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+LOS ANGELES -- Although it's just a short walk from Hollywood Boulevard, there's no red carpet at the Barnsdall Gallery Theater this evening. Instead, nonchalant filmmakers stand in the lobby, sipping beer and wine from plastic cups and talking about codecs, plug-ins and extensions.
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+The members of the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group meet here each month to discuss Apple's Final Cut Pro editing suite. You won't find pretentious artistic statements and oversize egos here.
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+While the crowd includes everyone from amateur directors and editors working on pet projects in their spare time to Academy Award-winning, big-budget Hollywood filmmakers, the focus is on technical issues that don't make it into celebrity sound bites.
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+Anthony Minghella's 2003 blockbuster, Cold Mountain, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, was the first big-budget Hollywood film to be edited entirely in Final Cut Pro. It drew attention not only to Apple's editing application, but also to the directors and editors who used it. Now Final Cut Pro, and nonlinear editing programs like it, are taking over the movie industry.
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+"I think one reason that Final Cut Pro really took off was because of the groups and communities around it," said Ken Stone, who helped founder Michael Horton start the Los Angeles group and who runs his own Final Cut Pro website.
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+The group's first meeting was held at a small house six years ago and drew about 30 curious Final Cut Pro users. Since then, it has attracted more than 5,000 members.
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+"It caught on very quickly," says Horton. "It was an out-of-control fire from day one."
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+Inspired by another user group in San Francisco, Horton says he "wanted to get involved in it because I'd be able to surround myself with all these people who knew Final Cut Pro a heck of a lot better than I did."
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+The monthly meetings feature speakers from within the industry and filmmakers showing off new movies or work-flow suggestions, as well as software developers working on Final Cut Pro plug-ins and add-ons. Every meeting opens with a "Stump the Experts" Q-and-A session during which users can raise problems and get answers from speakers and fellow audience members.
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+"If you leave with a problem, we haven't done our job," Horton extols before opening the meeting for questions.
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+The gatherings provide "a great forum for creative feedback," said Christine Steel, an Apple-certified Final Cut Studio trainer who shares tips and tricks at the meetings.
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+Horton calls the monthly meetings "a way to get us out of the house," but believes that the group's real power is on the web, where users from all over the world can connect to exchange ideas, learn new editing tips and tricks, and even find job opportunities.
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+"Just because we are named LAFCPUG doesn't mean the rest of the world can't participate," says Horton. "A lot of the things we do are geared towards the local members, but I also go out of my way to make sure the rest of the world's included."
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+But Horton also sees his organization as an advocacy group for Final Cut's users. And Apple is listening.
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+"We've become a kind of a conduit," he says. "Apple reads our forums, and they listened to what we said and I think we make it easier for them to add new features."
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+Apple reps have been known to drop by the monthly meetings to demo new features and field questions from users.
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+"I've always wanted to start something from nothing and see if I can build it," says Horton. "So far it's going pretty good. There's a lot left to do. We're still growing, and I would benefit from a staff of 20 -- but at least this way I've only got myself to blame if I screw up."