Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

How do I get my foot in the door?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • How do I get my foot in the door?

    I'm 20 years old, and absolutely want to and would love to open and run my own haunted house. I am working full-time right now...but I am not making very good money, and I know my credit would be nowhere near good enough to get a good loan out.

    I would like to start a pro haunt, and maybe start small and kind of build into something big...but I dont even know how to get my foot in the door with how things in this industry are so expensive to do.

    Any help/advice/tips for me would be greatly appreciated guys (and gals).

    [PS, I know this question has probably been asked before, so I do apologize in advance.]

  • #2
    hey man im a pro haunter in arkansas and i can tell you got the drive and want to susceed so you should start with kelly allens books is a good place to start thats how i started www.hauntbook.com

    Comment


    • #3
      Yeah, I thought about picking up that book. I wish the library would have it, but that is just wishful thinking. LOL

      I already started writing my ideas down in a notebook for a theme, and some of the "special" rooms/ideas, or what have you, that I'd want to do in my haunt.

      Comment


      • #4
        No regret,
        This is one of the simplest and cheapest businesses to start. Here is the simplest of plans that I have used before.
        Before I lay that out I want to say that you should be working for another haunted house right now, learn how to treat actors and customers on someone elses dime, they will appreciate the help and you will gain experience and industry knowledge.
        Look into what you need to start a business, get all of the appropriate liscences that you need for your area. Next find a piece of land that has enough flat area for parking and enough wooded area for a trail. Make a deal with the land owner (be smart) to use the property. Starting in june or early july clear the trail and build a few simple sets. Pick a simple theme and work that through. Werewolves work in that setting, bigfoot, call it forest of fear and you will need very little set work .
        Tell everyone you meet what you are doing and why, this will gain interest for both help (clearing that trail and all) and for customers when the time comes. A generator and some malibu lights will get you going.
        Make ten friends who like the idea of scareing people, get ten costumes for the friends to wear. Take some cool pictures of the friends in the woods in the costumes at night. Build a ticket booth out front and make your signage. Big one by the road and rules and such. Contact every newspaper in the county (and others if they are close) and get listed in their free events listing. Here is a hint for that by the way, the lists are always alphebetical so make your name pretty close to the top of the alphabet they will scan from the top down and based on location they will decide where to go, but even if its a block away they may decide before they get to the "Zang's house of horrors" listing.
        Get two folks to work the ticket booth ( perhaps a relative or signifigant other). Make a website and face book page for the haunted trail and charge $5. Pay your people $ .10 for each person who goes through, that way they are invested in your success and the success of your attraction.
        Depending upon your budget you might want to make some flyers and posters to put in key stores, set up a phone line as well for info.
        This should get you 1,500 to 2,000 customers your first season and should cost less that $5,000 start up, you can do it for $3,000 if you are super frugal.
        Then pray it dosent rain when you are open.
        start small and never borrow mony to open a haunt unless your quitting your job to do it. You dont quit your job for a hobby and you dont borrow money to do it. In a few years you could have a haunted house on the property and a second trail, and do a respectable 10,000 people a season your price raised to $15 for all three events.
        Then you could quit your job. This is one way to go, some will say this sucks and you should borrow 300,000 to open your first year. In my opinion its to risky to borrow that kind of money when it could still rain.
        The truth is it takes a ton of work and some money to open an attraction. This was longer than I meant it to be, and "work really really hard" might not have been what you wanted to hear.
        Allen H
        www.Stiltbeaststudios.com
        http://www.youtube.com/user/Stiltbea...s?feature=mhee

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks for the advice Allen. Yeah, i've considered starting out like that before. There is plenty of woods/farmland in the suburb that I am residing in at the moment.

          Eventually on down the line, I would like to pull a Randy Bates type haunt, and do a hayride down to an indoor haunted house...but that'd be extra $$$ that would take a while to save up for hahaha.


          Also, I worked at the Haunted Schoolhouse/Laboratory in Akron, Ohio last year and had a blast with it. They named me as one of their best actors in my first year...I got an invite to come back, but I work 3-11 monday-saturday, so it wasnt possible.

          I've been trying to contact a few people I worked with there, and some other buddies that I know to see if they'd go in on a haunted house with me...some seemed kinda iffy about it...and I dont want anybody going in on it if theyre not planning on putting alot of time and effort into it.

          Comment


          • #6
            I'm in the same boat you are, although a bit older. I'm currently a senior in college now. When I'm done, I'll have my teaching degree.

            Guess how I plan to spend my summers off?

            Comment


            • #7
              Yeah Rob I hear ya, I would like to go into things with a partner haha. I think that'd make things easier. Sometimes things dont work out as planned though.

              And Allen, one thing that worries me about starting off with a small haunt is the people I would have as actors not showing up half the time.

              Comment


              • #8
                Someone told me once, "You just do it". As simple as it sounds they were right.
                Jared Layman

                Comment


                • #9
                  Regret,
                  how is that different than the actors not showing up at a large haunt? I dont see your logic.
                  www.Stiltbeaststudios.com
                  http://www.youtube.com/user/Stiltbea...s?feature=mhee

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Allen,

                    Usually the larger haunts have the luxury of having people try out for positions..and then have people that applied that they can call up to have come in for the evening.


                    Now, something on a smaller scale, like what i'd be starting with...one missing guy would be huge and I wouldnt have any backups lol.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Good advice...

                      Allen, that's very good advice...

                      I've been working for a commercial Haunted Attraction in New Orleans for over 10 years, and I can tell you that I've learned tons of ins-outs-and-abouts ...from how to treat cast and customers, to safety, to permits, to technology, to money management, to marketing, and the list goes on...While I wouldn't want to extend the capital to open my own haunt, it is a dream of mine to accomplish it one day (being as I have over 30 animatronics sitting idle in my shop). Plus, unless my haunt was tremendously successful, I could never quit my day job, nor would I want to jeopardize my credit due to failure or overextending my finances...

                      No_Regret - if you have a vision, the passion and drive, all obstacles can be overcome. Good luck, my fellow haunter! If you ever need any advice, info on trustworthy vendors (that I've dealt with over the years), the ins and outs of haunting with animatronics or resources, don't hesitate to drop me a PM.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Hey,

                        I'm up here in MN, for me it's always been the location thing. I am sure the rest of the haunters would agree, that one of the hardest goals to reach, is landing a location. Thats unless I'm going about it the wrong way, but the weather up here has been perfect for an outdoor haunt in the woods, or what ever. So this year would have been best in the regards to weather.

                        I'm a 9 year home haunter that has his sights on a haunt some day. Rather it be for or nonprofit, there are just a handfull of large haunts here, and I'm sure that they all do well. I visit them every year, just to see how they are doing in numbers, trouble with me is, I go to soon in October so attendance is lower.

                        With that said, one big peace of advice, pick a great location with great demographics. AND visit your local haunts to see what they do for business as well as what can YOU do better???

                        Mr. Haunt

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by No_Regret View Post
                          Allen,

                          Usually the larger haunts have the luxury of having people try out for positions..and then have people that applied that they can call up to have come in for the evening.


                          Now, something on a smaller scale, like what i'd be starting with...one missing guy would be huge and I wouldnt have any backups lol.
                          Not necessarily. Bigger isn't always better. Some big haunts aren't any better than some small ones - they just have more headaches. And being big means that you would have much higher expenses. So if you want to start out big just for the sake of being big, why not take some of that money and set it aside in case you need to pay some workers for your small haunt?

                          The real trick is to make this something that people want to be involved with. Make it a killer haunt that volunteers have to audition for if they want to be a part of it.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Hey No_Regret,

                            I think I saw ya post on hauntforum too? Kelly Allens Book is great, it sure helped me a lot. and Allen H's advice is awesome too.

                            I started as a charity haunt and am still doing it. It is a great way to get things going and will in most cases help you out budget wise. It saved me on trying to find and lease/buy a location and that was huge!

                            Just keep up the passion, continue to visit other haunts and talk to other haunters and soak up all you can. Eventually you will find a plan that works best for you.

                            I'd also suggest making the trip to Transworld and taking some seminars and if you cannot go there see if there is another Convention close by to you. I've been going to the National Haunters Con in Valley Forge for the past two years and it keeps growing and expanding and they offer a bunch of classes that would benefit you greatly and help answer a lot of questions you may have.

                            Frightguy
                            www.grimlockmanor.com

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              No_Regret,
                              First off...Kelly's book and Allens advice!
                              Here's what we did (I'm sure Allen will approve!)

                              We went to the local charity haunt as they were selling it off CHEAP! We were the only bidders...got all the panels/props/lights/costumes etc for under 1,000.00.
                              Then we tore it down and had a place to store it free. We had a couple people handshake on a deal for a location and they kept not coming through. It took us a couple years before we found a Fire. Dept. that let us build it in their pavilion (2 blocks from my house) and we had 17 days to get it up and 7 days to tear down afterwards. We ended up charging $5.00 and making over double what we had into it (which wasn't much).
                              Then we moved to a building 15 miles away and spent the money we made on more props/panels and advertising. Still small, but we made 500% what we did the year before. Still small potatoes to the big boys, but in 2 years it was nice.
                              We matched that last year.
                              This year my biz partner and I parted ways and I've went into business with another haunter from 20 miles away who split from his partner also. We are having a GREAT year.
                              It's only been my 4th year but things are looking up and we are motivated to find the land and do the haunted house, hayride, trail, cornmaze, you name it in the future!
                              Keep your chin up!
                              You'll get there...the hardest thing was...actually attending the meeting and ACTUALLY purchasing the haunt. Location was 2nd.
                              JUST DO IT! Smartly.

                              Hope this helps!
                              Kirk
                              Kirk Boemmel
                              Dark Ghost Manor
                              www.darkghostmanor.com

                              sigpic

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X