Dealing with Celebrities at Your Event
Celebrity tantrums are the stuff of legends: Christian Bale, Naomi Campbell, Russell Crowe, Alec Baldwin, Kanye West, Sean Penn and many other A-list stars have become infamous for their rants. As a manager for an event featuring a celebrity, you have to exercise a coherent program of control and direction combined with courtesy and respect in order to ensure that the star is kept content and willing to fulfill their obligations. The most salient tasks include:
- Select stars known for their professionalism - If a celebrity is well-known for erratic and extreme behavior, an event manager will be well off to steer clear. Previous behavior is almost always a foreshadowing of the future, so your event will be more successful with a lesser-known star with a reputation for professionalism than with a bigger star who will likely turn your event into a chaos fest.
- Build in time for flexibility - While some celebrities can be meticulously on-time, others look at their public appearances as barely tolerated interruptions to their social lives. An event manager should always schedule in considerable play in the time schedules to allow for the celebrity to show up late.
- Live up to every word in the rider - Van Halen is notorious for demanding that their dressing rooms have bowls of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed. That rider clause is placed not because they have an aversion to specific colors of candies, but as a test for the event management to ensure that they are living up to every aspect of the rider right down to the smallest detail. If you are not comfortable with a specific rider item the time to address its modification is in contract stage not when the talent is at your event.
- Manage the press' demands - The press will flock to your celebrity like moths to a flame, so it is the event manager's job to allocate specific times and places for interviews to take place and to ensure that the schedule is achievable, reasonable and does not unduly stress out your celebrity.
- Ensure clarity at all times - An event manager famously flew in fresh "prairie water" to accommodate Dolly Parton's Southern-drawled request for Perrier water so don't let misunderstandings derail your celebrity arrangements. Get everything in writing and if double check all extreme outliers to confirm that they are actually requested in the manner you're interpreting them.
- Shun mid-course adjustments - Celebrities will have agreed to certain schedules and durations and they will not suffer last-minute changes lightly. If you have your star scheduled for a half hour presentation and you inform them as they're going on that you want two hours out of them, prepare for a conflagration.
- Provide a full time chaperone - Assigning a Celebrity Officer to be continuously present during the star's every waking hour is a wise precaution which savvy event managers never fail to implement. The proper professional will shadow the celebrity's every move while staying discreetly in the background. Should an unexpected situation arise or the star require assistance in any way, the Celebrity Officer must be empowered to act swiftly, courteously and efficiently.
- Bolster security - Alanis Morissette claims she suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from fans "breaking into my hotel rooms and going through my suitcase and pulling my hair and jumping on my car." Proximity to celebrities can trigger extreme behavior among otherwise rational people so redoubling your security presence can ensure the safety of your star and the proper unfolding of your event.
- Treat them like stars - Whether your celebrity is A-list or B-list, they all expect some measure of reverence for their status. They want to be picked up at the airport by a uniformed chauffeur driving a stretch limo, not the event manager's teenage son in a minivan. The proper respect extends every aspect of the celebrity's visit from hotel accommodations which must unwaveringly be five-star to the catering, adhering to the star's dietary preferences and prerequisites.
If an event manager fails to comply with these expectations and trouble-shooting policies, the entire event can suffer. Be proactive and ensure your event's success.