I made my annual trek to Fan Expo Canada 2023, braving the heat and rain to be amongst fellow geeky people. But this was a different kind of convention, reminding us of the price that entertainment comes at.
It’s not your average year to be attending a convention — something we were reminded of at the start of every Fan Expo Canada 2023 session. The WGA strike has been going on for almost half the year and SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for a few months now.
Streaming companies are at the heart of this strike. The system of dispersing residuals needs an overhaul so writers and actors get fair compensation for their labour. Honestly, every participant of the entertainment industry deserves the same, but not all industries have unions that empower them with the ability to strike.
Nevertheless, production companies were in attendance at Fan Expo Canada 2023. As press, I was invited to a sneak preview of the Disney+ Ahsoka booth, as well as the Paramount+ Lodge, and attended a screening of The Wheel of Time by Amazon Prime. All three treated us press very well. But as much as I enjoyed absorbing the artistry that goes behind these shows, in support of the ongoing strikes, I cannot in good conscience discuss what I saw, as that would be promotion. If the strikes do get resolved favourably for workers, I will write about my experiences at these studio-sponsored booths — but not until then.
Happily, there is more to Fan Expo Canada than just high-budget studio promotion booths. Fan Expo Canada takes place across two massive buildings of the Metro Toronto Convention Center, and it can be quite a hike getting between the two structures. I did manage to explore almost all the South building, so I got to see a lot of artists and retailers and all their beautiful work. Exploring the North building is always a bit of a nightmare because it’s so jam-packed. The spacing issues from Toronto Comic Con 2023 were only marginally better, but that’s because I didn’t go to the retail sections during the busiest hours.
My primary interest at Fan Expo Canada 2023, aside from seeing amazing cosplays and soaking in those wonderful geeky vibes, was to attend panels. These sessions are great for behind-the-scenes insights into the industry side of the world of entertainment. As with every event before, I spent way too much time in queues, which once again meant I missed out on the smaller local sessions. I always hope to find a balance between these big and small panels, but this year was not it. While I managed to avoid the weekend crowds by queuing up for sessions, there were some unexpected queues, particularly the ones to get on completely empty escalators, that threw me. When people started yelling about the ridiculousness of standing for 15 minutes just to get on an escalator, I made a quick escape back to the session queue.
One of the weirder things I experienced this Fan Expo was the number of men in the queues I was in, as well as seated nearby, explaining entire franchises to the women and girls with them, sometimes quite incorrectly, with the ladies never getting a word in edgeways! It’s entertaining for about 10 minutes; then I wonder if they’ll just be quiet so I can write in peace. Sheesh.
All that aside, seeing the stars of the screen was a very different experience this year and I was very keen to know what they would talk about if they weren’t discussing their shows and films. Here are some highlights from the sessions I attended:
A Galactic Conversation with Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, And Matthew Lanter
The Ahsoka love was strong at Fan Expo Canada 2023. Most of the questions at this session were directed at Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka for over 15 years, who shared that she’s now dedicated her life to the character. She’s brought a lot of herself to Ahsoka, but as the years have passed, Ahsoka has seeped into, and informed, her life. Matt Lanter, voice of Anakin Skywalker, said he’d been asked to bring his own interpretation to Anakin, so he got to be hero-Anakin, who we don’t really get to see in the films. James Arnold Taylor was a delight, slipping in and out of Obi-Wan’s voice as well as many other imitations, often in the course of a single sentence. It’s amazing to watch people at the top of their game talk about their craft.
Gates McFadden Will See You Now
I’m very slowly collecting experiences with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I saw Sir Patrick Stewart years ago in Dubai. I got to see Jonathan Frakes a few years ago in Toronto. Last year, I had the joy of seeing Brent Spiner, and was completely bowled over by seeing my teenage crush, LeVar Burton. And this year, I saw my other TNG crush, Gates McFadden. Unable to talk about Star Trek: Picard or TNG because of the strike, McFadden went into immense detail about the acting process, particularly how improv helped her improve her craft. She was effusive about fans and conventions, a world she came into late because of fears of being stalked, an experience she’d suffered as a university teacher. This was an upsetting anecdote but a reminder that so many people are made to feel unsafe, no matter which aspect of life they participate in. McFadden highlighted the importance of the strikes and what needs to change, acknowledging her own good fortune in the industry while contrasting it with the untenable state of affairs right now, which got resounding applause. I may not be an actor, but I could have listened to McFadden talk about the craft forever. Alas, half an hour in, the session was over.
We’ve Established Contact with Ethan Peck And Anson Mount
The Star Trek cast and crew have been on the picket lines since the WGA went on strike. I’ve been following them closely as they’ve been vocal about the problems in the industry. Needless to say, after McFadden’s session, I was interested to hear what Anson Mount and Ethan Peck, stars of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, would share. Initially, we were told that there wouldn’t be a Q&A, but that was swiftly changed as the actors came to the stage. Most questions were respectful of the strike guidelines, but a few questions went unanswered as they were referring to struck projects. While this is my first time seeing Peck, I had seen Mount at a Star Trek: Discovery panel at Fan Expo Canada a few years ago. At that time, Mount’s infectious enthusiasm for the franchise was lovely to witness. The Mount we saw at Fan Expo 2023 was a different man—he’s upset and angry at the working conditions and didn’t seem to have that same joie de vivre as last time. It’s probably one of the things that makes me most angry about how corporations have impacted entertainment. At the panel Mount commented that, “Our industry has convinced Wall Street that entertainment is a growth industry, which it isn’t.” And the change in working conditions is appalling. Actors and writers, and most likely everyone else who isn’t at the top of the corporate food chain, get paid per episode, no matter how many days the episode takes to write and shoot. They work weekends without pay, in countries far away from their homes, because of the conveniences and tax benefits that corporations get. Both McFadden and Mount mentioned that merchandising brings actors nothing despite using their likenesses — and it’s not even part of the strike negotiations because the actors don’t think they’ll get it signed off. Sigh. I know right now we’re talking about the entertainment industry, but we have so much to fix in the world so workers can actually live comfortably on what they work so hard to earn. Everything is making me angry.
Get Legendary with Ming-Na Wen
In adherence to strike rules, Ming-Na Wen didn’t speak about any of her past projects, but she was all set to explain to the audience why that was if the audience didn’t understand. Fortunately, most people knew enough about the situation, so the moderator deftly turned the conversation to Wen’s varied career outside entertainment, and her other interests. Wen spoke about the oddness of her shoe modeling career, though she and the moderator insisted they weren’t kink-shaming, which the audience appreciated. Wen also spoke about working with her stunt trainer and double, Ming Qiu, for over a decade, and how strong their friendship has become. The audience was very excited about Wen’s upcoming cookbook, which includes recipes from her parents’ restaurant and some personal recipes. Hilariously, Wen shared her joy at finally being an empty-nester — she said she shed a tear when her kids left but is now enjoying having the house to herself too much. My favourite part of the session was Wen extolling the virtues of oiling one’s hair before washing it — which is hilarious because my South Asian parents have come visiting and they’ve been telling me the same thing! And honestly, with my thick Asian hair, the beating sun, the extreme cold of winter, and air pollution, maybe I should listen to them?
A Bold Conversation with Michelle Hurd
Undoubtedly, the highlight of Fan Expo 2023 for me was Michelle Hurd’s session. Hurd, the vice president of the Los Angeles SAG-AFTRA, has been one of the visible faces of the strike, on social media, on podcasts with her fellow Star Trek actors, like ‘The Delta Flyers’, and on the news. Hurd was invited to speak at an ACTRA rally while she was visiting Toronto for Fan Expo Canada, which she spoke about at the session. I’m embarrassed to say I had no idea that members of ACTRA have been out of work for 16 months due to stalled contract negotiations, another fact I learned when ACTRA members in the audience spoke with Hurd during the Q&A. A search on Google yields few results since the world’s primary search engine has been pulling news content in Canada. Do you feel your blood pressure rising?
Hurd’s passion for her activism and the labour issues that these strikes are tackling were inspiring. She doesn’t mince words because the time for civility ended when the corporates refused to treat their workers with dignity. But the session was also emotional. Audience members were grateful for Hurd’s portrayal of the bisexual, recovering addict Commander Raffi Mussiker on Picard. Hurd spoke about growing up in Greenwich Village in New York to interracial parents at a time when such relationships were still illegal in parts of the US. Hurd also said that she loved growing up among the queer community, which has informed her activism for the community. The queer fans in the audience were in tears and that didn’t abate till the end of the session. Hurd’s impassioned plea for society to support addicts instead of shunning them brought the house down. I wasn’t surprised that Hurd’s session ran well over time, and the staff allowed it to continue even longer because there were so many questions about how to support the strikes, not just in the entertainment industry but across other labour groups. We live in interesting times; dangerous times. If we don’t keep fighting, the people in power will continue to crush those below. There’s so little going around — we can’t afford to lose any more.
I didn’t expect Fan Expo Canada 2023 to be a typical convention experience. It wasn’t. While it’s strange to see entertainers attend conventions, which in and of itself is a promotional platform, the actors in attendance all used their time to talk about the importance of the strikes and the little that the unions are asking for. It was heartening to see the immense support for the strikes from the convention, moderators, and the audience. We’re all here because we love these films and shows, but we want the people involved to be paid and treated fairly!
