Diet Dark History and Horror Convention

The Dark History and Horror Convention was started by myself, Brian L Ward, in 2014 and has been held yearly (with the exception of 2020) in the Champaign Urbana, Illinois area.

To say that there is no other show like it in downstate Illinois or even within a few hours would not be a misstatement. From the beginning the driving force has been my love for the field of true crime and abnormal psychology. From humble beginnings in 2014, 8 guests/vendors and about 20 attendees, the show has grown to include horror artists and actors, unique and talented vendors, true crime personalities (people who have actually been a part of events, not corporate talking heads), true crime authors, researchers, podcasters and others that are real and knowledgeable rather than the fake "cash in while it's hot" variety seen in the past 10 years or so on so many networks. The folks we try to bring you have lived and breathed true crime for at least as long as I have, better than 30 years, we are not in it for celebrity status. We do it to bring attention to cases and victims and hopefully help expand folks knowledge.

From year 3 on, Horror was added to the show since it was a natural progression. The show grew to include more vendors and actors. It garnered more attention in the field, reaching audiences across the country and even some followers worldwide. A film fest was added that drew films from all over the world. Tattooing was added and while there was a couple of years that it wasn't available, we are happy to say it has been back since 2021 and looks to stay that way.

Along the way we have had such celebrity guests as Robert LaSardo, Robert Mukes, Bob Elmore, RA Mahailoff, Jeremy and Jason London, Edward Furlong, John Dugan, Teri McMinn, Ari Lehman and many more.

I am happy to say that I have built a reputation among agents and talent of being a honest, straight shooting promoter that treats everyone as family. Due to this, I have been able to secure guests simply because they have heard about the shows atmosphere and my way of doing things. I have had a number of celebrities even do me the favor of changing some of their terms of appearance so that I was able to get them to come. The shows visibility and attendance numbers continued to rise to the point of being able to do the occasional two day show and have numbers nearing 1000 attendees, 60+ vendors and 8-10 special guests.

I present you with all of that information to get you to this point, I hope you are still reading along. I have done all of this through passion and the will to make it happen. I have had help from friends, family and loved ones along the way but as they can tell you, I usually don't even tell them half of what I have going on, I keep a lot of plates spinning and tend not to let anyone know what that looks like.

I have ZERO corporate funding behind me, I do all of this out of pocket and I am far from a rich man. Please indulge me and allow me to give a brief break down:

Venue-- $1500-3500 daily---I just secured the $1500 one this year, 2021 and 2022 were $3500 daily and 2022 was a two day event.

Celebrity Guarantees-- $500-$3000----I have never tried to get anyone above this, but know that folks like Kane Hodder and Robert Englund have guarantees in the $8k-10k range, meaning that they must make that in sales or the promoter is responsible for the difference. I know of one show that counted on ticket sales to cover guarantees, that was a one time show, the promoter destroyed his name, couldn't pay out and pissed off a number of big name celebs and agents. I ALWAYS make sure I have the full guarantee BEFORE the show even begins, I want to be sure that even if the celeb makes zero in sales, they get paid and want to work with me again, hence the good will I mentioned earlier.

Celebrity Transportation--most of these are flights and some require their agent to fly with them. Flights typically from either coast, so depending low end $200 and up to $600, I personally have turned down folks whose flights were higher than that, I try very hard to spend no more than $300 per flight.

Accommodations---Hotel room for typically 2, up to 4 nights. I am fortunate to have friends that are in management at hotels locally but even with that, rooms are at least $80 without taxes and fees, nightly. If I am obligated by agreement to cover say 8 guests for 2 nights at $80 a night = $1280 plus taxes and fees.

Per Diems--Celebs need to eat, their contracts state that you give them money to do so. Low end is $50 a day, the most I have agreed to is $100 daily. Say they fly in Thursday night for a Friday evening-Saturday night show, fly out Sunday morning/afternoon. Guess what, you owe 4 days of per diems, regardless of them spending only a few hours of Thursday and Sunday in "your employ".

So for illustration, without breaking confidentiality on contract terms, 2022 had a potential cost up front, remember, I want all money in hand before show time plus by then have to already have transportation paid for, of around $14,000. If I remember correctly, it went a bit north of that.

Now, to cover the venue fee, ideally you would have vendor fees do that. Take the venue fee, divide by the number of spots you can fit = how much to charge. Some promoters will clearly gouge the hell out of vendors, not me. I know the "big shows" get $400 plus for spots, some closer to 1k. Now those are big venues, 100+ spots. I will confess to having no clue what a place like Rosemont costs but.....100 spots at $400 is $40k so.......

Vendors are the lifeblood of any convention, I believe in helping out where I can when it comes to their ability to work one of my shows. I give more deals than I should and comp more spots than I should, it's my nature and probably will never change. I don't EVER see charging more than $300 a spot regardless, I just can't justify that in my mind. I think the most to date has been $250 for tattoo spots simply because they require state fees and a bit more work.

Ticket sales--- You always hope these at the very least break you even, maybe build some capital for next show so they can become self sustaining and if miracles occur, make you a profit. I will confess to you now guys, none of the above have EVER happened, EVER. I did do a small, first time show in April, at the new cheaper venue and was able to not only break even but make some towards Diet Dark History and Horror Con. That said, the amount made towards it was still not enough to cover the entire venue cost, but at least I don't have the instant $1500 fee to worry about, the majority of it was made in the ticket sales.

Additionally, regardless of how big the show may ever get or how big of celebs we may ever secure, I will NEVER have the outrageous ticket costs I have seen elsewhere. The "big" corporate shows charging low end $35-40 daily, freaking Crime Con charges $349 for their standard pass for 2023! Are you kidding me?!

In my mind presently, I can't see even charging $30 daily. I shoot more for $10-20.

For all of these reasons, I had intended to take 2023 off from doing shows.

2022, I will confess, put me in a financial hole. Remember those numbers I showed you, I made less than $50k in 2022, not from the shows, from working my real jobs. That's not your business I know but screw it, my honesty and transparency have gotten me this far in this endeavor.

I couldn't keep away though and disappoint people and I didn't want to break the bit of momentum we have built in the community, so I decided to do two, one day shows at a smaller, cheaper venue and hope for the best. As mentioned, the April event was by all accounts a success so it will be repeated in 2024 at the same location.

Now I need my baby, Dark History and Horror Con to have a successful year. If it does, it will continue to live on. If not, it may lead to a heartbreaking decision having to be made sooner rather than later.

Now I have let you know this exhaustive amount of information to let you know this. After posting a very small portion of these concerns on Facebook, a friend I made last year at the con contacted me and offered his help in the form of securing some talent. He himself is a well known actor and has a vast network of friends in the field. In the past few days he has secured promises from a number of his friends, himself included, to come to the show for a fraction of their normal requirements. This is HUGE to say the least.

We are talking a savings of thousands of dollars AND it gives me the chance to bring you some celebrities in a year where I thought the con may just have to be a vendor only show.

So, that is why I am running this campaign. I am not asking or needing the $14k plus that previous shows have required, I'm not even asking for HALF of that. If every one of my 500+ "friends" on Facebook could find in the hearts and wallets to donate even just $5 to the campaign, we would be in pretty good shape, more would obviously be even better. With that said, every single dollar is appreciated, please know that. Don't hesitate to email or message me on any of my platforms with any questions, fund raising ideas, sponsorship or partnership ideas, or any other way to bring you the best show I possibly can. Thank you for reading this book and for your friendship and support.

Much Appreciation,

Brian