Conversations with Sebastian Garnett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sebastian Garnett.

Hi Sebastian , we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Curtain Call really started from a pretty simple observation: as adults, we’ve somehow gotten really bad at meeting each other.

Los Angeles is full of people, but it can still be an incredibly isolating city. We have dating apps, social media, networking events, bars — all of these places where we’re technically surrounded by people — but very few environments that actually give strangers a reason to talk to each other in a meaningful way.

Co-Founders, Sebastian Garnett and Courtney Hirsch, always loved reality competition shows and social strategy games — the alliances, the personalities, the ridiculous betrayals, and especially watching what happens when you put a group of very different people into a room together. At some point, we started wondering: what if you could take that feeling off the television screen and turn it into a night out?

That became Curtain Call – The Art Of Deception.

Curtain Call is an immersive social strategy experience where strangers become a cast for the night. Players are given roles, build alliances, gather information, deceive each other, vote, get eliminated, and try to figure out whom they can actually trust. It has some of the DNA of the reality competition shows people love, but you’re not watching contestants from your couch — you are one.

What has been especially exciting is watching Curtain Call grow beyond a single format. We’ve been producing experiences in some really incredible Los Angeles spaces, including historic venues in Downtown LA such as the Million Dollar Theater and The Sanctuary DTLA at Clifton’s, and we’re now launching Deception League in West Hollywood as a recurring social league. We’re also thinking much bigger about where the concept can go — private and corporate experiences, physical game formats, and eventually television.

We’re still very much in the building stage, though, and we think that’s an important part of the story. There hasn’t been some magical moment where everything suddenly became easy. It has been testing, listening, changing things, having nights that sell and nights that scare the hell out of me, and continuing to believe there is something valuable in creating spaces where adults can play again and have a moment away from technology to answer the simple question, “Who do you believe is the Villain sitting amongst you?”

The thing we’re proudest of isn’t necessarily a particular venue or event. It’s watching a room of strangers walk in somewhat cautiously and then, a few hours later, seeing them laughing, accusing each other of lying, exchanging Instagram handles, grabbing a drink together afterward, and leaving with a story. While we live for the drama that our guest’s create, our favorite moments as organizers are the relationships we help others build in a matter of 3 hours.

We joke that Curtain Call is a game of connection and deception. The deception is what makes it fun. The connection is why we built it.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road — and I think anyone who says building something from scratch is smooth is probably lying a little bit.

One of the biggest challenges has been creating a category people don’t immediately have a reference point for. Curtain Call isn’t quite immersive theater, it isn’t a board game, it isn’t a traditional nightlife event, and it isn’t a recreational sports league. We’re asking people to understand something they often haven’t experienced before — and then trust us enough to buy a ticket and walk into a room full of strangers. That takes time.

The game itself has also required a tremendous amount of iteration. Early versions had too much happening. Some ideas sounded brilliant on paper and completely fell apart once 20 actual human beings were involved. We’ve had to learn that the best version of Curtain Call isn’t necessarily the most complicated one. It’s the version that gives people enough structure to feel safe participating and then gets out of the way enough for human behavior to take over.

Yet, there has been these incredible little confirmations along the way. Watching complete strangers become intensely invested in each other within a few hours. Seeing people exchange numbers afterward. Having players come back. Seeing a room erupt because of a betrayal or reveal we could never have scripted ourselves. Those moments keep reminding us that there is something here worth continuing to build.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Curtain Call really sits at the intersection of both of our professional backgrounds, which is part of what makes building it together so exciting.

My background has always centered around travel, hospitality and creating experiences that encourage people to explore. I earned my master’s degree in Tourism and Hospitality from USC in 2025, and before Curtain Call, I spent years thinking about what makes someone connect with a destination beyond simply visiting it. I represented Airbnb Experiences as the Market Lead for the West Coast, supporting hundreds of creators on experience design, pricing, and run of show to help them be successful on the platform. This taught me a tremendous amount about bringing strangers together, introducing people to a place, and creating the conditions for a group of people who have never met to leave feeling like they shared something.

Courtney comes from the worlds of fashion, merchandising and branding. She understands how you take an idea and give it an identity — how visual language, styling, storytelling and all of those tiny details make someone feel like they’ve stepped into a world rather than simply attended an event.

With over a decade of experience in sales, merchandising, brand development, and business strategy, she brings a unique balance of creative vision and commercial thinking to Curtain Call. From shaping the brand’s identity and guest experience to building strategic partnerships, developing marketing initiatives, and identifying opportunities for growth. Courtney focuses on turning creative ideas into tangible experiences. She understands how to build a brand that people not only recognize, but want to be a part of.

When we joined forces, those two backgrounds started fitting together in a way we hadn’t necessarily anticipated. I tend to think about the guest journey: Where are we taking people? Why does this location matter? How do strangers interact? What will they remember afterward? Courtney has this incredible ability to think about how that world should look, feel and present itself as a brand.

That has become a huge part of what sets Curtain Call apart. We don’t want to put the same game inside four blank walls over and over again. We want Los Angeles to be part of the game board.

LA has an unbelievable collection of historic buildings, hidden rooms, old theaters, bars and spaces with stories already embedded in them. We love finding places where the architecture and history can become part of the atmosphere of the game. There’s something special about asking people to explore a piece of Los Angeles history while simultaneously creating a completely new story with the strangers sitting beside them.

That’s really the larger creative idea behind Curtain Call: explore history while writing a little bit of your own.
You might enter a historic ballroom with 19 people you’ve never met, spend the next few hours lying to half of them, trusting the wrong person, forming an alliance with someone you never would have otherwise met — and then walk out into Los Angeles together with a story that belongs only to that particular group.

We’re incredibly proud that we’re building something that isn’t just about entertainment. It’s about place, design, hospitality, human behavior and connection. Courtney and I come at those things from very different professional angles, and Curtain Call has become the place where they all meet.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
We think our relationship with risk has changed a lot as I’ve gotten older. We used to think taking a risk meant having absolute confidence that something was going to work and being brave enough to go after it. Building Curtain Call – The Art of Deception – has taught us almost the opposite. Sometimes risk is saying, “I don’t know if this is going to work, but I believe in it enough to find out.”

Every time we open the doors, we’re taking a risk. We’re asking strangers to buy a ticket to something that’s difficult to fully understand until you’ve experienced it. We’re convincing incredible venues to let us transform their spaces. We’re putting our own time, money and reputations behind an idea that is still evolving. And then we’re standing in the room watching real people interact with it and learning what worked and what didn’t.

But then we’ll look around during a game and see twenty people who were strangers a few hours earlier screaming, laughing, accusing each other, forming alliances and exchanging Instagram handles afterward. Those moments remind us why we’re willing to keep taking the risk.

We also think there’s something fitting about building this particular company that way. Curtain Call asks our players to make decisions without having all the information. Who do you trust? When do you make your move? Do you play it safe or put yourself out there?

In a strange way, we’re playing the same game.

Pricing:

• Single Ticket – $85pp
• Bring Your Backup – $80pp (2 players)
• Bring Your Alliance – $75pp (4 players)
• Assemble Your Cast – $70pp (8 players)
• Available For Private And Corporate Events

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.worldofcurtaincall.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curtaincall.la/
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/worldofcurtaincall
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@curtaincall.la

Image Credits
Sheldon Botler Photography