Category Archives: Los Angeles Social Diary

Peter Guber's screening room -- pic via the WSJ

“The Bel-Air screening circuit” is small club of people who receive early copies of first run films and has been around since the 70s or 80s — often called Hollywood’s secret screener list. This group has been extremely low profile since the dawn of time and receives little to no press — we’ve been asked not to blog about it by everyone we know in and close to the circuit but the WSJ let the cat out of the bag this AM, so we are very happy to be able to get into extreme detail on this LA phenomena.

Basically, every studio loans first run prints or digital copies of their films to 300 to 500 people who have been pre-selected to be eligible to receive them. There is somewhat of a hierarchy to the list and those on it — while eligible to receive the first run films on or before, opening weekend — can often be bumped down the list by bigger people in entertainment, sports, music, and in Washington who are viewed as having a larger influence in their ability to hype a film or in their general stature … often studios want to ensure voting members of the Academy will see the film and start logging it against other Oscar contenders. Priority basically goes to A list actors and directors like Steven Spielberg, George Clooney, Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein, and according to the WSJ there are some wildcards on the recipient list as well such as Dr. Dre, Prince Saud al-Faisal, Ron Burkle, Derek Jeter, Bill Gates, and newly minted Petra Ecclestone. Continue reading →