Still a bit of an indie kid at 20

During rehearsals for the Independent Spirit Awards -- which get underway this afternoon -- the show’s planners thought it would be funny to lampoon those endless acceptance speeches.

So they approached one of the presenters about doing a bit where she passionately thanks all the winners’ agents and managers, so nobody else will have to do it during the show.

The actress -- who shall remain nameless -- balked. Producer Diana Zahn-Storey said she still hopes to find someone else to do the skit. But the actress’ reluctance to offend underscores just how much has changed as the Independent Feature Project/Los Angeles celebrates the 20th anniversary of its award show.

After all, this is the other awards show, the one that long operated on the fringes of Hollywood. In the early years, the ceremony took place in a little restaurant on La Cienega, with a stapled program made of construction paper.

Hardly any media bothered to attend. People didn’t thank their agents or managers -- because they didn’t have any.

Nowadays, the show takes place in an elegant tent by the beach in Santa Monica, and IFP even gives out gift bags.

“We desperately want to keep that irreverent feel and openness and honesty onstage,” Zahn-Storey said, “but people are a little more afraid.”

Blame the media: The awards show is now televised, first on the Independent Film Channel, or IFC, and then rebroadcast on Bravo.

The obscure indie

It’s hard to imagine now, but in the early 1980s, independent film in the U.S. was struggling mightily.

“Twenty years ago, if you asked somebody, ‘What’s an independent film?’ they’d go, ‘Well, is that an art film? Is that a film with subtitles? Is that an exploitation film?’ The public really didn’t get it,” said Jeanne Lucas, founder of the Spirit awards. “What I wanted to do was let people know what these films were.”

The event was scheduled the day before the Oscars -- and still is -- because the planners couldn’t afford to fly anyone out or put them up; they banked on celebrities being in town that weekend. But even back then, the talent was happy to come out and support independent film.

Part of the appeal may have been that the Spirit awards didn’t get much outside attention, so stars could speak their minds without worry about going on the record. And they could show up as themselves, uncoiffed and unstyled.

“Winona Ryder or Meg Ryan would show up in cutoffs,” recalled Dawn Hudson, executive director of IFP/Los Angeles. “People didn’t have their makeup or hair done, or stylists dressing them.”

Those days are long gone, with cutoffs replaced by casually cute Marc Jacobs dresses, and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s” Carson Kressley as host of the red carpet preshow.

Awards show writer Billy Kimball is gracious about actors’ qualms about going too far during the show, and does his best to assuage them. The bigger challenge is striking a balance between the humor of the proceedings and the respect that IFP has for its nominees, and for independent filmmaking as a whole.

“This is the Independent Spirit Awards, and I think that we can’t do a standard awards show,” Kimball said. “We can’t be puffy or pompous or excessively pleased with ourselves ... it’s not like we need more conceited jerks in Hollywood at this point.”

Many actors are still game for having a good time on the show, serving up skits that are actually funny. Sing-alongs are de rigueur -- each nominated film is featured in parody song. Among others, Megan Mullally is set to sing about “Maria Full of Grace.” Other best feature nominees are “Baadasssss!,” “Kinsey,” “Primer” and “Sideways.”

A few days before the show, the planners were unconcerned about what might go wrong. After all, the kinds of moments that other shows try hard to avoid are embraced here.

And what other awards show has TV execs telling the crew to be sure not to cut any expletives?

“It’s like your parents telling you to go ahead and have sex. ‘It’s OK, you’re in junior high, go ahead,’” Hudson said of the free rein given by IFC. “It’s unheard of.” The show is suitably bleeped for rebroadcast on Bravo later in the evening, however. Zahn-Storey speaks warmly of the arrangement. “You get what you get from IFC, which is really awesome, and then it gets to bring more mainstream exposure to people on Bravo.”

Seeking distribution deals

While the event has lost some of that “Let’s put on an awards show in the backyard” feeling, and nominees such as “Sideways” stars Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen are also up for Oscars, six of the films in competition don’t have distribution deals yet. Organizers hope the show will help their plight. And funds raised from the show help support IFP/Los Angeles programs year-round.

“Everything that we do is about honoring and celebrating the mission of IFP, which is to support alternative voices in independent film,” said Hudson, who nevertheless admits to missing the days of the cutoffs, just a bit.