SYFY and Black Spot Thresher Conquer Comic Con Amidst Covid

In mid-April, San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) announced that its 50-year-old convention was cancelled.  The Con was pushed to next year, and no one was quite sure what (if anything) would be happening with the fan-focused extravaganza.  Then, in early June, organisers announced that they would be holding SDCC at Home to give fans the virtual experience they all craved. 

A long-time SDCC partner and participant, SYFY, was tasked with creating content for three 45-minute virtual panels and SYFY, a long-time partner since the 2016 Comic Con, called Black Spot’s Thresher Media division, their rapid response creative services agency.

Charlie Ciuffo, supervising producer, USA SYFY and supervising producer TZGZ panel comments:  "It was great working with Black Spot again, the team really gave it their all with a timeline almost as crazy as TZGZ itself. The painstaking effort is ALWAYS appreciated."

The first kick off call between the Thresher Media team and SYFY was on June 22nd.  The first of three shoots was on (July 3rd —  a Federal Holiday, 4th of July observed).

In between the kick off call and the shoots, the Thresher Media team:

• Ordered and shipped lighting and audio gear to talent in the US and Canada.
• Wrote scripts to cover an hour and a half of the two + hour content being created.
• Constructed props and delivered to talent across the Los Angeles region
• Created original graphic elements to accentuate the panels.

Black Spot’s founder and creative director John Laskas notes: “We’re huge Comic Con fans and were thrilled to help re-imagine this beloved extravaganza as a virtual event.  Thresher’s talent, facilities and experience let us deliver high-quality, high-volume creative content for SYFY in a timely manner during a critical period.  We couldn’t be more proud of the outcome.”

Find the panels here:

• Panel to promote SYFY’s new 'after dark' cartoon programming — TZGZ.  This one was four unique segments within the 45-minute panel
• Panel to promote a documentary on Todd McFarlane
  
• Panel to promote the return of fan-favorite SYFY show, Wynonna Earp
  

The project stemmed from Black Spot’s previous collaboration with SYFY. For example, last year the content creation agency launched “SYFY WIRE from the Con,” the network’s primetime NYCC coverage from the convention floor where Black Spot’s team spearheaded creative, production, and post services for SYFY’s coverage, providing both the creative and production team services for the live stage, as well as overseeing post.