Working Behind the Scenes at the Oscars

The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, is one of the most popular awards shows of the year. People watch every year to see what movie was chosen as Best Picture, what the stars will be wearing, and what silly things the stars might say during their acceptance speeches when they win the awards. I had the chance to work security during the Academy Awards in 1997, the year that James Cameron gave his "King of the World" speech. It was interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes.

Getting the Job

I'm not sure if you actually can apply to work security for the Academy Awards. They probably hire regular security guards to do most of their work. I ended up getting the job because the Academy needed some extra help. The Oscars were being held at the Shrine Auditorium that year, which is next to the University of Southern California, the college that I was attending. The people in charge of security asked the Navy ROTC there if anybody was interested in working security for the event. Being somebody that likes to take advantage of interesting opportunities, I volunteered. I think that I was paid for my work, although I don't remember how much.

The Day before the Academy Awards

A lot of work goes on behind the scenes the day before Oscar Night. The sound engineers have to put everything in place, they set name tags on all the chairs where all the stars will be sitting, and some of the people taking part in the event will practice. The stars don't show up to rehearse their lines though.

The year I worked, Celine Dion came to practice singing "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie Titanic. It was an awesome, haunting performance. During practice, Celine Dion used a smoke machine to create a foggy stage. It was beautiful to watch. Unfortunately, viewers at home never got to see her singing the song with the fog because it irritated her voice, and she chose to sing without the fog on Oscar Night.

Oscar Night

I didn't get to work inside the auditorium on Oscar Night; I was assigned outside. The limousines lined up for quite some distance, waiting to drop off the stars for their big night. I had the chance to see Celine Dion step outside of her limo, wearing the gorgeous "Heart of the Ocean" necklace used in the movie Titanic. Many other stars exited their limos at the curb as well. As the limos drove to drop off the stars, there were protesters lining up on the side of the road with anti-Hollywood slogans on them. They're probably there every year, but I don't think that they ever show them on television.

After the stars walked in, I was assigned to another area outside, where there were some producer-like people watching the Oscars on small monitors. That was where I heard James Cameron give his famous "King of the World" acceptance speech. It was pretty exciting to be a part of it all.