OH, TO LIVE in Hollywood, a place where you may just as easily bump into Brad Pitt at the Beverly Center as see Sylvester Stallone at Starbucks.
But exchanging glances with a movie star is one thing; walking down the red carpet with one is another. And for those of us who aren't on the Hollywood A-list, getting into such star-studded events may seem as difficult as getting courtside seats for a Lakers playoff game.
But maybe it's not so hard.
Maybe getting into a movie premiere or awards show is as easy as ..
. going online.
Maybe, slipping past the doorman at the city's most exclusive nightclubs is as easy as .
.. knowing a name.
The bottom line: When it comes to getting into the hot spots in Hollywood, it's not just whom you know, but what you know. The following are tips on how to get past the velvet ropes and the red carpets and into some of L.A.
's more exclusive spots.
They're Hollywood's social mixers - beautiful people milling around the red carpet, sauntering past paparazzi into closed theaters to preview films they may or may not have been a part of making.
At most movie premieres, seats are reserved for the cast and crew (or friends and family of
When studios need to fill seats at a particularly large theater, for instance, they'll open up a premiere to the public.
At the world premiere of Anthony Hopkins' "Fracture" earlier this month, New Line Cinema distributed more than 300 free tickets to members of the public to fill the 800-plus seat Westwood Village theater. Passes were distributed online at MovieFiller.
com and through Campus Circle magazine's Web site (campuscircle.net), as well as via a contest on FM radio station Star 98.7.
Audience hopefuls had only to collect or print their tickets and show up at an assigned time to be escorted inside. Tickets didn't guarantee admission, however; seats were on a first-come, first-served basis.
According to Gary Wayne, editor of www.
seeing-stars.com, a Web site with continually updated listings of Hollywood events, such occurrences are rare.
Generally, he said, the closest many people can come to attending a world premiere is standing behind the barricades and watching the arrivals.
But for some people that's enough.
"People can spend their entire lives in L.A.
and still never really see a star in person," said Wayne, who updates his site daily to reveal the locations of movie premieres and award shows. "But by just showing up at a major movie premiere, they can often see dozens of celebrities, in the flesh, just a few yards away.
"If you're lucky," he added, "they might come over and sign autographs, shake hands, pose for photos.
"
If red-carpet glitz isn't your thing, and all you want is to see a movie before it opens to the public, advance screenings are the way to go.
Generally held as promotional events or to gauge audience reaction to a film before its release, movie screenings (unlike premieres) don't usually involve the cast and crew - but they're free. And hey, with current movie tickets costing upward of $10 and theater food prices hurtling even higher, it's a cheap date.
MovieFiller.com and campuscircle.com maintain a list of upcoming screenings, from which moviegoers can print out a pass.
(Note: Screenings also are first-come, first-served, so arrive early.)
It's just past midnight on a Saturday and the line outside that Hot New Club in Hollywood curls around the block, with dozens of spiffed-up 20-somethings reluctantly waiting their turn to get inside. Two scantily-clad girls shuffle out of a Maserati and approach the doorman, who glances at his clipboard and pulls aside the velvet rope to let them in.
Apparently, they're on the list.
Or at least they could be.
"Attractive girls are the currency of nightlife," said Jeff Wilser, editor-in-chief of clubplanet.
com, a Web site with a listing of more than 50,000 clubs, bars and lounges throughout the U.S. "The golden rule is to lose the dudes.
"
According to Wilser, the easiest and most surefire way of getting in any club is to be a girl.
A pretty girl.
"(The clubs) know the people who will spend serious money buying bottles are not going to go there unless they are going to have a lot of eye candy, that being girls," Wilser said.
But clearly that's not always doable, he acknowledged, so there are other strategies:
Up your girl-to-guy ratio. Or, if you're going as a group of guys, split up.
Drop names.
If you hear a name on a list that works, there's nothing wrong with repeating that name later. In other words, if the guy ahead of you says he's there for the "Parker party," you're there for it, too. "If you have the right confidence and the right charisma," Wilser said, "that can work.
"
Cut in line. OK, so it's not the most tactful of strategies, Wilser admitted, but it works. "If there's a long line, those people, frankly, are not the VIP crowd," he said.
"When you simply go straight to the front of the line to talk to the doorman it gives the impression that you're not used to waiting in that line."
Know the promoter. If you know who's promoting where on what night, getting on the guest list may be as easy as contacting that promoter and asking to be put on the list.
Web sites such as www.clubplanet.com and www.
la.com maintain listings of clubs and their promoters.
(La.
com was created by the MediaNews Group's California Newspapers Partnership. MediaNews Group is the owner of the Press-Telegram.)
Sign up online.
At sites such as Clubplanet.com (or often Craigslist.com), users can sign up to be on the guest list.
This doesn't work everywhere, Wilser said. "The uber-exclusive clubs would never go online because they want ultimate discretion."
Order bottle service.
This is usually a guaranteed way to get in ...
if you've got a few hundred dollars to spare. Bottle service reserves you a table and a waitress, but beware - rates average $200 to $300 a bottle with a two-bottle minimum.
Wear nice clothes - and shoes.
"Doormen are paid to be fashion snobs," Wilser said. "For guys, they really look at shoes. .
.. It's important to look your best.
"
Take advantage once you're in. When you do get into that fancy, hard-to-get-into club, find the person who's there making lists for the future (Wilser said it'll be a girl with a clipboard).
Oh, and one more thing: Contrary to popular belief, slipping the doorman some cash doesn't always work.
"At the most exclusive places, doormen aren't allowed to accept tips," Wilser said. "I wouldn't try that until you've exhausted all your other options."
Ever watch "American Idol" and wonder how the girl with the "See My Sign-Jaya" poster got herself into the CBS studio to watch the show?
Well, it probably wasn't as hard as you think.
"We have a gigantic database of people who really enjoy this," said Katurah C. Rogers, promotional director of Audiences Unlimited Inc.
, a 25-year-old company that contracts with television production companies to provide audiences for sitcoms, awards shows and other televised events.
"Ever wonder why there is never an empty seat in award shows? It doesn't make any sense, does it?
" Rogers asked. "The reason is because of our seat fillers. If they weren't there, half the audience would be missing.
"
Audiences Unlimited, one of several such companies in Los Angeles, has provided audiences for productions, including the People's Choice Awards, "America's Funniest Home Videos" and the upcoming celebrity impersonator contest "The Next Best Thing."
Another L.A.
-based company, On Camera Audiences Inc. (www.ocatv.
com), provides tickets to shows, including "American Idol" (currently wait-list only), "America's Got Talent!" and "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
"Everyone loves an audience, and the sitcom audience really does feed the performance," Rogers said.
"It encourages the actors."
Watching a taping isn't like watching a television show. Rogers said the typical 30-minute sitcom takes about three hours to film.
"You do get to have a different level of entertainment," Rogers said.
For more information on where and when movie premieres are taking place, go to . For free screening or premiere tickets, visit or .
For listings of clubs and their promoters, go to or . At , you can also sign up on the guest list for various L.A.
clubs.
For tickets to various shows and sitcoms, go to or . Note: Some shows have age requirements.
Check the Web sites for details.
"You are seeing them with clothespins and duct tape holding the back of their dresses together. You're seeing the makeup artists come out.
"
When the cameras aren't rolling, other entertainment may be provided for the audience, including stand-up comedy or a deejay. The show may also provide snacks and drinks.
Most TV shows shoot on studio lots, which gives the public the rare opportunity to walk into the lot without being employed by the studio.
"This is one of the very few opportunities for regular folks to rub shoulders - not literally - with their favorite stars and celebrities," Rogers said. "It's a true Hollywood experience. And it's free.
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