ScareLA is the first Southern California convention dedicated to celebrating Halloween. The most appropriate way to describe this unique venue is, “the open-house of everything Halloween.” The top talents of the Los Angeles area will team together to bring exclusive attractions, workshops, panels, screenings, and live haunts front and center to thousands of Halloween and scare fans. ScareLA premiered back in 2013, and the weekend-long event has grown since then becoming the hottest Halloween season teaser to haunt Southern California.

ScareLA will set its roots for the first time in beautiful Pasadena, California at the Pasadena Convention Center. The event will run today August 8th and conclude Sunday, August 9th. With the popularity of the Halloween season growing, it is only appropriate to partake in such a noteworthy event. Halloween is a incomparable event for kids and adults to enjoy at the same time! Generation, after generation, have found that Halloween is meaningful on a different level and want the Halloween season to expand itself. ScareLA is set forth for the generation of people that want Halloween to come early, and very much dislike when the season comes to an end. Executive Producer and Co-Founder of ScareLA Lora Ivanova knows that! Lora has a wonderful track record and is a resourceful leader in marketing and business initiatives. Lora has channeled her passions and created this venue to celebrate Halloween and introduce people to the world that we have all come to love and not want to end.

Lora has graciously donated some of her time to explain what ScareLA is all about and the driving force that inspired and motivated her to create this fairy tale of a venue.

Enjoy!

iHorror: ScareLA premiered back in 2013. How did the whole idea come about? Were you a major part of that vision?

Lora Ivanova: Yes, this was something I actually that I threw out to my co-producer David Markland back in 2012 after the Halloween season was over. We were both bummed and disappointed that we had to wait another twelve months for it to happen again. We started brainstorming a couple of ideas on what we could do and other things that we wished we had California, Los Angeles. As soon as it came out of my mouth, why can’t we do our own? We both kind of looked at each other with this moment of, huh? Interesting idea! We both asked each other if we were serious about it and then we started reaching out and thought about who in our network that would be a good edition to this theme, and floated our idea to our friends over at Theme Park Adventure first. We were like hey we wanna do this, here our visions and thoughts about what it is going to look like, what do you guys think of helping us put it together? Partially to our surprise, they said yes! (Giggles). They stayed on and actually became an instrumental part of our team. That is how it started; it was actually kind of an idea that came out, and we wanted to see if we could actually make this happen, and here we are.
iH: Yeah, and this will be the third year. I am actually looking forward to going, I tried going last year but was not able to. I am one of those people that wait and look forward to October, whether it be a convention or a theme park, such as Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. I take my family, and it has become a tradition. Now to have something before October in August is just amazing, and I am looking forward to it.

LI: That is awesome, you are really in the same boat as we are, and that is really what started this. We start it early, we kick it off, we get excited, it is a really good chance to start doing your shopping. Whether you want to do something crazy with your costume, take a few classes, learn how to push your boundaries.

iH: You are the one-stop shop for everything. What kind of classes do you offer?

LI: Oh, we have a wide range of things. We have about 100 hours in terms of the class programming on and off the show floor. On the show floor, there will be different demonstrations and makes and takes workshops with different vendors of ScareLA. We also have a special classroom programming which allows you to take part of the education portion specifically and this year this is a dedicated conference center that will offer small sized classrooms that will range from professional and your thinking about haunting as a career here are things to know, if you’re a cosplayer here is opportunity to take costume making to the next level and character creation. If you’re a casual person and need something for the family, you can learn how to make crazy costumes using household appliances and materials you already have. People can also learn how to do the ultimate trick-or-treat route here in Los Angeles which will actually be taught here this year with my co-producer David Markland who is very excited about that class, I can’t wait to find out what he has in store for us!

iH: Wow, there is no time to get bored!

LI: Yeah, if you get bored at ScareLA there is something that you are doing horribly wrong! We have so many things going on, it is meant to cater to so many tastes. We get everybody; we get people that bring their one-month-old babies to the show floor, and we get people that are eighty years old that have been fans of all things Scary. They come from such wide backgrounds from casual, to semi-professional, all the way to having a professional background that love Halloween and horror movies. We really try and program accordingly so that everyone can be engaged and ultimately find something at ScareLA.

iH: That is awesome, it does sound like there will be something for everyone. There is just so much, was there anything that you could not put into the program because of time restraints?

LI: You know what? That is a great question. (giggles). There are so many things. Every year we bite off more than we can chew, and we try to figure out how to make it happen. Every year we are always left with a few things that we would loved to have seen. I think that is what we are learning, we can do as much as we can in those two days, but it does not have to end there. We are trying to get better at what is going to happen at ScareLA and if something is not ready yet, finding other avenues after the event is something that we are definitely looking at. But it is good to leave things out. We don’t want ScareLA to become this repetitive cycle of presentations or panels. We want to be fresh and original and bring something new to the experience every year. It is actually not a bad thing to have things left over. It gives us the chance to re-envision the event for coming years.

iH: I am sure that this venue is going to continue to grow. Was it at the Pasadena Convention Center the past two years?

LI: It was actually downtown Los Angeles at a venue called LA Mart, they later re-named themselves The Reaf, that is what their current name is. They are a great venue, we really had a terrific time there they were extremely supportive of the event. Honestly, ScareLA probably would not have happened if it had not been for there support and collaboration with us. We were their first kind of big sized conventional style event in the venue; it was brand new, and we opened there. After being there for two years, as much as it was a difficult decision for us we saw that growth which surprised us and surpassed our expectations. So this year we had to look around because a the rate we are growing we are not going to be able to fit in that space. We have been looking around for venues for a long time, and The Pasadena Convention Center seemed like a good fit for us. Opening to a bigger show floor, closer proximity to hotels, and taller ceilings. Now we can bring more of a diverse list of props, animatronics, and effects to the space. It does seem like the next logical step for us.

There you have it, folks. It is amazing what someone can do when they allow their passion to take control. Thank you Lora, it was a pleasure speaking to you.

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