Golden Globes Transportation Snafu Leaves Industry Insiders Fuming

The scene at the shuttle pickup (Andrew Wallenstein/Twitter)

On Monday, studio and network reps were fuming over Sunday night’s shuttle problems, leading to more than 1,000 people waiting up to three hours to travel 1.5 miles to the Beverly Hilton for Golden Globes after-parties.

Thanks to heightened security, the Hilton sharply cut down the number dropoffs or walk-ins from Wilshire Boulevard, relying instead on a shuttle service from a parking lot at 1999 Avenue of the Stars in Century City.

The Beverly Hilton always hosts 1,300 people for the Golden Globes event, with the number of revelers more than doubling for the after-parties. The NBC telecast ended a few minutes after 8 p.m., with shuttles scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. But the math didn’t add up: 1,500 guests, with only eight shuttles, each carrying 24 passengers.

Each party-giving company was allowed only 40 dropoffs on Wilshire Boulevard. Otherwise, the Hilton dictated that people needed to park in Century City, while other hired vehicles (including taxis, Uber, Lyft, etc.) were required to drop off guests at the parking lot. That meant Century City would need to accommodate a larger number of party guests than in the past — including studio/network execs, agents, managers, producers, and co-stars of nominated films or series, media members and other guests.

Plenty of attendees, from stars to press, took to social media to voice their displeasure with the party process.

“Want to know the hottest Golden Globes after party?….in the parking garage waiting for the shuttle,” tweeted “How to Get Away With Murder” actor Kendrick Sampson at 10:19 p.m., two hours after the main show wrapped.

According to one attendee, producer (and new Relativity president) Dana Brunetti was spotted in the line, but soon became so frustrated with the delays that he gave away his party tickets and left, while “The Carmichael Show” star Amber Stevens West ended up taking off her high heels and walking barefoot through the garage after standing for so long.

Reps of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. had no comment on Monday, since the HFPA’s role ends with the conclusion of the show. The parties are thrown by studios or networks (Amazon, Fox, HBO, NBC/Universal, Netflix/Weinstein Co., Warner Bros./InStyle) and reps were unwilling to talk on the record, not wanting to rock their long relationships with the hotel.

After the ceremonies, security tried to clear the hotel lobby as much as possible, for safety reasons. In years past, party-goers would line up outside the hotel during the wait, but at least people felt closer to their goal of attending.

This year, the line in Century City started forming at 7:30 p.m., though the first shuttle left an hour later. By that point, the line was already long. The shuttle company seemed to be on a learning curve; there were tales of one driver getting lost and circling around, and in another instance, a shuttle was delayed while the organizers scoured the line for a solo person to fill the last seat, since they didn’t want a bus to carry only 23 passengers instead of 24.

Some guests got angry and tried to walk over to the Hilton, only to be turned around and send back to the parking structure and shuttles.

One party-goer arrived at the parking structure at 7:50, and didn’t make it on a shuttle until 9:30. By that point, the line was covering three floors of the parking structure, with nobody moving, and would-be partygoers were watching celebrities like Helen Mirren and Emmy Rossum returning from the parties to their cars.

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