What It’s Like To Walk The BAFTA Red Carpet

The BAFTAs are hosted tonight and that brings back some sweet memories when I got to attend – well…guide and walk a talent down the red carpet.

So how on earth did I get there? Well, after I saw a film I really loved, I emailed the distributor about how much I liked it and to see if they were taking on interns. Two weeks later I was replying to press emails.

Part of my role was awards admissions and handling the talent. Which was basically a lot of forms and trying to put anyone with a drop of British blood forward, e-mailing BAFTA voters and organising screenings. It was a great pay off to then get one of them nominated! And to actually go to the event. Here’s what goes down during an awards show afternoon/evening.

I (and the rest of the team) picked them up, and we drove to the Royal Opera House. We drove past all the hotels where A-listers such as Oprah, Brangelina (it was THAT long ago!) and Cate Blanchett were getting ready. Once on the red carpet, we walked the talents down the rows of press and photographers. I was carrying some coats, getting backstage photos on everyone’s cameras and making sure I didn’t bump into anyone.

With fans on one side and press on the other there was so much shouting going on. And then some extra shouting when an A-lister walked by. Plus photographers shouting at us normals to get out of the way. It goes by so quick and there is no way to grasp it all.

Once the talents are inside, it’s all about waiting for everyone to arrive and the doors to the hall to open. You get drinks inside and yes, it’s where stars are walking around in the wild. Since no one ate the canapes we got to enjoy quite a few ourselves.

During the ceremony, the publicists all get placed in one room in front of a screen and you would go get your talent to escort them if they won. By the time you arrived backstage your talent was done with the speech and you’d start the route to the photo and press area. None of ours won so I sadly did not get to experience that.

After the show you had to get your talents into the bus and to the afterparty venue. The wait in the hall was very random. Bruce Dern was walking around a bit lost. Michael Fassbender was ushered by. And Leo! LEO looked everyone in the eyes and everyone was in awe.

All in all it has been one of my favourite London experiences.

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2 Comments

  1. Klinkt als een toffe ervaring! Hoe leuk ook, dat je mail je een stage opleverde. Hoe lang heb je er gewerkt? Ben nu wel benieuwd of je er nog andere spannende ervaringen hebt meegemaakt.

    1. Uiteindelijk bijna 2 jaar! Het meest bizarre was met Kate Moss onder een paraplu lopen terwijl iedereen in de straat een doubletake nam. Of met Emma Thompson en haar dochter dansen op een afterparty. Mss vertel ik nog wat dingen in een andere post.