Samantha Pryor
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Cal Poly has been selected as one of 20 schools in the United States to prescreen the upcoming Season 5 premiere of Game of Thrones on April 2 in Chumash Auditorium.
Recreation, parks & tourism administration senior Jessica McKemie, who is also HBO’s campus agent for Cal Poly, said there was no particular reason Cal Poly was chosen to screen the premiere. The only other schools chosen in California were University of Southern California (USC), Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
“I’m not necessarily sure why HBO chose Cal Poly,” she said. “I think our name may have popped up, or maybe we just got lucky.”
McKemie has the task of coordinating the event from start to finish alongside her partner, business administration junior and HBO campus agent Michael Gotto.
Their first item of business: finding emcees to host the event.
McKemie intends to hold auditions for the positions through the theatre and dance department. Students have the opportunity to be paid based off experience, though she is open to all who are interested. Qualifications, however, are subject to change.
“It’s only week two of working with HBO, so Michael and I are still trying to brainstorm everything,” she said.
McKemie has reached out to the engineering council to see if students would be interested in organizing teams to create their own iron throne.
“HBO would love to see the creativity that Cal Poly students have,” she said.
She is also currently in the process of trying to secure the actual iron throne used in the television series to be present at the screening.
Working closely with Associated Students Inc. (ASI) and Inter Housing Council (IHC), McKemie is finalizing the logistics.
The event is tentatively expected to start around 7 p.m. Admission is free with student ID and seat availability will be on a first-come, first-served basis. McKemie anticipates Chumash to meet its maximum capacity of 996 people.
“If we market the right way and get the word out, I think it will be a sold-out show,” she said.
McKemie plans to hand out promotional wristbands and T-shirts to a certain number of students who arrive to the event first.
To get students excited about the event, McKemie and Gotto will be on campus each week giving out free promotional items for the Game of Thrones series. Expected giveaways include items such as t-shirts and cups.
McKemie will be on campus Wednesdays in Poly Canyon Village and Thursdays by the red brick residence halls. She is waiting on confirmation to advertise in the University Union.
“It’s pretty unreal to be in charge of something so big with such a strong fanbase,” she said. “We have extremely high expectations for the event.”
Correction: A previous version of this post said McKemie was working closely with “Residential Life.” It has been changed to say Inter Housing Council.