WHEN A CELEBRITY IS THE GUEST OF HONOR

By Debbie Mitchell

                                                                   

With four days to go, Hollywood gets ready to wrap up the awards season with the prestigious Academy Awards ceremony. A night for celebrities to walk the red carpet, shine and hopefully walk away with an Oscar.  The 2012 award season actually began in mid December 2011 with the announcement of the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, continuing with over 20 award presentations at the beginning of the year and culminating with the Oscar ceremony on Sunday. So celebrities have been pretty busy primping, promoting and attending any event related to award season.

While I enjoy producing and working with celebrities it can be challenging inside or outside of award season.  Eight weeks into the new year I have already been approached by clients to book celebrities for  their events.  A daunting task during this time of the year. So if you are thinking about inviting a celebrity or big name to be your guest of honor  there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Celebrities are great guests if you want  the following for your show or event: publicity, paparazzi coverage and the possibility of lots of drama behind the scenes.  I've always said that in another life I want to come back as a celebrity.  When you are star, you have "people" lots of "people" around you. Those "people" include managers, publicists, assistants, hair and make-up and in some cases a BFF who might feel entitled to get everything that the celebrity gets during an appearance.  So booking a celebrity or big name guest requires good relationships, patience and great negotiating skills.

WHEN INVITING A CELEBRITY TO BE GUEST OF HONOR:

CONSIDER THE TIME OF YEAR OF YOUR EVENT: As I just explained the beginning of the year is filled with award ceremonies so stars have commitments. There is Fashion Week, the Super Bowl and of course the Oscars. Summer time is vacation time for lots of people so most likely stars are traveling for fun.  If you want to know if a star is in town, keep an eye on the release date of their movie,  follow lifestyle magazines and even check their twitter accounts. Extend the invitation as soon as you possible don't wait until the last minute to send it. The more time to plan the better.

WHAT LEVEL OF CELEBRITY ARE YOU PURSUING?: Is your star an  "A", "B" or "C" level star?  Angelina and Brad, George Clooney, and Oprah Winfrey are "A" level, I will let you determine which stars fit in the remaining categories.

WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET?: Celebrities are paid for their time and appearances. They are invited to hundreds of events each year and can pick and choose where they spend their time.   Making an appearance means leaving their routine life, getting camera ready and working on some else's schedule. So they will need hair and make-up, transportation (first class airfare and or car service)  to and from the event, and an honorarium for their time.  All of this comes out of your budget. Former  CBS  The Early Show anchor Rene Syler is constantly on the road to speak and has to consider several things before accepting an engagement  "I do a lot of work with breast cancer causes and would like to be able to help every single one of them. But what people don't understand is, though the event may be fun for you and the patrons, it is work for me. I am on the clock, away from my family and have probably spent considerable time preparing for it. That is work, there's no other way around it."

Rene Syler and Bette Midler  2012 C-CAP Benefit

WHAT IS  EXPECTED OF A CELEBRITY?: If your expecting the celebrity of honor to actually do something at the event, it must be discussed and approved before hand with the celebrity representative (publicist/manager).  Doing something includes talking to the press, participating in a television segment activity, posing for pictures and signing autographs.

WHEN YOUR CELEBRITY ARRIVES:  Make sure you have a room ready for them (a private one is ideal) so they can relax and get ready.  If you can fill the room with some of their favorite foods and drinks that goes a long way. And finally, have someone on stand-by who can run an errand (I had to find Starbucks coffee at 5am for one star) or handle any last minute details.

Stars want their fans to believe they are people just like us but in the end celebrities really do have certain things in life a whole lot better.

TV/Social Media Producer Debbie Mitchell is an emmy nominated producer who is a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA).  If you are a blogger interested in television placement or connecting with brands follow Debbie Mitchell @TVProducerDeb or email Ready4Airtv@gmail.com .