Plot Twist for Fans of Oscars

Three squares and a bench. Oscar fans have had it worse.

In an attempt to tame the crowd that descends on the Oscars each year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has forbidden camping on sidewalks around the Shrine Auditorium.

Instead, there is a new plan to distribute “priority passes” next week for entry to the bleachers.

In return for the more restrictive system, academy sponsors, including Kentucky Fried Chicken, will provide meals, “survival kits” and entertainment for the lucky ticket-holders.

The free priority passes will be available starting Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.--and continuing during those hours through March 21, or until the passes are gone--at a security trailer east of the Shrine.

“There are people for whom being first in line, or getting the best bleacher seat, is very important. They’ve been doing this for a decade or more,” said Ric Robertson, an executive administrator for the academy. “We wanted to create a priority system, in part, to eliminate the need for them to line up and camp out on the sidewalk.”

Snagging a spot with a view of the red carpet has become an endurance test for Oscar devotees. Some have been known to camp out for a week before the awards ceremony, marking off their spots with masking tape on the sidewalk.

“That’s a safety concern,” Robertson said. “I know there are some of them who look forward to that, but with all the stuff going on down there--the production and the traffic--I worry about the safety of that.”

The Los Angeles Police Department has only been asked to provide two patrol cars once fans are in the bleachers. Lt. Milt Dodge, who coordinates police for special events in the Southwest Division, said the passes are a good idea.

“I hate for people to come for two or three days. Where do they take care of their basic needs? That puts a strain on area businesses and USC,” he said. “And it’s a security issue. I suppose we could deploy enough officers to keep them safe, but that takes away from our other obligations.”

People aren’t legally allowed to camp on city sidewalks or streets anyway, he said. So if the academy isn’t making room on the private property around the Shrine, there is no legal place to camp.

Pinkerton, the firm that handles security for the Oscars, will hand out two passes to each person until they run out. The bleachers hold about 1,000 people, but the academy will only distribute 500 passes, to be fair to out-of-towners and people who can’t pick up passes because of work, Robertson said.

Fans will be allowed into the bleachers in five groups--one each hour, according to times printed on the passes--starting at 8 a.m. March 22, the day before the telecast. After that, it’s first come, first served, until the seats are full. After entering the bleacher area, the fans--or “guests,” as the academy calls them--won’t be allowed to leave. (Portable toilets will be available on the site.) The fans will have to sleep in the bleachers that night.

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Sandi Stratton of Escondido thinks the new rules are too much. She and her sister, Babe Churchill, have made a pilgrimage to the Oscars for 29 years.

“We’re not happy at all about it,” Stratton said. “Last year was absolutely perfect. They gave us bracelets that gave us entry in and out of the stands, which was perfect. . . . [Now] it’s almost like they’re putting us in prison. If you go out, you don’t get back in. Period.”

Robertson said all that coming and going created logistical problems. And although no trouble has been reported among the fans--even those who camped out--one young man was hit by a car last year after leaving the bleachers.

It was after the bleacher debacle of 1996 that the academy started to really weigh the needs of fans. That year the ceremony was at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion downtown, where there was limited space around the entry. Only about 150 fans got seats--and lots more were left angry.

John Pavlik, academy communications director, said people loitered in the street thinking more seats were available. “That was really embarrassing because there wasn’t any space. We have vowed that if we go back to the Music Center, we’re going to rearrange those bleachers so we get more seating.”

Rather than alienate fans with the new system, Pavlik said, the academy wanted to make things easier on them. “We love them,” he said. “They just make the whole thing pop. It would be terrible if they weren’t there.”

But it has become harder to be a dedicated Oscar fan. “The first year my sister and I went,” Stratton said, “we got there at 10 a.m. the day of the awards, and we were the first people in the stands.”

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Oscar-Watching Protocol

Priority passes for bleacher seats outside the Academy Awards will be available as of Tuesday at the security trailer on 32nd Street east of The Shrine Auditorium from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. each day until they’re gone.

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New rules for bleacher seating:

* No overnight camping before the priority passes are distributed, nor before the bleachers are opened to guests.

* Pass-holders will be seated first but are guaranteed seats only until noon March 22. Seating is open thereafter.

* Once seated, guests may not leave or reenter.

* No one will be admitted after noon March 23.

* Guests may not bring alcoholic beverages, glass bottles, signs, flags, professional camera equipment or audio amplification equipment into the stands.

* Pinkerton security officers will be available for any emergency. They may remove anyone creating disturbance, disobeying rules or acting inappropriately.