This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Kelly Xiong. Find her on Instagram at @k.3lly. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Have you ever wanted to do something with your friends and realized it is way out of your budget? A lot of fun activities can be quite pricey. And money can be especially tight in college when you don’t have a full-time job or a job period. College is all about having fun while balling on a budget. If you’re looking for free and exclusive events, look no further.
What is 1iota?
1iota is a website that offers you free tickets to live show filmings. Whether it be a talk show, sitcom or screenings and premiers, they’ve got it. Unfortunately, they only offer events in Los Angeles, New York City and Miami. The good news is, if you live near any of these cities, these events are super accessible.
They offer sit-ins to live screenings such as The Voice, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Kelly Clarkson Show and That 90’s Show. What’s available depends on the season, so check the website regularly to see what’s currently filming.
The one big thing about 1iota’s events is that you should probably prepare to possibly be on TV. There’s no guarantee that you will be on camera but for talk show-eque shows, sometimes they’ll pan to the audience for a hot second and your face may or may not be in frame. But then again, this is for a very hot second so chances are no one will even notice you.
How does 1iota work?
Now you may be wondering “Well how does 1iota work?” It is fairly simple and easy and requires very few steps. To get access to these free fan-exclusive events, you must first make an account. Then you’ll be able to book any event they have to offer. Some events are higher in demand than others so if the current group is full, it’ll give you the option to “join waitlist”. Once you get off that waitlist, you’ll get a confirmation email saying that you’re in and the details for the event will be sent to you. If the event is not full, you can just click “request tickets” and you’ll get a confirmation email shortly — within a day usually in my experience — that lets you know that you’re in with additional details attached.
If you’re thinking about bringing a group, keep in mind that one account holder can only bring 1-2 guests. So if you plan on going with a big group, you’d have to have multiple people in the group create accounts. When requesting tickets, they’ll also ask you why you want these tickets. Since they’re high in demand, my guess is they probably want people who will be excited to be there. But this prompt isn’t meant to trip you up. Just answer honestly and earnestly and you’ll be fine.
Once you’re confirmed and ready to go, make sure you leave a couple of hours early for the event. LA, NYC and Miami can all get pretty traffick jammed so prepare for that. It’s always better to be early than late. Sometimes parking can also be hard to find, even if they do offer you a parking pass, you still need to find a spot as they are not reserved.
The next part is going through security. Sometimes it’s in the same building as where the live screening is taking place and sometimes it’s not. It can be confusing to find so make sure you’ve given yourself enough time in case you get lost or confused. After security and all that, you’ll be taken to a waiting area until the studio is ready for the audience to come in.
My experience with 1iota
I was able to successfully attend one 1iota event. I went to one of the live screenings of The Voice at Universal Studios in California this past summer. This was when the judges were John Legend, Reba, Dan and Shay, and Chance the Rapper. I requested tickets for my dad and I and I got the confirmation email in a couple of hours. The confirmation email came with a lot of details. It included where the screening is taking place — Universal Studios, parking passes, where to park and a dress code. The dress code included things like no white t-shirts, no noticeable logos and no hats. I can’t say for sure that every single event will have a strict dress code but for The Voice, since it was filmed in a dark studio, they didn’t want anyone standing out in the audience when the camera pans to us.
Finding parking at Universal was surprisingly not super bad when I went. But looking for the security place took me and my dad a while to figure out. The parking lots with different characters really threw us off for a bit.
After getting over that hurdle, we made it to the security line. They ended up telling us that we had to leave our phones and water bottles in the car. That is unfortunately the downside of these events. Since they’re so strict on privacy and not having any leaks during the filming, you won’t be able to document your experience. But on the bright side, that does get you to take everything in more and just live in the moment.
The waiting area that they took us to was outside under a huge tent. We waited outside for about an hour before they let us into the studios. That was probably the worst part in my opinion. Summers in southern California are no joke. It was so extremely hot out. The 1iota workers did provide us with snacks and water bottles though so that did help. And there was also a bathroom on sight.
Going into the studio, it was honestly not what I expected at all. The studio was actually quite small — a lot smaller than how they make it look on TV. The audience was also really small. There were only around 40 of us. Before the judges came out, we had a spokesperson come out to tell us about how this was going to work and that we were involved in the show. It was basic things like clapping and cheering when the judges came out and when the contestants performed. So I guess one thing I learned from this experience is that The Voice uses real audience laughs, cheers and claps, and not a sound bit.
The whole thing lasted about 3-4 hours but it went by pretty quickly. The one that I went to seemed like the last bits of auditions since almost everyone who came on did not get a single chair turn. I think only maybe two people had at least one judge turn their chair so it was a little sad to watch. But the overall experience was really great. John Legend sat so close to me it felt unreal. I would highly recommend anyone who’s able to go to one of these events to go. Sure you won’t be able to post it on social media, but it’ll still make for an awesome storytime and you’ll definitely earn some bragging rights. I mean, who else can say that they saw John Legend up close? Or Jimmy Kimmel? Or whoever famous celebrity or talk show host.
So, how does 1iota work? Hopefully this article helped you figure it out! Let us know below what you think about this platform and if you have ever tried it!
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