The Secret Rules of the Red Carpet: Who Gets to Do Whatever They Want — and Who Gets Shown the Door in Seconds

Last week at the Venice Film Festival, actress Nina Dobrev was literally pushed off the red carpet, offering a reminder that celebrity appearances are not always as glamorous as they seem. There is a strict hierarchy on the red carpet, where a celebrity’s status determines almost everything — from the time they arrive to how many minutes they are allowed in front of photographers, The Telegraph reports.

With the possible exception of the corridors of Buckingham Palace, it is difficult to find a place with a more rigid ranking system than today’s red carpet.

While A-list stars such as George Clooney, Anne Hathaway and Brad Pitt can spend as long as they like fooling around for the cameras, joking with photographers and interacting with fans, second-tier celebrities are quickly ushered along — much like restaurant diners being encouraged to vacate their table before the next reservation. C-list stars may even be forced to enter through a separate entrance, bypassing the red carpet altogether.

This blatant game of status can sometimes look brutal. A striking example is Nina Dobrev, who found herself in the spotlight at the Venice Film Festival last week not because of her look. The Canadian actress was hurriedly asked to leave the red carpet: a festival staff member twice blocked photographers’ view of her and appeared to make it unmistakably clear that it was time for her to move on.

But what made the footage go viral was Dobrev’s reaction — a mixture of shock, irritation and embarrassment.

“If you’re in the way of a bigger star, you’ll be moved,” says Jonathan Shalit, head of InterTalent, whose clients include Boy George, Vinnie Jones and Joan Collins.

According to Shalit, it had nothing to do with any personal dislike of Dobrev: the public loves her. Rather, her team got the timing wrong. “If I see my client on the carpet and someone more famous is approaching, I’ll gently move her aside myself rather than wait for a staff member to do it. Better still, I’d have secured a different time slot for her in the first place.”

Beyond the amount of time celebrities are allowed on the red carpet, Cannes, Venice and Los Angeles all have a host of rules governing what stars can wear, whom they can speak to, where they can pose and even whether they are allowed to take selfies. Those rules are enforced far more strictly on lesser-known actors and actresses than on superstars.

One of the fundamental laws of the red carpet is simple: the bigger the star, the later they should arrive.

Publicists and agents spend days coordinating their clients’ exact arrival times with ceremony organizers. Everyone wants to avoid showing up during the first 20 minutes, when the carpet is still relatively empty, but at the same time they want to avoid the humiliating situation of arriving alongside Rihanna or Scarlett Johansson.

“The first rule is to make sure you don’t arrive immediately before a bigger star. If you do, you’ll be moved off the carpet very quickly, and the photographers won’t even look at you. Essentially, you need to remain the most famous celebrity on the carpet for most of the time you’re posing,” Shalit explains.

Arriving too early is also considered a mistake — unless, of course, you are an up-and-coming star desperate for extra publicity. Agents try to determine the running order in advance and effectively negotiate for the most advantageous time slot.

Yet the rules are regularly bent. One New York publicist says agents sometimes receive secret messages from security guards telling them who is arriving and when. They can then ask their driver to circle the block several more times and blame the delay on “traffic,” hoping that by the time their client arrives, the latest A-list star will already have left.

There is another intriguing rule: women are almost always more interesting than men.

With the exceptions of George Clooney, Tom Cruise and David Beckham, it is women in spectacular couture gowns, after hours of work by stylists, makeup artists and hairstylists and wearing accessories worth millions of dollars, who generally attract the most attention from photographers.

That is why actresses are often given more time on the red carpet than their male counterparts. Famous couples frequently end up following the same pattern during joint photo calls: the man steps aside and patiently watches as his partner poses for dozens of cameras.

It happens even to some of the world’s most famous couples, including Tom Holland and Zendaya or Callum Turner and Dua Lipa. At the premiere of One Night starring Turner, he was asked to step aside so photographers could focus on his wife, and he appeared to take the situation entirely in stride.

“For some men, it can bruise the ego,” Shalit says. “But personally, I think it’s a sign of a strong relationship if a man loves his partner so much that he doesn’t care at all when hundreds of photographers are shouting at him to get out of the shot.”

Sometimes, however, couples benefit from displaying their affection for the cameras. According to the publicist, celebrities often appear far more in love on the red carpet than they do in everyday life.

Kisses, caresses on the face and whispers in the ear have long been part of the carefully staged spectacle. “I’ve been to enough of these events to know that as soon as the cameras are turned off, it often stops,” he admits.

Another unwritten rule: bright colors and as much exposed skin as possible.

“It’s not really about how much time you spend on the red carpet. A photographer only needs a minute to get the shot they want. The key is to attract attention, and a lot of that comes down to the outfit,” says journalist Camilla Morton, author of Red Carpet Legends.

According to her, it is impossible to predict in advance which photograph will end up on the front page. But without making an effort, it is almost impossible to stand out from everyone else.

The most famous example is Elizabeth Hurley, who attended the 1994 premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral in the now-iconic black Versace dress held together by gold safety pins. Virtually unknown at the time, the actress instantly became the center of attention, and the appearance went on to become one of the defining moments of her career.

Savvy public relations work also played a major role: photographers were specifically told which side to shoot the dress from so that the famous gold safety pins would be visible in the frame.

In the age of social media, a show-stopping outfit has become even more important. Behind the friendly smiles of celebrities lies a genuine battle for attention. More often than not, the winner is whoever arrives in the brightest, most unusual or most revealing outfit.

“For print publications and Instagram, there’s a simple rule: the brighter, the better. People want colors, prints, patterns and bare skin,” Shalit says.

The ability to pose also matters. That is why lesser-known stars try to stay on the carpet longer than their allotted two minutes: they need enough time to turn around and show off the dress from the front, back and sides.

There is a separate battle between fashion houses. They can spend weeks hoping that the festival’s biggest star will choose their outfit. But a lesser-known actress may be offered a dress only to have it taken back at the last minute if a more famous celebrity suddenly wants it.

“In Venice, it can turn into a real race. Everyone — from couture houses to agents and stylists — is trying to negotiate the best possible deal,” one stylist says.

Yet there is one overriding rule that trumps all the others: if you are a superstar, the rules simply do not apply to you.

The Cannes Film Festival, considered the strictest of them all, at one point required women to wear high heels. The festival also tried to ban selfies and prevented celebrities from lingering too long on the red carpet.

But no one is going to seriously reprimand Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts. The stars know it.

Kristen Stewart once dramatically removed her high heels at Cannes in protest against the festival’s requirements. And in 2025, the cast of Mission: Impossible, including a smiling Tom Cruise, openly broke the selfie ban. Neither incident resulted in any consequences.

B-list stars are rarely allowed to spend more than five minutes on the red carpet, while reality TV celebrities — with the obvious exception of the Kardashian family — are often not allowed onto it at all.

George Clooney, on the other hand, can spend hours chatting with photographers, joking and improvising. This week, he even picked up a long-lens camera and turned it on the photographers themselves. Clooney often spends around 15 minutes talking to fans behind the barriers, something less famous stars would never be allowed to do.

“It all comes down to status and social hierarchy, and very few people are given complete freedom to do whatever they want,” Shalit concludes. “The competition is incredibly fierce. Behind the smiles are ruthless people controlling the red carpet, and almost nothing happens here by accident. The stakes are too high: a disastrous appearance where nobody notices you can damage a career. But if you attract enormous attention, it can instead provide a powerful career boost. That’s why everyone takes the red carpet very seriously.”