Syfy/Entertainment Weekly Party Rocks Comic-Con Once Again

 

Once again, the highlight of Comic-Con was the annual Syfy/Entertainment Weekly party at the Hotel Solamar – a relaxed gathering of several hundred stars, producers, executives and media folk on the hotel’s fourth floor pool deck and arguably the hottest ticket at that four-day fan fest.

 

As in previous years, the thing that impressed me the most about this party was that the big names in attendance were there because they wanted to be, not because they had to be. They arrived early and stayed late. There were still plenty of stars partying around the pool when I left at 2:15 a.m. Like me, they were probably having such a good time they didn’t realize how late it was. (By “good” I mean relaxed, not raucous.)

 

Comic-Con Lord and Master Joss Whedon, who freely moves between television, movies, Internet productions and comic book publishing and therefore touches the lives of every one of the approximately 150,000 fans who attend – and who, when he first attended this party three years ago, was heard to comment, “This is what a party is like when it doesn’t suck” – was perhaps the most relaxed of all, dancing with friends for at least an hour even though nobody else at the party was doing so. (Whedon can really bust a move.)

 

Other guests included Zachary Quinto, Masi Oka and Hayden Panettiere of Heroes, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley of Vampire Diaries, Nathan Fillion of Con fave Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog (and Castle), Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy of Ghost Whisperer, Sam Trammel, Alexander Skarsgard and Michelle Forbes of True Blood, Charlaine Harris (author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels on which True Blood is based), Justin Kirk and Hunter Parrish of Weeds, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne of Sanctuary, Zachary Levi and Adam Baldwin of Chuck, Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison of Glee, Glenn Howerton and Rob McElenney of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, Edward James Olmos and Grace Park of Battlestar Galactica and Anna Torv of Fringe.

 

The publicity teams from Syfy and EW heard every plea, excuse and threat in the book from people who tried to get into the party but were turned away. The red carpet area, which used to be on the fourth floor of the hotel but had been moved to the street in order to control the crowd, attracted even more passers-by who wanted in.

 

As I said last year, this is a party industry people attend not so much to do business as to take a break from it and relax. The party builds big buzz for Syfy and EW, but it also builds good will. That’s much harder to do.