By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
S07: Swag the dog: no more heavy bags full of useless merchandise
A few days before Sundance and information is still king and Indie® is but a peasant: while sorting through a couple hundred emails about things other than the movies being shown in Park City, this “But How Do You REALLY Feel About Sponsorship and Swag?” entry stands up and salutes: the inauguration of the kinda-sorta anti-swag swaghouse. (Not all sentences are claimed to have been ever spoken aloud.) “ GIFTING LOUNGE CONGRATULATES DIRECTORS AT THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. “For the FIRST TIME EVER, there will be a brand new way of gifting at the Sundance Film Festival. The Winter Warm Up Retreat invites filmmakers and their casts to come and enjoy the lounge while viewing new products that are being showcased. The Directors in the competition category will be congratulated for their achievements and gifted exclusively with high-end products. All attending press and celebs will have access to various products and services that will be offered on Luxestar. This is not your typical swag house. No more heavy bags full of useless merchandise, no more oversized clothing or oddly colored promotional items. Throughout the year we have spoken with celebrities and other VIP’s about their feelings on the new IRS restrictions and backlash that comes with receiving decadent items in public. After hearing the responses, the Luxestar Card was created… The enormous success of last years[‘] Self Magazine lounge, has urged us to step it up and offer every celebrity who visits the Luxestar Lounge one item only. The Platinum Luxestar Card. In addition to new products,” there’s a flipside, “The Freedom Campaign will [also] showcase the campaign for [Myanmar house-arrest prisoner of conscience] Aung San Suu Kyi and introduce Hollywood’s famed actors and actresses [to] the cause in Burma. All [attendees] will receive a signature Freedom Campaign t-shirt and trailer for [a] soon to be finished… documentary… [T]he Luxestar Card gives celebrities the chance to select their own swag in the privacy of their own home. Representatives will… guide guests through the LuxeStar website and even assist them in ordering items on the spot. They simply log on and pick their favorite size, color, style and have it shipped… For our high end products [and] services, taxes then become the responsibility of the celebrity only for what they select and not for what they are given. The celebrity also becomes a unique user [of] the Luxestar website offering them goods year round through the use of their LuxeStar card… [S]ponsors include BlackBerry®, C Magazine, Jaeger Le Couture, Monarchy Collection, Lolly Lu, [and] Snow Queen Vodka… Specialty cocktails will be provided [at a] Hollywood Happy Hour at the end of each day.” [Footnote: Snow Queen vodka is a Kazakh product, distilled five times for reasons unspecified.]