‘Celebrity Spotter’ Reveals the ‘Stressful, Unglamorous’ Side of Working at the Oscars
For many people, landing a gig where you’re asked to “spot celebrities” as they arrive at the Academy Awards sounds like a pretty cool gig. Especially since the only way to get an invite to the biggest award show of the year otherwise is if you’re a nominee, a previous winner, a performer, or attending with another A-List star.
But what the job of a “celebrity spotter” actually entails isn’t “glamorous” and is very “chaotic,” according to someone who did it in 2013.
Here’s what Jeff Thurm has just revealed about his experience working as a spotter at the Oscars.
What the job of a ‘celebrity spotter’ entails
Today, Thurm works as a reporter but in 2013, he worked for a reality production company that produced E! Live from the Red Carpet and was asked to assist on the carpet for the Oscars.
Speaking to CasinoHawks, Thurm told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, “I didn’t know when I first signed up to help, but eventually, when it got nearer, they asked me if I was comfortable being a celebrity spotter. It was obviously an important job because if I said Leonardo DiCaprio was there and he wasn’t, that would have been bad … It was my job to have binoculars from a lookout point and notice who was arriving on the red carpet. In Hollywood, the Oscars were at a theatre at Hollywood & Highland.
“They shut that entire intersection down, and I worked on the roof of a building covering the celebrity arrivals. I would see who was getting dropped off and tell the camera guys. There were obviously so many people around, coming and going, so I was looking for who was coming out. I’d be like, ‘Sandra Bullock has just arrived,’ then report back … If two people arrived together or I saw two random people hugging, I would have to note someone to get the feed. It wasn’t just for celebrities, but important moments that happened, like people saying hi to each other.”
What the atmosphere was like on that day
Thurm described the overall atmosphere the day of the Oscars as “stressful,” adding, “It’s such a high-profile event and it happens right in the middle of Hollywood. It’s on the biggest intersection in Hollywood so it’s utter chaos. The streets are blocked off for blocks, and there are barricades coming up and down for as far as you can see. The red carpet and car area is also massive. There’s security and bouncers everywhere, so there’s so many people around. It’s obviously exciting and cool to be there but where I’ve worked, there’s chaos and stress.
“It’s also stupid rigid–you need passes to get everywhere. There’s no sneaking anywhere so if you don’t have the right barcode or pass to scan in, you’re not getting in. I was also a 23 -year-old assistant [at the time] who wanted to do a good job, so there was also that pressure of not wanting to mess up.”
The star he was told to look out for
“Each celebrity has their own entourage — personal security, assistants, agents, and publicists,” Thurm explained. “When you see a red carpet shot, and it’s one individual celebrity posing in front of the backdrop, you don’t see the 10 people who are also working with them. There were people everywhere at all times — it’s so busy.
“Nominees were the most important. It was 2013, so that was the year Jennifer Lawrence fell up the stairs during the show. That was her first Oscar nomination, and she was really buzzy at the time. The main thing was getting the people who were nominated, but also popular with the E! audience. Jennifer Lawrence would have been the main one.”
Thurm also shared that what surprised him the most was how quickly everything moved along.
“The biggest thing that surprised me about it all was that there isn’t a schedule,” he said. “Like Jennifer Lawrence is arriving at 4 p.m., then Jessica Chastain is arriving at 4:10 p.m. — whoever comes, comes, and there’s no way of knowing who’s coming when and there’s no order.”
