As a newbie to the horror community in the last two years I found it very daunting to sign up as a volunteer for basically every event and job the industry had to offer. These are two day to month long commitments and, as they are short, they are typically long days. I work a full time job and now I’m taking on a 16 hour commitment for my only weekend off? For a month in addition to my 40 hour a week job? Here is why it was the best decision I have made and why I don’t regret the exhaustion.

With conventions, the obvious advantage is tickets are now free. While working the event you have access without the $15 – $30 price tag and there are likely keepsakes from the event. I still have my access badge from Days of the Dead and will have t-shirts from both Mid  Summer Scream (MidSummerScream.Org) and Scare LA (ScareLA.com). There is also usually food, meet ups, access to the after hours parties….they really do their best to take care of the volunteers. An important part of this is being vocal about anything you may really want to attend during the convention. I kept quiet and was a worker bee at my first convention and missed quite a bit that I could have attended. It is subject to need but I have never had a coordinator make no effort to get me into what I came for.

Haunt’s are a different animal and I can only speak for mine. This one was really difficult and left me questioning why I was burning my candle at both ends for SO long for SO little. It took me a while to realize how much I was really glad I did it even as a volunteer. They made sure we got dinner every night, we got swag from the haunt itself, but more importantly were the friends I walked away with. It gets REALLY hard to find like minded people or to find friends when your an adult or even later on in High School and this was fish in a barrel. We were all there for the same reason, we all loved the same things and we all had SO MUCH FUN! We have auditions coming up and can’t wait to get together again. It’s like coming home to family. That’s worth a lot more than money.

I will end this on the opposite note which is KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN and read into EVERY LINE. I have been very fortunate but we all know how easy it is for this to become a situation where you are actually being taken advantage of. Know your limits, understand your situation and the balance of what your putting into it.

Comment below if  I’ll see you at Mid Summer Scream or Scare LA! The websites are listed above for both and they may still need help! If you’re not interested in volunteering don’t miss the heavyweights that will be speaking! A ton of incredible industry geniuses will be hosting discussions from Halloween Horror Nights, McKamey Manor to (my home) The 17th Door. Definitely don’t miss the first opportunity to hear from Robbie Luther about our inaugural year and what’s to come!

We’ll talk again soon.

❤