Who the real winners and losers are in the writers strike will take years to become clear, but who won and lost in the strike-affected awards party season is already in focus.
The season's first big hit was the sinking of the Golden Globes. It's hard to imagine how things could have gone worse -- even if someone planned for them to go worse -- for the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.
After it was apparent the WGA would not give the show a waiver, all the org really wanted was to present its awards at an unpicketed dinner with all the stars in attendance. Period. With the show not being telecast (which meant there was nothing to picket), one would think this was an achievable goal.
Somehow a situation emerged where there was no telecast, no dinner, no after-parties and no $6 million going into the HFPA's coffers (plus an equal amount to producer Dick Clark Productions.) That's a heap of losing -- a situation you can bet no one wanted to repeat.
Moving to the Oscars, the cancellation of the Vanity Fair party "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike" is still something of a mystery.
The decision came a week before the strike was settled, when even the most hardcore WGA picketer could see the end was near. And it left the mag walking away from an event that's the greatest annual publicity bonanza in publishing.
"They pull the plug and leave and say they're doing it for the writers," notes one L.A.-based event planner. "So are they saying anyone else who has a party is a bad guy?"
Among local event planners, there's a lot of talk that moving the VF party after 15 years to a new location at Craft might have contributed to the decision to the one-year hiatus. There were surely new expenses and complications involved in the move. It will be interesting to see if Craft is the venue for next year's party.
And while VF was the most high-profile public event to cancel, there were also a number of important -- though private -- events that closed up shop: Ed Limato's annual affair the Friday before the awards, Dani Janssen's Academy Awards party at her home, the Oscar-eve luncheon Barry Diller and wife Diane Von Furstenberg have hosted annually honoring VF's Graydon Carter, and the Oscar late-night affair hosted by Rick Yorn, Brent Bolthouse, Patrick Whitesell and Mike De Luca.
If there's a plus side to having fewer events, it's that the remaining parties should stand out.
On Oscar night, the Academy has gotten something it's wanted for more than a quarter-century: The Governors Ball is the undisputed, hot-ticket, must-go-to after-party. VF's affair has lured guests away for the past 15 years, and for at least a decade before that, Irving "Swifty" Lazar's gathering dominated the post-show fiestas.
And the annual Night Before party on Oscar Eve and the Night Before the Night Before on Friday should shine a bit more brightly in a less crowded field. This also applies to Saturday's Film Independent Spirit Awards.
The party that had the most to gain from VF's departure doesn't appear to be taking advantage of the opportunity: Elton John's AIDS fund-raiser has said it will remain a viewing dinner with a Sir Elton perf afterward -- no after-party.
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