There’s no calm before the TIFF storm for Samantha Margolis and Jordan Fogle.
While the rest of the city spent Labour Day weekend trying to squeeze in a few last hours of summer laziness, the husband and wife team behind party production and marketing outfit The Mint Agency were in their lofty Junction office with their staff of nine putting the finishing touches on the seven events they were responsible for over the festival’s first four days.
We’re not talking B-list affairs either. There was Thursday’s Smartwater do for Joseph Gordon Levitt, Bruce Willis and their TIFF opener Looper. On Friday, they turned Brassaii into a beach vacay bacchanal for the Spring Breakers cast including Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens. Saturday’s assignment was converting a west end condo sales centre into a high school-themed cocktailer for Perks of Being a Wallflower’s Emma Watson and Nina Dobrev. And last night it was TIFF’s hottest ticket, the Creative Artist Agency’s bash at new spot Cinema in Liberty Village that brought out Naomi Watts, Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth.
“Welcome to insanity,” says Fogle who also celebrated his birthday yesterday.
This kind of craziness is nothing new for the team that swells to 20-plus people during the festival. Mint began working on TIFF events in 2008, partnering with a Dubai production company for five days of fetes, starting with a cast party for The Wrestler’s Mickey Rourke, Marissa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood at the Hazelton Hotel. No festival assignment stands out more than last year’s Moneyball dinner though, where Brad and Angelina dined on a Tom Colicchio-cooked feast in a Queen and Bathurst loft.
“We pride ourselves on creating environments where the talent feels comfortable and not bombarded by gawkers,” says Margolis. “Celebrities are people too and they’ve been up since 7 am getting their hair done, doing their junkets and walking the red carpet. After all that, they just want to hang out with their friends.”
Though stars might (occasionally) be just like us, working the party beat also means remaining open to indulging the occasional last minute request like the celeb who voiced her taco craving during her film’s dinner at a downtown bistro. And when a big name decides not to get on a plane to her Toronto premiere, it’s the Mint team’s job to make sure sponsors who are underwriting the after party are still satisfied with its slightly dimmer star wattage.
“As organized as you can be, things still come up,” says Margolis who knows where every sweet shop in the city is after fielding an eleventh hour request for a candy bar at a party but has never watched a movie at the festival. “By the end of TIFF, if I do have time to see something, I’m worried I’ll fall asleep in the theatre.”
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. The Mint team may have survived the opening weekend crunch but they have five more events on tap this week including a dinner for Iceman’s Wynona Ryder, Michael Shannon and Chris Evans this evening and celebrations for Eli Roth’s Aftershock and Jared Leto’s Artifact later in the week.
The party must go on.
