The 13th Annual Reel Awards
Feb. 24th, 2004, Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, CA
(California)
(Anywhere Else)

Last year when I posted my first review by critiquing the CIC convention in Las Vegas, I credited Elyse Del Francia with being the first to hold such a convention. The truth of the matter is that I was only referring to that type of convention in Las Vegas.

Elyse still deserves credit for that and one might argue that the REEL AWARDS should not be classified as a “convention” (it really isn’t). However any which way you decide to look at it, long before the CIC, IGCITA, & SUNBURST events was the “REEL AWARDS”.

While attending the Orlando, Fl convention, I was invited to attend the 13th annual “Reel Awards” by producer/agent Janna Joos. I was flattered that Janna would ask me and told her that I would make every attempt to attend. I had first heard of this award show and some of its recipients about 4 years ago although I had never attended the event until just recently.

For some reason unbeknownst to me, I was always under the impression that this award event was to the celebrity impersonator what the Academy Awards and Emmy’s were to an actor - although no one to my knowledge, including Ms. Joos, ever made such a claim. Maybe this is why I was thrown off a little by some of the award recipients - which I will get around to as you read on. While in attendance, I realized that this particular event differs in several ways from the 2 in Vegas and the one recently in Orlando.

While there were some people in attendance from other cities around the country (only 5, including myself, were there from Vegas), the thing that was immediately most obvious to me was that Janna’s event, past & present, is geared predominantly (but not exclusively) towards the acts in California... and many of her own personal favorites at that. As a matter of fact, the entire event was extremely Hollywood oriented, which very well could have been the reason for me making the “Oscar” and “Emmy” connection.

FYI…Southern California was, without a doubt, the original hub for booking celebrity look-alikes long before Vegas took over. For that matter, Southern California is still more popular for booking the “Hollywood” (movie & TV) celebrity impersonators while Vegas tends to utilize more of the performing (musical) acts.

However, because Las Vegas is more capable of employing celebrity look-alikes/sound-alikes on a steadier basis then Los Angeles, it is that city that many aspiring performers tend to put in their sites as the ultimate gig. And I can tell you from personal experience as an active performer and agent, it definitely is a big feather in one’s cap to be recognized and respected as a performer (impersonator, singer, dancer, musician, etc) who keeps busy in the “Entertainment Capital of the World”. With the introduction of shows like “Legends In Concert” and “American Superstars”, it was Vegas that set the precedence and made it mandatory for musical acts to sing ‘live’ and not lip synch, although just about all the other cities are more forgiving in this department - including Los Angeles… OK, so I went off the beaten path a little bit.

The Reel Awards are a Hollywood event indeed - and a classy one at that. Janna’s whole ambiance is refreshingly different than the other 3 conventions. One DOES get the feeling (sort of) that they are attending the Academy Awards - even with some ‘dead’ stars in attendance - along with the red carpet treatment and all. As a matter of fact the real paparazzi were in full swing this night, hyping on the fact that the Academy Awards were less then a week away.

The décor inside the ballroom was perfect for this type of event with “Palm Tree” stage background and the very effective ‘gobo’ lights around the banquet room illuminating silhouettes of “Elvis” & “Marilyn”. Speaking of which, AMAZINGLY there was not one “Elvi” to be found anywhere in site. However, there were enough “Marilyn’s” abound to where one could smell the bleach. And hey, how could you not love that fresh cheese and fruit spread?

Moving onto the awards presentations itself, I found myself with mixed feelings and I am still at odds on exactly how to review/critique this (note my rating). As I always mention when I review these events, it is my job to critique the event as a whole and not to single out performers separately (as much as I am tempted to). MANY of the winners (notably the non performers) were truly deserving of their awards, a very unique gold colored movie film can with a long strip of embalmed film and white acknowledgement label inside, while some will forever remain a mystery to me.

I was even more surprised by some of those that were chosen to perform during the main show. While many were very good, many others seemed below par for the level that one would expect for a Hollywood awards event. Let’s face it, when an actor, director, or producer wins an Oscar, it may be open to debate that another person was more deserving, but all will agree that the winner is still at the top of his/her game. In other words… respected by their peers. This was not always the case here.

I was having a difficult time witnessing a few “B-” acts and acts that lip-synch receive awards. So much that I felt inclined to find out from Janna just how these votes were calculated and who decided which award went to whom. When I directly presented the question to Janna, she answered with a very polite, sincere, & honest “I DO”. She even went on to tell me that she hand picked the (not always standard) categories that may vary with each passing year. Okay then, so much for democracy in the Reel Awards. So, taking this all into consideration, my feeling is this… anyone attending the Reel Awards needs to know that this event does not necessarily reflect the best in the business or even in California for that matter. This also does not mean that certain individuals are not deserving of their “awards” because certainly some were. While chatting with other attendees, it was evident that most were pretty much in agreement as to who deserved their awards and who did not. There was not too much to debate here.

One must recognize that this is Janna’s event and she chooses whom, in her and only her opinion deserves the award this year. It’s her baby, she’s worked real hard to put it together, and she can do whatever she wants. If you can get past and accept that (as I am sure the winners will have no problem with), then the Reel Awards is an entertaining & fun event - to be enjoyed by all that attend. And yes I would go again (as a more enlightened attendee).

The audience for the most part was very supportive of the other acts - no matter what class the acts were. However, as in the same case as both of last years Vegas events, this one dragged on much too long to the point where, during the final hour, a good portion of the small audience that remained were being rude to the performers onstage by talking non stop and even doing business throughout the performances. I can only half fault the audience for this because I know myself that after sitting and watching for hours, people tend to get antsy and/or restless. I believe Janna mentioned something about possibly going to “multiple days” next year. Janna was very fair by allowing any and all that paid their admission fees be allowed to perform without being cut off - although there were a select few that I am sure the audience would have been happy to reimburse (plus some) if they did not. There were also too many of the same people going up onstage numerous times to either, present, receive, or perform. The sound system was good for the most part with minimal mishaps, and there was actually a small orchestra on the floor doing their best to provide themed ‘walk on’ and ‘walk off’ music for some of the presenters and winners. Richard Halpern as “Austin Powers” is always a wise choice to host/emcee.

Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I still look forward to the day when there will be an experienced, knowledgeable, unbiased board of qualified people that will really choose the best of the best in this industry. I think the people on this “board” that are qualified to cast a final vote should consist of performers, agent/promoters, producer/directors ……and possibly even a journalist. However, we are probably still years away from something like this, as this will never happen until there is some unity between ALL the producers of these award/convention shows.

The FAB FOUR 11/03

TRENT CARLINI (The Dream King) 12/03

LEGENDS - MUCKLESHOOT 1/04

The REEL AWARDS 3/04

TJ TYLER'S KARAOKE PARTY 5/04

LEGENDS IN CONCERT 7/04

STARS IN CONCERT 8/04

DANNY GANS 9/04

PERFORMING AS 10/04

Legends In Concert 4/05