The Los Angeles wildfires continue to upend Hollywood's social calendar, as event organizers and producers grapple with how to proceed amid catastrophic destruction.

While there have been a number of theories about the big event floating around the internet in recent days - Jean Smart suggested a non-televised awards ceremony, while Rosanna Arquette proposed a U.S. The Guild Awards, Oscars and Grammys are turning to the idea of ​​a TV show — and one veteran Hollywood and fashion industry insider is now weighing a boycott of all cancellations and postponements.

"Everyone is frustrated. No one wants anything to be canceled," said Ashlee Margolis, founder of The A List, a Beverly Hills marketing, branding and events firm. "People want community. They want to talk, they want to be together. People need to get back to work. We can't go through what happened during the (COVID-19 pandemic) and what happened during the Hollywood strike. During that period, This town has lost a lot of business."

Margolis has a long history in the trenches of Hollywood events, from production and logistics to seeding and planning. She said seeing a wave of event cancellations in the wake of the wildfires — numerous Grammy events canceled and many award shows or ancillary events postponed — is heartbreaking and will impact countless people’s bottom lines and the people who support such events. company.

“Canceling events now would be crushing for all of us,” she added. "If everything was canceled, I wouldn't be able to pay my staff. We all rely on events to keep going."

After the fire, Margolis turned her 90210 showroom and office into a relief headquarters, where her team members and volunteers have been collecting donated items such as clothing, toiletries, beauty products and other necessities. As reported earlier this week hollywood reporterThe project, which will be open for at least five months, is working with the Los Angeles Unified School District Education Foundation to provide assistance to displaced families and staff.

Margolis said she knows event vendors and staff (bartenders, valet drivers, florists, etc.) from affected areas in Altadena and Pasadena "need this work" to pay their bills . Events can and should partner with charities or nonprofit partners to support relief efforts as a way to give back, even under the lights of the event, she said.

She added that she's been in contact with industry insiders including fashion stylists, publicists, event producers, production assistants and presenters, and the message she's getting from everyone is the same: The show must go on. Those conversations inspired her to create an Instagram Reel to highlight the message, a clip seen below.