Unless I am mistaken, I believe I was the first person to post about the rumor (on a different thread) of the next two festivals being in Burbank in order to accomodate the Depp/Burton film's production and release. I heard this at the festival last week but I did not hear it from Jim Pierson, so it most certainly qualifies as only a rumor. As someone else pointed out, it does make sense from the movie's point of view.
As far as having the fest in a central location, I can tell you that Jim has told me that it is always on the coasts in order to accomodate the actors and to save on Jim's expense of flying everyone to a central location, since most of the stars live on the coasts. Since I started going in 1999, all the fests have been in the Los Angeles area (L.A., Anaheim, Hollywood, Burbank) or what we call the greater New York or NY metropolitan area (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Tarrytown, Newark).
I think it's all about expense and accomodating the stars, although I pray Jim never has it in Newark again. (For my reasons, see my post on the recent Festival thread).
Frank Borzellieri
