Not that it will make the San Diego Comic-Con circus any quieter, but one of the biggest offsites, Nerd HQ, will not be held this year, or most likely, in the future, as revealed by founder/Shazam Zachary Levi.
The event started in 2011 and became a magnet for those seeking Hall H type action without the camping, with a line-up of panels featuring top stars. Individual tickets could be purchased for each panel – although you could get into the space for free. There were parties and benefits and it was all a to-do.
The first few years it was held a PetCo Park before moving to the Children’s Museum, but last year it wasn’t held at all, mostly due to Levi having a hard time funding it. Last year he was thinking of turning it into a non profit:
After being asked by fans whether he would consider launching a Nerd HQ event in Toronto, Levi launched into a story about Nerd HQ’s trouble finding backing. He explained that, historically, he had fronted all of the costs associated with Nerd HQ events, reimbursing himself when sponsorship money came in. After two major sponsors pulled out, and Levi lost a lot of his personal money, he decided to attempt crowdfunding to pay for Nerd HQ events, but that too was unsuccessful.
“We did an IndieGoGo campaign and I hoped that if we went out to the fans…surely all the people of the world who are getting all this stuff for free will put in $5, and they didn’t,” Levi admitted. “So I’m going to take Nerd HQ, I’m going to streamline it, I’m going to take all of the for-profit of it away. The whole company will be a wash for me, and I’m happy to do that because I’m going to turn it into a full nonprofit foundation and that means, if you guys actually want Nerd HQ to happen anymore, on the website, I’ll put a little donate deal and you guys can all put money into it.”
Interestingly, his Instagram post suggests he might take it to other cities, which raises the point that the folks who run Comic-Con aren’t always keen on the many off-sites that have sprung up outside the convention center. As Kerry Dixon points out:
Comic-Con International has also seemed to crack down on panels being held outside the convention center – both Nerdist’s short-interview-style panels and Nerd HQ disappeared last year.
Of course this doesn’t mean NO offsites – there will be activations aplenty this year, and the parking lot next to PetCo is being turned into some kind of carnival, aka “Experience at Comic-Con”.
Still, the idea of a competing schedule of celebrity chats doesn’t seem to fly any more.
I will say I only went to Nerd HQ once but it seemed like a fun addition to the circus. And it will be missed by some, as Jenny Lampe wrote for Dual Pixels
Some might wonder, why is this such a blow? Aren’t there plenty of other free things to do? It is Comic Con after all. In my opinion, no one else has been able to match the offerings that Nerd HQ brought year in and year out. Every year, Nerd HQ would release their schedule for Conversations for a Cause. While these were not free, the $22 went to Operation Smile, a charity that helps those suffering from cleft lip or cleft palate (www.operationsmile.org). Zachary Levi would invite his friends to come sit down and talk in front of an intimate crowd of about 200 people. The conversations were always fun, and the closeness of the audience and guests couldn’t be matched. As you can probably guess, these conversations were highly sought after, making tickets difficult to get. Mostly, you had to get lucky… as is the standard when it comes to Comic Con. But the conversations were only one part of the puzzle. If you couldn’t get tickets to one of the conversations, most times you could count on your favorite celebrities to visit the Smiles for Smiles photograph line. Once again, Nerd HQ asked for a donation to Operation Smile in order to get a photo op with your favorite TV or movie personality.
Does this mean that SDCC is – gasp – getting smaller? As mentioned above, not really, but as with many things in the con space, it’s possible that we have reached Peak Activity, and the show will remain the same size for a while.
Still dreamin’ about that offsite sanctioned indie comics fest, though.
I̟ j̟u̟s̟t̟ b̟e̟g̟a̟n̟ a̟ m̟o̟n̟t̟h̟ a̟n̟d̟ a̟ h̟a̟l̟f̟ b̟a̟c̟k̟ a̟n̟d̟ I̟’v̟e̟ g̟o̟t̟t̟e̟n̟ 2 c̟h̟e̟c̟k̟ f̟o̟r̟ a̟n̟ a̟g̟g̟r̟e̟g̟a̟t̟e̟ o̟f̟ $3,200…t̟h̟i̟s̟ i̟s̟ t̟h̟e̟ b̟e̟s̟t̟ c̟h̟o̟i̟c̟e̟ I̟ s̟e̟t̟ a̟s̟i̟d̟e̟ a̟ f̟e̟w̟ m̟i̟n̟u̟t̟e̟s̟! “M̟u̟c̟h̟ t̟h̟a̟n̟k̟s̟ t̟o̟ y̟o̟u̟ f̟o̟r̟ g̟i̟v̟i̟n̟g̟ m̟e̟ t̟h̟i̟s̟ r̟e̟m̟a̟r̟k̟a̟b̟l̟e̟ c̟h̟a̟n̟c̟e̟ t̟o̟ p̟r̟o̟f̟i̟t̟ f̟r̟o̟m̟ h̟o̟m̟e̟. T̟h̟i̟s̟ a̟d̟d̟i̟t̟i̟o̟n̟a̟l̟ m̟o̟n̟e̟y̟ h̟a̟s̟ c̟h̟a̟n̟g̟e̟d̟ m̟y̟ l̟i̟f̟e̟ i̟n̟ s̟u̟c̟h̟ a̟ v̟a̟r̟i̟e̟t̟y̟ o̟f̟ w̟a̟y̟s̟, e̟x̟p̟r̟e̟s̟s̟ g̟r̟a̟t̟i̟t̟u̟d̟e̟ t̟o̟w̟a̟r̟d̟ y̟o̟u̟!”
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