A while back I wrote a piece titled “Do Conventions Ruin
Celebrities for Fans?” https://fromthemouthofavoicelessactor.blogspot.com/2016/01/do-conventions-ruin-celebrities-for-fans.html
and then recently provided a follow up piece titled “Conventions: A Celebrity
Perspective” https://fromthemouthofavoicelessactor.blogspot.com/2019/06/conventions-celebrities-perspective.html.
The first was about the rising costs of attending conventions and if it ruins
the celebrity/fan relationship. The second was an interview I did with my
friend and celebrity Mary Deese Hampton giving her perspective on conventions
and the changes that have occurred in recent years on the convention circuit. This
time I am going to play the devil’s advocate a little. So I ask, “Do Fans Ruin
the Celebrity/Fan Relationship?”
For this one, let’s
start with conventions. I’ve been going to conventions for quite a few years
now. Presently not as often as I have in the past. It would be a pretty fair assumption
to say that I know a little bit about them. Now I know there is a lot more to
it than this. So I’m just going to give you the shortened version. Celebrity A
is approached either in-person or via his/her agent or manager to be a guest at
a convention. If he or she agrees, a contract is written up and signed. It
could state something like Celebrity A will attend Convention X on these days
for this amount of time for a guaranteed amount of money. Convention X will
sometimes pay for lodging, meals, and airline tickets, etc. To recoup some of
those expenses, the celebrity agrees to sign autographs for their fans. Someone
(that’s a whole other argument) sets the price of how much to charge for the
autographs and the process starts. If they go over the amount agreed upon, the celebrity
either keeps the extra or they split it with the promoters. But those details
are usually in the contract and not public information.
Basically
what it boils down to is that it is a job to the celebrity. You may not like to
hear that but in reality, it is. The celebrity is being paid to show up at a
specific time, meet the fans, and sign autographs and call it a day. It’s a
pretty straight forward process, wash, rinse, and repeat. In theory, it’s
simple. It doesn’t always work out that way though. There are a multitude of
things that could go wrong. Even before the convention has even started. Usually
the convention has a designated person picking the celeb up from their hotel to
bring them in to be there at said designated time. Now if something goes wrong
and the celebrity is later than their set time, a little chaos in sues. The
attendees who are there to see said celeb are waiting and getting more and more
anxious because he or she hasn’t shown up when they were scheduled to have.
They are taking it out on the volunteers, the showrunners, the person
designated to help the celeb at their table. Basically anyone who they can
complain to, they do. Meanwhile a line is forming at said celebs table and as
soon as they get there it’s full on convention mode. There’s not a lot of time
to get situated, get settled, and get prepared for your day. So now everyone
who is meeting that celeb or the celeb themselves, isn’t in the best of moods.
Now
this is where this gets a little touchy. There many different people that that
attend conventions. Many different
personalities. Nothing to do with race, sexual orientation, religious aspect or
anything. That’s one thing I can say about the Sci-fi/Comic Convention world is
that we are all the same in that aspect. Our shared common interest puts all of that out of the way. Which is the way it should be with life. But there are
many different levels of fans. If you actually think about these levels, you
might understand why the convention world isn’t for every celebrity. For
example, maybe there’s a celebrity that you have met one time and would like to meet
them again or you’re telling someone about your prior encounter (or vice versa)
and they don’t do conventions anymore or haven’t in a very long time. The
following personalities could be a reason why.
First
you have what I call the inexperienced con goer. Most inexperienced con goers that I have
witnessed is that their main interest is meeting celebrities. They would be the main ones in this
category. This person seems to usually have a budget but not always. Most know before they
even step in the door what celebrities they are going to meet and how much they
are going to spend. Then again some are completely oblivious to the price structure. As for the celebrity part of
it, they wait in line excited to meet one of their favorite celebrities and
getting to actually talk to them. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first
convention or your 100th convention, that excitement is still there especially
if you’re a fan. You approach the celeb, hello Mr. /Mrs. So-and-so how are you, shake hand, nice to
meet you etc., get autograph, have a great day. Usually lasting three to five
minutes tops. The celeb is happy, the fan is happy, and all is well for
everyone.
Second you have what I call the Uberfan. This
person is really into the celebrity and a specific role that the celebrity has
performed. What I have witnessed in my experience is this type of person will
approach the celeb really super excited. Sometimes they will have a multitude
of items that they want signed. (Usually at conventions, celebs will sign
whatever amount of items you have as long as you pay. But they may ask you to break
them up. Sign some now, the rest later for example) This fan will also start
asking a barrage of specific questions. Usually about a role they did. For
example, as they approach, they might quote their favorite quote or line from
the television or movie they did. Then they may ask them specific questions
about a role they did 10-20 years ago (maybe longer). “Do you remember in
episode The Gamesters of Triskelion of season 2 of Star Trek, did the Master
Thrall really shock your collar or was it just for show?” Taking up so much
time that the line is getting longer without moving. Most of the time the celeb
will keep his/her comments to themselves. Their assistant or handler will try
to nicely move them along.
Third
you have what today would be called “the creeper”. This one is mainly certain
guys when they meet female celebrities. For lack of a better word, some can get
a bit “handsy”. I have seen and heard about certain guys that will put their
arm around a female celebrity before they are ready and kind of catch them off
guard. Or they will initiate it without their permission. Sometimes even with
their permission or their initial invitation, the guy will do something that
will make the person feel uncomfortable. If you want a photo with
a female celebrity, don’t be that guy. Be respectful.
Fourth
you have what I call corn chips. Now I know that not everyone has the bathing
habits that I do. This is one type of person that I have seen quite frequently
at conventions. This person doesn’t seem to know what good hygiene is. There is
usually a very pungent odor similar to corn chips. Not fritos, I mean off brand
corn chips and sometimes onions. Most don’t even try to cover it with deodorant.
If you’ve attended more than one conventions then it’s a pretty good guess that
you know exactly what I’m talking about. Sometimes this person has traits of my
third example. Which is always something that a celebrity loves. (Yes, that was
sarcasm)
This is
just a few things that I have personally witnessed at science fiction/comic
book conventions that may cause a celebrity to either A: stop attending or B:
Be distant a standoffish to a fan. So maybe if things like this didn’t happen,
maybe the possibility of a bad experience might lessen and everyone will have a
better time. What do you think? Have you witnessed my examples? Do you think
things like this could cause a rift between the celebrity and fan?
Then there's the dealer/collector who tries to get autographs from celebrities at their hotel or airports and doesn't know the definition of the words "boundaries" and or "limit". A lot of them (not all) have the sole purpose of selling their autographs and a lot of times take advantage of a celebs generosity. Which I have seen time and time again make the celebrity lump all the autograph collectors as dealers. But that's a whole other conversation.
Then there's the dealer/collector who tries to get autographs from celebrities at their hotel or airports and doesn't know the definition of the words "boundaries" and or "limit". A lot of them (not all) have the sole purpose of selling their autographs and a lot of times take advantage of a celebs generosity. Which I have seen time and time again make the celebrity lump all the autograph collectors as dealers. But that's a whole other conversation.
