Celebrity-hungry Skippy scours Sundance

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“This is the official Twitter account of a kid who lives in his parents’ basement and meets celebrities. No wonder I am still single.”

This is the Twitter biography of Scott Jessop, more commonly known as Sundance Skippy.

Jessop has been attending the Sundance Film Festival for the past eight years. It all started when he was 14, with his high school radio station. Later on, he got an internship with the local radio station K-Bull 93, and started meeting celebrities there. A few years later Jessop was at the festival meeting as many celebrities as he could.

“When you meet one of your top favorite celebrities it is best to not have too high of expectations,” Jessop said. “Sometimes they will be nice to you but not understand how much they mean to you.”

Jessop became a celebrity himself by following other celebrities. Two years ago Mark Hedengren followed Skippy around and made a documentary about Jessop’s experiences, entering the documentary into the LDS film festival.

The celebrity hunter has two websites and is on most social networking sites. Some celebrities and directors know him by name because of the chats they have had online. Jessop said he hopes to make talking to celebrities his livelihood.

“I hope it turns into a career — Skippy the guy who meets celebrities,” he said. “My goal is to do radio or TV and then get paid so when I do go to these events they will remember me.”

Jessop isn’t the only one who finds celebrities fascinating. Casmin Giles, who studies advertising at BYU, shares the love for celebrities.

“One day I hope to be just like Skippy,” Giles said. “To have met as many celebrities as he has is just astounding.”

Jessop said he has a goal to meet about 100 celebrities at Sundance. When asked how he is able to spot the celebrities so well, Jessop said he watches a lot of TV and watches TMZ every day. He also suggests going through the film guide and knowing what celebrities are going to be there so one can keep a lookout for them.

Jessica Edwards, a student from UVU studying business, said she is impressed by Jessop’s talents.

“Skippy’s abilities to spot and find celebrities is one that is hard to come by,” Edwards said.

Most celebrities are really nice and willing to take pictures, Jessop claimed.

“For the most part they are really good about it,” he said. “Sometimes you get some that walk out with a chip on their shoulder. John Quist got really snippy at me and Ryan Gosling was one of the nicest celebrities I have ever talked to.”

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