How to Get Celebrity Autographs : How to Get a Reply
Write Letters. The easiest way, for most people, is to write a letter to your celeb. Because most well-known celebrities received so much mail, there are some things that you can do to make your letters stand out and increase the likelihood that your celebrity will respond to your letter. First, you may want to try writing the letter on colored paper and sealing it in a colored envelope, or at least use a colored envelope. This will make the letter stand out among the piles of white envelopes. Another idea for making your letter standout is to cover the letter with stickers.
You could get a roll of teacher stickers or something like that with all of the “you’re great” and “super” stickers. Just be sure that you don’t cover the addresses and the stamp. Now that you’ve gotten him/her to read your letter, to increase the likelihood that the celebrity will respond, if you want an autograph, include a self addressed stamped envelope. This will make you seem considerate since you have paid for the postage. You may also send items that you want signed (i.e. a poster, album cover, etc.).
The only problem with this is that some celebrities don’t respond and you may not get the items back. It you don’t have an address for your favorite celebrity, internet sites like www.stararchive.com have huge databases of addresses. Star Archive memberships, however, are now 4.99 per month, but if you get the information that you need, you can just unsubscribe after the first month. Also, you can try sending mail to the person’s publicist of management agency.
Many actors’ agent and publicist information can be found in the contact directory on www.filmstew.com. Registration is free and so is access to the directory. For athletes, it’s best to send mail to the team address which can usually be found on the team website. To get to individual team sites, try going through the league site (i.e.- for Houston Rockets, try going to www.nba.com).
Via Venue. Obtaining autographs via venue takes a little bit more effort, but it’s worth it. You’re more likely to get the response you’re looking for when you send via venue. Celebrities don’t really receive as much mail via venue, making it easier for them to respond to your requests. But via venue does not always mean sending mail. Basically, if you know that you’re celeb is going to be at XYZ corp in City A, then you can send mail or show up. I went to a basketball game in Memphis once and stayed at the hotel where the visiting team was staying. There was a little boy with his mom standing outside of the hotel almost all day waiting for Tracy McGrady to come down so that he could get an autograph. It may seem a little extreme, but the boy was not violating anyone or anything and it was not a big deal because it wasn’t like there was a mob of people waiting outside for him.
Pay For It. It sucks, but sometimes the only way to get the celebrity’s autograph is to pay for it. A lot of fansites have information about obtaining autographed merchandise. If all you want is an autograph and you don’t care about spending the money, then this option should be cool for you. But for those who want authentic signatures, this way is problematic because many of the autographs are pre-printed or rubber stamped. And for those who are obtaining autographs to sell, authentic signatures sell better than pre-prints.
However you go about obtaining an autograph, here are some very general rules that you should always follow.
Always respect privacy. Just like you don’t want strange people showing up at your door asking for your signature, you should not just show up at a celeb’s home or hotel room.
Respect their right to say no. Even if you voted for their song or video one thousand times and have all of their albums, they are not entitled to give you and autograph or take pictures with you.
Do not send ideas by mail. If you have a great song idea or movie idea, do not send manuscripts to your favorite celebrity, particularly if they are not copywritten or registered. There are proper ways to submit your work for consideration.
Do not make threats. Saying that you will blow up a celeb’s car if he/she does not sign your index card is more likely to get you a hefty fine or jail time than an autograph.
That being said, go out there and get your autographs. Good Luck!
