Fox and Ember Fantasy Ball
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Jul 21, 2026
Five Weeks in Retrospect
Five Weeks in Retrospect
00:00
11:03
Transcript
0:00
I'm Michael. And I'm Kitty. And we're your co-hosts for the Fox and Ember Fantasy Ball. Today we're gonna be going over, uh, the past five weeks, I guess.
0:08
This looks a little bit closer to six, but I'm gonna call it five, uh, since we started this whole endeavor. Hopefully that'll give you some insights as to just what's going on or what goes into a ball in general.
0:19
So the way this all started was we were looking for fantasy balls in the area. Uh, we wanted to do something fun.
0:27
We had gone to the Starlight Solstice, uh, fantasy ball in Upstate New York, and we had a lot of fun there. So we were looking for something a little closer to home, and we couldn't really find a ton.
0:39
Like, I hear a lot of excitement surrounding the fact that there is a ball in Western Massachusetts, because that hardly ever happens. So, uh, so good, good us. Yay. Good us. We're doing it. We're doing it.
0:52
So we started collecting emails back in June 9th, thereabouts. So yeah, five, almost six weeks, and it's... The subscriber list has grown past 500, which is, s- it speaks- That's wild... it's wild.
1:06
It speaks to me of the amount of interest there is in, uh, the, the New England area. Uh, and who knows how many of those are genuine. Like, y- you can't, like, really, uh, grok that.
1:19
But it, uh, it's still, uh, the volume is, is crazy, and we're running at a pretty solid clip. So I think the first thing that, that kinda made it real for me was when we went location scouting.
1:35
We found a venue that was beautiful. It had a lot of the things we wanted, um, and it was just easy to see our vision happening there. What'd we do after that? We started... We made a vision board.
1:49
I know that's a small thing, but we got the Discord up. Yeah, there's just like... There's a, a bunch of, of really small things that kind of culminate in, into, uh, an event like this. So, I...
2:00
Even before, uh, finding the event, which is the fun part, frankly- Mm-hmm... uh, so we, you know, set up the, uh, the website, struggled with a bunch of ins- Instagram stuff. Oh.
2:12
Uh, struggled with, I mean, like Facebook, with just the advertisements [laughs] in general. It's just such a pain in the butt.
2:18
Whoever, uh, designed the, the ad system v- via Meta is, uh, they're, they're worthy of some, some specific kind of punishment. [laughs] But we, you know, did all the...
2:30
Had to do all the graphics for it, had to give it a, uh, solid, like, cohesive branding. Uh, and like, you know, the, the little logo is just what I could come up with that seemed, seemed passable.
2:43
And ideally we'd, you know, drop 500 to $1,000 on, on getting something professionally done.
2:49
But, uh, but that's not really in the cards, 'cause we're, we're very scrappy, and we're, uh, trying to make everything go like... And this is before, right?
2:57
Before we even knew the potential, before we even knew that there was an interest in a, in a fantasy ball. Like, we had an inkling, 'cause, you know- Yeah...
3:05
you know, we- 'Cause the, the book was coming out, and there wasn't anything happening in our area, and we were like, "Well, let's throw a party." Right. There, there's definitely stuff that happens in New York.
3:15
There's definitely stuff that happens in Boston-ish. Uh, certainly not in Western Massachusetts.
3:20
So just kind of on that tangent, uh, you know, we go to try to find different venues, and this entails reaching out to a bunch of different spaces, which are typically in, in October are reserved for weddings. Mm. Yeah.
3:35
Like, October is wedding season. So finding a place that had availability and also fit our vision was... It, it took some doing.
3:45
And [laughs] it's part of the reason why this ball lands on a Friday, because Saturdays and Sundays, booked up. [laughs] Yeah, totally booked up. It's... I'm so surprised we f- got something at all. [laughs] Yeah.
3:58
Ki- yeah. To be honest. I'm, I'm kind of in the same vein. Um, yeah, the, the venue, you know, we, we really liked the venue obviously. In fact, it was the first one that we were like... Uh, actually went to- Mm-hmm...
4:08
took the tour and said, "You know what? Don't actually want to do any of these other venues that we do have access to." Like, there was a couple of options, a couple of tours that we had slated, um, but they weren't...
4:20
Like, it would've been settling- Yeah... I feel like, and we didn't really wanna settle. So went for the big one, and then we...
4:29
At that point you're, you're, you're trying to take video, and we're not content creators, but you're kind of- No.
4:34
[laughs] You have to be, you have to be doing that sort of thing now, uh, in order to raise awareness, in order to, uh, try to, to garner credibility, which is an unfortunate reality of doing a new event from scratch.
4:49
So we're not ingrained in the community. We, we don't know anybody. Mm-hmm. Uh, i- like, we've met a lot of people in, through doing this process, which is great.
4:59
Yeah, I was really worried in the beginning that, uh, people would think we were just, like, some kinda AI fake account. Yeah, I mean, and it... We totally could have been. Yeah. Like, I, that's- Like, it makes sense...
5:10
that's a suspicion that I would have too. Me. Yeah, me too. Yeah.
5:14
So it's, it definitely takes somewhat of a, a leap of faith, uh, when you haven't run a, an event in the past because you don't have a bunch of pictures to show off, you know, of the success, and, uh, you know, don't wanna use a bunch of stock art.
5:28
Though, I mean, that's, it's possible. Um, some people get away with, uh, recording videos that give you the vibes of the event.
5:38
So, like, you know, grab a bunch of, of actors, people who are going to be there, and then, you know, have them, uh, engage in some of the activities, you know, be it, like, ballroom dancing, like, at the actual venue.
5:49
Mm-hmm. Uh, even though it's just, it's sparse. You know, it would be much more crowded when the actual event is there. But you need something to show people. Yeah.
5:57
And so that's, that's definitely been a struggle for us, especially since we're not... Again, we're not content creators.
6:03
Uh, even taking a video or recording a, a, like recording a podcast or doing a photo shoot is, it feels very, uh, cumbersome. Mm-hmm.
6:14
And what we need is like some, some setup that we can just like pick up and go and then, you know, have a- an established process, but we don't have one of those.
6:21
A little bit ironic since I used to kinda do this for a living. Um- Yeah, but that was l- that was different... it, it was different. I was sitting in front of a camera and [laughs]- Yeah...
6:29
I had a bunch of video game footage, uh, for back when I was doing PlanetSide stuff. Anyway. Yeah, you didn't have to do stuff with like real people. Yeah, yeah, not with real people. It was just me talking to myself.
6:39
So this is definitely a little bit of a different ballgame.
6:42
Uh, and then aside from, from that, right, and this is something that we need to maintain, so like you keep putting out, uh, content so that it shows up in the feed, so that people can have an idea of what's in your mind and they know that you're not just trying to like, you know, scam them.
6:57
We, we just wanted to keep the momentum going. So we also within this past five weeks locked down an entire cast. Mm-hmm. So we have,
7:07
uh, a, at this point, a Rhysand, a Feyre, um, both of which are actually in revealed in this email, so you've probably already seen it. Uh, we have a Lucian, we have, uh, an Elain, a Nesta, and a Cassian.
7:22
Azriel [laughs] don't know- Poor Azriel... yeah, poor Azriel. We don't know if we wanna do an Azriel, but it's hard, it's hard not to get all the bad boys. Yeah.
7:30
And then, then you're like, "Okay, well, then you have to get all the mates-" But then, [laughs] but then we need Amren... then you have to get all the sisters. Exactly.
7:34
And then we need more, and then, and then- Yeah, it just spirals out of control. Yeah. So yeah, locked down the cast. And even having to
7:42
do the nitty-gritty of creating the, the agreements, uh, we locked down a bunch of vendors too. Mm-hmm.
7:48
A bunch of really cool people who are gonna be there, like local creators and such, who are gonna be, uh, vending at the event. And, uh- We have a performer. Yes, still need to- Oh, sorry... uh, no, no, no.
7:58
We, we definitely want to pick them up, and they, they know that it's there. Uh, we're just gonna be finalizing some stuff, uh, hopefully here soon.
8:06
And I mean, yeah, even the, the DJ's kind of in the same boat, where we- Yeah... we were definitely of the mind that, uh, we don't wanna overcommit until we know how things are trending.
8:16
So tickets went out on the 15th, and we've sold a whole bunch. We know that we can comfortably make deposits for people. We also know that people still need to buy tickets. Yeah. Like it is, it is very important.
8:26
So tell your friends, tell your family, tell your- Tell your dog... tell your dog. Sorry, no dogs allowed actually. Yeah, yeah. Well, tell your dog to tell other dogs- Yeah... who can tell their owners. Yeah.
8:35
And aside from that, you know, we're, we're cruising. Like we're, we're hauling balls. [laughs] Indeed. [laughs] And how. And how. Um, we're designing decorations. We're gonna get, uh, we're gonna get a little crafty.
8:53
We're gonna try to DIY our, kinda DIY our costumes. I think I'm gonna, uh, we went thrifting recently, and I think I'm gonna build mine off differ- different pieces instead of from scratch.
9:08
Right, and I think that I h- aspirationally would like to do mine from scratch. Um, I will learn how painful that actually is, uh, when we get there.
9:19
We also, one of the other things that we wanna, um, do, and we, we can probably wind this down, is that we wanna go into the forest and record some, something that feels more real.
9:31
'Cause right now our ads that are running, it's like, like we said, there's like a credibility issue when you just see graphics and you're like, "Is this, is this a real thing?" Yeah.
9:40
Actually, we were vending at an event recently- Yeah... and somebody was like, uh, that they heard about a fantasy ball that was coming up and, uh, and it happened to be ours. [laughs] Yep.
9:51
But when they saw the advertisement, like they didn't n- like they thought that it was, you know, could be fake. Yeah, they were like, "I don't, I didn't know whether I could trust this or not."
9:58
Right, and it's gonna be really cool or it's fake, and that's, I think that a lot of people are kind of in that boat. Yeah. So the folks who are listening, it's real. Yeah. Uh- We're real people...
10:10
but the folks who are, uh, you know, just seeing the advertisements for the first time, there's definitely that, uh, friction that needs to be pushed through. And, and we, that, that's on us, right?
10:19
To, to make more content, to feel more real, to get more people involved, and, uh, have you share with us your trust when it comes to making an event that we can all have fun at.
10:32
So I think that's about where we're gonna wrap it up. Uh, feel free to join the, the Discord and send some messages our way if you have any questions or anything like that. Totally open to, to answering them.
10:43
But, uh, until the next one... Oh, we'll, we'll also be doing like reveals of casts and, you know- And vendors... vendors and that sort of thing. Like all that will continue to, to take place.
10:52
So if you're- We're gonna do some polls in the Discord. Yes, yes. Lots of stuff on the way. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you very much, folks. We'll, uh- Thank you... we'll catch you later. Love you. No you don't.
11:02
Yes I do
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