The sleek shine of a designer gown, the gleam of a trophy, piles of gourmet food, a tipsy laugh. Award-show after-parties have always measured the glitz and glam of Hollywood, from the Golden Globes to the Grammys to the Oscars.
But this season, with the economy in shambles, entertainment jobs being slashed and the looming threat of a Screen Actors Guild strike, normally lavish parties are being scaled back or scrapped faster than certain starlets ditching the paparazzi.
With less bling, the words “appropriate” and “intimate” are being used more often to describe the suppressed soirees.
Oscar party planners are slicing guest lists and red carpets. Sony BMG’s enormous annual Grammy after-party, which boasted 1,600 guests last season, has been canceled, said a Sony BMG spokeswoman. Label EMI has not yet announced its party plans, but last time the bash was limited only to artists, songwriters and managers, compared to past mega parties.
Meanwhile, there’s cautious optimism among organizers of this season’s Golden Globe parties, which were decimated last time by the Hollywood writers strike but are likely to re-emerge in the new year, albeit in a more subdued form.
“I think you’re going to see everybody being more cost conscious. There’s a line between glamorous and opulence that verges on the vulgar,” said Craig Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles.
APLA’s 8th annual Oscar viewing party and post-awards bash at West Hollywood’s The Abbey will move forward on Feb. 22, said Thompson, but with the guest list sheared to 350 from last season’s 650. And just in case of a SAG strike, cancellation clauses are in place on vendor contracts for up to two weeks before the event.
While last season’s celebrity-studded celebration was held in a huge tent strung with golden lights behind the restaurant, this February’s APLA party will move into the restaurant, similar to earlier years.
“We’re going to raise less and spend half as much,” Thompson said. “We would have loved to have built off of this past year’s growing success, but that would have been irresponsible in this economy and with fear of a strike.”
‘The show must go on ... but only if appropriate’Last season, InStyle Warner Bros., Fox Searchlight, E! Entertainment, HBO, NBC Universal-Focus Features and the Weinstein Co. all canceled their Golden Globe after-parties at the Beverly Hilton Hotel when the awards ceremony was downgraded to a press conference because of the writers strike.
SAG announced Wednesday, though, that it plans to count strike authorization votes nearly two weeks after the Globe Awards’ Jan. 11 show but one month ahead of Oscar night.
HBO said its Globes party was going ahead at the Hilton’s downstairs restaurant, Circa 55, and outdoor pool area, featuring a vintage ’60s vibe. InStyle and NBC Universal said their parties were also moving forward as planned. But Kelly Striewski, a publicist who normally handles the annual E! Entertainment party, said E!, to her knowledge, was not doing its bash.
Vanity Fair canceled its top-tiered Oscar party last season in solidarity with the writers strike. However, it plans to hold a down-sized version this season at West Hollywood’s smaller Sunset Tower Hotel instead of its traditional home at Morten’s restaurant.
The A-list gathering, which in recent years has drawn the likes of Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Al Gore, will be “a much more intimate affair than in years past,” with a scaled-back guest list, according to editor Graydon Carter.
Vanity Fair publicist Beth Kseniak said that given the leaner times, the decor will be recycled from past years, with comfort food served.
As for the party being affected by a potential SAG strike, “We think a lot will depend on what’s happening at the end of February,” said Kseniak. “On the one hand, the show must go on ... but only if appropriate.”
Planning for the Governors Ball — the large, classy after-party held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor Oscar night winners — is also moving forward.
So, too, is Elton John’s annual Oscar viewing and music-drenched after-party at West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Last season, it earned $5.1 million for the charity.
“We’re going full steam ahead,” said foundation publicist Christina Lee. “It’s a way to get people’s minds off of what’s going on. But you also have to be respectful.”