Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

After our dinner-snack at Java Cow, we headed back down Main Street to catch a different bus that would take us to the Prospector Theater, where we could wait in the waitlist line for a different movie. The winter light was fading quickly and I hadn’t taken many photos yet, attributable to the crappy weather and not feeling photographically inspired, so I pulled out my camera and took a few shots on the way. Fabulous Marie was a gracious model. This is one of my favorite photos.

Technically there was one singular (sensation) celebrity sighting while we were in Park City. Technically, Marie saw him. I say Technically because as we were rushing up Main Street to see if we could still get tickets to Four Lions, Marie FAILED to hail my attention when Alan Tudyk passed us. Maybe you’ve heard of him? He’s a friend of some guy named Joss Whedon and has acted in some minor film/television productions like Firefly, Dollhouse, and V. If you’re a gamer, maybe you’d recognize his voice from Halo 3:ODST.

Yeah, so Technically she saw him. I can’t verify that, so rather than bury myself in the anguished bitterness of a lost geek celebrity sighting, I’ll just vent through my blog. Healthy choices!

Anyway.

We returned to the Old Town Transit Station, which is across the street behind Main Street and up a long staircase, to wait for the (free) bus that would take us somewhat directly to our next venue. I looked at the map myself and determined that it was a pretty direct line and we wouldn’t be on the bus for another 45 minutes. I also figured out that the volunteer who directed us to get on that first (also free) bus could have easily told us to cross the street, walk up a little way, and catch a bus that would get us to Main Street in under 15 minutes, thereby allowing plenty of time to acquire waitlist tickets for the movie we wanted to see. Grrr. In any case, we arrived at the Prospector Hotel without incident and lined up to get waitlist numbers.

The way Sundance Film Festival ticketing works is pretty clever and mildly irritating. Anyone can purchase hard tickets for $15 in advance, even on the day of the screening, until the designated allotment of tickets is sold out. Most screenings, especially on the first weekend, are sold out well in advance of the festival. There are a certain number of seats that are reserved for the director, prominent actors and/or entourage should they decide to attend. And new for this year is a small allotment of seats for volunteers who cash in their free vouchers or flash their I’m-a-hardcore-volunteer photo credentials to get in.

There is also a waitlist line for every screening. Hopeful, risk-taking people line up in a designated area near every theater and then, at exactly two hours before the screening will start, brightly colored paper numbers are handed out in the order that people lined up. People disperse. Then they reconvene in line a half hour before the screening will start. If the theater manager determines that there will be seats available, some (and occasionally all) of those waitlisters will be able to plunk down $15 cash and get a ticket on the spot.

Any pre-purchase ticketholders who are not seated by 15 minutes prior to screening time risk forfeiting their seat to someone in the waitlist. Waitlisters are processed in small groups so to give ticketholders a generous opportunity to arrive in the nick of time, but sometimes they’ve decided not to see the film or the weather (or bus system) prevented them from making it on time. It’s sad when people arrive late with hard tickets but cannot get in to the theater, but obviously Sundance’s larger goal is to fill the theater and maximize sales. They’re a non-profit organization and need every penny—which is why you’ll see rampant corporate sponsorship throughout the festival and on every official Sundance sign.

(On Sunday there was an article in Salt Lake City’s Deseret News about Sundance’s dedicated volunteer fleet. It claimed that our volunteer hours were worth over $500,000 to the festival, assuming we were paid “McDonald’s wages.”)

Right. So. We acquired numbers 50 and 51 in the waitlist line for Bass Ackwards. Even though the theater seats over 300, those were still pretty high waitlist numbers for a premiere. We headed over to the nearby Volunteer Villa (a large temporary tent behind festival headquarters at the Marriott) for a little while. It had a couple computers with internet access, board games, coffee, cookies, and a TV tuned to the Encore channel. Pretty swanky for a tent, huh?

We almost couldn’t leave because Speed was on TV and Marie wanted to know how it ended. Har har.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this incredibly non-eventful-yet-full-of-details story!