The Social Network Woos Unsocial Seattle

In a city famously known for geeks and tech, the success of a movie about Facebook might seem like a gimme. But the producers of The Social Network aren’t taking Seattle for granted. In addition to pre-screening the film for blogs like Mashable and Girls in Tech, Scott Rudin and company have also shown the film at local cinemas over the past month. City buzz about the movie spiked when CEO Andrew Zuckerberg was spotted at one of these events early last week. Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, The Social Network tells the story of Harvard undergrads Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg, the developers of Facebook.

The Social Network is a harder sell than it might first appear. Seattle’s geek elite is notoriously contemptuous of Facebook, and the choice of former ‘N Sync lead Justin Timberlake to co-star (as Sean Parker, i.e. The Bad Guy) goes against the city’s threadbare, but still influential, grunge grain.

In response, PR efforts have reached out to what is arguably the most sociable of Seattle’s subcultures, local GLBTs. Tonight, venerable Seattle gay bar Neighbours will be giving away free passes to a special advance screening of The Social Network during the club’s weekly “Seattle’s Got Talent” event, hosted by Gaysha Starr. (The show starts at 11 p.m.) Two lucky dogs per pass will get to see the movie (and perhaps JT’s famous abs) tomorrow at an undisclosed location. A limited number of passes are available, so get there early.

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