It's a coffee shop inside of a studio lot. Their clientele is actors and producers and directors. On any given day they're serving stars.
Why are they so impressed by an actor walking in that they'd give them two free drinks? Seems like a big plot hole.
I know they used it as a "she's a big star now!" moment but I for one didn't buy it.
But don't the big stars have gofers for that kind of thing? You actually see them listed in the credits as Personal Assistant to ...
shareI'm guessing they do.
But some stars would still visit. I went to a studio lot and someone told me that Al Pacino used to have coffee there all the time. Now that would be a big star.
Are you referring to the scene at the end?
Remember she worked there at the start of the film, which means that the baristas there would think of her as special. She's one of them, but the one who made it and is living the fucking dream.
The staff are not the ones that she worked with prior. She doesn't know them by name. The scene is ridiculous.
shareSo what if none of the baristas there had ever worked with her directly, they'd still be aware that she used to work there and hit the big time. If the manager didn't tell the new employees and they probably did, then it'd still be the #1 topic of co-worker gossip, about how someone who'd worked there was now rich and famous and was on billboards all over town and maybe you or me would be the next to make the jump, but Mia was still cool enough to come in and say "hi" instead of sending her PA like all the other big names. And we're all pals with Mia, and maybe she'll put in a word for me to her agent.
I assume that most of the staff who work there are the same sort of showbiz wannabes as Mia was in the opening scenes, and that like anyone with an impossible dream, they'd cling to any shreds of hope. Like seeing Mia smiling in person.
I use to work at Paramount Studios and I know the guy who works at their cafe.......
Basically what you said: They serve stars all the time. Sure anyone could get starstruck, but not enough to give out free drinks.
They do have gofers that can fetch them food, but many of them work on the lot via their production companies so they might walk into the cafe and order a coffee.