We ‘Schmooze It up’ Inside the Emmys Pre-Parties With Julia Louis-Dreyfus and More (Photos)

Nominees from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Big Little Lies” and “Transparent” popped the cork on the Emmy weekend party circuit

The scene at Audi’s pre-Emmy party in Hollywood Thursday night was much like the “Cheers” theme song — it was a place where “everybody knows your name.”


The “Cheers” theme is also the score to the official ride of the Emmys’ ad that will run during the show (above).
The glossy scene under the stars atop the Dream Hollywood Hotel included “Veep” pals Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale, “This Is Us’” Milo Ventimiglia and Justin Hartley, and power producers like Dana Brunetti.

Audi covered the pool at the Highlight Room. (Getty Images)

As Zen Freeman spun downtempo beats, the crowd spilling out of the elevators was much more industry than Freeman’s default Thursday nights at the season’s hotspot.

“Everyone seems to come to this party,” Louis-Dreyfus said on the way in. “It’s very fancy. It’s at this groovy place this year, which is awesome. You get to see your friends and people you are fans of and you get to go up to them and schmooze it up. It’s nice.”

Natalia Dyer and Joe Keery have a unique red carpet prop, a 2018 R8. (Getty Images)

Drawn by beams of light piercing vertically into the night sky (perhaps, the four Audi rings in photonic form?), a chummy crowd of TV talent, brand marketers, publicists and media un-popped the proverbial cork on Emmy weekend.

For actors, ABC channel-mates Nolan Gould (“Modern Family”) and Marcus Scribner (“black-ish”) hung out together. Gould’s boss Steve Levitan, a regular at Audi’s awards bashes, slipped through the rope on Selma Avenue with a small group.

Chrishell Stause, Justin Hartley and Finn Wittrock (Charley Gallay/Getty Images)

The main man of “Unreal” Season 2, B.J. Britt, regaled partygoers with stories of recent casino trips with his crew, and young Caleb McLaughlin from “Stranger Things” already had reason to celebrate — his show cleaned up with five wins at last weekend’s junior varsity, Creative Arts Emmys.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” director Kate Dennis (a nominee), who has a packed party schedule for the weekend, was making the rounds with MGM’s Christina Lee.

Dana Brunetti and nominee for nicest guy in Hollywood, Zen Freeman. (Getty Images)

From the celebrity marketing industry, the crowd included ringmasters Beth Andrews and Brian Rubin, Joyce Sevilla, Greg Link, Jordan Kaye, Abegail Cal, Johnny Gines and Olivia Montella, in from New York.

TheWrap’s on-camera hosts Stuart Brazell and Matt Donnelly both made appearances as well.

Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk and TV Guide Magazine president Paul Turcotte circled what would have been the pool (it was covered), locked and loaded for their own TV Industry Advocacy Awards with Cheryl Hines, Alyssa Milano and Chrissy Metz taking place downstairs at TAO later in the weekend.

SVP and CCO of Audi of America Jeri Ward, Milo Ventimiglia
Hosts Jeri Ward and Miranda Harper flank Milo Ventimiglia. (Rich Polk/Getty Images)

Checking out the elaborate event production design were fellow captains of the event industry Gina Wade, Kendra Cole Hand and Pamela Francesca.

Although he might not vote on this weekend’s award show, the HFPA’s Munawar Hosain was in the house, freshly back from Venice and TIFF.

Movie honors are still a few months away. For now, it’s all TV.

More from inside the Emmy parties to come from The Party Report and in real time on Instagram @Celeb.Sightings.

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