Slime isn’t the only thing green about Nickelodeon’s
Kids’ Choice Awards.
The 17th annual awards show, held at Pauley Pavillion on
Saturday, did more than draw a few A-list celebs and 50,000
screaming kids: It raised a lot of money.
Besides being home to various UCLA sporting events, Pauley
Pavilion often hosts outside events, such as this awards show, in
order to generate extra revenue.
“Productions such as these are the ones that allow me to
offer other free events in the future,” said UCLA Facilities
Manager Richard Mylin. “It just enhances our program’s
capability, and Pauley’s ability to be used by both students
and faculty at UCLA as well as the greater outside community is
what makes it so special.”
The Nickelodeon awards show once previously was held at Pauley
Pavilion in 1999. Leading all the excitment this year, hosts Mike
Myers and Cameron Diaz handed out awards to a few lucky actors,
musicians and athletes who all were chosen by kids’
votes.
“One of the reasons we chose it was “¦ we had a
history there before,” said Jim Moroney, head of Teenasaurus
Rox, the production company hired by Nickelodeon to produce the
event. “Basically, it’s a nice building, it’s
centrally located, and all that goes to create a better environment
as a whole, which is our goal.”
As the awards show has grown in popularity in recent years, so
has the amount of work that goes into the creation of the set. This
year’s transformation of the basketball court into a
kids’ wonderland took a lot more than just a few hundred
gallons of green slime and a little Hollywood magic.
With a crew of roughly 300 people, with everything from
engineers to vendors to carpenters, the production of the awards
show began on campus about 10 days prior to the actual date of the
show.
One of the factors that makes Pauley Pavilion such an accessible
venue for prodcutions such as the Kids’ Choice Awards is its
strong ceiling, which held up to 97,000 pounds during the coarse of
the show. Some of the show’s special effects, including
hip-hop group OutKast’s Andre 3000’s onstage-to-rooftop
flight were made possible as a result.
“Shows are just getting bigger all the time,” said
production rigger Scott Crawford. “A big show used to be less
than 100 chain motors, and this show needed 220. Lucky for us
Pauley Pavilion has one of the strongest ceilings around, so from a
rigging standpoint it’s really easy to work with.”
And with current budget cuts, Mylin sees the event as being good
for revenue, even considering the show’s impact on the
campus.
“As large as it becomes in here (as well as all the
production that took place outside in Drake Stadium), to have all
this and to also have classes going on would simply be too
much,” said Mylin. “This year ended up matching our
spring break, which was a good thing for (UCLA).”
In fact, Mylin maintains that serving the students always
remains a top priority. Still, hosting outside events is more than
just a revenue generator; it is also a good way to promote the
university’s reputation as a whole.
“There’s a certain intrinsic value to it all,”
said Mylin. “(The Kids’ Choice Awards) is seen by
millions of kids all over the nation, and for them to see part of
our campus and get excited is something really
important.”
But that’s not the only reason Pauley Pavilion is such an
appealing locale. Last year’s awards were held at the much
smaller Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica Airport.
“We’re always looking to improve, and one of the
problems with other venues is that they couldn’t accomadate
all the people who were interested in attending,” said
Moroney. “The more fans that can get up close and personal,
the better.”
Despite all of its advantages, Pauley Pavilion isn’t the
perfect venue. One of the major difficulties in hosting the
Kid’s Choice Awards at UCLA was that the production had to
share control with the university. Production companies usually
rent out a venue and have complete control there, but at UCLA
cooperation is a necessity, according to David Hawyard, the
production manager for Teenasaurus Rox.
“In the begining it was sort of an adversarial
relationship,” he said. “There’s so many rules
and regulations, which have to exist when you’re working with
a state agency, and it can make the production process more
difficult.”
“They have the priorities of students in mind, and, for
all the right reasons, they have to come first,” said
Moroney.