| NEWS 02.03.09 3:59 PM |
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Ax Falls on Sony BMG, In Style Grammy Parties While Warner Music Scales Back
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 | Warner Music's 2008 Grammy party
Photo: Alen Lin for BizBash |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
The tough economy is cutting a swath through some of Grammy weekend's biggest parties. Sony BMG's event, which last year brought the likes of Aretha Franklin and Clive Davis to its Beverly Hills Hotel location, is off this year, according to its former publicity firm PMK/HBH.
In Style magazine, which in 2008 hosted a pre-Grammys fashion show at Boulevard3 with the Recording Academy, will not host that event this year. Last year, Time Inc.'s Cyd Wilson suggested that the event might have legs as an annual program.
And Warner Music Group, which typically hosts one of the larger parties in town on Grammy night, will scale back the bash this year, instead hosting a smaller screening and dinner, according to the company's New York-based vice president of corporate communications, Susan Mazo, who did not immediately provide further detail. Last year's eco-conscious party at Vibiana attempted to generate zero landfill waste. —Alesandra Dubin
RELATED TOPICS
Warner Music Group, Grammys, Award Season, Going Green, In Style Magazine, Sony BMG, Recording Academy |
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| EVENT REPORT 01.12.09 12:19 PM |
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Golden Globe Parties Return With (Most of) the Familiar Grandeur
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FROM LOS ANGELES
Last night's all-star Golden Globes banished some of the memories of last year's scaled-back press conference with a presence that may have been as glitzy a spectacle as ever—or at least since 2007. Although organizers behind parties like the Weinstein Company's annual awards-night biggie axed their celebrations in this year's tough economy, some newcomers like AMC joined the fray inside the celebrity-and-media-mobbed Beverly Hilton. And a trio of annual parties decked the buzzing hotel with roughly as much production-heavy grandeur as their previous incarnations.
NBC Universal brought about 400 people to a viewing party, and about 800 for an after-party in the same space, where sponsor Cartier showed off jewels from its vault in Paris. The over-the-top baubles in cases made for eye-popping decor that complemented the metallic and black look created by Angel City Designs, whose Mark Yumkas described the space as "a very classic Hollywood look with a contemporary twist."
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Golden Globes, Award Season, HBO, NBC Universal, Cartier, Warner Brothers, Godiva, In Style Magazine, AMC |
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| EVENT REPORT 01.12.09 10:59 AM |
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Economic Climate Tinges Golden Globes Suites—But Hardly Banishes Them
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FROM LOS ANGELES
As has become de rigeur when big award shows roll into town, a robust slate of gift and hospitality suites blanketed Beverly Hills and the surrounding areas in the days preceding the Golden Globes, which were presented last night. But did the economy affect the offerings?
"Established brands can weather the storm. The HBO Luxury Lounge runs itself, and we sell at least half of it out a year in advance," said Britt Johnson of Mediaplacement, which produces the network's suites at the Four Seasons. This year, the event again brought 12 vendors to the second floor of the hotel. "As much as people are cutting back in advertising, this sort of marketing seems to do better because it's really effective. When you get 100 shots with celebrities [together with products], you don't have to do that three or four times a year."
In addition to product giveaways, HBO's setup also offered beauty treatments from an all-white lounge down the hall where L'Oréal Paris makeup artists, hairstylists, and manicurists set up shop.
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RELATED TOPICS
Award Season, Golden Globes, Gift Suites, HBO, In Style Magazine, Zune, Visual Impact Now |
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| NEWS 01.08.09 10:53 AM |
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Golden Globes Weekend: Who's Going Where
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FROM LOS ANGELES
On Sunday night, the Golden Globes ceremony will take place in the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton, after last year's hiatus from all the pomp. But the frenzy of activity—perhaps minimally dampened in tough economic times as another strike threat looms—starts days earlier. Here's a look at the related events.
The usual proliferation of gift and hospitality suites will take over town, albeit with a somewhat softer character this time around. Kari Feinstein's Style Lounge is getting one of the earliest starts, kicking off today at the Zune L.A. space to benefit Visual Impact Now, which provides eyecare to children. (Feinstein is also staging a version of the suites at Sundance a week later.) GBK Productions will bring its suites to the 9900 Club in the old Friar's Club space, around the corner from the Hilton, on Friday and Saturday.
HBO's Luxury Lounge, with its L'Oréal Paris beauty suite, will take to the Four Seasons on Doheny on Friday. The Boom Boom Room's children's and parenting wares gift suites will open at the Century Plaza on Friday and Saturday.
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RELATED TOPICS
Golden Globes, Award Season, Gift Suites, HBO, In Style Magazine, NBC Universal, Cartier, Warner Brothers, Los Angeles Confidential, Visual Impact Now |
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| NEWS 12.09.08 5:30 PM |
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As SAG Strike Looms, It's "Full-Steam Ahead" for Golden Globes Party Organizers
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 | The NBC Universal and Focus Features 2007 party, sponsored by Cartier
Photo: Line 8 Photography |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
Another year, another strike threat. Last year, the Golden Globes ceremony and its typical big-scale parties were canceled in favor of a press conference during the writers' strike—and this year the possibility of a SAG strike looms. Although there is some private concern as to the fate of the January 11 ceremony, organizers are saying the show will go on, as they prepare to ensure the unofficially affiliated bashes happen seamlessly.
Billy Butchkavitz, who produces and designs HBO's production-heavy fete said, "We're going forward as if nothing is going on. I kept asking [my clients] about it—and you never know with the Golden Globes people—but they're saying that nothing should affect [the party]." Butchkavitz considers his group lucky because HBO's is the last party at the Beverly Hilton to load in because part of its space, restaurant Circa 55, is open until 10:30 p.m. the night before the ceremony. "This is the one time that it pays not to have a lot of setup time," Butchkavitz said, indicating that none of the build out will happen if the party is called off at the last possible moment.
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RELATED TOPICS
Golden Globes, SAG, Writers' Strike, In Style Magazine, NBC Universal, HBO, Cartier, Award Season |
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| EVENT REPORT 09.10.08 5:20 PM |
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In Style's TIFF Party Gets Pink Orchids, Crystals
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 | The In Style party at the Windsor Arms Hotel
Photo: BizBash |
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In Style magazine and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association welcomed more than 400 guests to their annual TIFF party at the Windsor Arms Hotel Tuesday. The magazine has hosted a cocktail party during the festival since 2000, and Kelly Austing, In Style's manager of creative development, said the idea is not to switch things up too much.
"We do our party every year on the same night. It's always on the Tuesday," said Austing, who's based in L.A. "It's always great to see who's in town to come to our party." The magazine also always hosts the event at the hotel. "The Windsor Arms just is a great representation of Toronto. It's a great representation of In Style, and it works perfectly for the Hollywood Foreign Press. It's an intimate, warm venue with great food and great ambience."
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RELATED TOPICS
Toronto International Film Festival, In Style Magazine, Hollywood Foreign Press Association |
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| NEWS 09.02.08 4:10 PM |
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Boy George, Sir Richard Branson Among Those Hosting Parties During TIFF
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Plans to entertain the more than 500 special guests and celebrities scheduled to hit town for the 33rd annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)—which starts Thursday and runs until September 13—are sure to create a buzzing party scene in Toronto, with everyone from Boy George to Paris Hilton getting in on the action this year. "We do a lot of focused entertaining for the directors and talent that come to the festival. Virtually every programmer will be entertaining," says TIFF director and C.E.O. Piers Handling, who personally plans to host two large dinners for 60 to 70 filmmakers.
"The rest of the party scene is basically our sponsors who are leveraging their sponsorship—Holt’s, the big CTV bash on Friday—there is a whole series of events like that. Then the distribution industry, Canadian and U.S., will get into the scene in a major way and do parties post- film," he said.
The TIFF party scene kicks off Thursday with a cocktail reception at the Rosewater Supper Club prior to the presentation of the Canadian film Passchendaele at Roy Thomson Hall. The screening will be followed by the official TIFF opening night gala at the Liberty Grand. (Barbara Hershenhorn of Party Barbara Co. is planning the event for more than 3,000 guests.) Alliance Atlantis also will host a Passchendaele party at the Drake Hotel following Thursday's screening, and Ultra Supper Club presents a performance by Boy George.
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RELATED TOPICS
Toronto International Film Festival, eTalk, Holt Renfrew, CTV, ET Canada, In Style Magazine, Alliance Atlantis, DSquared2, Flare Magazine, Hello! Canada, Canadian Film Centre |
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| NEWS 02.06.08 11:05 AM |
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Grammy Events: Who's Going Where
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FROM LOS ANGELES
Across the land—Hollywoodland, that is—a broad array of folks involved with award-season planning have seen their share of disappointments this year. With the writers strike still ongoing (although showing signs of a reprieve) and some events over the last few weeks scaled back or canceled altogether (most notably the intimate fetes known as the Golden Globes and Vanity Fair's Oscar party), the Grammys may start to bring some luster back to the bummer-tinged season. Events related to the music spectacle begin in earnest this Thursday and continue through the weekend.
In fact, Thursday night looks to be one of the busier nights on the slate, with a party at the Getty Center to announce Grammy-nominated classical pianist Lang Lang as the new chairman of the Foundation D'Enterprise Montblanc de la Culture. Later in the evening, at Boulevard3 across town, the Recording Academy will join with In Style for the magazine's first attempt at a fashion show, showcasing the clothing lines of musicians-turned-designers such as Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z.
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RELATED TOPICS
Grammys, Award Season, Warner Music Group, Recording Academy, In Style Magazine, People Magazine, Verizon, Montblanc, Clothes Off Our Back, MusiCares, Writers' Strike, Nicole Khristine |
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| NEWS 01.22.08 6:51 PM |
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Eyeing 2009, Would-Be Globes Hosts and Vendors Settle Amicably
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 | HBO's 2007 Globes fete
Photo: Gabor Ekecs |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
Although the 2008 Golden Globes ceremony and its spate of related parties got scrapped due to the Writers Guild strike, many event hosts ended up paying their vendors for all or most of the work required for the parties. In many cases, contracts required them to do so, but organizers and vendors said they also kept an eye toward maintaining cordial business relationships in working out such resolutions. They expect these deals to allow next year’s events to go on with the same teams—and in several cases, the same designs.
Time Inc.’s Cyd Wilson, who was working with designer Thomas Ford on In Style’s annual party with Warner Brothers, estimates that more than 50 percent of her event’s costs were in fact paid out, even though the party did not go on, since the work began so early. “We were the only event that had done preproduction three months earlier, the only party that had already built the tents,” Wilson said. So vendors were paid what they were due for the work they had completed.
HBO also paid significant event costs, although it typically sets up later because its Beverly Hilton venue, Circa 55, is open for regular business until Globes weekend. “Most years it’s a real nightmare, since we’ve had to set up the night before and we were the ones that got stuck working all night. This year was the one year it paid off that we couldn’t set up early,” said producer and designer Billy Butchkavitz, who was working on the party’s annual color-filled spectacle. He has committed to paying subvendors who had already done custom work, and a projectionist who had flown in from Poland. “Everything was manufactured, everything was done, with [the official news of the cancellation coming with] six days' notice. Most of the clients I have, a lot of it is done on gentlemen’s agreements. I like to have almost all of my money before the event even happens. You can really get in trouble, [but I’ve been] working with HBO for so long, since 1995, and there’s a trust factor on both ends.” HBO vice president of special events Eileen Rivard said, "Fortunately, because of our long-standing relations with our vendors, we are all working together to minimize losses."
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RELATED TOPICS
WGA, Writers' Strike, Golden Globes, Award Season, HBO, In Style Magazine, NBC |
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