When I got there, I thought that it would be a snap to sell tickets to rich people. The event cost $2,000 per seat, so I figured $60 was chump change. Well, I was only able to sell 8 tickets! Of course, a lot of the attendees were at corporate tables, so they weren't necessarily uber rich.
Other than my failure to sell more tickets, the event was a lot of fun! I sat at table 231 where I met a man who actually survived breast cancer. He was quite young. I was impressed he was talking about it so openly (it came up because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month).
Ryan Seacrest opened the night with his story...he really worked hard (and at menial jobs only semi-related to radio) and he related his plan of taking it step by step to reach his dream to what the Fulfillment Fund is all about--helping kids become equipt to make their dreams come true.
Fulfillment Fund has a very strong mentoring program, so a woman came out to introduce the winner of the Gary Gitnick Inspiration Award (Gary Gitnick is the founder of the Fund and a really nice man...I had the opportunity to get to know him when I went to the Sun Valley Writer's Conference back in 2002). The Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villiagrossa, was to help with the introduction. I'm not a huge fan of his, but he's a man of note.
John Fogerty, former lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival, was the musical performer. He was introduced on stage by Christian Bale (star of The Dark Knight as Batman), who has a really interesting accent. Very cute in person. Fogerty was very entertaining. Many people got up and danced.
The main honoree was Thomas Tull, CEO of Legendary Pictures. He was the executive producer of The Dark Knight and other popular movies. He seems like a very down to earth guy. He mentioned that Brandon Routh (who played Superman in Superman Returns) was at the event also, so if someone was looking for a super hero, Superman and Batman were on hand. When he said Brandon Routh was there I flipped my head about saying to myself, "Where? Where?" I'm not a huge star-gazer, but I'd LOVE to meet him!
This event also included a very short auction. There were only about 4 items. I was helping with that as well, but it was so small, I didn't do anything but stand there.
The evening was closed out by Kate Beckinsale, who complimented the speakers by calling them "Kick A--". Didn't expect that from her!
After the festivities, all of the Fulfillment Fund staff and alumni picked up the auction paddles and kleenex boxes. Here's Tatiana, a FF staffer, putting some kleenex boxes away. If you would like to know more about the Fulfillment Fund, go to http://www.fulfillmentfund.org/. Here are more pictures (the first ones are of Brandon!!! sniff sniff). http://www.dailyceleb.com/production/?view=event&eid=5953&PHPSESSID=b727b00927b1883e3ea874e436a8d751
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