Looking for advice on booking a celebrity for your event?
So, you’re looking to book a celebrity for your event. You need to work with the right celebrity agency (hint: us), and you need the right celebrity agents.
First thing’s first, make sure you work with the professionals. There are many things that could go wrong but thanks to our years of experience, we know how to make sure your night goes without a hitch.
If you’re struggling to get started, we’ve put together the ultimate celebrity bookings guide to help you organise the night of the year, without breaking a sweat.
The right face
Don’t just opt for your favourite celeb. It makes far more sense to have a specialist celeb for your specialist event. Think about how much more sense it makes to have a sportsman for a sports themed night, or a celeb known for their interest in a particular field for a charity night. Think carefully about the purpose of your night and the demographic of your invited audience too – something often overlooked but just as important.
People won’t turn up for a celeb out of their realm of knowledge; Des O’Connor won’t cut it with a bunch of millenials, just as Kim Kardashian won’t work for an annual meeting of astrophysicists.
Why your event?
Sometimes, it isn’t just down to money. Celebrities get hundreds of offers every day for event work. What makes your offer stand out? Maybe they have a proven interest in your cause (helpful if it’s a charity night) or even a geographical connection like their hometown in your favour? Be polite, be lovely, be respectful and you may find, you get what, and who, you need.
Star power
Be prepared for the power of your celeb. Stephen Fry warns would-be prospective tweeters that a tweet or retweet from him or even a like, can result in overwhelming amounts of web traffic. Apply this kind of star power to your night and you might find there are more layers of planning than you had thought of. Will you need extra security? Will you need a special, secure entrance for your celebrity guest? Will they arrive with their own security and will you have to pay them too? Make it easy on yourself by working with us, and we’ll take care of this level of detail for you.
Time
Respect celebrity time. Just as you resent putting in extra hours without pay, so too will your celebrity talent. They want to honour their contract with you but they don’t need to be involved in planning meetings, or to be bogged down in the minutia of your excellent planning skills. They don’t need pages and pages of notes and instructions. When prepping the call sheet or brief, give the essential information, and no more.
When deciding on the right celeb for the job, you should also take your venue and guest list into account. To put it another way, think budget; don’t go for Madonna if you’re organising a sit-down meal for 250. It’s just not going to be worth it and you won’t even come close to breaking even.
Expenses
What is included in the fee and what will you have to cover as extra? Think airfare, hotel accommodation, assistants, security, make-up, hair and riders – all of which can mount up, and fast. Working with experienced celebrity agents such as the Boy George booking agent means that all of this is taken care of before you even come close to handing over the cheque.
Paper work
The best advice here is to get the professionals in. They know the celebrity business in and out, warts and all. Hiring through us will make sure all the bases are covered and every little thing on that rider is done: even the white kittens and puppies, and the yellow M and Ms. Seriously though, event planning is enough of a headache without having to worry about the often complex arrangements necessary when there is a celebrity involved.
Marketing
The main reason to hire celebrity talent through an agency is to boost awareness for your business, charity, brand or product. In all the excitement of the planning process and the thrill of the night, don’t forget what your night is for. Make sure you get all the marketing cornerstones in place that will make the most of your celebrity booking. Make sure you have the hashtag, the photo opportunities, the Q and As and a brilliant step and repeat banner.
So, there you have it, the ultimate guide to booking celebrities. Now all you have to do is pick up the phone and get in touch to see how we can make your event start with a bang.
To make an enquiry with regard to the above, please contact celebrity talent agency MN2S.