end, I managed to get in a question: Will we see more of Mark Shepard's character in the upcoming season of Battlestar Galactica? The answer was yes!
After Q & A, Jane received a long line of folks wanting autographs. I had left my rather beat-up copy of Finding Serenity at home in the bathroom where it lives, but I waited in line to have her sign one of my QMx Alliance money bills and to get my picture taken with her by the next person in line (for whom I returned the favor). Then I asked Devin when I should get to the theater to set up my table, and he told me that people were already lining up for the screening; they had been since five o'clock that afternoon!
Fortunately, the theater was literally in the same shopping center as the bookstore, so I was able to swoop over there and get my stuff unloaded in record time. A Browncoat named Tim helped me at every step along the way.(I later found out Tim was listed in the program as my assistant. When did I become famous enough to warrant an assistant?) April did a great job of getting our section of table set up as well as handling sales so that I had time to sign autographs. Heidi from FanDone.com was also a big help to us; it's great to know there are Browncoats like her around to watch my back.
The next few hours were crazy. The line for Serenity kept getting longer and longer, and the theater employees had to work to herd their regular customers around us. (Quite a few stopped to ask what was going on, which provided a chance to spread the word about both Firefly and Equality Now.) April and I stood behind the table the whole time, until I was finally summoned out to the sidewalk for a photo op with Jane Espenson. Once again, I'm really amazed that I get to share the glory with famous people who really deserve it.
The cinema itself was not yet cleared from the last showing, so we had a few minutes to wait outside on the sidewalk, and I suddenly realized that my feet were killing me. Even worse, I was about to do a set standing up. So I said to hell with pride and sat down on the pavement, leaning against the brick wall. Much to my surprise, Jane Espenson did likewise.
Eventually, we were escorted into the theater to set up. The local PA used wireless mics, so I'd brought my own mic stands, along with my own mics and cables, just in case. In fact, I'd brought everything except enough mic clips. (Note to self, pick up some more mic clips.) Fortunately, Tim was able to come to the rescue, as he'd brought his PA gear along as a back-up.
It's always a thrill playing to a bunch of Browncoats, but having a theater of 300-plus flans is just awesome. I felt my performance went well, and many people mentioned enjoying it. At one point, I told the audience that I'd started writing a song in honor of Jane Espenson, and even though it wasn't complete, I wanted to sing what I had so far. I then belted out, "Jane! A writer called Jane!" and said that I'll finish writing the rest of it someday.
When I was done, the theater screened a montage of clips from episodes that Jane Espenson is credited with writing—though as it turns out, most of the actual clips were scenes that Joss Whedon had written. (Doh!) Jane was a great sport about that, as well as being a very engaging speaker. She revealed that she actually longs for the day of audio drama, as the spoken word is really her medium, rather than the visual aspects of TV and film. (A truck driver in the audience mentioned that strictly audio entertainment has a much bigger market than the industry seems to realize. Espenson looked intrigued at that thought.) She also explained why she prefers writing for television: a series allows writers to dig into really meaty subjects.
After the Q & A, Devin drew for the raffle prizewinners and raffled off the Big Damn Bag. Next, we saw an ad for the Browncoat Cruise, narrated by Ron Glass with music from, well, you know who. Then there was a taste of Done the Impossible that ended with "available at DoneTheImpossible.com." In the second of silence at the end of the ad, I shouted, "Or in the lobby right after the show!" Next, we got to see the now famous footage of Joss Whedon's speech to Equality Now. It's a funny, insightful, and truly stirring performance; I get kind of choked up whenever I see it. Finally, there was some footage from the DTI extras, in which folks from Equality Now thank the Browncoats for their fundraising efforts.
At last, the Big Damn Movie hit the screen.
Let me just say, the Studio Movie Grill in Arlington rocks. It's a theater that serves a full restaurant menu—which the servers worked late to provide us with. The sound literally shakes the seats, and the screen is BIG. Serenity never looked so good.
All told, it appears that the screening raised nearly six thousand dollars for Equality Now. Good work, DFW Browncoats! Amazingly, even that princely sum did not even put DFW in the running for the Golden Griswold, a trophy that goes to the screening that raises the most. I can't wait to hear what the final tally is for the global effort.
One might think that the weekend's fun was done, but in fact there was more. You see, when I first was told that Jane Espenson would be attending the screening, I was also told that the team putting on the event would be holding a small, intimate brunch in her honor. I actually emailed Devin to inquire if there was anyway I could finagle two seats at that table. He replied that of course I was welcome; I was one of the Guests of Honor.
So the upshot is that I got to spend three hours sitting cattycorner to and conversing with Jane Espenson. I even got to ask her questions about the upcoming BSG season and some other projects I had to promise not to blog about. *hehehe* Conversation at the table ranged all over: Buffy, Angel, Firefly, television in general, what it's like working with Joss and the other Mutant Enemy alumni, Willow and Wicca, fandom, costuming, writing for TV, books about writing for TV, the financial relationship between networks and studios, what makes Battlestar Galactica the best show still running, and whether Jane should accept a job working for another highly popular show. (The title rhymes with "Zeroes.") In short, it was a fascinating conversation.
Some awesome tidbits I gleaned:
Jane Espenson is working on a book of "dirty tricks TV writers use."
The Final Five Cylons might not be wired quite like all the other Cylons, which means that Nicky (Chief Tyrol and Kali's son) either might or might not be a lot like Hera.
Joss Whedon no longer has an office.
The Mutant Enemy team knew absolutely nothing about Wicca when they were writing Buffy. (Okay, I already knew that, but it was nice to hear one of them admit it.)
Joss Whedon discouraged the Buffy writing team from watching Charmed.
An "Executive Story Editor" is simply a high-ranked member of the writing team. Apparently, there's a whole ladder of ranking, and a writer automatically gets bumped one rung higher for each year of working on a show.
Jane Espenson has not watched all the commentaries on Firefly. *grin*
She does however maintain that she coined the term "Captain Tightpants," though she concedes that Jewel Staite has another version of the story.
Jane Espenson does not like Medium, but highly recommends Friday Night Lights.
Not a tidbit, but a nifty moment for me: Jane told me that she really enjoyed my performance from the night before, especially my joke about writing a song in her honor. I sang a few verses of "Sexy Cylon Blues" for her, and she was genuinely pleased and amused.
All in all, it was an awesome weekend. I got to play a concert, stay in a nice hotel, see some great movies, meet a lot of shiny fans, hang out with DFW BCs, talk with a writer I've long admired, and help raise money for a worthy cause.