Patrick von Sychowski at Celluloid Junkie has a marvelous post about ShoWest:
I will personally never forget my first ShoWest, unsuspectingly getting dragged into a 15 minute demonstration of the miracle that was spray-on substance made from oranges to remove chewing gum from carpets. I was too timid to explain that I was just a cub reporter/analyst for a statistics based media research publication with zero purchasing influence over my nearest fleapit, let alone cinema chain. I got the full demo, though sadly not a free sample of the Orange Miracle product.
We may all think that ShoWest and the exhibition business is all about Rachel McAdams and Zac Efron flashing their million dollar grins from the stage as they accepts the award for cinema’s ‘breakthrough performer/star of the year‘, but after everyone has left the multiplexes someone still has to scrape the gum off the carpets. And for that reason cinema trade shows will be around for a long time still.
Read the whole thing.