Empire Produces The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Annual Chaplin Award Tribute Gala, Honoring Michael Douglas

May 2010. New York City, NY, Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center

In May 2010, Empire Entertainment returned to Alice Tully Hall to produce the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual Chaplin Award Tribute Gala. This year's star-studded Gala, the 37th annual, honored Academy Award winner Michael Douglas. The Film Society's Annual Gala Tribute began in 1972 and honored Charles Chaplin – who returned to the US from exile to accept the commendation. Since then, the award has honored many of film's visionary talents, including Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, and in 2009, Tom Hanks. This year's gala evening started with VIP cocktails with the honoree in the Hauser Patron's Lounge in Alice Tully Hall and was followed by a seated dinner in the glass-walled atrium.

For the dinner, Empire worked closely the Film Society of Lincoln center events team and with Gala Co-Chair Liz Swig to design a unique, Lucite table with internal LED lighting and a low, geometric centerpiece that contained florals. The dinner décor was implemented fully by Empire Entertainment.Following dinner the 1000+ guests entered the Starr Theater for the all-star program produced by Empire Entertainment. The program began with remarks by this year's event committee chair Ann Tenenbaum and by Film Society Executive Director Mara Manus and Program Director Richard Pena. Then came a career retrospective montage featuring work from Michael Douglas' past films and ending with a clip of the forthcoming, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. NBC Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams, delivered the first tribute of the evening. This was followed by film clips and tributes by writer/director Milos Forman, actress Erika Christensen, writer/director Curtis Hanson, actor Tobey Maguire, actor/comedian Danny DeVito, and actor Frank Langella.

One highlight of the evening was a live performance by Jimmy Buffett, who performed "Margaritaville" and "He Went to Paris." Buffett's performance was followed by remarks by Michael's wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and by his father, Kirk Douglas, who presented the Chaplin Award to his son. Following the tribute program the guests returned to the atrium for a DJ'ed after party with sponsored drinks by 42 Below and Stella Artois.For this high stature event Empire served as overall event producer and was responsible for overseeing creative and coordinating program participation for all participating presenters and talent, working with Lincoln center to provide necessary production design and supervision, creating the run of show and stage managing the event and working with the various film clips and graphics to integrate them into the program. Empire also designed and implemented all aspects of the red carpet and present arrivals, press and step & repeat, VIP cocktail party, dinner design & décor, catering, and after-party design including DJ booking.The program was immensely successful and the client, all of the participating presenters and Michael Douglas were ecstatic with the results.

Empire is a leading producer of high-profile award and tribute programs and is frequently engaged to present programs with international stature talent & celebrities.