Eric Larson

Media Fan Guest of Honor

In Eric's words:

I'm a Cheese Head (aka, a Cheddar Head) who was born and raised in Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin -- the capitol of the Dairy State. My upbringing was fairly normal except for the fact that I loved science fiction. I used to watch the original Star Trek with my father, curled up waiting to see another alien of the week. Anything that blew up, disintegrated or was capable of destroying large tracks of land with lasers was okay in my eyes.

When I was in Junior High we received a weekly reader that talked about a new film called Star Wars. Eric Larson photo It said that it was about a farm boy who is bored with his life and goes into outer space for a great adventure! I was hooked! After all, it sounded like my life.

When May 25th came around I officially joined fandom and have been an active member of it ever since -- attending well over 50 conventions so far in my life.

Starting in 1980 with Wiscon, I began giving talks and lectures about Star Wars. Then I started designing displays and events at local libraries and museums. The Wisconsin State historical Society offered me a chance to create a Star wars themed display in 1982, when it opened it had the largest attendance of any exhibit to date. I then started to get invitations to other conventions to speak about the films.

Seeing each of the original films over 100 times proves what a fan I am and what it takes to be a serious fan. I even took a job in Texas making less money just to work on the films. From 1985 through 1987 I worked in the re-release of the films for Pepsico where I created everything from collectables to posters. I was literally engulfed in the world of Star Wars.

While working on the films I was able to become friends with many of the actors. It was Jeremy Bulloch who really got me going with impersonations. They used to have me imitate them and their fellow actors over drinks in the hotels while we attended conventions promoting the re-release of the films. I even got into a "3PO OFF" with Anthony Daniels at a Plano, Texas toy show... that story I will tell at the convention!

But it wasn't until 1999 that I took all of my education and background serious enough to start a new convention called FILMCON.

FilmCon is more an idea than a certain kind of convention. We teach people about film and television and show them how they, too, can become part of the process. Over the years I have had the pleasure to meet many wonderful artists and designers from the world of film.

Iain McCaig, the lead designer behind Darth Maul and Queen Amidala, was our first guest. He was followed by a matte artist from Star Trek to several award-winning animators. All of them shared their knowledge and experiences with the convention attendees. Every year we out do ourselves again and again. This last convention we premiered our own SteadyCam system along with other film equipment and a little film we have started to make.

My goal with FilmCon is to spread the joy of film making to anyone interested and show that it doesn't take tons of money or huge production costs to make a good film. It just takes a lot of sweat (and tears!) and many friends.

We're so happy to welcome Eric as our Media Fan Guest of Honor. After running FilmCon for 7 years, he'll certainly have lots of interesting and funny stories to tell. You can visit FilmCon at www.filmcon.org.

MarsCon 2007
March 2-4, 2007
Holiday Inn Select
Bloomington, MN
If you're looking for the Marscon held in Williamsburg, Virginia click here.

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