Conversations in Management
Jim
Timon has it almost right. He’s the Senior Vice President
of Entertainment at Universal Orlando and knows quite a
bit about scaring people on Halloween. Since 1990, Universal
has been turning its popular theme park into Halloween Horror
Nights every October. Timon is responsible for raising the
bar on horror every year to keep the folks coming back for their
fright fix. Starting in December he assembles a six-member team
to conceptualize innovative ways of driving average folks out of
their minds with fear. By February the team will grow to 100 as
sets, props, and costumes are designed. When May rolls around,
500 craftsmen will be bringing the designs to life and the
“prosthetics department” will be working overtime. In September
a thousand people will be hurriedly building the park’s full
sized haunted houses and complex mazes. Later in the month,
thousands more will audition for costumed roles as “scareacters.”
These are the folks who’ll go beyond special effects and
personalize the horrors. This year, Timon’s efforts produced
four stage shows, five scare zones, one “terror tram” and four
mazes featuring such loveable characters (I mean, scareacters)
as Freddy Krueger, Jason and Leatherface.
While all
this might seem like a lot of work, it’s definitely worth it for
the parks. Since Knott’s Berry Farm started the trend in 1973,
it’s been joined by over 5,000 other organizations seeking to
cash in on the nation’s second most popular holiday. For many
parks, it can be a make or break proposition. It’s not uncommon
for attractions to earn up to 15 per cent of their annual
revenues during the Halloween season alone. For an industry
that’s recently seen declining sales, there’s nothing
frightening about the $500 million in gate receipts that are
projected for this year.
Universal Orlando’s
long-running success with Halloween Horror Nights is a
sure indication that they’ve got it right when it comes to
scaring people. It’s the psychology of the scare that they
haven’t quite figured out. When folks spend thirty minutes in
line for a six minute dart through a creepy maze, they aren’t
giving up control, they’re asserting it. The very thing
that makes it possible for everyone to actually enjoy Halloween
is the knowledge that none of the horrors are real. When you go
into the haunted house, you know with certainly that you aren’t
going to actually run into a knife-wielding Freddy Krueger or a
chain saw-slinging Leatherface. The scares are fun because the
dangers are illusory. We know going in that we’ve volunteered
to be horrified. The big scare may make us feel like
we’ve lost control but we know that we’re very much in charge
(despite the possibility of some transitory though potentially
embarrassing lapses).
The manufactured frights of
Halloween Horror Nights are a lot like the things that give
us a start the rest of the year. Sometimes a legitimate scare
comes along, but most of the time the things that rattle us have
to do with the changes that go along with the general business
of daily living. These changes can often make us feel that
things are spinning out of our control when, in fact, we’re
still completely in control. We may have to make minor
adjustments and get used to new situations, but not much has
really changed. This Halloween season remember that when
confronted by change, assert—don’t relinquish—your
control. Things aren’t as scary as they seem.
—Ebert
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