Native daughter hits it big in Hollywood
Published on February 22nd, 2006
HOLLYWOOD, CA - For a California dreamer born in a small New England town, her story remarkably echoed the theatric imagination of the many the romantic-inspired Hollywood writer.
Packing her bags and shipping-off to the fabled land of ambitious big-screen stars, directors, and producers, Stoneham native Tarrah Curtis pursued her life-long dream to work in Hollywood, abandoning a comfortable job at a Lynnfield-based sports marketing firm without a replacing position in hand to support her.
"I'm going to work at the Oscar's," the '96 Stoneham High School graduate would joke with her instinctively-concerned mother.
But Curtis chased her life-long ambition without hesitation upon her arrival in her new, but distant home, interviewing for the Director of Communications' position at her dream agency, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
But that initial risk ultimately failed.
"I had applied for a position, the Director of Communications," the former Lawndale Road resident recalled.
"But during the course of that, I learned about another position. I thought it was a good fit," Curtis explained, saying she decided to interview for the opportunity despite failing the original bid. "They called me 15-minutes later as I was literally on my way to Disney Land for a four-year-olds birthday party."
According to Curtis' mother, Lawndale Road resident Linda Curtis, she always believed that young people should shoot for the stars, leaving no room for regret later on in life. But at the same time, when her daughter approached her with plans to move to California, her parental instincts immediately kicked-in.
"If there's something you feel you need to do in life, you should go try it. Because otherwise, you'll always look back and wonder. And basically, that's what Tarrah did," the elder Curtis explained.
"But when you're child moves to the other side of the country, as a parent you wish that they would have a job lined up," the Lawndale Road resident added. "So when she called and said, 'I got this job working for the Oscars', I was so excited for her. I'm extremely proud of her."
Currently preparing for her second Academy Awards ceremony, which will air on Sunday, March 5, the 2002 Boston University graduate is responsible for overseeing the backstage interview room during the event.
And as the big-day approaches, the Stoneham native is also responsible for pre-awards press-events and dealing with the information-hungry media outlets across the world looking for details prior to the televised ceremony.
"At times it is," Curtis responded, when asked if she found her new role to be more intense than her previous employment in Lynnfield. "Here, there's a buildup over five-months toward this one night."
"[At my former job], the urgency was definitely there, but it was spread out over time. I also did a lot more pitching to the media over there. But now, it's more about getting information out as soon as I can."
"It's pretty much what you would expect. You're sending an E-mail while talking on your cell-phone at the same time. You just try your best to get your answers to everybody. And if you don't get any crazy phone-calls in the middle of the night, it was a good day," joked the Stoneham High graduate.
Despite the all-out working frenzy leading-up to the ceremony as the event approaches, Curtis can't recall ever feeling overwhelmed or nervous about her new role.
Instead, the publicity assistant thrives off of the rush of excitement, the buzz from it all, as she describes it.
"It's a total adrenaline rush. You sleep for four-hours cumulative that week [prior to the Oscars]. But it's a total buzz working up to that night. I'm looking forward to that energy boost," the former drama club member explained.
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