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Febuary 2007
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ALUMNI NEWS |
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From Behind the Scenes to Across the Red Carpet: Alumna Helps Make Oscar Night Magic Millions of television viewers worldwide will be watching their favorite leading ladies and gentlemen glide across the red carpet into Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre for this year’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards on Sunday, Feb. 25. Like most grand events, planning for the Oscars begins months in advance and involves the cooperation of myriad people and skill sets. This year, at least one AU alumna, Rachel Newlander, SOC/MA ’98, will be among those responsible for this elegant evening flowing as smoothly and seamlessly as a high couture gown. For the second year in a row, Newlander will use her past production experience for Discovery and Good Morning America, to serve as Publicity Logistics Coordinator for the Academy Awards. As such, long before Ellen DeGeneres crosses the stage to host the 79th annual awards show and her fellow celebrities help dole out the coveted statuettes for two dozen categories that include 306 eligible films from 61 countries, hundreds of staff will have worked behind the scenes to arrange the big night. Newlander’s November through April job entails handling countless details surrounding the events that lead up to – and include – Oscar night. In November, the L.A. native began her juggling act by scheduling and running “tons of meetings” with the press, internal staff, and production staff. While the task of convening such meetings may seem less-than-glamorous, Newlander is in charge of pulling together the groups of people involved in several events that are synonymous with glamour, beginning with the nominations announcement in January. “I'm responsible for coordinating Academy staff as well as press needs,” she says, ranging from catering for the big press breakfast the morning of the nominations, to identifying locations for press to set up and report from, and ensuring general infrastructure for the press, such as arranging installation of hundreds of fiber-optic cables for the live broadcasters, who come from around the world. “Basically, anyone who’s going to be at the event [behind the scenes], I deal with,” she says. Newlander also handles logistics for the nominees luncheon (which was just held on February 5), which includes setting up interview and press rooms and ensuring the press have whatever they need to do their jobs, whether it entails getting more power for camera and lighting equipment or distributing bottles of water. By the time Oscar night arrives, Newlander shifts into high gear as a facilitator. “It’s complicated,” she says. “There’s an area where the domestic press is and the tech manager and I work to decide where people will exist within that footprint, that lot, and how that coordinates with their location on the red carpet. We have to be really organized.” Between 1,200 and 1,500 people will have credentials for some kind of access on Oscar night, explains Newlander, and that’s not even counting the celebrities. “There are so many moving parts we really have to buckle things down.” Despite Newlander’s mission to manage the nitty-gritty elements of the evening, she’s required to blend into the scenery, and that means wearing a gown. “I wish I could wear a suit,” she says. “But one of the unique things about our job is we’re there, so we have to dress the part.” Sometimes that can be difficult when you have to run to the truck farm to check on power cables, for example. “It’s our responsibility to make our events as we want them to be, which is very formal,” she notes. On Oscar morning, “I will be getting up early,” says Newlander, “then dealing with whatever issues come up on the red carpet.” Last year, when she was new to the job, Newlander admits she had a few awe-struck moments. “When I got there it was pretty cool. You’re standing on the carpet and you’re like, ‘my credentials got me where I need to be because I’m supposed to be here.’ It’s an event that everybody wants to be at and the fact I was there, it was kind of neat...for about 5 seconds anyhow. Then I had to get back to work.” Newlander holds two very different memories close to her heart from last year’s experience. One was when she got to meet Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam and remote-controlled Skycam. “I went up to him after the Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards and told him how great it was to meet him.” She also got to meet George Clooney at the awards luncheon. “The thing I remember is when people are really nice, and George Clooney was really nice,” she says. -Melissa Reichley | |||
