It's always incredible when you get to take time and really connect with fellow industry colleagues and especially those that have been doing what you're doing for so much longer! Loved meeting with Hillary and having established a true beginning to a wonderful new relationship above what's just professional. Here's to good friends and to an amazing blog post below! Thanks Hillary!
Guest Blog by Hillary
Harris
A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of having lunch on the lot with Joella Hopkins of Mumtaz Marketing & Events at the Warner Bros. Fine
Dining Commissary. Over our lunch of the chef’s special crab cakes, gazpacho
and burgers, we talked about everything. My favorite part of the lunch was when
Joella told me the story of how she came by the word “mumtaz” for her company.
What was great about it was the way she pulled me into the
story – describing everything in detail and engaging all the senses. I felt as
if I was with her on her journey inside a pyramid in Egypt. I felt the heat of
the desert and the cold dark environment inside the stone. I listened in the
silence she described and felt the joy she felt when she emerged. And I
understood the word, mumtaz; the exceptional experience – she encountered.
After our lunch, I thought a lot about that word and realized
that mumtaz is something we are always creating on the lot -- the exceptional experience
for our clients and their guests. Here are a few.
ANOTHER WORLD
The backlot of Warner Bros. has many faces, from a steamy
futuristic street in the vein of Blade Runner’s futuristic Asian look …
… to a wild, mod
sixties lounge look.
This is also New York Street, believe it or not! Video digital mapping
allowed the studio façade to be completely transformed. As
you can see, it’s surprising how easily locations with traditional architecture
such as Brownstone and New York Streets can slip into something more exotic.
With the right mood, décor and lighting, guests are swept away into another world
with sight, sounds, feeling and taste, completely enveloping their senses.
And then some other locations are simply exotic on their own
such as the jungle/lagoon area.
Our lagoon can be drained, as it was here, to create a beautiful
and wild setting in the middle of the city! This gorgeous event was the
premiere for Game of Thrones. Or, the
lagoon can remain filled for the perfect Twilight
look, or Cajun Bayou.
HOLLYWOOD MAGIC
Soundstages are a huge part of the studio experience and we
are able to hold events on them between productions. Because it’s so unusual,
the location immediately ensures a memorable, and well-attended, event. Who
doesn’t want to have dinner on a working soundstage? Instant magic.
This event fell right between the wrap of a TV show and the
start of a movie. It was the perfect venue for a hugely successful fund-raising event for
Providence St. Joe’s.
HISTORY
And of course, there is the history of the lot – our 90th
anniversary was this year in fact! To bring all this magic to the guest
experience, events can begin at the SJR Theatre. Here, in the shadow of the
famous water tower, a red carpet greeting and step-and-repeat wall can be done
for charity, association and corporate events as well as Hollywood events. From
here, it’s an easy few steps to Brownstone Street where so many iconic movies
and TV shows have been filmed and where, as you’ve seen, event designers can
create a multitude of fantastic looks.
After lunch, Joella enjoyed a VIP tour with me at the wheel
of my studio golf cart (it’s the only way to get around the lot and a lot of
fun as well). As she learned, Warner Bros. has many more locations for events –
13 in all. And we have several additions underway to the WB experience which
I’ll be revealing in the coming months on my blog. So stay tuned. There’s a lot
happening on the lot and I’m looking forward to sharing it all with you.
