Have you ever seen those Master Card commercials? You know the “Priceless” commercials? Well that felt like my life on Monday, November 23rd 2009. The day I met Zac Efron! I had been toying with the idea of doing something fun for myself in celebration of earning my Masters Degree and, since I’m having surgery during the Christmas Holidays, Thanksgiving weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity. Coincidentally M&OW promotion was going on in NYC at that time. I have family and friends in the city. Also my good friend, and fellow Zac fan, Kerry lives in the area so I knew we could go to some things together. So I said why the hell not right? You only live once right LOL? So I booked my flight and headed to NYC on Saturday the 21st!

Now bare with me since I did a lot in the short time I was in NYC. Details for the promo were very hush hush; which was weird considering how much promotion was being done in the UK. The night before I left I randomly checked TV Guide online to see if Zac was going to be on any additional shows other then The Late Show with Letterman or The View and, long and behold, I saw he was going to be on The Early Show. I got into NYC Saturday late morning and hung out with some friends which was the start to a great vacation! I was able to track down some information on the premiere/after party so Kerry and I were finally able to plan what we were going to do. On Sunday I got to see some family and hang out with a few of my other friends that live in the city. That night I was barely able to sleep because I was so excited for Monday.

Kerry and I planned to meet at The Early show around 6:45am. I am NOT a morning person so Zac should feel the love! I had to travel from Queens and Kerry came in from New Jersey. When we got there, we were practically the only Zac fans there, which was odd. If I had to guess I would say there were 5-10 fans there checking things out. The weather was freezing but it was TOTALLY worth it. There were a few paparazzi there staking out the entrance so we knew that would probably be where Zac would come in. Finally, a black Escalade pulled up around 8. I remember thinking “oh my god he’s here” in my head. As he started walking from the car, nervousness got the best of Kerry and she backed away. Zac must have this effect on people I guess because the same thing happened to another friend of mine when she saw Zac at the HSM 3 Pep Rally. So basically I was the only fan standing in front of the walkway with two paparazzi behind me taking pictures. And let me tell you, Zac looked sooooo GOOD!!!! He looked very refreshed/put together for someone who had just flown in from the UK. You all know by now how great he looked at that appearance but seeing it in person… His hair, blazer, the whole ensemble *sigh*. As he was walking from the car he took off his sunglasses. Right as he was walking by right in front of me I called out “Hi Zac”. He looked right at me after hearing me call his name and gave me that charming signature Efron smile and a wave. He literally made my heart melt haha.

You know when you’re in a crowd of people and you don’t know if a person is really looking at you or not? Well I was the ONLY person there so it was directed to me!! I had to check with Kerry to make sure I wasn’t dreaming or seeing things! Later when we saw pictures at Gossip Girl and JJJ there were a few shots of the moment when I called his name. By then I was kicking myself for not taking pictures! Again Zac has that effect on people…once he came out of the car our minds just went blank. Also we noticed when he and his people were walking in that his dad David was with him which I found very sweet! YAY for father/son bonding!

The Early Show people were no help at all with anything. They made us stay behind a rope (there was like no one there to begin with). A few people from the staff said they would help us but I could tell they were just brushing us off. They let paparazzi get closer instead of two fans. You can never take the New York out of a native New Yorker…I was getting irritated LOL. I saw a few fans on the opposite side of where we were standing while Zac and Claire gave their interview. One lady/crew person in particular was extremely annoying and kept telling us to not move. After a while I saw the driver move his car toward the back entrance and the few remaining paparazzi started to head that way. I told Kerry that standing in our current spot wasn’t doing us any good. So we moved to the back entrance and that’s where Zac ended up coming out. There was a mother and her two little kids who followed us back there as well. Zac came out and the little girl ran literally into his arms. It was the cutest thing ever! She couldn’t have been more than 5 years old or so. He is so great with kids! It’s one of his most endearing qualities. This time I was able to snatch a few pictures of him. I wish I could have caught a better shot of the hug but it happened so fast. I love that he always kneels down to the kids’ level, it’s very personable. Right before Kerry and I were able to meet him he got pulled away by his people. We were so disappointed because I was literally right in front of him.

After the show we had a few hours to kill. We knew The View was going to be mayhem so we didn’t even bother. We hung out at Starbucks and found the Apple Store and the theater where the Premiere was going to be. We ended up deciding to go to the Apple Q&A in Soho w/ Richard Linklater since there was enough time in between that and the Premiere to at least check it out. It was the best decision we made. Richard got there about 20 or so minutes before the event started about 5pm. It was a very relaxed and laid back event. The Q&A is going to be on Itunes to download which I highly recommend.

Potential M&OW Spoiler: Since I knew it was a Q&A, I told Kerry I was going to ask a question and I think I was the 2nd or 3rd person picked. First I told Linklater how excited I was for the movie and he seemed pleasantly surprised to hear that I read and loved the book. Since had I read the book, and Kerry gave me a rundown of the movie I asked him why Zac’s character, Richard was not portrayed as being Jewish in the movie (If you have read the book it’s mentioned a few scenes and he even speaks Yiddish). You could tell by his reaction that he hadn’t been asked that before. Long story short, the main reason was too keep the story centered more about the Mercury Theater and the play rather then Richard’s personal home/school life which, in the grand scheme of things, makes sense. When asked about Zac, Linklater had nothing but great things to say about him. He has said wonderful things about him thus far but to hear it in person made me proud to be a Zac fan. Something that did strike my interest that is worth mentioning is that Linklater talked about Zac’s voice over as Richard being in the trailer but not really the movie which I wished I asked about that too. I loved Richard’s narration of his inner thoughts/opinions throughout the book and was disappointed that they weren’t in the movie. They showed a few scenes from the movie as well throughout the event but nothing that hasn’t been released online.

After the Q&A we spoke to the right person and found out where the location of the SAG screening which was mentioned on Twitter would be held. The cast, including Zac, was scheduled to go the Premiere then head to the SAG screening for a Q&A. Apparently there was a better shot getting in there then the Premiere which had sold out the 100 seat theater and had a 300 person wait list. But before we left Kerry wanted to thank Richard Linklater. He was very approachable and a genuinely nice guy. After Kerry complimented him and told him how much she loved the movie (she saw it at the Woodstock Film Festival), I told him I was the one that asked the question about Richard Samuel’s background which again intrigued him and we go into more discussion about it. I explained a particular scene with Sam and Richard on the park bench which Linklater liked in the book as well. We talked a little more indepth about the move and I complimented him on School of Rock…I’m a big fan of that movie. After a few minutes chatting with him we said our goodbyes and hailed a cab to the SAG screening . Of course when we got there, it was sold out. So since we still had some time we took a cab to the Premiere in Chelsea.

We got there just in time. There weren’t that many people or paparazzi. There couldn’t have been more than 20 fans. Zac was one of the first people to arrive. I’ve never experienced anything like the premiere before…I’ve been to fan related events but people just swarmed around him so fast. Mind you I’m only 5”3 so I couldn’t see anything when it happened. This was such a small group of people I couldn’t have imagined the UK premiere with hundreds of fans and media. I started taking as many pictures as I could. I know he signed some autographs for a few fans then walked back a bit to pose for the paparazzi. The fans, including myself, tried to call him back but he just went inside. Again I was so close yet so far. I didn’t see his dad David there but I did see his manager Jason and his publicist Gina. Shortly after Zac went inside, Claire and her husband Hugh Dancy arrived. She was very friendly to the fans interacting and signing autographs. Kerry complimented her on the film and got her autograph. Christian came after her and he was the sweetest man ever! He signed autographs for people while saying in his cute English accent “you must all be freezing out here”.  We both got his autographs and Kerry told him she saw the movie at Woodstock and how much she liked it. You can tell how much Christian appreciated hearing that. Then Kerry and I asked for a picture with him and he said “of course.” What also was funny was that all the paparazzi kept asking who Christian was. Kerry and I had to spell his name out a few times and I said “when award season starts, you will for sure know who Christian McKay is.”

More celebrities came including Linklater of course, Zoe Kazan (she plays Gretta), Amber Rose etc. Then we waited. The security promised us that the cast would be exiting soon after the movie starts the same way they entered. I was trying to schmooze one of the security guards a bit to help a sister out haha. He was like “you need to be more aggressive.” After a while the paparazzi started to leave along with some of the fans. There were maybe 10-15 of us there in total. The security guard gave us the heads up that the cast would be coming out in a few minutes. When Zac came out he started signing just autographs and Kerry and I both got him to sign a HQ still from MAOW. When he walked by me I said “Zac I was at The Early Show earlier today, would you mind taking a picture with me?” He looked and me and replied “Sure” or something like that, it’s all a blur LOL. So he moved closer to me and I TOTALLY took the opportunity to rub my hand on his back haha. He has a nice toned back by the way . We took the picture then I said thanks and he signed a few more autographs. Kerry and I tried to tell him that she was at The Early Show too but he was already headed to his car.

I felt horrible that we weren’t able to also get a photo with her and Zac. Zac didn’t seem him his normal self at least of what I have seen of him at other events or so forth. But I saw this article ( from mrpaparazzi.com) saying he was stressing over hundreds of fans. Like I wrote previously there wasn’t nearly close to that number so that’s total BS. Zac still interacted with his fans entering and leaving the Premiere. You can’t ask for more than that. This shows how the media can exaggerate information so easily. I am still a little in shock that out of all the people at the Premiere he took a picture with me. It’s not my best picture but I was freezing and I had been up since 4:45am but hey it’s a picture with ZAC EFRON!!!! We knew the after party was being held at the Gramercy Hotel but we felt awkward going so we decided to get a few drinks downstairs at Rose & Jade. After getting a little tipsy off some drinks we decided to call it a night since we wanted to try for Letterman the next morning.

Kerry luckily got through calling for standby for The Late Show with David Letterman and we were numbers 15 and 16. Kerry wanted see the taping instead of standing outside with all the paparazzi/fans trying to meet him and I was up for whatever she wanted to do. Since we had some down time we ended up meeting two of my friends for lunch at Serendipity which I highly recommend. Then afterwards we had the worst cab driver in NYC and we had to practically run to Letterman. First we thought we were a shoe in for standby when they said numbers 1-35 you’re in but then they said “maybe you’re in”…ohh anticipation..NOT! We were super anxious. Luckily we were the last four to be let in. We were thinking of trying to sneak out to see if we can see Zac leave and try to get Kerry a photo but it was too difficult to sneak out especially being split up in the audience. It was okay because Carrie Fisher was funny as hell and seeing Rhianna perform was great too. Zac was more comfortable this time around on Letterman. I’m a fan of Letterman in general so it was great to see Zac relaxed and interacting with Dave so well. I love that they talked about the bungee jumping story. Kerry had a great seat…I was so happy for her! The camera man was in front of me where Zac was sitting but it was okay since they had screens up around the audience; plus I got to see him when he made his entrance and said goodbye to Dave so it was all good. After it was over we went to the exit doors and luckily Zac hadn’t come out yet. I’m guessing he stayed around to see Rhianna perform, but I’m not sure. He came out shortly after we got there but he only posed for a few pictures then got in the SUV and left.

All in all it was a great experience. Getting a smile and a wave from Zac directly at me at The Early Show, meeting Richard Linklater at the Apple Store Q&A, getting pictures with Zac and Christian at the Premiere, and being in the audience for Letterman was AWESOME! It was a crazy two days but like that Master Card commercial says “Priceless”, was the BEST way to describe it.

To check out all of Jessica’s photos, visit the ZacE Gallery now!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 7:39 pm and is filed under Event, Exclusive, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.