Today, Scream Franchise Examiner is joined by R.J. Torbert, Director of Licensing/Product Development at Fun World, for the exclusive unveiling of a limited edition Ghost Face tie that introduces the company’s new trademark. (You can also view the new logo that will appear on upcoming Ghost Face merchandise and a promotional flyer that was distributed to retailers, buyers, and the company’s sales crew earlier this week in the slideshow below). Without preamble, an announcement from R.J. Torbert:
The GhostFace®/Scream Tie is one of the only 2,000 made. They will be given out to the first 1,850 buyers at the Halloween Show. If they wear the Tie during show hours, it will be possible that a $100 bill will be handed to them during the 3 ½ day event. The remaining 150 ties will be given to show personnel and certain people associated with Scream 4 (such as Wes Craven) as well as lucky followers from Twitter of Gamefaceguy. This of course is courtesy of Funworld.
The tie introduces the new Trademark created for GhostFace®. When I had the papers drawn up originally for the GhostFace® trademark and combined it with the copyright it has served us well. Especially the new logo. However, I never forgot that in October 1997, The New York Times referred to the mask as The Icon of Halloween™.
Throughout the years on occasion it would be referred to as the Icon, so last summer, I made the decision to make it official. Papers were drawn up for trademark purposes and it will soon become a registered trademark of Funworld to be used when marketing GhostFace®. You will see it on our new packaging as well as the packages from NECA. It is deserving of this nickname and no other should have it for Halloween. Therefore it was done. You will also see it on the giant signage made for the show and I’m sure John Valeri will show all of you after the Halloween show is over. I hope all the followers/fans agree that GhostFace® is without a doubt “The Icon of Halloween” ™.
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Now, a conversation with our distinguished guest…
SFE: Would you announce the winner of the poem contest you had?
RJT: It was very difficult. I was shocked at the amount and how good they were so I decided to have 2 winners and a runner-up. The two winners will have a mask signed by Wes Craven and the runner up will get one of the ties made for the show.
The winners are:
HMP Production TV
“He swings his knife with impressive might. He lurks and stalks and kills in the night. Don’t answer his calls, don’t play his games. Get ready, Woodsboro. He’s back and you’re his new bait.”
NorwegianScream
“He’s no stranger, but I know I’m in danger, I scream, but it was a dream, a ghost from the past. Be brave, he’s back from the grave.”
Runner Up:
Serialmatrix
“2001 – he was the brother, GhostFace is back 2 scare like no other, new decade & rules – can he go far, or fall 2 our hero Sidney the star”
SFE: You have authorized SFE to come to the Houston show and allow some photo’s to be shown to the fans/followers. We want to express appreciation for it.
RJT: It’s our way of hopefully generating interest/keeping interest and excitement going before the movie is released. We also appreciate the work people like you do as well as some of my other favorites such as Ghostfacecouk, HelloSidney, Screamtrilogy – all terrific things being done to help keep interest and excitement going.
SFE: Do you still communicate with Wes Craven?
RJT: Yes, I have been in regular communication with both him and TWC since filming ended.
SFE: Care to share?
RJT: Not at this time. However most of my “work” related issues are involving TWC more at this point. I will add that Wes Craven is aware of these promotional giveaways and some will be for charity and as usual he has been very generous.
SFE: Care to leave us with one of your famous cryptic messages?
RJT: It’s funny how that got started. I wanted to give hints without being “killed” myself. You would have to spend a lot of time with it to get the answers. But there are words that have meaning.
SFE: Enjoying the script and CD of GhostFace® recordings from Roger Jackson?
RJT: Yes, I shut my lights off in my office, put it in and I got chills listening to it. I told Wes Craven what it almost made me do and of course the humble man that he is communicated to me that the voice is misleading because “Roger Jackson is one of the most gentle people" he has met. It may be the truth but Wes Craven is a class act to still say it.
SFE: What can you tell us about your participation in the Still Screaming documentary?
RJT: The documentary from Anthony Masi and Ryan Turek was really a pleasure, it was the first time I agreed to do something like this but I was very comfortable after speaking with Anthony at great length on the phone and thru email communication. I think the fans will really enjoy seeing Alan Geller and myself being interviewed together about Ghost Face for the first time. What made this even more interesting is that we had no idea what the other was going to say and you will see honest and impulse reaction to some of the questions and answers.
SFE: Can you share any of the questions and answers?
RJT: I will say that I think the fans will enjoy a little more than just the "stars" related to the film, after all Ghost Face is the face of the franchise, and I think Anthony and Ryan were correct in giving the fans "more" into the history of Ghost Face and the baptism of the mask. Both of them were very professional and yet very personable, so I wish them much success in this project and others
SFE: Have you had any contact with them since the filming of the documentary?
RJT: Yes, I have with Anthony Masi--we communicated a bit while I was in Hong Kong and I’m sure we will again.
SFE: What about the other Scream documentary?
RJT: I was contacted to fly to California and be in it. However, my schedule has been extremely jammed--5 weeks in China, back here for 3 weeks, trying to get us ready for the biggest Halloween show in the world (we have the largest geographical sized booth), then being away another 10 days in Houston, then back to Toy Fair—it’s just impossible for me to have made it. I’m sure it will be very good and the fans who love Scream/Ghost Face will be satisfied. We sent some merchandise to them to help them with the set during their interviews. All of this going on , while working on special projects for Ghost Face and TWC--as well as licensing agreements--and don't forget there is much work to do for Easter, which we are the biggest seller of in the world.
SFE: You mentioned on Twitter that you have added Wes Craven to some games that you have written…
RJT: Yes. 2 of the games, Love Truth or Dare and Conversation Cards, are the biggest selling Valentine games in history, and I added Wes Craven to the games. I had to do it myself to come up with things, because when I asked him for a trivia question that would be good for him, he did not know what to give me. He is so humble that he did not even want to give me a good trivia question about him. Nevertheless, I added things about him to both games.
SFE: Any new licensing agreements regarding Ghost Face?
RJT: I can tell you that we have finalized one for anagram foil balloons--the goods will be coming out in a few months--the others I can’t speak about at this moment.
SFE: Have you had additional statements to your statement release on the new NECA Ghost Face figure?
RJT: I just want to say, as I mentioned earlier, that they are doing an outstanding job--and I continue to credit them for releasing the "prototype" version so early. It is safe to say that no matter what is done for any item that there will be naysayers on the item. The truth is, whether NECA released it or not, the figure would have sold to the mass market and other specialty markets, so I did not see how it was productive to get a little "heavy" on some of the criticism. The other side of this is when you do "show" or speak out, such as in this interview, you have to realize or expect that someone will find a negative. I personally find it difficult to understand why, but it’s part of the deal. We can only give it our best effort for everyone.
SFE: Good luck at the show and we'll see you there.
RJT: Thank you. Happy New Year to Everyone.
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Yes, you heard it here first: SFE will be taking this show on the road to bring you killer coverage from the Halloween show in Houston!
With thanks to R.J. Torbert for so generously sharing of himself with SFE and our readers.
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Be sure to check out SFE’s Top Ten of 2010 here.
Got an inside scoop that you’d like to see appear in print? Email Scream Franchise Examiner at OyeJohn52@aol.com.
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Ghost Face® is protected under copyright registration, Fun World Div/Easter Unlimited Inc All Rights Reserved.
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