starstruck

So, yes. It's finally happened. And the exciting thing is, this is only the beginning. Tonight I attended the "Beyond Words" Writer's Guild event in Beverly Hills featuring most of the nominated screenwriters for this year's WGA awards. Sadly, Tina Fey couldn't make it (though I might have fainted if she had, so maybe it's better this way) but many of this year's hottest screenwriters were there giving a very humorous Q&A. The featured writers were:
Keir Pearson (Hotel Rawanda)
Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby)
Jose Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries)
Alexander Payne (Sideways)
John Logan (The Aviator)
Julie Delpy (Before Sunset)
Zack Braff (Garden State)
and Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
also Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) was the host, and she was funnier than I expected.

So anyhow, I saw all these people, and then we had a chance to mingle with them. Julie Delpy was leaving quickly, but she said hi to me and a few friends on her way out. I had a chat with Charlie Kaufman, and got a picture with him that I will post here as soon as it's developed. He's a strange little dude (literally, the guy's maybe 5 feet tall). I talked briefly with Alexander Payne, too, but more about the deserts than his movies. Surpisingly, though, the coolest part of the evening was probably talking to Zack Braff. I like his "Scrubs" stuff more than I liked Garden State, but it was still really cool talking to him. He was really down to earth, and he stood around and chatted with me and a few of my classmates for about 10 minutes. He gave us some advice, we joked around, it was pretty relaxed conidering the icon he's become as of late. So that was crazy. Oh yeah and I have a picture with him, too. We've got our arms around each other, buddy style. Strange and awesome, this place called Hollywood. Look forward to seeing those pictures updated here soon. I know I do.