The members of the Cinema Audio Society gathered Feb. 17 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles to present their 43rd annual awards. A cocktail reception segued into dinner in the Biltmore Bowl, with excellent live jazz by the Nelson Cole Trio. The awards got underway a mere half-hour late and confused the audience by showing clips of the nominees’ work but saving the presentation of the awards until the end of the evening.Most of the effort went to saluting filmmaker award honoree and longtime Oscars telecast producer Gil Cates, who laughed at being “played off” just as he began his acceptance speech; and career achievement award honoree Ed Greene, who was lauded by no less than five speakers, including Carroll Pratt and Louis J. Horvitz. The main awards were handed out in the last half-hour of the night. The winners:2007 CAS Career Achievement Award Honoree: Ed Greene, CAS2007 CAS Filmmaker Award Honoree: Gilbert CatesSound Mixing for Motion Pictures: Dreamgirls – Michael Minkler, CAS, Bob Beemer, CAS, Willie D. Burton, CASSound Mixing for Television Movies and Mini-Series: Flight 93 – Mark Linden, Tara A. Paul, Liam Lockhart, Harry SnodgrassSound Mixing for a Television Series: Deadwood “A Two-Headed Beast” – R. Russell Smith, CAS, William Freesh, Geoffrey Patterson, CASSound Mixing for Television Non-Fiction, Variety or Music – Series or Specials: Paul McCartney: The Space Within Us – Matt Foglia, CAS, David KahneSound Mixing for DVD Original Programming: Ultimate Avengers: The Movie – Mike Draghi, CAS, Eric LewisCAS Technical Achievement Award for Production Technologies: Sound Devices 744T RecorderCAS Technical Achievement Award for Postproduction Technologies: Digidesign Pro Tools (V7.2 software)Venue: The Biltmore in downtown LAParking: Validated parking at the hotel, which was crowded; nearby garages were less crowded, but cost as much as $22.50Bar: Full cash bar, serving wine, beer and mixed drinksQuality of Drinks: GoodQuality of Wine: Very good—Woodbridge 2004 cabernet and chardonnayFood: Very good—tasty hors d’oeuvres; for dinner, a grilled Bosc pear and endive salad with candied walnuts, blue cheese and sweet shallot vinaigrette; filet mignon and roasted salmon with shitake mushroom sauce, chive mashed potatoes, baby red and yellow carrots and haricot verts; and for dessert, an excellent crème brulee cheesecake with fresh berriesAttire: Black tie to casualShow Length: 2 hours and 15 minutesHost: Comic, actor and writer Robert WuhlSwag: Each seat had a CAS-logoed tote bag that contained a bag of Don Francisco’s Gourmet Coffee; a CD of “I Need to Wake Up,” Melissa Etheridge’s Oscar-nominated song from An Inconvenient Truth; a Warner Bros. Post Production Services desk calendar; a small, maple leaf-shaped jar of Coombs Family Farms 100% Pure Maple Syrup; a bottle of Circle of Friends Home Run Root Beer shower gel for kids; a plastic pouch with a keyring containing earplugs from the House Ear Institute; and three keychains with flashlights, one each from Lectrosonics, Dolby and UniversalHigh Point: Oscar telecast producer Gil Cates being played off the stage about a minute after he accepted the CAS Filmmaker AwardLow Point: Realizing the clips of the nominees were not going to be immediately followed by the presentation of the awardBest Quote of the Night: “Horvitz, I don’t want to say your speech was long, but they just gave out the best supporting actor Oscar,” host Robert Wuhl to director Louis J. Horvitz, who introduced honoree Ed Greene
Written by Tom McLean
