| NEWS 10.21.09 11:53 AM |
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In the News: Oscar Taps New Producers, Izod Caps Year of Indy Partnership
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Oscars Find New Producers, Search For Host: After a much-needed upswing in viewers last year, the board of directors at the Academy Awards was hoping to continue its relationships with last years producers, Larry Mark and Bill Condon, and host Hugh Jackman. But both producers are tied up with other projects and Jackman is apparently uninterested. Instead, they'll try to maintain momentum with Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic, both filmmakers of a similar pedigree. As for a new host, there are rumors that Tom Hanks has been asked. [Deadline Hollywood]
Izod Wraps First Season With IndyCar: After signing on for a five-year marketing partnership with IndyCar in March, Izod spent its first season on the tour justifying the millions of dollars that have already gone into its largest marketing effort to date. As the official apparel sponsor, Izod was present at 17 races, 20 in-store events, and advertising in every medium. The label finished the season last week with two in-store events at a Miami Macy's that brought drivers and shoppers together. [WWD]
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Oscars, Academy Awards, Hugh Jackman, Tom Hanks, Izod, IndyCar, Volkswagen |
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| NEWS 02.25.09 4:06 PM |
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In the News: Northern Trust Upsets Congress, Mardi Gras Carries on Despite Recession
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Magazine Publishers of America Downsize Conference: The annual American Magazine Conference, planned as a three-day function in Boca Raton, Florida, this October, won't go ahead as planned. Instead, the Magazine Publishers of America will host a one-day event in New York. [Mediaweek]
Washington Riled Over Northern Trust Corp. Spending: A group of congressional representatives, led by Barney Frank, has called out Northern Trust Corporation for misuse of the $16 billion in U.S. bailout funds it received last year. TMZ reported earlier this week that a firm-sponsored golf tournament in California included nights in the Beverly Wilshire and Ritz-Carlton hotels for clients and employees, lavish parties with A-list entertainment, and Tiffany souvenirs. A spokesman wouldn't divulge details of costs, but insisted the spending "is part of a business decision regarding an annual event to show appreciation for clients.” [Bloomberg]
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Magazine Publishers of America, Northern Trust, Mardi Gras, Liz Smith, Oscars, Academy Awards |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.24.09 11:00 AM |
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Montblanc Stages Big Reveals to Heighten Drama at Charity Dinner
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FROM LOS ANGELES
Two days before the Academy Awards—with so many top-tier celebrities swirling around Hollywood—Montblanc hosted a charitable gala, dubbed Signature for Good, to benefit education and literacy programs for Unicef. Michael Friedman of Delphi Productions spearheaded the production for the event, which began on Friday when a group of 250 arrived to a red-carpet set on the Paramount’s New York Street.
During the cocktail hour that preceded the gala in the foyer, larger-than-life portraits of 12 celebrities for the cause were revealed, including portraits of Susan Sarandon, Milla Jovovich, Emily Blunt, Helen Hunt, Eva Longoria, Mira Sorvino, Andie MacDowell, Sienna Miller, Christina Ricci, Jessica Lange, Lauren Hutton, and Marcia Cross. A rigging system brought in all the portraits, which stood onstage behind the celebrities during the gala's presentation portion.
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Montblanc, Paramount, Unicef, Oscars, Award Season |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.23.09 5:09 PM |
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Fund-Raiser Treats Guests Like Stars With Oscar Broadcast, Swag Lounge
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 | Comedian Carla Collins hosted the event.
Photo: Gary Beechey for BizBash |
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For its inaugural To Oscar with Love fund-raising event, Leave Out Violence (or LOVE) teamed up with Debra Goldblatt to create a swag lounge—presented by Tastemakers for the first time at a charity function—designed to make guests feel like celebrities. “I’ve always wanted to come up with a different way to raise money and not have it be a silent auction, and swag is what the stars do, and so I wanted that here. It’s more modern,” said Kacey Siskind, an event planner and volunteer member of the organizing committee.
For a $75 ticket, guests gained access to the lounge—furnished by Andrew Richard Designs and managed by Goldblatt, founder of Tastemakers and president of Rock-it Promotions. “It’s a neat idea to do this in lieu of a silent auction,” said Goldblatt, who noted that gift lounges are unfamiliar to a lot of people. “People don’t really understand the whole swag concept … we can’t offer it to everybody during events like the Toronto International Film Festival.”
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Oscars, Leave Out Violence, Tastemakers, Carla Collins, Telus, Porter Airlines |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.23.09 2:10 PM |
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Oscar Night Parties: Mercedes-Benz Grows, A.P.L.A. Shrinks, and Leeza Gibbons Joins the Fray
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 | The Night to Make a Difference fund-raiser at Mr. Chow
Photo: Dale Wilcox for BizBash |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
On Oscar night—after the academy doled out its awards at the Kodak and many guests scattered to the Governors Ball and Vanity Fair's and Elton John's bashes—a host of other parties was taking over town. Included in that group last night was at least one substantial newcomer, one annual party that grew, and one that shrank: Leeza Gibbons’ new fund-raiser with Olivia Newton-John and David Foster, Mercedes-Benz’s bash, and AIDS Project Los Angeles’s viewing party respectively.
Leeza Gibbons
The first Night to Make a Difference benefiting the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation and Olivia Newton-John’s Cancer and Wellness Centre took to Mr. Chow, where about 250 guests dined on a 10-course meal during the broadcast that showed on 16 plasma screens in the space. Ken Paves hosted a red carpet arrivals program, volunteer correspondents interviewed celebrities about nonprofit causes, and musical guests including R&B and pop singer Thelma Houston and DJ Steve Aoki performed at the event, which streamed live online for six hours on Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m. The new event—for which tickets sold out the week before show time—has a three-year contract with Mr. Chow for future Oscar night galas.
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Oscars, Award Season, Mercedes-Benz, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation, Olivia Newton-John’s Cancer and Wellness Centre, Metrosource |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.23.09 1:49 PM |
Vanity Fair Oscar Party Returns With New Venue, Smaller Guest List, and Chicken Potpie
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 | Vanity Fair gobos on the Sunset Tower Hotel
Photo: Alberto E Rodriguez/Getty Images |
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Vanity Fair put its hat back in the Oscar ring last night, returning after last year’s sabbatical with a smaller viewing dinner and after-party at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Long known as the evening’s hottest ticket, the fete drew an A-list-only crowd, seeing the likes of Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Penélope Cruz, Mickey Rourke, Madonna, Elton John, and Meryl Streep make their way down the red carpet.
Party host and Vanity Fair editor in chief Graydon Carter told reporters last night that he wanted to create a glamorous but cozy party this year, and he achieved the latter with a whittled-down guest list of 650—compared with 1,150 in 2007—in a venue known for its striking views and old-Hollywood cache, but lack of event space. Carter had announced back in November that the party would be pared down, saying, “We’ll celebrate Hollywood’s big night the way we did when we first threw the party 15 years ago—it will be a cozier, more understated event.” (That said, Cityfile noted on Friday that an event permit filed by the mag in West Hollywood listed the head count at 1,000 guests.)
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Oscars, Award Season, Vanity Fair |
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| NEWS 02.23.09 12:17 PM |
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What the Press Said About the Oscar Ceremony: Different Is Good
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The press is decidedly divided about what worked and what didn’t at last night’s rejiggered Academy Awards ceremony, but everyone seems unanimous in the assessment that it was different. And any departure for a show that saw its lowest recorded ratings just last year seems to be a welcome one.
- The New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley posited that the night’s best move was the selection of Hugh Jackman as host. “Mr. Jackman was high-spirited, not mean-spirited," she wrote. “He spoke with sass, but unlike more satirical predecessors like Chris Rock and Jon Stewart, there were no smirks; he came to the task with Broadway sizzle, not a stand-up routine.” [NYT]
- Whether the production numbers were effective or not doesn’t seem to matter to most. The fact that there was such a dramatic change to the format was enough for The Hollywood Reporter to note that the franchise is "undeniably the better for it.” [Hollywood Reporter]
- Variety’s Timothy M. Gray—who was actually inside the Kodak Theatre—wrote an overwhelmingly positive review, praising the set design and, particularly, the incorporation of music. “The best decision was to move the orchestra onstage, which made a closer physical connection between audience and performers, helping break down that best-behavior attitude; the looser mood was contagious even to the balconies.” [Variety]
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Oscars, Academy Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.23.09 11:23 AM |
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Elton John's Recession-Appropriate Gala Still Glitters—and Offers Guests a Chance to Hit Vanity Fair, Too
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 | Elton John's black-and-white Oscar party
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
With Vanity Fair’s party canceled last year on account of the writers' strike, Elton John’s bash rose to the top of the Oscar-night clutter. But the reemergence of the magazine’s party this go-round did little to quash the glitter of last night's 17th annual Elton John AIDS Foundation benefit at the Pacific Design Center—and neither did the woeful economy, which necessitated careful budget review, but no cuts that looked jarring to guests.
John and husband David Furnish hosted the viewing dinner and party, and Chopard, Jo and Raffy Manoukian, and VH1 were the evening’s cosponsors. Foundation executive director Scott Campbell oversaw the event, tapping Virginia Fout again this year to produce it.
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Award Season, Oscars, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Raphael Saadiq, Chopard, VH1, Ciroc, Sterling Vineyards, Budgets, Vanity Fair |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.23.09 11:22 AM |
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Oscar Governors Ball Chooses Zen-Inspired Understatement Over Splashy Opulence
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FROM LOS ANGELES
When an economy of unprecedented lousiness met one of the the most traditionally lavish parties of the year last night, the result was a Zen-looking Academy Awards Governors Ball marked by restraint, compared with the drama of past years. The party took over the grand ballroom at Hollywood & Highland following the awards at the Kodak Theatre in the same complex.
The classic elements of air, fire, wood, and earth inspired this year's event, which Cheryl Cecchetto of Sequoia Productions produced with ball chair Cheryl Boone Isaacs. This was Boone Isaacs' seventh year as chair, and Cecchetto has worked on the event for more than two decades. "In this economy, we wanted to go with a pared-down look, but keep it elegant and beautiful," said Cecchetto, who drew some of her inspiration from a teahouse in Beijing. She characterized the look and feel as a "marriage of simplicity and beauty." Boone Isaacs added that the use of organic elements in the design was "like a breath of fresh air," and something "totally different"—an important difference from past years, you might say, in light of the glum atmosphere in the world outside the ballroom.
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Award Season, Oscars, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Sterling Vineyards, Patron, Ultimat Vodka, Moët & Chandon, Governors Ball |
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| EVENT REPORT 02.20.09 4:38 PM |
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Mindful of Public Perception, Oscar Gift Suites Increase Charity Focus
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 | An outdoor bar at GBK's suite at the SLS Hotel
Photo: BizBash |
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FROM LOS ANGELES
It's not entirely a new thing for gift suites surrounding big award shows to align themselves with charities. But what's new this Oscar season in Los Angeles is the extent of the suites' focus on (and publicity about) their philanthropic connections—perhaps an effort to ease the perception of celebrity gluttony in the midst of the difficult economic times.
High above Beverly Hills at a private residence, Hachette Filipacchi Media's Haven suite setup began Wednesday and continues through today. By night, the venue is featuring a series of events from studio parties to fashion shows, and by day, the property features spa services like manicures and cellulite-reducing procedures, as well as product gifting. The Creative Coalition and Warren-Tricomi are joining forces with celebrities in attendance to tape public service announcements for the Creative Coalition's "It Starts with the Arts" campaign, a program supporting the arts that will appear in print and broadcast.
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Oscars, Award Season, Gift Suites, OPI, American Laser Centers, Chrysalis, Creative Coalition, Warren-Tricomi, RevitaLash, Milus, Hachette Filipacchi |
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