Filmcon

Science Fiction Convention
Name:	Filmcon
Dates:	1972-1988
Frequency:
Location:	Los Angeles, California, USA
Type:	fancon
Focus:	Media Fandom with focus on Star Trek, Science Fiction and Fantasy
Organization:
Founder:
Founding Date:
URL:
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	Contents 1 Timeline; 2 Some History; 3 Filmcon 1 (1972) 3.1 Filmcon 1972: Rap Session; 3.2 Filmcon 1972: Con Reports; ; 4 Filmcon 2 (1973) 4.1 Filmcon 1973: Con Reports; ; 5 Filmcon 3 (1975); 6 Filmcon 4 (1976); 7 Filmcon 5 (1981); 8 Filmcon 6 (1989) -- Proposed, Canceled 8.1 Proposed Guests; 8.2 Needed: A New Logo; 8.3 Needed: A Title for the Progress Reports/Newsletters; 8.4 Needed: Some Money; 8.5 Planned Workshops; 8.6 Regarding Photography; 8.7 Images from the Progress Report; ; 9 References;

Filmcon was a convention that featured sci-fi, horror, and Star Trek themes. "Filmcons" were run by some of the same organizers that began Equicon, mainly Bjo Trimble and John Trimble.

Timeline

It ran from 1972 to 1974 as simply "Filmcon."

"Filmcon" and "Equicon" were combined in 1975, and that year, as well as 1976, both "Equicon" and "Filmcon" were utilized in the convention's name.

Between 1977-1988, "Filmcon" was incorporated into "Equicon," but was not listed in the title due to trademark issues.^[1]

John Trimble and Bjo Trimble dropped "Equicon" all together in 1989, and attempted a revival of Filmcon in its original format.^[2] This con, however, did not take place, nor did any thereafter.

Some History

FILMCON was started in 1972: a film-laden convention with many how-to programs on filmmaking. It was an artistic success but - due to huge rental fees on the many films - was a financial failure. The second year was even worse. Unless FILMCON could be supported in some manner, this fine convention concept would die. By this time the original chairman of EQUICON retired to write professionally, so we ended up "sole Proprietors" of this Star Trek convention. It seemed feasible to combine the two, letting the EQUICON help pay for the large FILMCON expenses while at the same time providing the ST fans with an unusually fine film program. Though the name "EQUICON:FILMCON" was unwieldy, the combining of conventions proved successful.^[3]

Filmcon 1 (1972)

"Filmcon 1972" was held over Thanksgiving weekend (end of November) at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

It was chaired by John Trimble.

The 1972 event was titled" Fantasy Film Fans International" and was listed as the "First Annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Convention."

The Trimbles considered it an artistic success and a financial disaster ^[4]

From a January 1972 letter by Bjo Trimble in Spockulations #2:

The convention should be of especial interest to ST fans. Roddenberry has promised to come, bringing blooper films and "The Cage", and others have said they'd be there: Walter Koenig and George Takei, as well as some of the crewmen who helped make the show what it was. We have not heard from everyone, yet. The current owner of the shuttle-craft is willing to let us display it at the con, and Cheryl has! managed to rescue sections of the Enterprise bridge, which friends will help put back into commission again, with lights flashing and panels working! There will be ST episodes, of course, and goodies on display, too. Please pass the word to friends, too will you?

flyer for the 1972 Filmcom, front page, click to read
flyer for the 1972 Filmcom, back page, click to read
cover of the 1972 first progress report, artist is Tim Kirk
artist is Tim Kirk, page from the 1972 first progress report, dinner!
cover of the 1972 18-page film guide
back page of the 1972 18-page film guide
a copy of the receipt paid by a student to attend the convention. The student rate was $8

Filmcon 1972: Rap Session

At this con, a series of interviews conducted by Rick Beban were recorded with David Gerrold, D.C. Fontana, Bjo Trimble, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig.

These interviews were transcribed (in full? excerpted) and printed in a 1973 publication called "The Film-Con Rap Session." It was sold by Dage Co..

See The Film-Con Rap Session.

Filmcon 1972: Con Reports

[some excerpts from a con report by Dorothy Jones Heydt]:
It was well-stocked. Unlike SFCon, which ran each film at least twice so that, you could see everything (assuming you had limitless endurance), each film was shown an average of once. (this, of course, had considerable to do with the terms of rental.)
Films came in three categories, which I shall define as Hard-Core Science Fiction, Soft and Slitherly Science Fiction, and Vampires, though the Committee had set up definitions slightly more genteel. They did their best to have only one film of a given genre running at a time, but there were occasional overlaps.
[snipped]
We then took a quick look at Galactica -- actually, the title was Galac....some Hungarian inflectional ending which I don't remember. This was its U.S. premiere and no one, including the Committee, knew anything about it. Well, it was a couple of people doing a modern dance against an astronomical background to the accompaniment of some bongo drums and a narration. In Hungarian. The drumming and dancing were amateurish and the astronomy insufficiently inspiring; the narration may have been great but since we didn't have Sarkanyi Gero along to translate we'll never know. We went and took a nap.
[snipped]
In the evening the Draculans met and somebody premiered "The Thing With Two Heads," whereof the advertising slogan is, "They grafted a white bigot's head onto a soul brothers' body -- …" Yes, quite. Some of the ersatz heads were on exhibit in the exhibit rooms, one with buttons hooked up to make it blink.
[snipped]
The Masquerade. There were, let's see, about ten costumes/acts/what not, some of them containing two people. With one exception, who wasn't really in costume, everyone got a prize for something. Even Ricky Schwartz as "The Real Seymour." Like I say, there were about ten costumes. Hal and I were wearing our formal medievals and if I could have thought of a title in a hurry we'd have entered and probably walked away with a prize or two. There were a few monsters and a few pretty girl costumes and one rather pitiable aged Andorean lady. Also a gentleman from The Omega Man who turned out surprisingly well because of his white-painted contact lenses, and when I consider what contacts cost he deserved an award just for devotion to the original above and beyond the call of duty. Also a nice girl whose name I can never remember, but she won the Westercon's Most Naked Lady contest as Golden-Haired Sif. She was again in her skin, plus a label and a few gift wrappings, as "A Hannukah Present for David Gerrold." (David was among the judges, because Bill Theiss couldn't make it.) And that was about it. Everybody got an award of some kind and we were out of it in time to go upstairs and see "Journey to Babel."
[snipped]
We did, however, get up in time for the Star Trek festival at 10. All manner of Trekkian personnel were there, some of them vastly changed. DeForest Kelley and James Doohan still look about the same, but the younger members have let their hair grow since they got out of the UPP Star Fleet. Walter Koenig has a mustache and is completely unrecognisable. Gene Roddenberry is still his sweet self, but Majel Barrett (introduced as "my wife, the nurse") has done her hair back to brown and lost ten pounds she didn't need to; she's still pretty but she looks ill. One hopes not.
Everybody was there, in fact, but Nimoy and Shatner. I dare say they've gotten a bit shy. They had surrogates, however, of whom more later. So they explained how, yes, it's conceivable that Star Trek may be revived, and the people to convince at the moment are Paramount. David Gerrold and Dorothy Fontana supplied names and addresses of people to bug, and I've lost them. Roddenberry and Fontana are currently working on another projected series (pilot, in the form of a movie-for-TV, is evidently to be shot one of these times real soon now) entitled Genesis II, which takes place 108 years from now and 100 years after the Great Conflict. Civilization is just beginning to struggle back, and of course it takes a different form in every village, which should make life varied.
Then "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was shown, in its form as a pilot, not as an episode. There's an introductory scene which was cut, showing the Galaxy from the outside with a bit of voice over about how they're leaving the Galaxy, et cetera, and leaving their regular law-enforcing job for a bit of exploration, tracking down these strange signals, et cetera. And cut to the chess game. Then a black-and-white print of The Cage in its original form was shown, Roddenberry's own -- If you've seen The Menagerie you've seen 97% of The Cage. The scene "outside Pike's home town" was somewhat longer, wherein Vina kept trying to distract Pike's questions with "Please, dear, you know I get—ah—headaches when you talk like this," and Pike later told her, "You know, those 'headaches' are hereditary. Do you really want to bring up children here?" et cetera. There were a couple of very brief shots of some of the other zoo specimens -- a large apey one and a fairly large birdy one, both looking bored.
Then all three years' blooper films were shown, after which they began a panel discussion and we left, hoping to see what was left of The Time Machine -- another of those overlaps. But it was in its final scenes, so we said the hell with it and had another nap...
By this time, like every con since the hallowed first probably, they were running late. So along came David Gerrold, saying, "I'm supposed to speak for half an hour, and we're 24 minutes behind schedule. So I'll answer questions for six minutes, and then we'll show 'Tribbles' and be back on schedule. Now, your first question, 'How can you break into television writing?' You can't. Next question?" And he answered a few, and then they put on "Tribbles."
By the way, somebody other than David indicated that part of Shatner's Weltschmerz out of that show derived from an allergy to tribble fur. I'd like to hear more about that. Anybody keep track of the Captain's rashes?
[snipped]
Ah, yes, Spock's and Kirk's surrogates. Those who attended LACon will recall a very young man with a lovely blue shirt and shiny black bangs, with Terran ears but all in all looking more like Spock than he has any right to. Well, he's found a buddy who looks more like Kirk than he has any right to, and they go around in their exceedingly well-made uniforms causing whiplash in the suddenly-turned necks of incautious spectators. The trouble is, Spock and Kirk weren't a Commander and a Captain at the age of fifteen or so. They ought to have lovely grey-blue cadets' uniforms with gold sunbursts on them, like Finnegan's. I don't know if you can become a cadet at fifteen or so, but then we all know Spock and Kirk were both demon students. (By which I do not mean to imply they studied demons. I'm sure they left that to the Draculans.)
[snipped]
It was really a very pleasant con, all things considered. I wish there had been less overlapping and more duplications --maybe not to the extent SFCon took of having everything run at least twice, because nobody is going to want to see every last little frame. At least I hope and trust not. But I wouldn't have missed, say, The Time Machine or The Raven if they hadn't been there at all; and I was exceedingly frustrated that they were there and I couldn't see them.
The Committee freely attests that the Filmcon is in an experimental state and will probably change a lot. Maybe they can arrange for some reshowing of some of the older, less expensive films? Anyhow, it beats turkey at the in-laws'.^[5]

Dressed in my kilt and red red sweater blouse with the Engineering insignia, I felt I was ready to attend the last day of Filmcon I. Once at the Ambassador Hotel I could not believe all the people in there. Everyone was running around wearing blue ID tags.
[...]
[My friend] pointed out two boys who were dressed like Kirk and Spock. Dee told me that they had won first place at the costume contest. In fact the boys looked and acted just like Kirk and Spock. The boy portraying Spock had not smiled or been illogical for the full three days of the convention!
Things were running late so the films had not started. David Gerrald [sic], who wrote The Trouble With Tribbles," was talking... Dorothy Fontana joined the group. They talked about Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry's future show "Genesis II," which sounds like a good show. They also told everyone to write to Paramount Studios. The people at Paramount do not believe that Star Trek has a very large following anymore.
[...]
During the middle of the speaking, DeForest Kelley showed up. He was asked to get up and say a few things, which he did. (Love his accent!) Afterwards he stepped down and was mobbed by fans. I was among them which was lucky because he was around for a short time. He had to move into the lobby because they were going to show a film.
Most of the questions asked of DeForest was of his interest in being a doctor. After I got his autograph I went over to a table to find out who I would be sitting with at the banquet. Demi and I would be sitting with George Takei. I was disappointed that I would not be with James. Still I wanted to see if George would remember me from being at the premiere of his movie "Josie's Castle."
[...]
...the display rooms, which wwre very interesting, the Star Trek room had huge paintings all over the walls, and I mean huge! There was also a display case filled with souvenirs from the show. In U.N.C.L.E. Country I met a girl who was also learning Gaelic.... I found the sales room, but since it was the last day there was not much left. Tribbles were on sale so I bought a calico one which I named Montgomery. The tribbles were being kept in a cage that had a sign on it that read "Please Do Not Feed Tribbles." The boy who was selling the tribbles for David said the bloopers were being shown. So I went back downstairs.
After the bloopers Demi and I separated from Dee and Pearl. We wound up in the sales room. We were hoping to find Gene or James because we had packages for them. From nowhere Gene, Majel, and George appeared. Gene and Majel sat down at a table and were mobbed by fans.
[...]
While I had been talking to George, Demi had given Gene his package. (It contained a book that we Fairvaner had written and was about Star Trek.) Everytime we saw him after that he had it with him.
Majel is a lot prettier in person than on film. She reminded me more of Number One than Chapel. I got her autograph then moved over to Gene. He was due to give a speech in the Sunset Room so he was pretty busy.
[...]
Walter is the only person who does not look different than his ST character. (Except that he was now supporting a mustache.) He and George were the only ones I recognized. We talked briefly. Dee, Demi, and Pearl are learning Russian and spoke to Walter in Russian.
Neither James nor Nichelle could be found. We knew Nichelle was around somewhere, but had not heard a word on James. It was almost one and I was beginning to worry that he was not going to show up until three at the banquet.
We went downstairs to the lobby where we found a local TV star known as Seymour. He became deeply interested in Montgomery [the tribble I'd bought from David Gerrold] and we told him all about tribbles. When he asked me if Montgomery was male or female and I told him both and he gave me a funny look. He handed me back my tribble and told me he hoped I had Many more. (I live in a small apartment so I was wary of the Irish blessing.)
[...]
"It's James [Doohan]," came the reply. I was off and running. It was then I was hit with the worst case of "shies" I had ever had. He was surrounded by fans. He just smiled and said "I was just on my way to get a drink." "What are you doing now?" someone asked. "Nothing." (I couldn't get over his deep voice.) "It looks like you've lost some weight.' "Actually I have gained 12 pounds." (He didn't look like it.)
[...]

Right after the picture was taken James was about to take off for his drink, but the Fairvaner were surrounding him so I could give him his gift. He was very pleased to get it. (He has one of the friendliest and most heart-warming smiles I have ever seen.) When he thanked me for the gift I got shy and hung my head to hide my blush. He gave me a gentle hug and kissed me on the top of the head, and I was in a world of my own. After that I do not remember much of what happened until the banquet.
[many comments from a casual interview with George Takei snipped -- one example: "What was the most frightening experience you had on the set?" -- "The most frightening was when an overhead light fell from the catwalks and crashed into the middle of the bridge set. Luckily no one was standing there, but after that we were always watchful. After the light had fallen the catwalks were checked and a knife was found where the light had been. So we believe there might have been an attempt at sabotage." ]
Before long the dinner was over and speeches and some awards were presented. This proved to be a very funny event which lasted quite late. Robert Bloch was the speaker. My attention was mostly at Gene's table on the package he still had with him. The speech consisted of an introduction to all the special people who were at the banquet. (I felt a little proud when they introduced James because they gave him a really complimentary introduction.) The awards were for the most outstanding sci-fic movies.
Finally the speeches and awards ended and everybody began to leave. There were still a few films to be seen. One of which was "The Trouble With Tribbles. I wanted to see that because of the fight scene. Also it is one of my favorite shows. Before leaving I got Dorothy's autograph. She is a real nice person and very pretty too. ^[6]

Film Con I was held last November at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, sponsored by Fantasy Film Fans International.
The con as divided into three interests. Friday was Horror Day, with such people as Christopher Lee, Robert Quarry, and Barry Atwater there. Saturday was Fantasy Day, and Chuck Jones, who directs all those Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig cartoons, was special guest. Finally Sunday was Science Fiction Day, and the Trek guests were the high light.
The Star Trek episodes shown were "Amok Time," "A Piece of the Action," "I, Mudd," "City on the Edge of Forever," "Journey to Babel," "The Cage," "Where No Man Has Gone Before," "The Blooper Film " and "The Trouble With Tribbles."
Saturday evening was the night of the costume ball and contest. Two of the judges were Nichelle Nichols and William Ware Theiss.
In the sales room David Gerrold had a table selling books and tribbles. I talked to him for quite awhile before I realized who he was. (Sorry,David!)
Sunday Chey Gurwell joined me, and we went to the Trekkie gathering. (Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, DeForrest Kelley, George Takei, Walter Koenig and Majel Barrett talked about Star Trek, their plans, and how they felt about the support we gave the shows. Walter Koenig greeted the crowd in Russian, then said "Yesterday Star Trek, Today Star Trekkers, Tomorrow Star Trek!"
[...]
...there were speeches and introductions, with Robert Bloch as toastmaster.
All too soon it was over, and we were going home, already planning to go to FilmCon II! ^[7]

Filmcon 2 (1973)

Filmcon 2 was held November 23–25, 1973. It was chaired by John Trimble.

From:

Coming in November - Filmcon 2. The second annual science fiction & fantasy film convention wi ll be in Los Angeles, CA. November 23-25, 1973. They will be saluting the decade of the "big bug" in science fiction and horror movies of the I950's. Each day wi ll feature a theme of "fantasy," "science fiction," or the supernatural. Announced guests are Roger Corman, who was responsible for many of the fantastic films of the 50's and 60's and Forrest J. Ackerman, editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland.
There will be loads of movies, panels, exhibits, speeches, sales room, demonstrations, animation program. Star Trek episodes and an amateur film contest.
It will be held at the Hyatt Regency, a brand new hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Membership fees are $10.00 per person for all three days, $3.00 children under 10, $5.00 daily memberships - this does not include the banquet or hotel room rates of course. To join send a check or money order to Filmcon 2, P. 0. Box 74866, Los Angeles, CA 90004. ^[8]

ad from the 1973 Equicon program book, the logo for "Filmcon" was created by George Barr
the cover of the first progress report, artist is George Barr
inside the first progress report, Tim Kirk is the artist, there are five illos by Kirk in the booklet

Filmcon 1973: Con Reports

According to Mrs. Trimble, this con was a fair success with over 2000 people in attendance. Events that occurred during the con included the world premiere of Gene Roddenberry's movie "Questor". Everyone's reaction was quite favorable. The FILMCON Award for best sf film or fantasy for the year, voted upon by the con attendees went to Dorothy C. Fontana for the ST animation episode "Yesteryear". ^[9]

Filmcon 3 (1975)

This con was combined with Equicon/1975.

Filmcon 4 (1976)

This con was combined with Equicon/1976.

Filmcon 5 (1981)

This con was combined with Equicon/1981.

Filmcon 6 (1989) -- Proposed, Canceled

There was to be a standalone "Filmcon" (with the name "Equicon" dropped) in mid-June 1989, but this did not materialize.

cover of the first (only?) progress report, early 1989: background was by Dave Teubner; "The Illustrated Man" is a multi-chrome bronze sculpture by Star Lliana York

This proposed con had at least one progress report, published in early 1989, containing 24 pages. It has a cover with simply the word "Equicon" on it, despite the fact that the first page of the report states that "Equicon" has "been shelved" and "Filmcon" has been reinstated, albeit with an expanded concept.

From the single progress report:

We're shelving EQUICON & reviving FILMCON once again! Only this time, it'll cover all types of film & television entertainment: Science Fiction, Westerns, Costume Epics, Comedies, Mysteries, etc. This exciting concept will be the ultimate media con, worth travelling from all over the world to see! Stars you've only dreamed of meeting; cast & crew from major films & TV shows: past, present & future, will be invited to speak, sign autographs, & be available to their fans as they've never been before. Plan your Summer Vacation for mid-June of 1989!

Proposed Guests

Each of the guests of honor below had bios in the progress report. Some of those bios had photos.

Needed: A New Logo

The progress report also stated that it needed a new logo.

ARTISTS! Remember George Barr's fabulous FILMCON logo? he feature all the things SF fans loved in films; we've always loved this design. But the new FILMCON will cover all types of fills, from Westerns to Comedies to Epic Adventures, so we need a quality logo to fit those needs. Design us a FILMCON logo that covers <all the genres of film, not just Science Fiction & Fantasy: one which we can use for letterheads, flyers, posters & even T-shirts! Send SASE for guidelines & submission rules. PRIZES are offered.

Needed: A Title for the Progress Reports/Newsletters

From the progress report:

We've tentatively titled our forthcoming FILMCON Progress Reports/Newsletters, but we'd like to hear what YOU suggest. We call it "MacGUFFIN" after Alfred Hitchcock's nickname for whatever people were after in his movies (Money, Murder suspects, "The papers," or Hidden Treasure are all "MacGuffins"). What do you think? Got a better name? PRIZE for the best name selected.

Needed: Some Money