10 Lessons Learned When Hiring a Celebrity

Through a 20+ year history and more than 17,000 events with my company, I have received many requests from our client base in the US and around the world looking to have a celebrity partner up with them in some way at an event.

While this isn't meant to be a complete list, here is a guideline to keep in mind if you are thinking about hiring a big name celeb for your event/organization. (There are always exceptions to the following commandments)

1. Celebs are not interested in showing up to your fundraiser just because it's a good cause. They receive literally hundreds of requests for appearances, many of which are for good causes. Unless they are tightly aligned with your cause, they almost never take a date with a new group and certainly not for free.

2. Celebs are not cheap! I have received requests for A-list celebs to show up at an event/endorse a product/give a speech for as little as $5,000! If you want to get an A-lister and you're not close personal friends with them, it is likely to cost you a minimum of $100,000 and up to $1,000,000 for the top tier.

3. Many clients have attempted to get a celeb through a "friend of a friend" who went to school with them. This almost never works. There is a protocol required to put a serious offer through the proper channels and the celebs friends rarely understand the process.

3. If you are hiring an entertainer/band, the appearance fee is only the beginning. You also need to keep in mind that you'll have travel for several and a production rider that could cost an additional $25-100,000. Even if it's not a band, you will potentially have a private plane and first class expenses all the way. Be prepared for it.

4. When you are ready to take an offer, only do so if you are ready to sign the agreement and send in the deposit immediately. When you verbally take an offer to them, they look at that as a firm and binding offer. You can't change your mind about it after taking the offer to them. You may find yourself paying the bill for 2 acts if you do this.

5. When you take them the firm offer (before they accept) please include everything you want them to do while on-site with you. If you want a meet & greet, book signing, or whatever, bring that in up front. Do NOT take new requests back to them 3 weeks later, and then another request 2 weeks after that. You are more likely to be summarily refused, but if you include everything in the initial offer, you might be surprised at how much you can get them to do.

6. They do not book their travel 4 months in advance in order to save you money. They book their travel a few days before the event typically. So don't be surprised when the travel expenses come in at a pretty high rate. You can minimize this by putting a cap on expenses in the initial offer (i.e. $100,000 plus $10k for travel).

7. There is likely to be an out clause for A-listers, media personalities and the like. This gives them the right to back out of your event within 30 days of the event (actual time can vary). Ask about this if they don't mention it up front.

8. Don't be afraid to mark up their contracts if there are things you have issues with. Most celebs use boilerplate contracts which are not customized to your event except for the fee, date and location. If there is something in the agreement that doesn't apply, remove it.

9. Follow the production riders exactly. There is a story about the band Van Halen requiring green M&M's be removed from their bags of M&M's. They didn't do that to be difficult. They did it to test the group hiring them to see if they were paying attention to the details. If the green M&M's were in there, they always knew it was going to be a tough show (and it almost always was), because the promoter didn't take their requests seriously. If they weren't tending to the M&M's, then other things were likely missed, too, like proper equipment, etc.

10. Don't expect quick responses. You may need an answer this week, but it can frequently take two weeks or more to get a response. We have booked celebs for some events where it took us 4 months to get a positive response. Doing things last minute is very tough to do.

Working with celebs/athletes is never an easy task. There is a ton of work that goes into it, but if you can make sure you remember these 10 lessons, you'll be in a better place.

And with that said, the usual question is whether it's worth it to go through the extra hassle. Nearly every case study I've seen points out that the extra time and expense is typically more than made up for in extra bodies in the seats, funds raised, etc. Done the right way, it is usually a shortcut to bigger results.