Topic: Official AMPAS Press Release - Apply For Oscar Red Carpet Bleacher Seats

[theresa]

Hi Guys,

Please forgive me if I am putting this in the wrong place and feel free to move it where it belongs if it is wrong. 

I am a fully credentialed member of the press corps for the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (Oscar) and just received the following press release from the Academy and wanted to share it with you.  As you know Heath and Jake are now members of the Academy and as such no longer require invitations to attend the ceremonies.  It is a great honor and the majority of the members of the Academy do their utmost to attend every year due to their responsibility to the office.  That being the case it is likely that both gentlemen will attend. 

The 300 bleacher seats on the red carpet are given to the public each year by random drawing.  The application process takes place one week only each year and that will be this week.  Below is the press release with the necessary information you will need if you wish to apply for the random drawing for the privilege of seeing the red carpet as an official guest.  I was an invitee to the actual ceremony last year and I can tell you it is a truly wonderful experience and if you are able to attend I encourage you to apply.  You have just as good a chance as anyone else who applies.

Here's the Press release.

To:  Theresa Shell, President
       T & Cakes Productions (Multiple Credtials - Industry/Internet)
       Addicted To The Movie Candy/Candy The Movie 2006/Heath Ledger Central (Owner)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Red Carpet Seats Available
Online for 79th Oscars®

Beverly Hills, CA — Oscar® fans, mark your calendars.

On Monday, September 18, beginning at noon PST, fans may apply online to win seats on Hollywood’s most celebrated red carpet – the Academy Awards® red carpet.

Fans will have one week only to enter a random online drawing to win one of 300 bleacher seats available to watch Oscar nominees, presenters and telecast guests arrive at the 79th Academy Awards on Sunday, February 25, 2007.

The application form will be available at www.oscars.org/bleachers. The online-only application process will close on Monday, September 25, at noon PST.

The lucky winners will join approximately 485 domestic and international media outlets on the 500-foot-long carpet to cheer their favorite celebrities among the 3,000 guests as they make their way into the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

To be eligible, an individual must complete the application form in its entirety. Applications may only be submitted online. Forms may not be returned via U.S. mail, fax or private delivery service such as UPS or FedEx.

Applicants may register up to four persons; however, only one form will be accepted per person or group.

Those whose names are selected in the random drawing will be notified by Monday, October 2. They will then be required to submit additional information for security purposes prior to final approval. Eligible attendees will be notified of their approval by Friday, December 8, after which date they will receive a confirmation letter with information pertinent to the event.

Individuals will be admitted only with an official Academy confirmation letter. Those who wait overnight to attempt admittance will not be granted entry.

The Academy will not be responsible for securing travel and/or hotel accommodations for winners. Following the red carpet arrivals, the winners will be invited to watch the Academy Awards telecast at a nearby location.

Last year over 25,000 fans applied online for the limited bleacher seats. This year marks the fifth year that applications have been required for the seats. The process was first instituted for the 74th Academy Awards, upon the show’s move to the Kodak Theatre.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented on Sunday, February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. It will be televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PST, opening with a half-hour arrival segment.

# # #

©A.M.P.A.S.®
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1972

[greenfrog]

I think you've posted it in the right place.

Thanks for sharing that with us Theresa. 

[theresa]

My pleasure.

[horsewrangler]

Dear Theresa,

  Thank you for sharing this information with us, I know it only comes from a kind and generous place in your heart.  As wonderful as an experience as it must have been, I for one, would not be caught dead anywhere near the Oscars ceremony.  I live in Los Angeles, and after the injustice of the 2006 Awards Show, even if it were in my own backyard, I would be sure to be absent for one night from my own home, rather than ever see or hear another oscar broadcast.  Remeber Annie Proulx's, "Blood on the Red Carpet"?  I will never forget that night and Ms. Proulx's marvelous letter.  Brokeback Mountain was written to address rural homophobia, only to be met by the homophobia that permiates through 'liberal' Hollywood?

  As for Heath and Jake becoming members and Ellen Degeneres being asked to host next year, I view it as an afterthought/apology from the academy (lower case deliberate) to attempt to undo a mistake .......... and they know it.

TOO LATE.
-adrian

On the bright side however, that's one less person competing for bleacher tickets!

[theresa]

Dear Adrian,

I completely understand and respect your feelings.  I was there for the debacle and cried like a baby.  Though the guys were the epitome of grace and dignity.  It is a wonderful experience as a whole, but last year's travesty wasn't wonderful.  However I know that not everyone feels as I do, thus the invitation.  I will attend in the future simply because I am in the business and it is my job.  And like many things in life there are very good and very bad things.  Mostly I look forward to the changes that will be made with people like Heath and Jake now being voting members and replacing the intolerant and embarrassing old guard.  I will support and stand by your decision til the cows come home because I know where in your heart it comes from and you are right.  But also I will hopefully at some point be a part of the new machinery that will abolish behavior like last year's.  As far as an apology and after thought, you bet it was.  They knew they really screwed up.  Not just with gays with the majority of decent people in the world.  But in my heart of hearts I feel that in their haste to try to absolve themselves of their sin, they actually shot themselves in the foot because they invited in a group of people who will see to it that changes are made and that they are made rapidly.  So it is my deep hope that we shall all have the last laugh.  Throughout history, change has most often been borne of pain and protest, some of the greatest changes in our country have come that way, I truly in my heart believe that will be the case here so I try to look to the change because there is no way I will ever be able to reconcile the event.  I can't even begin to tell you what I felt in my heart sitting there that night.  Not in a thousand years and I wasn't the only one.  I truly wasn't.

God bless you and thank you for standing up for your beliefs, I admire and respect that so much.

theresa