I Went to a Press Screening of The Social Network

In the theater were only the people that had written on the clipboard before me. There was one row—one in the middle (“the best seats in the house,” I ‘quipped’ to my girlfriend)—with a barrier obstructing entry made of a piece of packing tape and a paper that had printed on it “RESERVED FOR PRESS.”

When we reached the barrier I said “Are we press?” and then “Yeah, we’re press.” Then I said “Let’s just sit here, there’s already too many people in that row.”

We moved into seats in the row behind the row reserved for press. It was 6:40 p.m. Behind us was a row of seats that had pieces of paper that said “RESERVED FOR [NAME]” taped on them. As more people began to enter, a small depressed Asain man sat in one of these seats.

I watched many people decide where to sit. A number of people tried to get into the press row and ran into the tape and walked away without saying anything. Two people were lead by an employee of the theater into two of the seats that had the “RESERVED FOR [NAME]” paper taped on them. There were many children screaming, and many women yelling to each other from across different parts of the theater. The depressed Asian man moved to the press row.

I had my notebook on my lap and a pen in my hand. As someone walked into our row I saw his eyes focus on my notebook and pen. I felt embarrassed. The red-haired woman who represented The Social Network walked to the people sitting in the “RESERVED FOR [NAME]” seats and said they were lucky that the people the seats were reserved for weren’t there.

“Otherwise I’d be yelling at you right now,” she said.

“Thank you very much for not yelling at us,” one of the people said.

The lights dimmed and The Social Network started after one preview. It ended. I was surprised by the speed at which people stood up and left the theater.

My girlfriend and I walked out of the theater. Outside of the theater there was a line of people waiting in front of men in suits who were behind a table and handing envelopes to the people.

“What is that?” I said. I saw a woman holding a cell phone.

“Are they giving away cell phones?” I said. We walked away from that and down stairs.

In the lobby I saw an obese man. He was in a very excited state. I think he was wearing a over-sized Hawaiian shirt and baggy cargo shorts. “I just saw Mark Zuckerberg. I really just saw Mark Zuckerberg. He was right there in the back. Did you see him?” he said. He walked to other people.

“Did you see him there? I saw him. Holy fuck. Did you see Mark Zuckerberg? He was right there,” he said.

My girlfriend and I walked out of the lobby and onto the street. As we walked up the street I looked back and saw him outside of the door.

“I saw Mark Zuckerberg in there. I can’t believe it was him. I saw him. He was there,” he said to a different group of people.

I turned my head forward and continued walking up the hill with my girlfriend.