How I made it in Hollywood- Film blogger quit IT for the red carpet

May 26 2011 Samantha Booth

A film featuring Ewan McGregor, Kate Winslet and Clint Eastwood - not bad for a first-time director.

Movie blogger Douglas McFarlane got to uncover the secrets of the stars on the red carpets of the Oscars, Cannes and the Sundance Film Festival.

The resulting documentary, Making It In Hollywood, won him critical acclaim and a Golden Palm award - and now the DVD has gone on sale for the first time.

Douglas, originally from Clydebank, near Glasgow, said: "It was an incredible two years but I think my ultimate moment was coming face-to-face with Clint Eastwood. "I grew up going to see his films at the ABC minors in Clydebank every Saturday morning. He is a true statesman of Hollywood.

"Although standing in the same pub as Quentin Tarantino was also another amazing moment."

Douglas, 50, got to meet Eastwood at the 2007 Oscars, when he took his camera to see which celebs he could speak to.

He found out about an award ceremony for Ennio Morricone, the composer of the score of the 1966 western, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, which starred Eastwood.

Douglas said: "It was a cocktail party-type scenario when there was a sudden huge surge of energy, there was a real buzz that was almost euphoric.

"The next thing I knew Clint had walked round the corner.

"It was incredible. I couldn't believe I was there filming this legend.

"When I did my piece to camera afterwards, you can see I am buzzing.

"And Clint and Ennio hadn't seen each other for 40-odd years, so I was desperate to catch that moment on film."

The next day, Douglas was on the red carpet at the Oscars - and ended up presenting live on US TV network ABC.

Douglas said: "One of the crew shouted "kiltcam" and suddenly I was live around the nation as well as doing a take for my own documentary.

"Americans love the Oscars being international, so I got a lot of attention, as you can imagine."

Douglas, 50, then decided to hit the red carpet at the Cannes Festival, where he captured stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio.

He said: "He was a good example of how strangely stars behave.

"On the red carpet with his entourage he was all smiles and waving but then just half an hour later on the way to the airport he was hiding under his jacket."

Douglas even got a chat with Jessica Simpson about what it is like dealing with stardom.

He said: "She talked about living her life in front of the press, invasion of privacy and how the publishers control what media they do.

"All the paparazzi were trying to get in on the act."

After Cannes, he went to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, where he chatted with Ewan McGregor about making it big in Hollywood.

He said: "It was just another one of those chance moments.

"He was a really thoughtful guy and he gave me some really profound words on Hollywood."

Douglas also got Sharon Stone talking about her career at the same festival - and her regret at taking on some jobs.

He said: "She told me she didn't want to be doing any more Catwoman-type roles."

Douglas's story is all the more remarkable because 10 years ago, he was working in IT in Edinburgh.

He said: "I wanted to do something different, something which wasn't just hanging around pubs, so I came up with the idea of taking up singing.

"After about 18 months and a bit of performance coaching I went to a Les Miserables masterclass.

"I performed with the professionals and it was immense, I got the bug.

"I was at the back of the stage thinking, 'This is what I want to do'."

Still working in IT, Douglas was soon winning roles in film, TV and theatre - from Taggart and BBC drama The Key to an advert for AOL.

Douglas said: "For some reason I found it pretty easy to get parts. The characters I play tend to be surgeons and policemen, possibly because I am 6ft tall, professionallooking and have a Glasgow accent."

Working in Jersey for six months in 2001, Douglas also began to write a theatre blog.

It wasn't long before 20,000 people were reading his site and he now has 100 volunteer reviewers around the country.

Fascinated by the mechanics of film-making, he took part in a series of classes run by Canadian director Elliot Grove, the founder of both the Raindance Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards. He said: "I actually showed him a short film I was working on at the time and he told me it was good and it would sell. Those words were music to my ears."

In 2005, BAFTA Scotland invited him to make a short film of the red carpet at their awards - as no-one else had showed any interest.

National Theatre Scotland invited him to their bash and he got a taste for something bigger - finding out how the world's biggest film stars made it to the top.

Douglas said: "I wanted to make a film about how you become successful in Hollywood.

"After all, this is what a lot of people on the theatre network want to know about.

"A lot of what we do on the website is about trying to coach people to be a success."

And Douglas also showed them how keeping going when things go wrong can pay dividends.

At the Oscars, he ended up in the lift with singer Celine Dion - but couldn't remember who she was.

He said: "I was staring at her because I knew who she was but I just couldn't place her.

"I had my camera on but her bodyguard told me he would take the tape and crunch it so it never ended up in the film.

"Then I look up and see Kate Winslet in that famous green dress coming towards me.

"I didn't get to speak to her, sadly, but I got her on film."

:: Making It In Hollywood by Douglas .McFarlane is available from Amazon, follow the link http://tinyurl.com/hollywoodfilm