"Can I have a falafel with hot sauce, a side order of baba ghanoush and a seltzer, please?"

I invited Substack friends over for a movie night.

Last weekend I invited 15 new friends I made through this Substack for a movie night in my home, combining my two favorite things: Watching movies and meeting new people. Here’s a recap.

The guests

I’ve talked about this before but it’s pretty crazy and incredible to me how many friends I’ve made since starting 11am Saturday. We collaborate on each other’s projects, text and email about movies, and check in on each other’s lives via Instagram Story replies; but it was time to bring this online party to the real world. I’m awed that all 15 of my “internet friends” not only showed up to a (for all intents and purposes) stranger’s home but also instantly hit it off with each other. Who knew that people who have the same specific principal interest would get along so well (lol)?? Plans for future hangs were being made before the movie even started and I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

Party Girl dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer

The movie

I kept the movie selection a surprise on my invite simply because I hadn’t yet decided. I knew I wanted the runtime to be around the 90 minute mark so people had enough juice left to chat afterwards. It also had to be something lighthearted that we could all laugh at together. I ultimately landed on the charming, colorful and wonderfully strange 90’s cult classic Party Girl¹ that I’d previously seen once on a hot summer day at Los Feliz 3. Who wouldn’t want to spend an hour and a half hanging out with Parker Posey’s club-scene-queen turned library clerk Mary? If you haven’t seen this film before you have to check it out asap for the clothes alone. Before the film started I made a little speech thanking everyone then read out everyone’s responses to the “What’s your dream movie theater snack?” question in my survey to break the ice.

The snacks

My best friend picked up 2 gigantic AMC popcorn bags on her way over (did you know they sell popcorn-to-go?) so we could have the real movie theater stuff. I went to town on the small sticker maker I bought a while ago and customized the vintage popcorn boxes (that I bought in bulk and now have 85 extra of!). We assembled sour candy, beverages and stickers on my dining room table and guests brought over even more candy and beverages.

Because I love an Actual Meal at the theater, I ordered 3 types of pizza from my favorite neighborhood spot (vegetarian, meat-based and gluten free) and chicken tenders that were probably the biggest hit of the night.

The seats

On Saturday morning my roommate and I gathered everything that remotely resembled a seat into our living room: 2 couches, 2 small armchairs, 5 dining chairs, 2 bean bags borrowed from a friend and a few stools in case of an emergency. Since the first thing we bought when we moved into this home was a big projector, everyone thankfully had a good view of the screen. Although if anyone reading this has access to a small theater you should definitely let me know so I can invite more people next time!

The after

Approximately 3 minutes after the credits rolled, someone (won’t name names) took over the sound system and put the Challengers soundtrack on. Perfection. We talked about the Oscars (specifically Sean Baker’s speech about the importance of seeing movies at the movie theater), Mickey 17, the state of the industry in LA after the fires and the vital #StayinLA project and petition.

I would give this evening a 11/10. It reaffirmed my strong belief that we need to take an active part in creating the community we wish to be a part of. There is something special about growing out of the online spaces that facilitate our initial connections and gathering in the physical realm. And, well, it’s just really fun to throw a party (required reading on this by

emily north

&

Angelina Hazzouri

). May we have a movie theater of our own some day and screen all our favorite movies & serve all our favorite snacks.

1. The other frontrunners were Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, The Long Goodbye, Empire Records and Sunset Boulevard.