The Foreign Service Journal, April 2013

52 APRIL 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS AFSA at the Oscars BY DONNA AYERST, AFSA NEWS EDITOR AFSA’s December screen- ing of “Argo” at a theater in Georgetown proved to be a great success, with hundreds attending. That success, the awards the film was winning, combined with director and star Ben Affleck’s award acceptance comments high- lighting the Foreign Service, got the wheels turning. “We should go to the Oscars!” said AFSA Execu- tive Director Ian Houston at a weekly staff meeting. After the laughter died down, we started thinking it might be a possibility, as remote as it seemed—AFSA at the Oscars? Really? I have always believed that if you don’t ask, the answer will always be no. So with that in mind, I checked out the press page on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science Web site, filled out the online form requesting credentials and hit the send button. Two days later I was speaking with the AMPAS fellow in charge of issuing the coveted pass. Two days after that (along with 20 pages of forms to fill out), I received an e-mail notifying me that The Foreign Service Journal and AFSA News had been approved for a credential to the Interview Room on Oscar night! Whoa! All of a sudden, I was going to the Oscars, formal attire required. Get a dress: check. Get the shoes: check. Matching earrings: Uh? Check. Opening Scene: Sacra- mento Airport, Feb. 19, five days before the event. I board a flight to Burbank to do a security walk-through, an unexpected requirement, at the Oscar ceremony site. That turned out to be a good thing; as we wend our way through the labyrinth of the block that is to become Oscar Central, I wonder if I could do this trek on my own. Cut to the big night (actu- ally, most of the day): You think getting into the State Department without a badge is difficult? The Oscars can beat that any day. They close Hollywood Boulevard and all of the streets around the Dolby Theater—for blocks. LAPD is everywhere. A mega-bomb squad vehicle is parked out front. Multiple checkpoints require you to scan the bar- code on your credential, open your gear and remove all of that extra jewelry, before passing through a body scanner. Remember, multiple checkpoints. I arrive at 9 a.m. to drop off my computer, then return at 1:30 p.m. to stand in line for security. I finally enter the Interview Room at 2:15 p.m. and stay there until 10:50 p.m. The room is a very large space in the Loews Holly- wood Hotel, adjacent to the theater. It is filled with long rows of tables set perpen- dicular to the stage where each Oscar winner will come immediately after receiv- ing the golden statue. In the middle of the tables is ABC’s telecast camera. Giant video screens hang throughout the room. Printed signs at each of the more than 300 seats indicate where to sit: Voice of America, BBC, Allure , Vanity Fair, all the major networks, CNN, Le Monde , New York Times , The Foreign Service Journal , European media and reps from all over the world! Also at each seat is a sign with a number on it. Mine is 138. A moderator is up front and she will select who gets to ask the winners a ques- tion, like at an auction. She says she will only select five or six journalists per winner. At this point, I am thinking, if “Argo” wins best picture, every arm in the room will go up, waving their number, and the odds of getting called on go way down. A couple of well-seasoned journalists sit to my left, try- ing to outdo one another with stories from their combined 40-some years covering the Oscars. Across from me is a (Left to right) Producers Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Cloney pose backstage with their Oscars® for best motion picture of the year for “Argo.” PHOTOCOURTESYOFAMPAS