At last year's AIDS Project Los Angeles Oscar viewing party, first-time presenting sponsor SBE Entertainment Group's Sam Nazarian said he hoped to see the bash grow to include 1,000 guests in 2008—but there's nothing like a 100-day-long strike to stomp on big plans. Indeed, this year's AIDS Project party was almost canceled as the strike raged on into February. But when the labor dispute ended two weeks before the award ceremony, so did any plans to call off the event, which ended up drawing more than 500 guests to the Abbey last night.
On the silver anniversary of the AIDS organization (the group is 25 this year, and the event is seven), the party tent was awash in grays and blues. Gray carpeting and billowy drapery blanketed the dining space, and the color-changing chandelier that was on display at the SAG awards also made an appearance. Dupioni-wrapped boxes filled with fruit from Couture Baskets served as centerpieces, with the fruit being donated to AIDS Project's food bank, the Necessities of Life program. Guests dined on dishes from the Abbey’s chef, Michael Brown, and Jennifer Love Hewitt reprised her hosting duties.
Invitations for the party had gone out before the strike ended, bearing disclaimers that money would be refunded if the Oscars were canceled. So how did organizers scramble to pull it together at the last minute? "We honestly had been moving forward as if it was happening all along," said SBE vice president of sales Maureen McGrath. "We felt that the Oscars were going on regardless. If it meant that the viewing party was going to be less grand [because the Oscar ceremony was scaled back], we talked about bringing in some live entertainment [to supplement the viewing portion]."
AIDS Project's lead planner, Madonna Cacciatore, added, "There were some things we had to put on hold to make sure we could cancel if we needed to, like rentals. And we decided to [downsize and] make it a tent for 500. [After the strike ended] we probably could have sold more, but it wasn't worth taking the risk. We did have big dreams of having it be much bigger than last year, and we certainly could have fulfilled that, because the demand was great."
But the strike's effects weren't all negative. Cacciatore added, "Because there was some publicity about the Vanity Fair party being canceled, we got noticed a little more in the press—so there was some positive outcome."