5 Things to Know About Red Carpet Reporting From Ralphie Aversa ’07
doesn’t remember who first bestowed the “Red Carpet” Ralphie nickname on him, but he remembers when. It was 2010, and Aversa was working as a radio show host for Citadel Communications when his program director finagled a press pass to cover the Video Music Awards.
“As someone who was an aspiring entertainment journalist at Syracuse University, I couldn’t believe my luck being on the red carpet. The nickname just stuck through my 16 years of red-carpet coverage,” says Aversa, who earned undergraduate degrees in broadcast journalism from the and marketing from the .
Aversa has carved out a decorated career as an entertainment reporter, covering everything from the Grammys and the Super Bowl to the Oscars—and on Sunday night, as the senior entertainment correspondent for USA TODAY, he will earn his nickname once again, camping out on the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 98th Annual Academy Awards.
Here’s what he shared about his time in the press line for these star-studded events:
1. There’s Glitz and Glamour, and Chaos
Before the Oscars begin, another less glamorous scene unfolds under a tented structure at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. There, the reporters responsible for covering the Academy Awards jockey for position, hoping to land an interview with Oscar contenders like Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan, Jessie Buckley, Kate Hudson and Teyana Taylor.
“Where we’re set up is far from the glitz and glamour you will see if you tune in,” Aversa says. “It’s quite the scene between the security, the blocked-off roads and the tourists trying to get a glimpse of their favorite celebrity. It’s a circus environment.”
2. When the Story Changes, You Change With It
Aversa may never have a more newsworthy night at the Oscars than his first time covering the red carpet. After landing interviews with stars like Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Garfield and Dame Judi Dench, those conversations paled in comparison to what happened inside the theater.
As comedian Chris Rock was making jokes about Jada Pinkett Smith, her husband, Will Smith, left his seat, walked onstage and delivered what Aversa remembers as “the slap heard around the world.”
“All the great coverage and interviews we got on the red carpet didn’t matter anymore. All anyone was talking about was ‘The Slap,’” Aversa says. “We were trying to figure out in real time whether we saw what we just saw. Was that scripted or unscripted? And how are we going to cover that? It was a very eventful first Oscars.”
Aversa modified the coverage plan on the fly, re-filmed an open, a middle and a close for the package, then sprinted back to his hotel room and edited together a video segment blending red carpet interviews with highlights from the night.
“That package had incredible viewership numbers because of the interest,” Aversa says.
3. Snubs Are an Occupational Hazard
Red-carpet snubs happen every time and are “an occupational hazard,” but Aversa says entertainment reporters need to have a short memory and learn to not take a celebrity snub personally.
“You have to move on. The worst thing you can do is dwell on the moment of a big name snubbing you, but if you wallow, you could miss another celebrity walking right past you who could give you that memorable quote,” Aversa says.
4. Make Sure You Know the Fundamentals
Aversa says his must-have interviews are Chalamet, the star of “Marty Supreme,” along with DiCaprio and Taylor, two of the talented stars from the Best Picture contender, “One Battle After Another.”
As Aversa prepares for his fifth Oscars, he credits his ability to write across multiple platforms—from video scripts and web stories to social media posts and photo captions—to his Newhouse School professors, who taught him the fundamentals of a great sentence and story structure.
5. One Question, So Make it Count
Aversa says the key to a good red-carpet interview is to keep it simple and make sure it’s not a yes-or-no question.
“If I’m lucky, I get to ask one question,” Aversa says. “It’s a matter of making sure that question can be answered in a quick manner, and then you hope the response is something the audience will care about.”
The begins at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday evening. You can follow Aversa’s Red Carpet coverage on his and on the account.
