Figured I should say ni hao from Phoenix. I've been volunteering since the beginning of CSTS, but this is my first time taking the reigns. Only a little bit terrifying... like the fate of our organization, the credibility of me and my companions, and a global eye watching over all I do falls on my shoulders and can fall apart at the slightest slip at my hand. No pressure! (c:
The good news is we're already looking great for a successful screening (most likely in September), and we've only just begun. We've got our primary sponsor and our theater raring to go, and we're carrying over just about all of the amazing people who made last year such a enjoyable success. It's a great year to be coordinator.

Here's the catch, and what I think is going to spark at least a little discussion 'round these parts. We're planning a dramatic change in the way CSTS is normally played. Traditionally, it's a screening of Serenity, with a bonus Dr. Horrible (and hopefully a sequel by then). What we're doing is making our CSTS event into the "CSTS 2010 Film Festival". We're inviting several local fan organizations to join us in screening their own movies for their own charity. With any luck the showings will be modular enough that even though we'll increase the scale of the event tenfold, each group shouldn't have to do that much more than any past year. We've already got the Arizona Ghostbusters on board and a musical guest by the Honorable Society of Phoenix Anachrofuturists (steampunk nuts), and I'm hoping to pull in some Storm Troopers and Zombies, maybe even a Trekker or two. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find enough groups, now I'm worried I'll have to turn some away. We'll see how it plays out.
We will still be having our Serenity screening for Equality Now with all the bells and whistles, but we felt like doing more for the 5th anniversary. What do you folks think? Do you think it still fits the vision and goals of the global CSTS movement? On the other hand, does anyone else think they want to try something like this? For that matter I should probably ask if anyone has ever done anything like this before.

Thanks all and I look forward to working with everyone this year.

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David Richins
Arizona Browncoats
CSTS 2010 Coordinator
"We've done the impossible, now we're gonna do it even bigger."

That's such a cool idea!

As long as you're doing an official Serenity screening for Equality Now, anything else you've got planned fits in very well as Affiliate-style events. Just remember that at least 75% of the total proceeds from your events needs to go to Equality Now to be part of CSTS. For the fan-films who are seeking to support their own charity, you'll need to work out how to structure the events so that Equality Now still gets 75% of the total amount raised from all of your events (that could be 100% from your main event and then 25% from the other films?)

It sounds like you're going to have a really great year!!

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Global Steering Committee Chair (2010-2015)
Global Team: Comms Lead (2009)
Local Event Organiser/Crew: Melbourne (2007, 2009-2017), Vancouver (2006)
New Melbourne Browncoats Inc - newmelbournebrowncoats.com