How to Book a Celebrity
Booking the right celebrity can raise the public profile of your brand, social media, TV show or even your event and increase the demand for attendance; as an added bonus, you can also use the photos from the event itself as marketing material after the event is over.
That said, you should know that booking a celebrity for your event isn’t as straightforward as you might think. After all, celebrities have a lot of time commitments on their schedules, so the event has to be worth their time to be interested in attending. Plus, you have to make sure you’re booking the right celebrity for your event; ensuring that the celebrity and the event are a good fit is almost as important as getting a celebrity in the first place.
There are also quite a few nuances to booking a celebrity that tend to get overlooked. Unfortunately, these little details can often mean the difference between pulling off a successful, well-attended event that everyone talks about for a long time and a dull, forgettable event that has no star power.
Know Their Representative
When trying to book a celebrity for your event, you likely won’t be making your pitch directly to the celebrity. Instead, you’ll be reaching out to their agent, and in some rare cases (if they don’t have an agent) their manager. For your purposes, let’s assume that the celebrity has an agent; but what does an agent do?
Simply put, an agent is responsible for finding work for their clients. Whether that’s film or TV roles, live gigs or endorsement deals, whatever their client’s specialty, agents make sure the people they represent continue to find work. Agents are also responsible for the business end of any jobs their clients get; specifically, negotiating the contract. Finally, agents also get a percentage of every deal their clients make.
There are many types of agents, and some celebrities have a different agent depending on the industry. Even if a celebrity doesn’t have multiple agents, their agent does have to get approval for any deals from the celebrity’s manager and publicist. So while an agent’s role is ultimately to keep their clients in business and making money, you have to keep everyone else on the celebrity’s team in mind when making your pitch to an agent.
Know Your Event
This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many celebrity bookings fall apart before they get started because the details of the event haven’t been set in stone. Before reaching out to an agent, you need to have a crystal-clear picture of the event: when and where is it taking place? What kind of event will it be? What would you like the celebrity to do at this event?
The fact is, celebrity agents are constantly receiving requests from people hoping to book celebrities. Unfortunately, a lot of the requests they receive come from people who either don’t have enough information to solidify a booking or who don’t understand the booking process. In order to avoid wasting time, agents require that you have certain information readily available beforehand. This helps agents accurately communicate to their clients what the opportunity is; more importantly, it demonstrates to agents that you’re both serious about booking their client and a legitimate business.
The general rule of thumb is to provide as much information as you can, but at the bare minimum, you must know and provide the following details when reaching out to an agent:
The venue where the event is taking place
The date of the event and timeframe for the celebrity’s appearance
What you want the celebrity to do
Make an Appearance
Making an appearance depends on the specific celebrity, but in most cases, an appearance fee at a minimum requires that the celebrity hangs out at the event and takes pictures with guests. In other cases, celebrities will stay at the party and hang out for a while.
Walkthrough
A walkthrough is a much shorter version of an appearance. Essentially, a walkthrough requires the celebrity just to make a quick appearance at the event; sometimes, they may take pictures with fans, but there have been cases in the past where the celebrity comes to the event, literally walks through the event to show their face, then leaves. If you do request a walkthrough, it would be wise to outline exactly how long the celebrity is expected to stay at the event ahead of time.
Hosting
A hosting engagement requires the celebrity to spend a significant amount of time at the event. In addition, the celebrity will be expected to deliver some quick remarks at the event and engage with guests. Hosting does not require the celebrity to deliver a long speech or a performance.
Speaking
On the other hand, a speaking engagement means the celebrity is required to deliver a speech of some sort to guests; the topic will depend on what the event is all about. And while hosting requires the celebrity to spend time interacting with guests, a speaking engagement can simply entail the celebrity showing up to deliver the speech, then leaving if they choose to do so.
Performance
As the name implies, a performance engagement is just that: the celebrity is expected to deliver a performance of some kind. In the case of musicians, this could be a short show; in the case of someone like Louis C.K., this might involve a stand-up set. The specifics of the performance depend on the kind of celebrity you’re asking to attend the event.
What arrangements (if any) you’ll be covering
Celebrities often have very specific requirements when it comes to their travel- in some cases, the celebrity will require first-class or business-class tickets. It’s also important to remember that they don’t travel alone; if you are covering the arrangements and booking a flight, keep in mind that the celebrity may be traveling with up to eight or more people.
The celebrity’s requirements also extend to their hotel accommodations. Much like the requirements for first-class tickets, some celebrities require a 5-star hotel for their stay. A good rule of thumb is: The bigger the celebrity, the bigger the expectations. And while you may be able to negotiate with some celebrities about their airfare and accommodations, you won’t have much wiggle room when it comes your a-list celebrities.
Who is paying for the event
To further put the agent at ease, you need to be crystal clear about who the purchaser is for the event, whether it’s you or someone else.
You also want to let the agent know whether or not there are any sponsors for the event, and if so, who the sponsors are to make sure they tie in with what the celebrity publicly can back.
Whether the event is public or private
Celebrities charge more money for private events than they do for public events. However, if you’re targeting a celebrity who doesn’t normally agree to do performances or appearances, a private event is a better bet at getting them to agree.
Public events, on the other hand, usually have a higher success rate, since celebrities can use those to boost their public profile and promote their own work.
Finally, you must also confirm with the agent whether the event is for charity or a fundraiser; philanthropic celebrities who tend to avoid making appearances might be more likely to sign on if it’s for a good cause.
Your budget for the event
When trying to figure out what you can spend on having a celebrity at your event, you may be tempted to research their fees online. However, this may be doing more harm than good- celebrity booking prices are not public, and the prices you find online are likely completely inaccurate.
When figuring out your talent budget, you need to keep in mind that there are additional fees associated with booking a celebrity, such as specific equipment and food and drinks; many celebrities also have contract riders, which will increase the cost of booking them. If you’re not sure of your budget, you can ask the agent for a range of what the celebrity might cost.