Things have been quiet here on the blog front because I’ve spent the last week and a half working on the 20th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, which aired live last night on A&E. It was my first time working on a major awards show and I didn’t really know what to expect going into it; each day brought new surprises. I spent a few days working out of the production office in Santa Monica last week — the highlight of which was observing 25 male dancers audition for our “Magic Mike” opening dance / stripper sequence. This week we moved to the Hollywood Palladium near Sunset & Vine where the awards were held. I snapped this photo outside the venue when I arrived at work yesterday:

The blue carpet arrivals area:

The entire production office was crammed into the Champagne Lounge at the venue — a fitting name for the room, as yesterday someone delivered an entire pallet of bubbly for backstage toasts and asked me where he should put the bottles. Turns out he was confusing me with another woman named Erica who works for A&E. I should’ve claimed that champagne when I had the chance… “Uh, yeah, can you load those bottles into this car? Yup, that’s where they go.”

Here’s the awards board — a visual chart of each act as the producers rearrange segments and lock down presenters for each award.

By the day of, all tables were beautifully set and giant white posters indicated specific seats for each actor, director, producer, etc. attending the awards.

This was a surprise: Yogurtland arranged a pop-up store just outside the production office so that everyone in the building could get free Froyo. They did it two days in a row and were open during the awards. How fun!

There was a lot of paperwork involved with my job (Script Coordinator) but one of the coolest parts was preparing the winner envelopes.

Following our final dress rehearsal, it was crunch time — the final hour to distribute revised rundowns and last-minute script tweaks. I double-checked the graphics and credits. I ate maybe three bites of food all day because there was zero downtime.

A quick look at the red blue carpet during one of my many trips to the truck (where the director directs the show from).

I snapped this photo a few minutes before we started the pre-telecast awards — we presented three categories before going live on television.

And then the show began. I was positioned backstage in the Pre-Read Room where presenters and award recipients rehearse their lines and make any last-minute changes. There’s a microphone so they can talk directly to the teleprompter operator. It was a fun place to be as celebrities revolved in and out — Jessica Chastain practiced her speech (she won the MVP Award), while presenters Amy Adams, Patrick Stewart, Leslie Mann, Judd Apatow, John Krazinski, Adam Scott, Chris Evans, Vera Farmiga, Patricia Arquette, Jared Leto, Chris Pratt and more rehearsed their lines.

It’s a tiny room but they squeezed in a printer, so as lines changed or if things were cut for time, we’d print out new script pages and I’d run them to the truck or teleprompter.

I loved running around during the show because I got to see everything. The house had that special energy of a live event so it was neat to pass through en route to teleprompter. And the truck was super calm given that they were shooting a live show. Backstage was the most interesting because of all the famous faces that passed through in glittery gowns and sky-high heels. (I felt way underdressed in jeans and sneakers, although the latter was necessary given all the running around I did. If I work an awards show again I’ll dress up more for show day.)

Here’s a look at some of the famous faces from last night… photos clearly not taken by me:

[image via]

And here’s a photo snapped during the show as I made my way to drop off a script change to teleprompter:

Back in our tiny pre-read room, things got dicey when the show climbed to six minutes long. See that chart in the lower-right part of the screen below? It updates with how long or short the show is at any given moment… and six minutes over is pretty long! Cuts were made, but luckily A&E allowed the show to run longer than its scheduled broadcast time.

The Peter Pan Live! script team reunites! It was so much fun working with Adam & Sabrina again.

View of the Hollywood Palladium as we left. The last time I was here was in 2005 for the Days of Our Lives 40th anniversary party, way back when I was an intern. This was a fun way to return.