Knowing Who Does What
When trying to contact celebrities, it's important to know who does what. We sat down with Hank Mendheim, a producer at NBC Productions, to talk about the subject:
Know Who Does What - Know what each person does for a celebrity: the agent, the manager and the publicist.
The Agent is the money guy. He gets paid to find the talent jobs, whether it be voice-over, on-camera, films, TV, commercials, etc. He gets paid when the talent gets paid. The Manager runs all aspects of the talent’s career including hiring and firing agents, lawyers, publicists, etc. Any business decision eventually goes through the manager.
The Publicist handles all PR requests: interviews, autographs, etc. In some cases, as with bigger celebrities, the publicist handles all decisions regarding PR without having to go back to the manager for approval. So depending on what you need, you may want to go to the manager versus the publicist.
Autographs - All autograph requests should go to the publicist. That doesn’t mean that you will necessarily get an answer. They are dealing with so many media requests for interviews and publicity for projects that autograph requests fall last on the list. So if you request an autograph, don’t expect it immediately. It may take a while.
Don’t ever call to request an autograph. Write or email. Also, check with Contact Any Celebrity to make sure that the PR firm will accept autograph requests. Some PR firms don’t want to deal with it in the age of chemical weapons traveling through the mail and will not open any mail that looks suspicious or handwritten.
Charitable Donations - If you are requesting money for your charity, send that request to the manager of the talent. That’s a business decision and the manager will most likely decide whether or not the celebrity ever sees the request. If your charity or organization is not authorized to accept tax-deductible donations, don’t even bother. Celebrities want to know that they are helping a legitimate organization. Also, they receive many requests for donations so if you get a “no,” don’t take it personally.
Check the Celebrity Causes Database to see which celebrities contribute to your cause.
Also, make sure the celebrity is a supporter of your charity. Contact Any Celebrity is a great resource for this information. In your cover letter to the manager, you should explain why you are contacting that particular celebrity. Saying “John Doe is my favorite singer so I think that it would be great if he made a donation” doesn’t cut it.” However, writing “John Doe has been a supporter of XYZ since 19XX and therefore we believe he will be interested in our organization” shows that you have done your homework. And be brief. Your letter should not exceed one page. They do not want to read a diary nor do they have time.
Forget Snail Mail - (This is for official business only, not autograph requests.) This is the technology age. Fail and/or email. I actually tend to do both. I’ll send an email first if I can track down the address and then I’ll follow up with a fax. Email addresses are actually quite easy to figure out for the big PR firms, especially if you do a Google search.
Contact Any Celebrity also has email addresses from time to time. Call the PR firm and get a fax number (and there is nothing wrong with calling back to make sure they got the fax.) I can’t tell you how many times I call the next day to touch base only to be told that they never got my fax. So fax it and then call them to let them know it’s there.
- Hank Mendheim, Producer, NBC Productions
This was very helpful. How does a manager usually get paid? As a percent of the actor's total income or is it a negotiated salary?
Posted by: annie | February 25, 2007 at 07:55 PM