A Billion Lives: would anyone like to join me in Glasgow on October 26?
Tuesday, October 11, 2016 at 14:00 Yay! I have finally found two screenings of A Billion Lives that are actually going ahead.
Unfortunately they're both in Australia.
One is in Churchlands, Western Australia, where 58 tickets have been sold. The second is in North Adelaide where 71 tickets have been snapped up. Both screenings are on October 26.
In total there are currently 13 screenings scheduled in Australia with a total of 249 tickets 'reserved'.
Meanwhile, since I highlighted my own struggle to put on a screening in London, three more have been registered in the UK – in Newark, Bracknell and Bristol – making eleven in all.
So far however those additional screenings have generated combined sales of just seven tickets, pushing UK sales to the giddy heights of 64 (an average of 5.8 per screening).
Two screenings are currently registered in New Zealand with a total of 12 tickets sold. There was a third, I believe, but it failed to meet its 'threshold deadline' and was dropped.
Perhaps A Billion Lives will do better in America where there are ten million vapers – enough, it seems, for a leading Washington lobbyist to think they could influence the outcome of the US Presidential election. (Seriously?)
Anyway, having abandoned my own plans to host a screening in central London following interminable delays in the confirmation process, I have this morning purchased two tickets for a screening in Braehead, Glasgow, on October 26.
Unfortunately a further 53 tickets still have to be sold before it goes ahead and there are only five days left in which to do it. If anyone in the West of Scotland wishes to join me I suggest you book your ticket now.
PS. I invited director Aaron Biebert to respond to my previous post on the subject. He hasn't replied. Too busy drafting his Oscar acceptance speech?
Update:
Hi Simon,
Thank you for reserving your ticket(s) to the upcoming screening of A Billion Lives at intu [?] Braehead, Soar, King's Inch Rd, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, PA4 8XQ, United Kingdom on Wed, Oct 26, 2016 8:30 PM.
You haven’t been charged - that will only happen when the event reaches it's [sic] threshold. We have 5 days to reserve them. By reserving the tickets you have told us you are keen to see the film – why not help make the screening happen?
Share this link with friends and family – A Billion Lives.
We are excited about our new way of bringing amazing films to the cinema so we can all experience them the way the filmmakers intended – on a big screen, with big sound and an appreciative audience. Many of these films would not otherwise be seen this way so thank you for supporting it. And we hope the screening goes ahead (with your help it will) and we know you will have a great night at the movies.
Once the event confirms we will process your credit card and email you your tickets. If it doesn’t go ahead, again, you won't be charged.
Thanks
The Crew at Demand.Film
I think it's a great concept too and I wish Demand.Film the very best of luck.
I'm disappointed though that my efforts to host a screening of A Billion Lives in central London failed to happen. I'm not exaggerating when I say that many of us would have found that rather more convenient!
Scotland it is, then.
Reader Comments (9)
Perhaps ticket sales are slow because people recognize the hyperbole in the title. "A Billion Lies" extremely overstates the risk of smoking and ignores the junk science used to reach that conclusion. It does support the tobacco control propaganda machine though...
Perhaps potential ticket buyers are confused about the address of the cinema at Braehead, described above as "Glasgow, Renfrewshire, PA4 8XQ,"
Since when did any part of Glasgow find itself in Renfrewshire or have a Paisley (PA) post code?
Thanks for joining the group in Glasgow.
I think the reason the UK is doing so poorly in sales is because I tried to expedite things in the first 8 cities without having an organizer on the ground. It's hard to reach people without big marketing budgets, and I failed to get people in each city to take notice.
Hopefully the next round will be better. We have real organizers now...
Here's the link if you're curious. Things are looking up a bit:
http://abillionlives.com/global-launch/
Hi Simon!
Sorry to hear that You failed on the London screening.. :(
What went wrong?
Hi Liisa, we exchanged several emails but the distributor failed to come back to me with a date or venue. How difficult could it be? After four weeks I gave up.
Aaron, I wouldn't blame yourself. Fact is, some of the people who make the loudest noise on social media have failed to come forward and help. As I've said before, armchair activists ....
i'm sorry to hear that because this movie is very important for us to get out to the public as well as to press & politicians.
Here in Norway we took matters in our own hands and rented a movie theater so we have our Norwegian premiere in Oslo november 14th (Y) =)
We really hope for attendance by press & politicians!
That's exactly what vaping advocates should have done in the UK. For whatever reason - incompetence, apathy etc - they didn't. I was happy to host a central London screening with a Q&A but you have to understand that my job is to protect the rights of adults who choose to smoke and don't want to quit so there's a limit to how far I'll go to promote a film with a questionable title based on crude WHO propaganda!
Hi again =)
I heard there will be a screening in London december 12th.
so then all is fine again =)
You asked for details.. sorry I don't have that..
Maybe it's rumours only? idk but could not find this anywhere online :(