Lauri Klobas is a delightful correspondent from the CompuServe Litforum who just happens to work the teleprompter at lots of big awards shows -- and who entertained us with her running comment all through Oscar night. Thank you, Lauri (also for letting me use this).

text (c)  Lauri Klobas 2004

#: 1451407 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
27-Feb-04 01:06:02
Sb: #1450558-#Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Pamela Patchet

Dear Pam,
My schedule for the weekend got changed... I am working the Independent Spirit Awards on Friday and Saturday then heading to Hollywood to do the Big Show on Sunday.

Since they started the official pre-show, I've done it every year... I haven't worked on the telecast for the Big Show in five or six years. 

It'll be about a 14 hour day....

Lauri


#: 1452410 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 15:52:08
Sb: Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: All > [all]

Hi, All,

We are some five hours away from going live out to the world. We are in the middle of dress rehearsal.

We started out by running the tape of last night's rehearsal of the pre-show, for the "seamless hand-off" between shows, to quote the director, Lou Horvitz.

Billy Crystal came in and rehearsed his opening to the show. But other than the musicians for the performance of songs, the rest of the show is being done by stand-ins.

They come in and read the copy, introducing a category and the nominees. They actually read a name from the envelope, adding, "for this rehearsal only" so that there is no confusion to anyone just dropping in, thinking they've got a scoop. When a "winner" is read, a stand-in, sitting in the nominated's assigned seat, comes up to the stage and accepts a "working" Oscar (prior to today, they used a wooden statue painted a dull gold; when they are in a pinch, a water bottle is used). The stand-ins make speeches, playing it very straight. By calling out a "winner," everyone gets to rehearse-- the cameras get the shots as the "winners" come to the stage; the chyron folk have all the possible winner tags standing by to overlay on the screen and they get to practice bringing up the right tag on cue.

We are rehearsing the second musical segment at the moment, 4 1/2 hours from going live to the world.

Everything is going smoothly... more later.

Lauri



#: 1452473 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 18:26:06
Sb: #1452453-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas > [lklobas]
To: Barbara Schnell/SL19 70007,6001

Dear Barbara,

Hope you and your friends have a great party... I was telling the guys here how late you all stay up to see the show.

We are sitting in a construction trailer in a parking lot next to the famed Chinese theater. From the window, I can see the backside of the facade of that building. To get to the stage of the Kodak, I have to go up to the structure, take an elevator down two floors to the loading dock and walk backstage (to which I have access) but I'm not going out there unless I have 
to.

I just did a turn outside to see the hoopla... fans are gathered at the corners of closed-off Hollywood Boulevard... I saw a lot of signs relating to "Lord Of The Rings" and someone was holding a sign with a message to Oprah.

The bleachers are filled with people readying their cameras and the upper floors of the buildings are loaded with people leaning out the windows, hoping to get a good view of the stars. There is an army of red-jacketed parking valets out there ready to help people out of their limos. The are let out at the corner of Hollywood and Highland Boulevards, and start up the red carpet to the-- metal detector (a privately screened-off red tent, prettily decorated with flowers inside) and then, they start down the carpet, a long lane between bleachers. The media is confined to their slots (if you look at the risers when they are empty, you see they are marked off with tape, with the names of the concerns written on them) on the sides of the carpet.

Behind the cordon of media are concrete barricades and tons of cable lining the street. A bridge has been built over Hollywood Boulevard, lined with more media.

It's 3:18 local time and a couple of limos have arrived but we haven't seen anyone recognizable at this time. Once they start arriving in earnest, we will hear nothing but helicopters as the news stations start zooming in on the craziness below.

I came back to the truck and passed the floral tent, stuffed with enough flowers and arrangements that you'd think a city had died.

The pre-show is rehearsing right now (they are located in the parking lot at Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Avenue (which is next door to us). I went by to see who was working and say hi to friends.

3:25, just two hours to air....

Lauri



#: 1452490 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 19:14:08
Sb: #1452478-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Dee-Ann Latona

Dear Dee-Ann,

It's always fun to see the craziness. I hadn't watched the Oscars for years and only saw it again when I started working on the show. I think the first one I did was 1994. I was on the Big Show every year until the Academy decided to do their own pre-show and since then, I've done a day here and there on the Big Show but rolled the pre-show. Tonight is the first time I've been on the Big Show for the telecast since about 1998 or 1999. 

I guess that means I get caught in the massive traffic jam tonight! :-(

4:14... just a bit more than an hour to air.

Lauri




#: 1452500 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 19:53:09
Sb: #1452492-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Dee-Ann Latona

Dear Dee-Ann,

We have to strike all our equipment [after the show] and get it out of here. 

It's 4:52 local time and we just had to run copy for Nicholas Cage who stepped onstage to see the prompter.

Traffic is starting to pick up on the headset. They have already made an announcement in the house for people to start taking their seats. They want everyone to be sitting when we go on the air.

Lauri



#: 1452524 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 20:58:11
Sb: #1452514-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Pamela Patchet

Hi, Pam,

Are you watching? We are 30 seconds back from our first commercial break. Billy got the cameras all tangled up when he was in the aisle and you could see the prompter (which we try to hide but Billy needed it for his song)all over the place.

I keep getting calls from the writers to edit the script or the script department.

Ian McKellan is onstage at the moment.

Lauri



#: 1452534 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 21:27:05
Sb: #1452528-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Pamela Patchet

Hey, Pam,

Yeah, Renee made a nice speech. Lovely dress, too, one of the best.

We are running the Bob Hope film right now... 

Everything is going well from our little corner of the Oscar world....

Lauri



#: 1452540 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 21:43:07
Sb: #1452536-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Pamela Patchet

Dear Pam,

We never saw Billy's film until airtime. During rehearsal, we had a dummy film (about an endless cup of coffee) in its place until we went to air.

We are doing the second musical performance now. 

The Oscar for Visual Effects comes after the commercial after the musical performances.

Lauri



#: 1452547 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 22:24:12
Sb: #1452546-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Pamela Patchet

Dear Pam,

Sleep well... it's late. The Gregory Peck tribute is scheduled for 7:47 p.m. (approximately). The Katharine Hepburn tribute is scheduled before that.

Lord of the Rings just won their sixth Oscar. I'll bet Beth is sitting home and cheering!

Julia Roberts will intro the Katharine clip. At the last commercial break, everything went into turmoil because she decided she didn't want to do a staircase entrance as planned. She didn't come to rehearsal and so, they had to quickly retool camera shots and lighting for that bit.

Lauri



#: 1452573 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 23:32:01
Sb: #1452568-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Pamela Patchet

Well,

Lord of the Rings is 9 for 9... they may do a sweep.

They are walking onstage for Best Adapted Screenplay and I have started the 45 second clock... 30 seconds...

After today, I only have five more days of work until I get a day off!!

Lauri



#: 1452578 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
29-Feb-04 23:38:13
Sb: #1452576-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Pamela Patchet

Dear Pam,

Best Director is next, after the commercial. Tom Cruise will present the award.

Lauri



#: 1452586 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
01-Mar-04 00:02:09
Sb: #1452581-#Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Pamela Patchet

Dear Pam,

Sleep is almost in sight.

Sean Penn just won Best Actor. There is just one award left, Best Picture....

Gonna power down now and get ready to pack up and go home.

Good night, talk to you tomorrow (well, today for you!)

Lauri



#: 1452672 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
01-Mar-04 11:28:05
Sb: #1452617-Live From the Oscars
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: Barbara Schnell/SL19 70007,6001

Dear Barbara,

I told my boss about your group and he was amazed that people would stay up all night to see the show!

Lauri



#: 1452898 S14/Stage & Screen [LITFORUM]
01-Mar-04 18:47:13
Sb: Oscar Night Pt. II
Fm: Lauri Klobas
To: All > [all]

February was a long, long month for me, even though it lasted only 29 days. I have a five-day-a-week teleprompting job and worked awards shows every weekend_ the Grammys were the first weekend, the Motion Picture Academy's Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards were the next; the SAG Awards were the next and this past weekend, my schedule was flopped around and I ended up at the Independent Spirit Awards on Friday and Saturday (a ceremony which celebrates the best of indie film) and on Sunday, I checked into the Academy Awards and did the Big Show for the first time in a few years. Ever since the Academy instituted the pre-show some five years ago, I've worked a couple of days here and there on the big show but not the telecast. Last night I was the point person in PrompterLand.

At about ten minutes prior to going live, an announcement came over the headsets that "Act One is is place." That meant that all presenters and nominees who would be featured in the first act were in their seats or backstage.

As the limos arrive, there are spotters out on the street looking for numbers in the winshields of the cars. When presenters' cars are spotted, the message is relayed to some central location (I can't be sure who is in charge of this as I have nothing to do with it). Presenters and nominees are shadowed to make sure they get to their assigned seats before the show starts.

The pre-show is a combination broadcast of live and taped elements. Actually, by the time the pre-show ends, much of the red carpet is empty. It seems busy because of the pieces taped earlier.

Just before going on the air, the technical director in the truck (located in a loading dock behind the stage) checked all the cameras to be sure he was getting all the pictures. I think there were 18 cameras for the Big Show. My buddy Hank Geving had the easy gig of the evening-- he manned the jib camera at the foot of the red carpet. During the show, he set up "beauty shots" that were shown in some areas of the world. Hank just sat quietly, reading a book, until it was time to reset for another shot.

During dress rehearsal, there was a dummy film being shown in place of Billy Crystal's piece. We saw it for the first time at the same time the audience did. We had the head censor at ABC coming in and peering over our shoulders as Billy rehearsed his stuff earlier in the day, to get a heads-up on what he was going to do.

There were no catastrophes during the show_ the only big tech glitches were all logistical when Billy went out into the audience and a couple of the handheld cameras got tangled up. There was a great shot of Billy with handheld guy Bill Philbin walking behind him! And because Billy needed the prompter for his songs, you got a grand shot of the words! The cameras try to mask the camera; during big reverse shots, we try to blank it out but sometimes, we get caught. There was nothing we could do when Billy started moving around.

I was the second operator on the show (and because I had been booked for the pre-show originally, I didn't get a show credit). During the course of the show, I was getting calls from Billy Crystal's writers to edit his material and make changes. I was also getting changes from the script department. There are often two different sets of copy for some intros-- for example, when Tim Robbins came out with Susan Sarandon, we had two different intros. One read "Please welcome the Academy Award-winning couple" and the other noted Tim was a nominee and Susan was a winner. When Tim was named Best Supporting Actor, I got a call from scripts telling me to strike the copy that called Tim a "nominee" so as to be sure we would run the "winner" copy.

I also ran the time clock. My friend and boss, John Cox, rolled the show. When he rolled "And the Oscar goes to_ ," he would black out the prompter and switch to an alternate feed that had the clock. When people hit the stage, when the got to the mike, I hit the 45 second clock. It flashed "45" several times then remained black until "30," flashing. It flashed again at "20" and "15" and at "10," it counted down, the background turning red at "5". At zero, I just left the obnoxious and bright "TIME'S UP!!!" flashing until they stopped talking.

When they would go on too long, the director would call out to Harold, the conductor, to "start noodling," or bring in the music. "Louder, louder," he'd order until the people were drowned out. There was one gaffe where Harold stopped the music and a second member of a winning group began to speak at the mike (I think it was the Best Song award_ Annie Lennox spoke, the music came in and stopped and then, Peter Jackson's wife started in again.

There was only one big change during the show and that was Julia Roberts' entrance. She had not been to rehearsal and when she got onstage, the stage manager was describing her entrance to her. She was to make a lovely staircase entrance like Renee Zellweger-- except Julia didn't want to do that. At the last minute, the camera shots had to be changed and the lighting cues had to be altered. Everyone got it done, people at home wouldn't know the difference, though.

Anyway, it was a fun day. I got in at 9:00 a.m. and got home at 10:30 p.m. so it was a long day as well.

Lauri