A Guide to LA Awards Season Screening Theaters

This is Couch Potato Cook’s first post in its new home! Yay! I’m still working out all the kinks and fixing the archives, so please be patient with me. Thanks!

During the pandemic wave of media union organizing, I helped the Tech Company Podcast Studio I worked at negotiate a union contract, which earned me membership in the Writers Guild of America, East. And I earned it — I was on the bargaining committee and the doomed DEI committee. I’m going to be honest: these days, the union offers little to no protection as a freelancer/adjunct professor, so I pay my dues for one main thing: Extremely Occasional Happy Hours and Award Season Screenings and Screeners. Obviously, I like the latter more, because I get access to some cool screenings.

Unfortunately, I’ve only recently taken advantage of this perk I lucked into and one of my friends was game to join me. During my winter break from teaching, my goal was to go to the coolest theaters with For Your Consideration screenings and let the studios pander to me for my vote (and yes, I do get to vote). Yes, come and pander to me and give me free French fries and tote bags. It was so fun! It reminded me of my entertainment editor days, when I regularly went to fancy screenings, and my film school era, when I regularly went to the dingiest midnight screenings LA had to offer.

If you’re looking for tech specs, I don’t go into that. This guide is purely about vibes.

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

It’s my grand tradition to see the Wicked movies at Guild screenings, mostly because 1. I am extremely picky about musicals, 2. I endured many a theater kid party back in the day, where people would spontaneously break into “Defying Gravity” and 3. I cannot and will not tolerate singing and dancing in the theater aisles. I thought going to see the musical at Guild screenings would shield me from all of that — and I was right! Everyone remained seated during both Wicked (at the Directors Guild Theater — more on that below) and this, the TV Academy theater. You can tell it’s the TV Academy theater because there are Emmys everywhere around the building, which is cool.

The vibes were fine. The Wicked branding was everywhere and I got there late, but I’d been there before. After the screening, the parking garage backed up to an terrible degree, so I didn’t like that.

Directors Guild of America Theaters

Inside the DGA Building on Sunset Boulevard are the DGA Theaters — two, I believe. Last year, I saw Wicked here. This year, I saw Marty Supreme and Jay Kelly. It took me two tries to see Marty, because every Safdie fan who was a guild member or working press filled the first screening, but I made it to on my second try. It’s definitely a Safdie movie and the DGA Theater needed some volume control during it, because the entire last third of the movie was incredibly loud for me and the 60-year-old man sitting across from me.

I also saw Jay Kelly here in a sold-out screening and I may be the only person in the universe who loved that movie. Even my mom roasted me for loving the film after she watched it on Netflix:

Me: I really loved Jay Kelly! I thought it was really great.

Mom: No, it wasn’t. Maybe you were just in a good mood when you saw it.

Thanks, Mom.

Writers Guild of America Theater

Pre-dating my membership in the WGAE, I was a non-voting member of the WGAW and went to screenings at the WGA Theater for years. I’ve called it the DRAMA theater, because every time I go, there’s some kind of DRAMA. One time, a woman yelled at me for checking my phone during the credits and thus ruining the ambiance of said credits. Another time, a woman went on a racist rant while in the bathroom.¹ And when I went to see Hamnet, the screening let in PGA and WGA members, but made SAG-AFTRA members wait on a standby line. There was almost a brawl several times and lots of SAG-AFTRA members shouting, “WHY do YOU get to go in FIRST??” It was tense.

I didn’t cry during Hamnet because my heart is made of stone — just kidding, I just don’t cry during movies and I was a little annoyed that Paul Mescal spends the movie saying, “Sorry, I must go to London now.” We get it, Will. Jessie Buckley basically gives an Oscar-worthy performance of a Euphoria meme.

The direction was beautiful, though, and that Oscar is Buckley’s to lose. Plus, the WGA theater gave out Hamnet treats. Bonus!

Walt Disney Studios Lot Theater(s)

For the record, I haven’t seen the second Avatar, I don’t care to, and I only went to this screening because I wanted to visit the Disney lot. The last time I saw a screening here, it was in 2014 for Guardians of the Galaxy 1. Anyway, this movie was over 3 hours long and was rendered like a bunch of video game cut scenes. I told my friend, “We can leave whenever,” but we stuck it out. Because I’m middle-aged, I went to the bathroom several times and each time, saw people networking, smoking and stretching their legs because the movie was so long.

Then there was a Q&A with James Cameron and team.

Before the movie, they had us go through a really elaborate and beautiful exhibit that may or may not have been FYC for costume design and art direction.

Fun!

Netflix’s Tudum Theater

Do I like Guillermo Del Toro? Yes. Should he have made The Hobbit movies? Also yes. Was I interested in his take on Frankenstein? Yes, then I watched it…it was too long and too…much. I could’ve watched it at home, but I went to this screening because it was in the gorgeous Netflix Tudum Theater, which I had heard raves about from other guild members. Finally, in January, I got to see it for myself. I love the little star-like lights on the ceiling of the entire theater, including the lobby.

And they gave out branded popcorn, so here’s that photo of popcorn I promised:

This screening also had pandering! In the form of Del Toro in conversation with David Fincher after the screening. Seeing these two directors nerd out about movies together made my winter.

After the Q&A, there was more FYC promo! Netflix had a shuttle to an art gallery, where there was a comprehensive Frankenstein exhibit and also light bites and drinks.

And now voting is done and the Oscars are happening this week, so it’s another Awards Season done and gone. If these costume exhibits are the new norm, I’m excited for what next year’s Awards Season brings.

1  When I tried to report both women, the WGAW asked for their membership ID numbers and said they couldn’t do anything without them. Then, I asked, “Did you really want me to interrupt a racist rant to ask for her member ID?” They didn’t respond.