Geeking out with comic con director and former Juneauite Todd Jones

Todd Jones never thought his career would one day involve driving his idol Leonard Nimoy, who is famous for his portrayal of Spock in the original Star Trek series, to and from a comic con in Seattle.

The 43-year-old, who was raised in Juneau and is a 1991 Juneau-Douglas High School grad, met his idol through his position as the Celebrity Operations Director of the Emerald City Comicon. It was Jones’ job to negotiate celebrity guest appearance contracts, coordinate travel and on-site scheduling, create guest-featured programming and ensure all guests were well taken care of during the convention.

Sometimes his duties meant being the one to drive guests to the convention center, like Nimoy, which Jones described as an honor.

“While we didn’t discuss world peace or anything, I will always treasure being able talk to him one-on-one for a few minutes each day,” Jones told the Empire. “The kid from Juneau who grew up on Original Series re-runs, who can still quote Wrath of Khan verbatim start to finish, who has been and always shall be a Trekkie, had the incredible fortune to spend real time with Spock himself. I will never forget that.”

Nimoy passed away in 2015. Jones fondly recalled his memory of Nimoy at the convention and how gracious he was with fans.

“He was such a genuine and caring man, attentive to every fan, and gave so much to the event that I can state that his presence really lifted the show to the next level,” he said.

It’s these moments that make all the hard work in his job worth it, Jones said. He has had the opportunity to meet many creators like Geoff Johns (DC comic writer), Robert Kirkman (author of The Walking Dead), cast members of shows like “Star Trek,” “Firefly,” “Supernatural,” “Arrow,” “Flash,” “Battlestar Galactica” and iconic franchises like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and The Avengers, which he said is a geek dream come true.

But the gratifying part about his job is watching other fans’ dreams come true as they get to meet their idols, Jones said, mentioning the excitement from fans when they get to see famous figures like William Shatner, Stan Lee, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.

Of course, Jones didn’t always have this job, and how he got into it was unexpected. After he graduated college with a pre-law degree in Seattle, Jones spent a few years in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore area as both a criminal and insurance investigator before returning to Seattle, where he fell into a career in real estate.

A comic book reader and a self-described pop culture junkie, Jones frequented a local comic book store enough that he became friends with the owner, Jim Demonakos, who founded Emerald City Comicon and held its first convention in 2003. A few years later, Jones started volunteering to assist putting on the convention.

ECCC started inviting celebrity guests in 2008. Jones was asked to work with actress Julie Benz, who played Darla in the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and assist her with autograph sales and keeping her schedule. Jones and Demonakos discussed after the convention how to improve and grow in the celebrity portion of the convention.

“From there, my current career was born,” Jones said.

The following year he was put in charge of running the ECCC autograph area and became the Celebrity Operations Director. ECCC continued to grow, having as many as 32 celebrity guests in 2015 and 25 in 2016. ReedPOP acquired Emerald City Comicon in January of 2015. They hired Jones as their Global Talent Manager, and he and his wife made the move to Connecticut where ReedPOP is headquartered.

“When Ms. Benz came back to Seattle for ECCC 2015 after I’d been hired by ReedPOP, I took the time to personally thank her for being my origin story,” Jones said.

Now Jones curates all the celebrities for autographing at all of ReedPop’s domestic pop culture shows — Emerald City Comicon, New York Comic Con, C2E2 and Star Trek Missions. He also works with all of ReedPOP’s international pop culture events.

The job does come with its own unique set of challenges, such as trying to get the best possible guests in a highly saturated industry to attend ReedPOP events when over a hundred different comic cons occur annually. With one or two conventions happening every weekend domestically, and well over a hundred each year, trying to secure guests can be competitive. For international conventions, there are also the challenges of working with different shows and within different cultures. Despite these challenges, Jones described his position as the job of lifetime, one he strives to never take for granted.

To anyone looking for the path into the industry, he said there is no set path — people create their own.

“I will say that these shows rely on the people who work on the front lines — the volunteers and contracted staff who give up their weekends and then some to help us to do literally everything — are the real stars,” he said. “People who excel in these positions get noticed, and when the timing is right, you never know what could happen.”

• Contact Clara Miller at 523-2243 or at clara.miller@juneauempire.com.