Member Lens: What’s It Like to Attend the Spirit Awards
Fun fact: if you vote for the winners of the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which all Members are eligible to do, you get entered into a raffle. The prize for the raffle: two tickets to attend the show as guests!
It truly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You can get coffee next to June Squib. You can run into Questlove in line for the bathroom. Or if you’re Jean Ortiz-Luis, you can run into a volunteer friend that you know from your years volunteering for the show.
Ortiz-Luis was the winner of this year’s raffle, and as well as being an independent film lover, she has a long history volunteering for both the Spirit Awards and the LA Film Festival. So when she got to attend this year as a guest, it was extra special.
We spoke with her about her unique experience, and her life as a Film Independent member.
Tell me a little bit about your background of where you’re from and how you first got interested in independent film.
I am a born and raised Southern Californian. I’m from Norwalk, California which is just outside of LA. Honestly, I’ve just always been into movies and frankly award shows. My dad brought me to a Kids’ Choice Award when I was maybe 10, and I’ve never looked back.
I went to Cal State Long Beach, studied marketing and the plan was always to work at a film studio doing marketing or to work in entertainment in general. I ended up not doing that. I got into tech, and I do marketing. I’ve been doing that for six years now and it’s not where I initially thought I would go, but I will say things like Film Independent allow me to still have access to my passions and interests.
I love that I have my day job that I can walk away from and then spend my nights going to screenings and enjoying what the LA film community has to offer.
You have a history of volunteering with us. Tell me a bit about that.
I was working for a lighting company at the time and wanted to branch out and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t find a job in entertainment, so I started volunteering just to try to get my foot in the door. I volunteered for the LA Film Festival and had a great time and some of the volunteers there told me that they had volunteered for the Independent Spirit Awards. I thought, ‘That sounds really fun! I love that award show.’ I think I joined as a member and a volunteer in the same year.
I joined several years ago and loved going to all the events at LACM and all those screenings. I always had so much fun, and volunteering was fun. I’ve volunteered for maybe six Independent Spirit Awards over the past several years. I often see the same people over and over again and that’s nice.
You won the raffle this year to attend the Spirit Awards as a guest. How did you feel when you found out that you won?
I was so surprised because I forgot that that there was a raffle. I vote every year [for the Film Independent Spirit Awards], and it’s one of those things where I see the raffle, and I’m like ‘Oh yeah that’s cool. I’m not going to win that.’ I totally forgot that I was entered!
I was completely shocked. Anyone would be excited to be invited to the award show but coming from being a longtime volunteer, I thought ‘Whoa, I get to go as a guest,’ and it was such a fun experience. I brought my brother who has also volunteered. He and I volunteered together years ago and had a great time.
Volunteering, to me, is a privilege. I always have fun. Yes, we work hard and we’re helping, but I always saw that as a privilege. So, to then go as a guest was like, ‘Oh, I don’t have to work!’
Was there one moment from the show that stuck with you?
Honestly it was running into another volunteer, because it was just such a crazy event with a lot of people there. My brother and I were just walking around the tent just trying to observe what was going on, like, ‘Wow, look at all these beautiful, famous people and filmmakers,’ and as I’m walking, someone grabs my arm. My first thought is, who would recognize me here, and it turns out it was another volunteer who I’ve known for years!
I think we started around the same time, so we’ve known each other for over 10 years now and she immediately recognized me. I told her I won the tickets and she’s like, ‘Wow, that’s so cool!’
That was such a funny coincidence that I would run into someone I’ve known for years. It was also so nice to just see her because, that’s how I feel about volunteering: I come back, I see these people that I’ve known for years but only get to see them once a year.
That was a full-circle moment. I was very surprised and thankful. It was a very pleasant surprise.
What’s your favorite part of being a member?
Honestly, it’s the access to the screenings and Q&As. There’s a ton of that in LA but I do think that Film Independent screenings are very well curated. There’s always great filmmakers and actors that I get to see. I also love that it’s a pretty small community. I go to other screenings that are put on by other organizations and it is kind of a circus sometimes. I feel like Film Independent is this very passionate, fairly small community and that’s what I like about it. There’s great access in what feels like an intimate setting.
I have friends in the film industry asking me, ‘How do you have access to these things?’ and I tell them its really easy. Film Independent is right there. It’s been there this whole time. The membership is not expensive. It’s very accessible and affordable and you get so much access whether you work in the industry, or you just love it. It’s a low barrier of entry, and maybe some people just don’t know about it. I talk about it about it all the time.
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