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LA 2024 lobbies for Olympics through 'What's Not in the Bid Book' videos
File: Signing off on L.A. 24: Athletes signed a placard before the U.S. Olympic Committee named Los Angeles the bid city for the 2024 Olympic Games
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Brian Watt/KPCC
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Taking selfies with famous movie props isn't an Olympic sport, but it is part of a new series that's part of Los Angeles's bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. As the International Olympic Committee's decision on a host city nears, L.A. 2024 hopes the videos will be a colorful addition to its bid book, which focuses more on logistical questions about hosting the games, spokesperson Jeff Millman told KPCC.
The first episode of “What’s Not in the Bid Book,” which debuted Monday, follows L.A. 2024 chairman Casey Wasserman on a tour of Universal Studios Hollywood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OIpDIEh9h8
On his tour, Wasserman hops in a golf cart with Jeff Pirtle, Universal Studios archivist. Together, they pay a visit to the animatronic shark from “Jaws,” stop for selfies with E.T. and check out the clock tower from "Back to the Future."
“It’s funny being here on the 'Back to the Future' set," Wasserman says, driving past the famed clock tower where, in the movie, Dr. Emmett Brown helps send Marty McFly back to the year 1985. "We’re talking about the potential of the Olympics coming back to L.A. — the future of L.A. is very bright!”
The other episodes will be released over the next few months on the Olympic bid committee’s Youtube channel and social media pages, featuring hidden treasures of L.A. in two-to-three minute videos, Millman said.
"There's just so many more stories we wanted to tell," he said. "There’s so much more to Los Angeles that we want the Olympic and Paralympic committees to learn about our city that is not in the bid book."
The release of the videos follows last week’s release of an updated draft of Los Angeles’s 2024 Olympic bid book, including venue changes, additions to the proposed Olympic Village and a response to the president's executive orders on immigration.
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The International Olympic Committee's decision between L.A. and the city’s only competition, Paris, will be made in September.
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