Red Carpet Etiquette

Red carpets are a beast to work.

Filled with frantic PR people, confused celebs who are constantly being harassed and herded to this reporter or that photographer, it can be a crazy place.

I’ve done a fair share of red carpet work. Sometimes on camera, sometimes for print. A majority with Asian American events and one thing that I’ve taken away from it is seriously:

HAVE RED CARPET ETIQUETTE

This applies to every and all people on the red carpet — journalists, photographers, PR folks, celebs, the people walking the celebs down the red carpet, me.

I understand that the red carpet can be like a bustling marketplace, where all these players have all these different agendas but seriously, people can be so rude sometimes.

On the red carpet, most people seem to follow a “do whatever it takes to get what you want” strategy, whether that entails embarrassing other people or coming off like a jack*ss or a b*tch.

Recently I was on the red carpet and it started to get really crowded behind the ropes. Some of the other reporters started crossing the line to interview while ON the red carpet. Seemed like a good idea so I did just that as well. All was going well when this PR lady, out of nowhere and for NO REASON AT ALL– while I’m in the middle of interviewing her client — tells me, “you better get over to behind the lines. You better get behind there. Get there. Get there.” Then she raised the ropes and forced me to crawl UNDER it even though all the other reporters still stayed on the red carpet.

That was not cool, lady.

And then there are celebs who are super “over it” when they answer questions. They roll their eyes, make weird faces and generally act like unpleasant people who are asking in their heads, “are you seriously asking me this?”

At the end of the day, I just hope that all red carpet attendees remember one thing: you chose to be here. Whether as a writer, a cameraman, a PR rep, a movie star, you chose your profession. If you don’t enjoy the process, don’t do it.

I really admired how Kal Penn handled the red carpet at a Harold & Kumar screening recently. Unlike some of his shall-not-be-named cohorts, he was gracious and kind the entire evening, speaking to all the publications, answering questions with genuine care and thoughtfulness. I know this because even though he wasn’t the last celeb to arrive, he was the last to finish the red carpet because he would take his time with the press. I was set to interview him last and when one of the PR reps told me I could only ask him one question (say what? We hosted the event!), his reps personally reassured me it would be more than that. Then when Kal and I met face to face, he told me,

“Would it be ok if we talked while walking into the screening? I want to make sure you guys get enough time especially because you’ve always been so supportive of us.”

So sweet, right?! And he gives an awesome video intro.

Thanks Kal for being such a model celeb on red carpet etiquette.

posted by Janice | Comments: 2 | Interviews, Job, Los Angeles, TV, Writing

Lisa Ling on Faith

Got to chat with Lisa Ling awhile ago about her new show, Our America. Some point in our conversation, we started getting deep. I had heard her speak on another show about how her new series deals a lot with faith–mainly her own exploration of it. That fascinated me–a journalist willing to explore something so not factually based, so often-divided, so often taboo to explore. (Though I suppose taboo is Ms. Ling’s favorite type of subjects to explore.)

posted by Janice | Comments: 3 | God, Inspirations, Interviews, Los Angeles, Magazine, TV

Audrey Magazine Spring ’11 | Olivia Munn

I’ve been sweating and slaving for the past couple of months but the second issue is finally going to print!

Ain’t it a beaut?

Funny gal Olivia Munn is rocking the Shirley Temple curls. Inside, Munn dishes on Chinese mothers (she has one!), dating celebs and her loyal fans.

posted by Janice | Comments: 2 | Inspirations, Interviews, Los Angeles, Magazine, TV, Uncategorized, Writing