Tag Archives: awards

Oscar Night (or A Very Low-Key Award Show)

After going to the Artios Awards earlier in the week, I was ready for a casual party for watching the Oscars. I was going to go to the same party that I normally go to, and I usually try to wear something comfortable when I go since I spend most of my time there sitting and watching the show. But since it’s also a costume party, I try to figure out something fun to do that also isn’t too awkward to sit in. I seem to be pretty good at figuring out lazy costumes, but this year I was cutting it close with making a costume.

Since I hadn’t seen that many of the movies, I knew it wouldn’t be too easy for me to be inspired for my costume. So I decided to pay attention to the names of the movies and use that for my inspiration instead of the characters and storylines. And I think I figured out something that was really funny and easy. I decided to go as the movie “Blonde”. For my costume, I used a box I already had and printed a photo of a hair dye box and covered the box with that. I know I could have gone out to buy hair dye, but I was doing this about an hour before I was leaving for the party and it was much cheaper to do this. But I think the box turned out ok and my lazy costume came together.

I didn’t wear anything to go with the costume, so I knew that there was almost no chance I would win the costume contest. But I know that I never place in the costume contest so I don’t try too hard. I just like to make a costume of something and this worked perfectly for me.

I got to the party right as it started, which was about an hour before the show started. Since I am in a room watching the show for most of the time I’m there, I wanted to get my social time in during that hour. A bunch of people were there early as well, and we had a nice food spread that was much fancier than what we normally have. Right before the show started, I put together a little plate and brought it to where I would be watching.

There are two viewing areas at this party, the quiet room and the loud room. I’m always in the quiet room since I like to focus on the show. We do talk during commercial breaks and sometimes we say little comments to each other during the show, but for the most part, we are quiet. Most people at the party hang out in the loud room, so we are a small group and I didn’t really see people who showed up after the show started until I took a break to get something during a commercial break. It does feel a bit weird to not be social when so many of my friends are hanging out just one room away, but I think everyone understands that we will hang out a little later in the evening.

I really enjoyed the Oscars this year. The show didn’t feel long even though it was a bit longer than in some past years. I loved the speeches and everyone seemed like they were happy for each other. There was a nice sense of community at the show that I don’t remember seeing in the past and that made it feel more like a celebration of the work that was done in the past year versus a competition. I think there are some things they should still fix, such as letting the winners speak and not cutting them off, but there have been changes that they have been working on making and I think they are paying off.

Once the awards were done, we all gathered to vote on the best costume and see who guessed the most winners correctly. I sometimes do well with guessing the winners, but this year wasn’t my year. I missed so many of them and I think there were 8 people who did better than I did. But that’s ok since almost all my guesses were random and not based on seeing the movies. And I just have fun being around everyone and winning something at the party isn’t something I feel like I need.

I wish I was able to stay later than I did, but I needed to head home to get to bed early so I could get enough sleep before my workout. But even with the limited social time I had while I was there, I still had a great time seeing my friends and I know I’ll see them again at whatever the next party will be. And that next party will be much more social since we won’t have a 3 1/2 hour long show to focus on.

Maybe next year, I’ll have a more interesting costume or will have seen more movies so I can make more educated guesses on who the winners will be. But even if that doesn’t happen, I know I’ll still have a great time watching the show in the quiet room and being in my lazy and casual costume.

Artios Awards (or A Red Carpet Work Evening)

I know I’ve written quite a bit about how I feel very lucky with my main current day job. I do work that can vary from day to day, I know my contributions are appreciated, and I make more than I did at past jobs. Plus, most of the people I work with are either actors or used to be actors so they understand needing flexibility and the entertainment industry. I don’t really get to see my co-workers in person since we all work from home, but there is still a collaborative feeling since we are in meetings together quite a bit. I know they are trying to have more in-person events for everyone, but it’s not easy to organize.

The company I work for has been a part of some really awesome events, sometimes it’s because we are running the social media for the event and sometimes we are a sponsor. I haven’t really had a chance to be a part of those events since it’s a different part of the company than where I work, but I still think it’s pretty cool to know we are a part of something big.

But I got a chance to attend something very cool this past week. The company I work for was running the social media for the Artios Awards, which is an award show for casting directors. The company had a table at the event, and there was an extra seat that was offered to me. I had to double-check with my other job to make sure I could switch around my hours and that I had something that was appropriate to wear (I don’t have a lot of excuses to dress fancy and I got rid of a lot of clothes in my move), but I was able to make it work so I could go!

It was held at the Beverly Hilton, which isn’t that far from me and where the last in-person SAG-AFTRA Convention was. Oddly enough, the outfit I decided to wear for the Artios Awards was the same thing I wore to the Convention gala. As soon as I got there, I met up with some co-workers so we could get a few work things done before the event started. We weren’t able to be a part of the official red carpet, but we were allowed to use the step and repeat before the red carpet opened and I was able to get some fun photos.

Once the red carpet started, many of my co-workers were busy with doing tasks, but I was able to hang out with a few people while we waited for the dinner and award show to start. It was the first time I got to hang out with some of these co-workers, so it was nice to get to know them outside of a Zoom screen.

And when we got inside for dinner, we had a table very close to the front of the stage.

The dinner was before the show started, so we didn’t have to split our focus. And since our table was just for our company, it was nice having time to get to know everyone else and be a bit silly when we normally are doing more serious tasks in our meetings.

The actual awards show was really fun. It recognized casting directors for different types of film, tv, and theater. I had heard of many of the casting directors who were nominated and won, but there were so many that I didn’t know since they are a part of a different side of the industry than what I typically audition for. Even though I was there for work, I did take some mental notes of who was nominated so I could make sure I followed them on social media later.

And this was the first large award show that I had been able to attend. I haven’t been to any of the big award shows (yet), and for some of the smaller ones that I could potentially go to, I haven’t gotten a ticket or had the money if you had to pay for a ticket. I was so grateful that I was invited by my job to this because I had a great time and it was a wonderful experience.

As I’ve said frequently in the past, I have been trying to push myself to be more social and put myself out there, and this was the perfect thing for me to do. I had a chance to meet a lot of new people, see people I haven’t seen in years, and just be around others which is something I haven’t been doing that much. And yes, having the chance to dress up and be on a red carpet was nice as well and something that I hope I will have more opportunities to do in the future.

It’s SAG Awards Time! (or I Still Love Watching To See Who Wins)

The SAG Awards is one of the award shows I look forward to the most each year. It’s the one award show that I get to have a real hand in selecting the winners. I love getting to vote for all the different categories. And I do take voting seriously. I watch all the movies and shows that I can (I can’t always watch everything, but I try my best) and I pick based on the performances and not just wanting to see someone win. And I love watching the show because it feels much more connected to me than other award shows.

But this year, like so many things, the show had to be a bit different. I think all the award shows have been trying different things to see what is going to work and seem like the same show they had before. And I have to say, I love what the SAG Awards did.

Many shows seem to be doing something as close to normal as possible and having all the nominees appearing on Zoom so they can give their speech on live tv. And the run time for the award shows has been similar to what they were when everyone was in a space together. But the SAG Awards almost honored that we are in a different time by not trying to make it seem like a slightly different version of normal.

The show was only an hour long. All the award announcements were pre-taped so they didn’t have to worry about technical difficulties during a live broadcast. They did have all the nominees on Zoom like other shows have, and that helped it seem like each category was celebrating the winner together. It was fun to see these different little communities for each award and watching everyone as a group. And between each award presentation, they had these fun interviews with different actors about things that I think most SAG-AFTRA members could relate to. I don’t know if people outside of the industry enjoyed those segments as much as actors did, but I found them amazing. I especially loved seeing the one where the actors were talking about the random special skills listed on their resume and which ones were real and which ones they put on there and hoped they were never asked about.

The only negative thing for me about the SAG Awards this year was something that was my fault. This year, I didn’t watch that many of the nominated films. I watched so few that I actually didn’t vote for the winners. I didn’t feel like it was fair for me to vote when I didn’t really know if the performances I liked were the best of all the options. And I didn’t really have a good reason not to watch the screeners I got. I had the time, I just didn’t have the motivation. And maybe it was because I also am missing going to a movie theater to watch movies. While I love watching movies at home, it’s usually because that feels so different from what I normally do. But now, all movies are being watched on my tv. So I don’t feel the same way about feeling lucky to watch the screeners I got.

I’m so glad that even though I didn’t watch all the movies this year, I still loved watching the SAG Awards. It makes me so happy to see actors celebrating actors and I feel very lucky that I get to be a part of it. And I loved seeing what the producers of the show were able to do to make it feel special and unique even if it couldn’t be the way we are used to watching award shows. Hopefully, by next year things will be able to be done the way we are familiar with and everyone will be celebrating the winners together.

Enjoying The Emmys (or This Awards Show Will Be A Bit Of A Time Capsule)

The Emmys were this past weekend. As I usually do, I watched them live so I could also live-tweet them. I love watching awards shows, I always have. But as I have gotten more and more involved in my union, I have gotten to know people who are up for various awards. This year, there were a few people I’ve met up for Emmys and some people I would consider acquaintances. It made things even better. Also, I had watched “Schitt’s Creek” this year with the Movie Club I helped to start, so I was so excited to see them up for so many awards.

Watching the awards this year wasn’t that different from how I normally watch them. I was on my couch, alone, and I ordered some delivery food. That actually felt really normal to me and having that feeling was something I needed. But the show was definitely not normal.

Because of the pandemic, there was no audience watching. Very few presenters were at the show. There were some that were done by Jimmy Kimmel, who was the host, and there were some that were pre-taped by actors and essential workers (which was a nice touch). And the nominees were all watching on their own with cameras live-streaming their reactions into the show. I saw some behind the scenes stuff about how the Television Academy sent all the nominees cameras and lights so they could do this. It was pretty incredible to see how it turned out and I think it was really good. The cast and crew from “Schitt’s Creek” were watching together and having a mini-party and so did some of the team behind “Watchman”. But they were following protocols and staying safe.

I am so glad that “Schitt’s Creek” was together since they had a clean sweep of the comedy awards! Seeing everyone be so excited for each other brought me so much joy. And anything that brings joy these days is so special. And even watching people win and have to give their speeches alone in a room was fun and joyful to watch. Honestly, I think we all needed an awards show at this time since there hasn’t been anything like that lately to watch. Some may feel like it was frivolous, but so are a lot of things that people are excited about. And to me and I bet so many others, this was something we needed to feel like not everything is gone because of the pandemic.

I hope that this is the only time that the Emmys have to be this way and that by this time next year things will be back to normal and people can be together. I actually didn’t mind this new format and would love to see how it could be incorporated in the future. But I also love it when things are held in a single space and you could see everyone there excited for all the winners.

No matter what, this show was very clearly held during a pandemic. People were wearing masks (and many had ones to match their outfits or found a way to make them stylish). The awards were given to the winners by employees in hazmat suits. People were isolated and not together. One day, looking back at this show, people will instantly know that it was held during this time. It’s a moment in history. I wonder if other award shows in the next year or so will be the same. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Being An Active And Interactive Viewer (or SAG Awards Live-Tweeting)

I watch the SAG Awards every year. I love watching award shows about film and tv so I have watched them as long as I can remember. And since I’ve become a union member, I watch them because I want to see what my fellow members voted for. I like to see if the projects and performers I voted for were what a majority of the membership voted for. It’s fun to feel like I have a bit of ownership over the results of an awards show and this is the only one that I have that feeling with.

For most award shows, including the SAG Awards, I have done a bit of live-tweeting. It’s fun to be a part of a worldwide conversation as so many people are watching the same thing that I’m watching. And the discussions and debates that people have online about winners and losers are usually interesting. There isn’t a lot of negativity about the shows, which is probably one of the reasons why I like live-tweeting these and I’m not as much of a fan of live-tweeting political events. But for the show this past weekend, I had a slightly more serious live-tweeting job to do.

Since I have been doing the social media for my union slate, I haven’t really had to do a lot of live-tweeting of anything. This is probably not what should have happened, but it’s what happened. But this year, I wanted to make sure that I was using the slate’s social media to share things that happened during the show and make sure that the messages shared in speeches were shared with others. I wasn’t exactly sure what my plan would be, but I knew I’d be doing a lot of retweets and doing my best to create original tweets as I could.

For the first part of the show, most of the tweets I posted were just retweets from the official SAG Awards twitter account. This was an easy way to make sure the slate’s feed had information about who the winners were in each category. I did a few original tweets, but they were mainly comments on what was happening so I could do them during commercial breaks. I did also post a few snarkier tweets on my personal account because there were things I wanted to say that weren’t as professional as what I knew should be posted on the slate’s account.

But then I realized that I wanted to do more with the tweets I was posting for the slate. And I do love tweets that include some of the best parts of speeches. But there was no way to do things completely live because I can’t type that fast. So when I heard something that I knew I wanted to share, I had to rewind my DVR a bit and start transcribing it. Thank goodness for DVRs because I had to do a lot of rewinding and pausing. But I was able to get the quotes that I wanted to share.

I did post quotes from several of the acceptance speeches, but some of my favorites are the ones I got from President Gabrielle Carteris’ speech.

While trying to live-tweet actual speeches was a bit more stressful than making fun and snarky comments, I’m proud of the work that I was able to do. I am sure there are more efficient ways that I could get the quotes posted, but I need to figure out how to do that. I want to be able to do this again for the next SAG Awards and go even further with what I can share on social media. I might try to test out things with the upcoming Oscars since I know I will be live-tweeting for that. But I will likely do a majority of the live-tweeting on my personal account. I might share winners and retweets on the slate’s account, but that’s probably all I’ll do. And it will be harder with the Oscars since I will be watching at a party and won’t have the ability to pause or rewind things to type them out.

I know that having to live-tweet might have frustrated some people because it doesn’t necessarily allow you to fully enjoy watching it. And it stops the ability to live-tweet a bit too since I have to catch up to the live show during commercial breaks. But I didn’t mind it because it did feel very important to me to make sure our slate was sharing news from one of the most important nights for our union. I take a lot of pride in how I’ve been able to make our social media a source of information for both members and non-members. And while the SAG Awards are a bit more fun than some of the information I usually share, it’s still important to make sure people know what happens.

A Night Of Oscars (or Last Minute Costumes and Enjoying The Show)

This past Sunday was the Oscars and as always I went to the party that my friends Marie and Chris have. It’s one of their parties that I look forward to every year and it’s one of the best ones that I think they do. I love seeing people in costume and I love being around amazing people as we watch the awards. The party is the perfect mix of both of those things and that’s what makes it so special to me.

There are some years that I think of my costume for the party way in advance and there are some times that it comes together the week of the party. It just depends if something inspires me. And as soon as I saw “Incredibles 2”, I thought I’d go to the party as Edna. I did that the year the first “Incredibles” came out and I got second place in the costume contest! It was the only time I placed in the costume contest so I thought it would be the perfect repeat costume.

But someone went as Edna to the Halloween party and I decided that I wanted to do something different. I wasn’t sure what I’d do, but I figured I’d think of something. But time flew by and it was the night before the party and I still had no idea on what I wanted to go as. I had an easy idea that night and figured I could easily do it (it mainly involved wearing stickers) and I knew it wouldn’t be anything spectacular.

Then, on Oscar Sunday morning, I was doing my laundry and saw my Disney dog leggings I got a few months ago in my dresser. I remembered that “Isle of Dogs” came out in 2018 (which is the only rule for the costumes) and thought that would be so much better than my original idea. So I was going to wear the leggings and make stickers of pet store aisles to wear on my shirt. The stickers didn’t want to stick on my shirt, so I only put one on and used the others as backups for when that one fell off. It wasn’t my best costume, but it was comfortable and fun and that’s the best combination.

The decorations for the party were all about Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and they had an amazing puppet backdrop to use and they made puppets to go along with it!

There are a couple of different spaces to watch the Oscars, but I always sit in the quiet room. We talk during the commercials, but during the show we are quiet. There is sometimes something said quickly while someone is walking up to the stage, but the point of the quiet room is to be able to watch (the other spaces to watch has people talking throughout the show and the focus is being more social). We usually have the same people each year in the quiet room and we are all good at following the quiet room rules. But we also know each other well enough to be ok with the little whispers and talk that may happen.

And one thing we kept discussing was the show. There was so much in the press about how this show was the first one without a host in a long time and there were people wondering how it was going to go. And we all kept saying how much we were enjoying it without a host. I feel like the presenters had more opportunities to be funny and have little bits and the show still seemed to move quickly. It only ended about 15 minutes late, which isn’t bad compared to other years.

And we also were discussing how happy we were that they didn’t give any of the Oscars during the commercial breaks. Originally, 4 of the awards were going to be done during the commercials so we wouldn’t be seeing them while watching the show. They were going to have them online, but that’s not the same. The Academy reversed their decision and I’m so glad that they did it. I thought it was a bad decision to not air all the awards because everyone equally deserves to be honored the same way when they win.

And honestly, I felt more inspired watching the speeches for some of the awards that were going to be during the commercials than I did for some of the bigger awards. I love seeing people who are truly passionate about what they do be recognized for their hard work. I especially love seeing the winners of the short animated film, short live action, short documentary, and feature length documentary because I know that many times those films are passion projects. They don’t necessarily create these films to try to win an award. They do it because they had a story they wanted to tell and they went out and did it. And when they win you can see the pure joy and excitement on their faces. It’s really amazing to watch and I’m so glad I didn’t have to watch it online later to experience that.

Overall, I felt like the show was a really good one. Going without a host worked well, the winners for the most part were who I wanted and the speeches they gave were good, and I had a great time with my friends. I did get a few votes in the costume contest, but I knew I wasn’t going to win. The winners had really incredible costumes and I can’t compete with those. I was in the top 5 for guessing the winners of all the awards which was better than I expected to do. So many of my guesses were random so it was just lucky I did that well.

I realized while watching the Oscars that there have been a lot of films I missed. I’m trying to find ways to catch up on some of them now, and I’ve already been able to watch the winner of the short documentary on Netflix. There’s no rush for me to catch up on them, but I do want to make an effort to try just so I can see what made all of those projects awesome. It will be some good entertainment between customers when it gets slower at my job later this year.

A Night Of SAG Awards (or Watching Union Unity)

Every year I look forward to watching the SAG Awards. I love all award shows, but ever since I became a member of SAG-AFTRA I feel so connected to the SAG Awards. I know a part of feeling connected is because it is the one award show that I currently get to vote for. My vote helps to decide the winners and that’s something that most people don’t get to experience.

I also think that I feel so connected because I feel like the people on my screen are truly my colleagues. I know that’s technically true for any award show where there are actors, but there’s something different with the SAG Awards. It seems so much more obtainable and closer to me and it really is a unique experience.

Even though the SAG Awards feel different for me, they are pretty standard award shows. The awards are only for actors and they categories are a bit different, but they are still about someone winning and giving a speech thanking the voting body and the people they worked with and in their life. It’s nothing too crazy compared to other award shows and this time of year there are so many of them!

But this year, the SAG Awards really felt different. I heard this from several of my friends and we all had a similar reaction. In the speeches this year from the winners, there was so much pro-union and union inclusive language. There were winners that thanked all actors that work on their show and specifically named background actors. Background actors are almost never thanked, so to see them get acknowledgement was very cool. And it also seemed like most speeches were talking about how important being a union actor is and how we all need to stick together.

Some of the things being said reminded me of what is said in the Union Working videos. They talked about making sure all actors on set are being paid what they earned and not missing out on different things like a meal penalty if a meal period is skipped. There may be some lead actors not aware that those little bonuses are being skipped, but if they are looking out on their contracts they can see if they are skipped and make sure that everyone working is getting paid what they are promised by our contracts.

One of the best moments of union unity was during the lifetime achievement speech by Alan Alda. He had a very nice speech talking about his career and what it has meant for him. And he ended his speech urging everyone watching to honor our union contract. This is such an important thing to hear as we are currently on strike with an ad agency over them deciding to not honor the contract that they previously signed with us. And with the contact negations about to start, it’s important that we have a united front saying that we want a fair contract. It was such an awesome moment watching him add that to his speech because we do need everyone to hear about it. While I have been working hard at educating myself with union issues, I know not everyone is doing that and maybe hearing someone in their speech emphasize how important it is to honor our contract will be a reminder to them or push them to learn more.

And it wasn’t just in the speeches that we saw moments of union unity. When SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris spoke, that was the theme of her speech. She reminded all of us that the union is us and we need to make sure we are working together to make the union strong for all current and future members. And Megan Mullally even got to share a moment of why our union is important while she was being the host of the show. She shared about how her dad, who has passed away, is still receiving residual checks for work that he did decades ago. Residuals are an important part of our union contracts and it was awesome seeing someone share that to the audience so those who aren’t in the union yet have an idea about what we are fighting for as a benefit for all actors.

I don’t know if any other award shows this season will have the same vibe of union unity or strength, but to see it happen in any award show is so special. While I know that it won’t change the minds of the people we are in negotiations with or people who have nothing to do with our industry, it is important for all of our union members to hear. I know there are some people in the union who don’t do much with the union but enjoy the benefits and the screeners we get for the SAG Awards. If they watched the show, they would have seen so many examples of people sharing why the union is important to them and maybe that will inspire them to support the union in whatever way they feel is best.

Oscar Party Time (or Feeling Inspired)

This past weekend was the Oscars and as usual I was at the party that my friends Marie and Chris do each year. This party is one of the best parties that they do because not only do they have amazing decorations but we get to watch the Oscars! I love seeing the awards being given out and I’m always happy to have an opportunity to figure out a fun costume.

I’ve been doing much more low-key costumes the past few years and this year that trend continued. I actually had this costume figured out last year when I saw “The Disaster Artist” for the first time. I had read the book first (which I recommend reading if you haven’t yet) and in the book as well as the movie the green screen almost became a character. It was so weird to create a green screen setup for a set that was right next to them. It makes no sense but that’s what they did. So I decided that I wanted to be the green screen from the movie as my costume.

I thought that there might be a chance someone else would get their costume inspiration from “The Disaster Artist”, but I was so excited to see that a friend dressed up as James Franco playing Tommy Wiseau so she could post the same way he is posed on my fake green screen!

And I loved the costumes that Marie and Chris wore (he was Pennywise and she was Tonya Harding).

And as more people arrived to the party, I was loving all the costumes. Some people went for costumes that made them look like characters from the movie (“Lady Bird”, “War For The Planet Of The Apes”, and “Get Out”) and others were more puns on the movie (the one with the name tags is “Call Me By Your Name”).

And before the show started, I also was checking out the decorations for the party. Marie and Chris had been posting online that they would be doing small this year and we all just figured that it was because they always go over-the-top and they needed a bit of a break. But it was more of a pun because they were inspired by the movie “Downsized” and did miniatures for all the decorations.

Once it was time for the Oscars to start, I hung out in the quiet room (where talking is only done during the commercials). More people hang out in the loud room, but I really do like to watch the awards and hear the speeches. I tried to go out of the quiet room during the commercials to socialize with people, but I pretty much stuck to my spot on the couch talking with the others in the quiet room between awards.

And since this was a live show, there was no way to forward through the commercials. Usually that bugs me, but this time we were noticing that the commercials were all pretty awesome. Most of them were about being creative and producing your own work. The commercials were very focused on inspiring those of us who were watching the Oscars from home but one day hope to be there. And they did inspire me. I was getting a little annoyed when we kept seeing the same commercials over and over again, but the inspiration I felt was more than the annoyance.

As far as predicting the winners, I didn’t do as well as I have in the past. I didn’t see as many of the nominated films as I hoped and I decided to guess the winners I wanted for some categories versus the winners that were more likely to happen. But that’s ok with me because there are some people at the party who take the guessing very seriously and do see pretty much everything that was nominated. I just like being around people who are as enthusiastic about watching the show as I am.

And most of the winners were what was predicted even if they weren’t necessarily the ones I picked. But it still made me so happy when I saw some of the winners like when Jordan Peele won for writing “Get Out”. That was one of my favorite movies of the year and I love how he has shared how hard it was for him to write it and how he quit so many times but just kept going. And I loved when the winners for live-action short film talked about how they got the money for their film by crowdsourcing. That’s something I’m familiar with and it’s a good reminder that as long as you have an idea, there is always a way to make it and you never know if it will win an Oscar.

After the show was done, everyone headed outside for the costume parade and voting. I knew I wasn’t going to win because there were so many amazing costumes, but I was hoping for at least a vote. And I did make it to the honorable mentions so that means someone voted for me (and it wasn’t me)! The winners all had amazing costumes and they totally deserved to win.

As soon as the winners for the costume contest were announced, I had to say goodbye so I could drive back home. I wish I could have stayed at the party longer, but I rarely can do that because of my schedule. But at least I got to spend Oscar Sunday with awesome friends and feeling like anything is possible!

Another “Gilmore Girls” Adventure (or Netflix FYSee)

I’ve talked about being a big “Gilmore Girls” fan on here before. It’s a show that I loved when it was on the air (my mom and I watched together) and I still love when I see repeats on tv. And when “Gilmore Girls” came back to have a new season on Netflix, there were a bunch of events related to the show that happened in LA. I didn’t make it to all of them, but I did attend the pop up event at UCLA a little while back.

Right now, tv shows are starting to prepare their award season campaigns. They are usually called FYC events (FYC means For Your Consideration). But Netflix is doing something extra called FYSee that is open to people who aren’t necessarily those in charge of nominating shows. They are a combination of a screening, panel with cast members, and an amazing space that has lots of stuff to check out. I got invited to attend the “Gilmore Girls” FYSee event through a couple of organizations I’m a part of and I RSVPed immediately! And my friend Elisa (who is a part of my Pantages group) is a huge fan too and she was super excited to get to go too!

This event was held in a huge space that had different areas dedicated to different Netflix shows.

I think my favorite section was the giant bubble wall (I believe that it was a part of the “Luke Cage” set up). They were the perfect place to take some awesome photos and I think I might have gotten a bit obsessed with how fun it was in there!

The space for the panel was on one end of the space and when we walked in we immediately saw a little set up similar to Luke’s Diner that had some of the things I saw at the UCLA event.

And on the other side was a giant candy bar! Everything was in individual servings and Elisa and I both took a few things to try. Both of us agreed that the pretzels were the best snack.

We went to claim seats in the panel area and while we headed over there we saw a waiter bringing around little sliders to eat. I wasn’t expecting food at this event (there was also a bar) so I was pleasantly surprised by the food options and this was a pretty filling dinner.

Because we went quickly to claim seats, we were in the front row on the side of the stage. I laughed because it reminded me about how we have our Pantages seats toward the front but off to the side.

We had gotten there a bit early so there was a bit of time to wait. But we used that time to enjoy our food, catch up, and just enjoy being at a fun event. And when things were getting started they played a pretty funny clip from one of the episodes of the newest season before the panel started.

The panel was Lauren Graham (who played Lorelei) and the moderator was Mae Whitman who starred with Lauren Graham in “Parenthood” and also had a small part in the new season of “Gilmore Girls”. The panel started with Mae Whitman asking Lauren Graham a bunch of really great questions about coming back to a show after many years away and how the production worked. And then the Q&A was open to the audience.

I’ve attended a lot of Q&A events where the audience can ask questions and sometimes they can get a bit ridiculous. But this audience was really great and had some nice and insightful questions to ask that I was interested in hearing the answers for (instead of asking questions like how they can get a job on that show).

After the panel was done, there was about an hour before the screening started. I was originally planning on trying to stay for the screening, but I’ve already seen all the new episodes at home since they are on Netflix. And it was getting a bit late for me so I was tired. Elisa was feeling the same way I was so we took time to go around all the various installations for the Netflix shows and have some more of the amazing pretzels!

I loved how much fun this event was. I know I’m so lucky that they opened it up to people who aren’t necessarily those who are nominating shows and I really appreciated how they made this a fun mix between a formal event to nominate shows and a fan event. It was a great opportunity to learn more about a show that I love and to make me want more episodes! I have no clue if Netflix will be doing another season, but if they do I hope that there are more “Gilmore Girls” events for me to go to!

SAG Awards (or Being Inspired)

After my podcast hangout, I had to rush back to my house. That night was the SAG Awards and I decided to host a viewing party at my house! I had invited a ton of people to come over and at one point there were 12 people who said they were going to come by. I’m glad that people started to cancel because there was no way that my house could have that many people! In the end, there were 3 of us watching.

All of us got to vote on the SAG Awards, so it was fun to see if who we voted for won. There were a bunch of surprises and we were all pretty chatty while watching. Sometimes, we were commenting so much that we ended up rewinding my DVR so we could catch what we missed. But we were all in a pretty good mood and being chatty was the mood for the night.

Of all the award winner speeches, I think the two that hit me the most were the ones for “Stranger Things” and “Hidden Figures”. I loved that show and that movie and was so happy to see them win. But I didn’t expect the speeches that we got.

If you haven’t seen or read it, the “Stranger Things” speech was a truly inspiring moment in a time where politics are making a lot of people stressed or upset. Here’s just a part of it:

“I would just like to say, in light of all that’s going on in the world today, it’s difficult to celebrate the already celebrated Stranger Things, but this award from you who take your craft seriously and earnestly believe, like me, that great acting can change the world is a call to arms from our fellow craftsmen and women to go deeper. And through our art to battle against fear, self-centeredness and exclusivity of our predominately narcissistic culture and through our craft to cultivate a more empathetic and understanding society by revealing intimate truths that serve as a forceful reminder to folks that when they feel broken and afraid and tired they are not alone. We are united in that we are all human beings and we are all together on this horrible, painful, joyous, exciting and mysterious ride that is being alive.

Now, as we act in the continuing narrative of ‘Stranger Things,’ we 1983 midwesterners will repel bullies. We will shelter freaks and outcasts, those who have no home. We will get past the lies. We will hunt monsters and when we are at a loss amidst the hypocrisy and the casual violence of certain individuals and institutions, we will, as per Chief Jim Hopper, punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak and the disenfranchised and the marginalized. And we will do it all with soul, with heart, and with joy. We thank you for this responsibility. Thank you.” 

This was exactly what so many people needed to hear right now. So many things in politics have been upsetting, but there are people willing to fight for what they believe in. It’s nice not to feel alone and that there is a community that shares my viewpoints.

When “Hidden Figures” won, I didn’t consider it an upset (it’s the movie I voted for), but I think the cast was so shocked that they won. With the controversy of #OscarsSoWhite last year, I think the fear would be that show and films with diverse casts wouldn’t be recognized this year. But I’m glad that it wasn’t the case.

I love the genuine emotion that was in the speech for “Hidden Figures”. The speech was about recognizing those who were not recognized for their accomplishments at the time and the power of coming together. Again, that is exactly the message we need right now. There is so much trying to get us to be against each other and we can’t have that. As a country, we need to come together and work on making sure everyone is living their American dream.

The SAG Awards was much more political than it has been in the past, but I think that was appropriate given the circumstances now. I know some people think that celebrities don’t have a right to share political views (I don’t know why since our current president is known for being a reality TV performer), but I think hearing other people being so passionate in what they believe in is so inspiring. It has encouraged me to speak out more to make sure that my voice is heard and that I’m not a silent bystander.

Besides being so inspired by the speeches, I was inspired to see people who I’ve gotten to work with on tv. I’m working hard on my acting career and I know that eventually I will be at a level of success similar to my friends. But for now, I just have to be so excited when I see them on tv or their names in the credits.