East Lancs FilmFair

[Lee Mannering]

Ade A south coast event would be wonderful and would make a lovely weekend great idea.😁 Count us in from 'up north'

Can I just politely recommend to traders at other film fair conventions that once your table is set out throw a sheet over it then pull it off before doors open.
This is something I have been doing myself for a few years now and extinguishes trading before the doors of the event OFFICIALLY OPEN. Please.
I use my decorating sheet which has a touch of Salvador Dali about it :-)

Take care drive safe and see you at Rickmansworth on the 24th October doors open 11am.
War memorial hall
Common rd
Chorley Wood
WD35LN

[Tom Photiou]

Covering with sheets doesnt stop people buying out of the boot in the car though, ive seen it all before so no peeking anyone, keep people away from the boot or as they say in the U S of A ,the trunk.

[Paul Browning]

Last time i went to the blackpool convention, there was obviously insider trading going on, on got ripped off by a "dealer" on goko editor, that was as he said, "fully rebuilt " , although i suspect it was, what he failed to tell me was it had fell off a cliff before he had rebuilt it, and the "luvey " trying to sneak ahead in the queue by talking to the person in front of me, until i told him where the back of the cue was, i lost all faith after that ,sadly, and no amount of weasel talk will persuade me to go, there are many factors to travelling to any events, and i don't i will be travelling those distances just for a cup of char....

[Lee Mannering]

Does on my stall Tom and I'm the guy who puts the work in!

[Paul Browning]

Perhaps throw a sheet over the your car in the car park to be sure no one will slither there way to you, before you open up, as some do take advantage don't they, as they say a snake sheds its skin, but its still a snake ............

[Lee Mannering]

Much laughing Paul 😆
oh well another film fair another one to look forward to. If any of you make the 9.5 convention next month you can be amazed at my decorating sheet.

[Lee McCaffrey]

Thanks to Brian and Adrian for addressing some of the points raised on this thread. It will be interesting to see if film fairs do indeed return to other areas of the UK. As for dealers doing deals with other dealers, I guess there has to be some perks to the job

[Tom Photiou]

i would, but 9.5 films are wayyyy before my time.
The perks, from what i've seen and heard about, are for those who relist what they buy when they get home to their ebay armchairs.
Sorry, but this is fact, too many collectors have told me what goes on and it aint for me.
Now if i could make it to the Florida or cinesea, then thats what im talking about. I need to win the lotto first though.

[Phil Moors]

My biggest concern looking at the pictures of the film fair is the lack of film. There appears to quite a bit of 16mm, but practically no super 8 and way too many dvds for sale. Derann’s Blackpool Convention used to be fabulous, however, they did have a lot of stock. The last time I attended that was in 2014 when Derann had gone. The room was literally full of 16mm and dvds and practically no super 8. I realised at that point that super 8 was in rapid decline, prints fast fading and being binned. The super 8 that was there was literally trash, titles that no good collector would ever want, so I never went again despite going to them all since 1977.

It is admirable that people are again organising film fairs, but dvds threaten to swamp actual film. On the other hand if you removed all the dvds from the room it would look pretty bare. An earlier forum member mentioned that it is not really worth travelling for hours to a room with very few films for sale and I would agree. But well worthwhile if you are local.

[Murray Paterson]

As a dealer who attends most film fairs , I'll put in my opinion . Dealers do trade , sometimes having a coffee before the show opens , occaisionally in the car park, and before the fair opening . And most dealers are guilty of this , despite what they say .But it's not as bad as you think . Dealers are there to make money and generally know the price , so if you think we all pick up features for next to nothing, your'e wrong . Take Blackpool , I travel up from London , stay in a hotel , pay for the table at the fair and feed myself for the whole weekend so I'm not going to sell a £100 feature to another dealer for half that , for a quick sale .A couple of times a few bargains turn up , usually small 200-400ft releases and the odd trailer, but it's more usual I find something I want personally .
Regarding the availibity of super 8mm , Ian Taitham's fair at the school in Rickmansworth is great, mainly because Ian O'Reilly from Perry's has attended the last two times and had rows and rows of great titles on both occaisions .
Ealing was wonderful and Blackpool is also good, because CHC are there , again plenty to buy and I believe this year Phil has 3 large collections to sell on .
Bottom line , go to the fairs if local, support the hobby ,

[Lee Mannering]

They will fellow Lee if people attend and I really pray they do. It was hard going to make our fair happen and one hell of a task in more ways than one but we did manage it and many thank you emails landed from attendees who spent just £3 to get in also supporting our charity fund raising efforts.
Great also to be asked when is the next one as well which is now set is stone 7th May 2022.

Re the loved one DVD only trader who has been to every one of my fairs without fail. He serves many old hand collectors who are of a age where they can no longer lift a 16mm feature to a Bell & Howell which I think these days they call being inclusive? One of the good guys have to say and has many old films to keep them happy. He's also picked up where dear Tony Hutch left off selling film related books needless to say I got a massive Warner Cinema book for just £3 so plenty of reading.

The charity raffle was a good idea with prizes ranging from a very nice Specto 500 thru to a Derann brochure also doing a bit of good for needy people.
All in all it came together well for what was nearly a mission impossible thankfully.

[Tom Photiou]

Murray, thanks for your reply which sums up perfectly some of what has been said. Good to see you on here.
When the bigger dealers attend they obviously will have more to sell and make any travelling worth while. I did notice that the biggest table in the images was selling DVDs and i do fully understand that there will be some collectors for whom lifting heavy projectors, (16mm in particular) isn't something that can be done anymore, therefore DVDs fill the gap.
If i lived within an hour of an event then yes i would attend, but traveling 6 hours each way with the costs involved, & with fuel the price it is, and possibly an overnight stay, just makes it unviable for a few stalls in a hall. Unlike some people, i dont have the luxury of any benefits to top up my income, so spending out just to catch up and share small talk is a luxury i cant splash out for.

[Lee Mannering]

And so we go full circle back to the topic the good people who attended started which were kind words of thank you for making it happen.

We both appreciate the kind words and rest assured we do it twice next year all over again for those who wish to attend.
God bless, keep safe and remember its all about the movies!

[Paul Browning]

I'm surprised that all those who attended, no figures here, haven't told us what bargains they had from the dealers ?, not sure why that is, maybe perhaps there weren't any............

[Tom Photiou]

Good point Paul, hands up those with the best rare find and /or best bargain.
i know when we attended Ealing some years ago our best bargain was the feature of forbidden planet which we got for £90 and it was on the bring and buy stall. We still have it today.
beat that