Halloween lovers are in for an early treat with ScareLA’s Summer Halloween convention. It is the world’s first summer Halloween convention, and a thing of envy for those of us non-LA dwellers. The event celebrates the American scare season traditions and the diverse cultural heritage of the Greater Los Angeles region through its hosting of hundreds of specialty vendors, education programming, and world-class industry presentations.  ScareLA is one of the fastest growing independent fan conventions in the U.S., addressing a $10 billion Halloween industry worldwide.

ScareLA 2017 will be at the Los Angeles Convention Center, featuring professional demos and seminars on everything from makeup to set building to costuming to animatronics. In addition, there are hands-on workshops and “make-and-take” classes for all ages taught by top industry professionals such as  Bill Ramsey, Melissa “Hauntzilla” Winton,  Kyle Vest (“Skin Wars” season 2),  Timothy Sedillo, Madison Rhoades, Jon Mario, and many, many more.

Golden Rat awarded to dater deemed “Most Likely To Be A Serial Killer Without Actually Being A Serial Killer”

Participants can join Abel Horwitz’s Serial Killer Speed Dating, Drew Badger’s haunt acting basics, or even haunted attraction sound design with fourth year ScareLA veteran Jon Autopsy for informative, interactive and fun sessions!

Director of lighting design Warren Kong of Lightswitch will be presenting a free, 40-minute seminar called “Beyond the Strobe Light: A Marriage of Lighting and Scenic,” which will cover the use of colored light, UV paint and effects with lighting, monochromatics, and shadow play. Warren will also offer a free, 45-minute make-and-take session called “Light It Up.” In this workshop, there will be three stations working with different aspects of using light to create effects.

ScareLA aims to be as accessible as it is successful, going so far as to make changes regarding the financial aspects of their education programs.  “We changed the education programming quite a bit from last year based on feedback from attendees,” stated Philip Hernandez, Education Producer for ScareLA. “Instead of requiring an extra student pass for attendees, all programming on the Education Stage, Movement Space, and some of the workshops is included in any admission pass. All monsters are welcome in these sessions! The only extra charges are material fees for classes in which participants physically take something home with them—make-and-take classes. We’re focusing on bringing more hands-on experiences and individual attention to the convention despite the increase in venue size for the make-and-take sessions and having more attendees.”

Monsters, come together! Space in seminars and make-and-take classes is limited, and these sessions are filling up fast. To see a schedule of and register for sessions and workshops, visit https://register.growtix.com/schedule/scarela_2017