The Hub Productions presents....



Convention Reports






Michael Muhney, Mercedes McNab, Ellen Muth and Elisabeth Rohm
27th and 28th October 2007

Well, convention season in Australia seemed to come quickly this year and before we knew it Armageddon in Melbourne and Armageddon in Auckland had flown past and our guests were arriving in Sydney.

Our opening event of the convention as per usual was an intimate cocktail party held at the Oaks Goldsbrough in Darling Harbour. The ever present posse of VIP attendees arrived, the champagne corks were popped and the nibbles were nibbled.

Michael Muhney, "Sheriff Lamb" from Veronica Mars, was the first to arrive and spent the evening charming every girl, and every boy for that matter, with his stories and naughty jokes. Ellen Muth, "George" from Dead Like Me, and her manager Martin also joined the party and mingled, though poor Ellen had to have an early night due to a bad ear infection (thanks Auckland) and poor Elisabeth Rohm, "Det. Kate Lockley" from Angel:The Series, was so ill due to her pregnancy that she wasn’t able to make it.

Mercedes McNab, "Harmony" from Buffy and Angel fame, and her lovely friend and co-star from Hatchet, Joleigh Pulsonetti, joined the party and kept everyone entertained till they and Michael needed to be kicked out at 11pm.

Saturday kicked of with a hilarious Q&A with Michael Muhney that was filed with juicy stories, anecdotes and dirty jokes, then spent his time playing with one of the dealers kids. (ladies hearts were a flutter!) All the guests arrived at the MSMG Campus for the professional photos which proved to be stunning. This was followed by a screening of the new and awesome pilot Pushing Daisies.

Ellen was on after lunch and delighted the audiences with titbits from the new Dead Like Me movies as well as her experiences in show biz since she was thirteen, though a personal favourite of her stories was her time working in a convenience store with her best friend.

We held a short charity auction, which with the one in Melbourne on the Sunday raised $1500 for the Haemophilia Association, and then Mercedes and Elisabeth took to the stage and shared their experiences in the Whedonverse and the entertainment industry in general. The autograph session closed out the day along with the screening of some classic episodes of Angel, Dead Like Me and Veronica Mars.

We all headed to the airport to fly down to Melbourne for Sunday’s show whilst some of the crazy fans decided to jump in the car and drive from Sydney to Melbourne to enjoy the day all over again.

Sunday started off a little later then expected with the schedule being pushed back by half an hour to accommodate the fans who drove down to Melbourne and hit a kangaroo (killing it and the car at 4.45am). Again Muhney (now dubbed the Kangaroo Killer as most of the attendees in the car were coming primarily for him) was the first to start the day and had the crowd rolling in their seats with laughter (clichéd but true).

Professional photos took place next with all the guests and everyone looked stunning. In Melbourne we showed the preview episode of Sarah Connor Chronicles (Summer Glau naked is a winner) and Pushing Daisies (Lee Pace is shaping up to be the new cult hottie) to an enthralled audience.

The enthralling continued when Ellen hit the stage and told another series of witty stories (all different from the day before - she was so interesting you could have listened to her for hours). Followed by the auction (thanks to all who bid!) and the final Q&A of the day was Elisabeth and Ellen with Michael Muhney jumping in with questions and saucy comments at regular intervals.

We closed the day with the autograph session and then the cocktail party. Elisabeth made an early and brief appearance (damn that morning/afternoon/evening sickness thingy), then Michael, Ellen with Martin and Mercedes and Joleigh all showed up within half an hour of each other and began chatting to everyone.

On the whole it turned out to be an awesome weekend. The Hub would like to thank all the guests, staff, dealers and most importantly the attendees for making it such a great time. We look forward to the next crazy adventure together.

For fan reports and photos, visit the Browncoats forums. These reports are the personal comments of attendees of Hub Production events, and are not directly associated with the organisers of the Hub.

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Anthony Stewart Head
3rd February 2007

For one fabulous day, the Hub Productions presented Anthony Stewart Head "Giles" from Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. Tony was on tour with the 'Little Britain' live show in Australia and wanted to meet some fans while he was here. So, at a month's notice, a convention was arranged and fans from all over Australia turned up.

Tony had professional photos taken with the fans, signed autographs, did an hour long Q&A and gave an exclusive concert performace. What a guy!

Stories and discussions spanning the whole of Tony's career came out, as well as his thoughts about his time on Buffy. When talking about being offered the role on Little Britain, Tony said to his manager 'I get the joke, and it's funny, but it's the same joke every time'. His manager promptly told him to 'get over yourself' and to take the job.

Tony's exclusive evening concert was a great hit with the fans. He played innumerous pieces, with many beautiful originals, but also some familiar songs such as Lean on Me, a ballad rendition of the Beatles We Can Work It Out as well as an energetic performance of the Rocky Horror Show's Sweet Transvestite. To hear many of these songs, you can purchase Tony's CD, Music For Elevators.

Emma Paige Langley also attended the convention totake a Q&A about her Buffy fan film Forgotten Memories, which she wrote, directed and starred in. To see her film and read more about it, visit her comprehensive website at emmapaigelangley.com.

The following morning, Tony attended an exclusive brunch with about 30 fans. This was a great opportunity to chat to Tony candidly and have some photos taken too.

Overall, it was a very satisfying convention for fans, and Tony enjoyed himself as well. Many thanks to the fans who attended at such short notice and for making it a fantastic day.

For photos and stories from fans who went, visit the Serenity Oz forums.

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Amber Benson, Adam Busch, Danny Strong and Tom Lenk
15th October 2006

Coming soon...

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Jewel Staite, Jonathan Woodward,
John Billingsly and R.D. Price
6th & 7th May 2006

For one special weekend in Sydney in April 2006, the Hub Productions presented Jewel Staite (Firefly), Jonathan Woodward (Buffy and Angel), John Billingsley (Enterprise) and RD Price (Writer/Director for Angel) and Angel Comic Artist Nicola Scott. What a line-up!

On the Friday night, a super glamourous cocktail Party was held where fans could mingle and meet Jewel, Jonathan and RD with drinks and food a plenty. There was a great turn out of fans, and many drinks drunk and photos taken, especially by Johnathan . And as we suspected it turned out to be a good fun night for everyone, Jonathan was truly in his element, I think.

On Saturday, Nicola Scott, a brilliant comic book artist based in Sydney, talked about getting into the business, pitching ideas, what it was like to work on a famous title, such as Star Wars and Angel, and to draw likenesses. She answered questions, sketched beloved characters and sold original art pages. A woman of many talents she also acted as our MC on the Sunday.

Straight up after Nicola was RD Price talked about his education and early experiences breaking into the TV industry. Next up was, Jonathan who gave an animated and decorative talk, often rambling into related, and unrelated, stories, but all were entertaining as was his manner of telling them. He was followed by Jewel, in the hottest hot pants in the world, whose talk enthralled the auidence, with many stories of pranks and gags on set, as well as her times at conventions all over the world. She also had to emphasise how much she loved Firefly, and how disappointed she was, like all the fans, when the show was cancelled. Truer words people, truer words

Rounding out the day after the auto session was RD Price with a workshop for those interested in the finer arts of breaking into film as both an actor and director and provided indeepth answers to everyones questions. Of course RD being RD he showed a hilarious blooper reel from Buffy and another from Angel, to everyone's amusement.

On Sunday, John Billingsley and his wife Bonnie Friedericy joined us, having spent Saturday at another event in Adelaide. He and his wife were quite the onstage duo, bantering and nagging each other and trying to embarass each other with various stories. John had many thoughts to share about his time on Enterprise, as well as on the poorly received show The Others.

Later on the Sunday, after Jewel and Jonathan had a joint Q&A, we started the Hub charity auction, the highlight of this auction was that Jonathan was playing MC, and a very entertaining one indeed. Also, four special Serenity coffee mugs were being auctioned off which Jewel and Jonathan had drawn on and signed personally. One of Jewel' s mugs, for example, was covered with her favourite things including hamburgers, kittens, pinot and high heels. One of the mugs went for a whooping $250!

We raised over $1400 for the Hemophilia Association.

All in all, was a highly enjoyable weekend, for both fans and guests. The Hub definately hopes to have Jewel, Jonathan and John again for a con in the future. Many thanks to the attendees!

For photos and stories from fans who went, visit the Serenity Oz forums.

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Andy Hallett, Iyari Limon and James C. Leary
29th & 30th January 2005

So lets start the tale of our convention with us ( the Hub staff ) tearing our hair out as the delightful Mr Andy Hallett missed three fights to Australia and had gone AWOL on the Friday morning flight he was supposed to be on. A few hours of manic phone calls and a visit to the cop shop, it was determined that he would be arriving in the wee small hours of Saturday morning.

Thankfully Iyari Limon and James C Leary arrived on time and joined us that evening at the Hardrock café for the cocktail party. The evening was filled with a bounty of food and great conversation as all attendees got to spend quality time with Iyari and James and here personal accounts from their days on set and their individual careers. Finally after one more cocktail and one last photo the night ended.

All the attendees showed up bright and early to the Zenith theatre our venue for the Sydney event and soon the day was in full swing. With a host of cool collectibles available from the dealers room everyone was torn between shopping and the participating in the activities in the theatre which included some special screenings, trivia contests and an awesome auction.

Our first speaker was James who amused all with his tale tales and caused a near riot with his hilarious short film Stunt Cocks. Iyari followed, sharing her joys at the opportunity of playing Kennedy in Buffy’s final season. Andy was our final guest and though suffering from severe jet lag, he kept the audience, with the occasional interjection from James reeling with story after story about his time on Angel.

The trio then spent the next few hours signing autographs and taking photos with everyone before we all piled into cars and sped the airport where we hopped the plane to Melbourne.

Melbourne put on a lovely sunny day for the convention and before we knew it the convention held at the Y hotel was in full swing. Again attendees were faced with the quandary of to shop or to view. Our charity auction for the Hemophilia association was also a huge success and the running commentary from Karen caused smatterings of sniggers throughout.

Our guests as usual held the audience in rapture as each spent their hour spinning tales, telling jokes and answering all the questions thrown at them by the audience. Iyari was as sweet as can be, James again proved a comic genius and his film again met great success and Andy was as funny as ever, especially flattered by the group of Lornettes who adorned the third row.

After many photos and autographs we closed out the evening with a delicious cocktail party where our three special guests mingled with everyone and basically got the basics of eat , drink and be merry down pat.

All in all a great weekend was had by the special guests, the dealers and the attendees. We thank everyone who attended and made it a great time and we look forward to seeing you all at future events.

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John Rhys-Davies, John Noble and Noel Appleby
12th September 2004

Melbourne 2004 was the scene for the first of a new breed of conventions,
The Hub Productions Lord of the Rings convention.
Bringing together the fans and the stars, this convention promised to be a truly exciting event for all who were lucky enough to attend and it didn’t disappoint!

As the crowds gathered so did the excitement as Noel Appleby (Everett Proudfoot) took the stage to speak about his experiences as a newcomer to the world of motion pictures and how much he enjoyed the filming process; specifically being on set for the filming of the party scenes in hobbiton.

Next to grace the stage was a luminary of Australian theatre and the screens both small and large, John Noble who shared some of his joy and agony at bringing life to an almost universally detested man; the character of Denethor.

And last, but by no means least, to take the stage was the incomparable John Rhys-Davies who charmed young and old alike with stories of the multitude of film and television projects he has worked upon, including Lord of the Rings and the trials and tribulations of running clad in full costume across half of New Zealand, dealing with Hobbits and playing practical jokes on Peter Jackson!

After a short lunch the guests moved to more intimate surrounds for signings, photos and the opportunity to speak to the public on a more personal level which everyone greatly enjoyed.

John Rhys-Davies in particular seemed to enjoy meeting the fans and speaking at great length with everyone who made his acquaintance; taking particular pleasure in having photos taken with them and going out of his way to make sure that there was a smile in every picture.

Unfortunately, as must happen, the day wound to a close which for any other convention would have been the end to a full and enjoyable day. . . . . . ....but not this one! There was still one final treat remaining for those who had the stamina, a fully catered cocktail party with all of the guests in attendance! A chance for some true fans to mingle with the stars in a very personal and relaxed environment.

The Hub Productions was very proud to give all those who attended a chance to meet Noel Appleby, John Noble and John Rhys-Davies.

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