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Category: Haunt Tips

Trying to start and grow your Haunted Attraction Business? These audio podcasts may have that help you’re looking for…

5 Ways to Find Scare Actors for Your Haunted Attraction

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:56 — 11.8MB)

Subscribe: Apple

One of the most difficult things for a Haunted Attraction Owner is to find quality Scare Actors and Staff to help make the attraction come to life.

Having your Scare Actors not show up is one of the biggest complaints we hear as haunt consultants…from the bad reviews from your customers to the other actors who have to cover those spots and pull double duty on a busy Saturday night.

These are some of the things we have tried in the past. We now have over 40 scare actors inside our haunt The Dead Factory.

Join us in this LIVE ONLINE MASTER CLASS on Hiring Employees and Recruiting Volunteers

Here are five things you can start doing now to recruit and hire new scare actors for your haunted attraction.

How to get scare actors for your haunted house

 

  1. Reach out to family and friends. Use social media to let others know you’re searching for help. People aren’t mind readers so you gotta put it out there. I know it’s tough to ask for help, but it determines the success of your show.
  2. Create an Ad on Facebook. Create a business page on Facebook..yes, they still work. Boost a post or create an ad directly focused on your local area (maybe a 15 mile radius around your location) and interests like Horror Movie Fans, Theater/Plays, Haunted Houses.
  3. Team up with your local theater or high school drama club. Many of my scare actors have come from the local theater. My son was also in the drama department at his high school. You might be able to cross-promote with them by sharing staff members or even hanging banners in each others queue lines.
  4. Ask strangers. Allen Hopps, from The Darkhour Haunted House, carries pre-made business cards specifically for Scare Actor auditions. He carries them everywhere! I usually get a feel for a person and then ask them if they’d be interested in helping work behind-the-scenes of a Haunted House.
  5. Ask your current Actors/Staff for referrals. Sometimes your current helpers don’t know you need more help. Ask if they have a friend that may want to try it out as a test run. Once they get that first scare..it usually lights that fire inside. It’s either for a person or not…don’t try to force it. You’ll get a better quality of actor by letting the good ones come back for more.

Treat your scare actors and your haunt staff like family. Have food and drinks if it’s in your budget. Make them comfortable as possible. Make their time with you fun and enjoyable so they’ll want to come back and bring a friend.

Happy Haunting!

Listen to the podcast of this article here.

Haunter’s Toolbox Exclusive: Start your Haunted Attraction Master Class Replay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:16 — 36.9MB)

Subscribe: Apple

This is a 30 minute segment of our full training we hosted on https://www.haunterstoolbox.com “Start a Haunted Attraction without spending tons of money”

Starting up your first Haunted Attraction as a business can cost you a lot of money if you don’t know where to invest your hard earned cash. In this podcast episode, we give you our first 30 minutes of our hour and a half workshop we hosted on HOW and WHERE to spend your money so you can be successful each year.

start a haunted house

Many Haunted Attractions close their doors before they get the chance to grow like they should. You DO NOT need tons of money but you do need to know the important places to put your money.

Here is the outline on what we talked about in our live training session:

  • Where to spend your money in your first year open
  • Cheap design ideas to look professional
  • Material costs that will save you money
  • Cost-effective marketing ideas for your brand
  • Where to find scare actors and haunted house staff

To get this recorded training, become a HAUNT MASTER member at Haunter’s Toolbox.com.

Haunted house experts

To sign up for our next live workshop, Ask the Haunt Expert Master Class, CLICK HERE.

Start a Haunted Attraction without spending tons of money

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:44 — 35.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple

This is a live online video workshop. You will receive an access link to attend after purchase. A video & audio replay will also be sent to you after our workshop. We’ll see you soon!

 

start a haunt for free

The main struggle for many new Haunted Attraction Owners is building a quality show without lots of money to do it. In this online workshop, we will show you how we built and started our Haunted Attraction Business with a very tight budget and get you started down the right road to start yours.

Live online video workshop on February, 13th 2018. Video replays include. $25

Sign up here

Here are a just few things you’ll learn:

  • How to find a low-cost location for your Haunt.
  • Easy to apply design ideas to save you thousands.
  • The 5 main areas to spend money your first few years.
  • Where to spend your marketing dollars during Haunt Season.

All questions will be answered during this online workshop. Recordings available after live presentation.

Information about this online workshop:

  • Watch and listen on any digital device. Your phone, laptop, or tablet.
  • We are live. Not a recording. We will be answering your questions.
  • You get access to the video and audio replays forever.

Haunt Stories from the Dead Factory and the Deadmonton Haunted House

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:24 — 52.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple

If you’re like us, you never get tired of stories from Haunt Season. We never get tired of talking about it. Here are the highlights from our experiences as Co-owner of the Dead Factory Haunted House (Brian Foreman) in Missouri and Manager of the Deadmonton Haunted House (Darryl Plunkie) in Canada.

Haunted House stories

Deadmonton Haunted House (Edmonton AB Canada)

“The first haunted house I’ve been to! Waited in line for a few hours but worth it! Actors walked around while we were in line to scare us, so awesome. The haunted house was so well done! Scared me so much, jumped so much, laughed so much. Well done!! So much fun! Well worth the price and the wait!!” –Kayla Bourgoin

“Wonderfully terrifying experience. Arrive early in the day to get a good place in line, unless you’re willing to dish for speed passes. Crazy amounts of imagination go into this 45 minute plus experience. Try not to rush through, but be forewarned. . Do not walk to slowly either :/” –Kristine Lynn Bowman

 

Dead Factory Haunted House (Mexico, Missouri)

“I’ve been through the super fancy haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios – Orlando, and The Dead Factory blew those big budget houses away.

The actors are superb, the scared are bone chilling, and you can feel the level of care that they put into their craft.

This will most definitely become an annual tradition. A huge thanks to everyone who made this entertainment possible.” –Charles Dallas Parrott

“We just got done going through the house and I am still shaking. I ran out of there as fast as I could and I am not going to have a voice tomorrow! So much fun! You can tell these guys love what they do! Awesome price awesome & people check it out!” –Claudia Holt

 

Listen to how we made it through Haunt Season here.

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HAuNTcon 2018-New Orleans

Visit Us at Booth 110 at HAuNTcon & use code HAUNTOPIC for a FREE Show Pass!

Scare Acting Stories and Managing The Dead Factory Haunted House

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:04 — 76.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple

In this one hour audio podcast episode, you will learn haunted house scare acting ideas from Darryl Plunkie (my co-host and scare actor at Dedmonton House) and pick up a few tips from (me) Brian Foreman on Managing the Dead Factory Haunted House in Mexico, Missouri.

 

(This article appeared first at http://hauntopic.com/dead-factory )

 

Dead Factory Haunted House-Dedmonton House

 

Scare Acting Stories and Ideas from Deadmonton House

Darryl Plunkie, co-host of HaunTopic Radio and Haunted House Scare Actor at Deadmonton House-Canada, knows his way around a Haunted Attraction. Passionate about Horror and Halloween most of his life, he has helped many themed events prepare before the big show by decorating and filling the rooms with a warm body whenever Scare Acting duty calls.

Darryl believes in not just scaring the patron walking through the Haunt but to ENTERTAIN the patron. “People are either paying with their money or their time….sometimes making them laugh can get them off guard just enough and sets them up for the next scare. If you can’t scare them, make them at least remember you.”

Darryl also throws in Things to Say as a Scare Actor, What to do in an Emergency, and Scare Tactics You Can Try.

 

 

Managing the Dead Factory Haunted House

I have been doing this thing called ‘Haunting’ since I was a teenager but didn’t really know it was a thing until around 2004. I started out as a volunteer Scare Actor helping my brother at a local area Haunted House. When that place closed down, we decided to build an outdoor haunt behind my brother’s property called Backwoods Terror. That lasted a few years until circumstances led for us to shut the doors on that haunt venture. I moved on to decorating my garage for trick-or-treaters (called Home Haunting) and practiced my decorating and scaring techniques for a few more years.

This all led up to The Dead Factory in Mexico, Missouri. This is where I am Co-owner, manager, decorator, and wear many other hats as a Hauntrepreneur.

I go over Staying Flexible as a Haunt Manager, Where we are spending our budget next year, and a peek behind the doors of my Haunted Attraction- The Dead Factory.

 

 

Bonus Material in this podcast

  • Marketing ideas from Tyler Barnett and Philip Hernandez (Marketing Monday-Haunted Attraction Network)
  • A sample soundtrack from inside The Dead Factory Haunted House.
  • 3 NEW HAUNT HAPPENINGS from within the Haunted Attraction Industry

 

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