Entertainment comes in all varieties, in all languages, transcending all borders, whether upside down or inside out, so booking headline entertainment means making choices from among a vast number of options. For the uninitiated, it can be a crazy process. You must first determine what fits your client's needs and expectations, based on the event's goals and objectives, so that you will be able to provide the entertainment management company with an audience profile that will help them find the most appropriate performer. The following is a step-by-step guide to this process.
1. Research the needs of the audience and identify the appropriate resources to fill these needs.
2. Select an artist. This works best if you or your client either select five headliners you would like to have perform at your event, or prepare an approximate budget and category of music/entertainment/speaker in order to narrow the list of options.
3. Have your agent or corporate entertainment company make a written offer to the artist Remember, an agent can offer you only the artists that are on the agency's roster. If the artists you are looking for are represented by more than one agency, you will need to contact more than one agent or just one corporate entertainment company. Are you prepared and empowered to make a reasonably quick decision?
4. If the offer is accepted, sign a contract with the artist. Once your written offer is accepted, it is very difficult to turn back. Are you prepared to make a 50 percent deposit when a headline entertainer accepts your offer?
5. Secure production for the show or have your corporate entertainment company provide the products and services.
6. Monitor the production process and evaluate the outcomes.
The Selection Process
In the selection process your entertainment company should provide you with not only a list of headliners, but also their pictures, biographies, and possibly their routing information, availability, and cost. Your entertainment company can supply the planner with the headliners' tour histories, venues where they have worked, and their typical audience sizes, if applicable. Ticket prices are also available.
How to Make an Offer
An offer is a blueprint for the pending contract. If accepted, you will be obligated to move forward toward going to contract. If the offer is declined, there is no further obligation on the part of either party. If you still want to procure this artist, you can make an alternative offer, in writing. Remember that everything must be in writing in order for it to form a binding agreement.
The Contract
If your offer is accepted, the next step is to draw up the contract. This is the part where a professional can provide invaluable assistance. There are two parts in receiving the contract. One would be the actual contract, in which who, what, where, when, and how much are described in detail. The second part includes the riders or addendums to the contract. This can be in the form of one large rider or separate components, broken out into a sound rider, light rider, and food and beverage rider. These riders are made part of and attached to the contract. The contract may only be one to three pages with the rider(s) adding another 50 pages.
Advantages of an Entertainment Management Company
You probably will never meet with an agent in person. After an initial conversation with the agent, future conversations will be with his/her assistant. Agents are interested in completing the paperwork and collecting the money. Once that is done, their job is complete. They would never go on the job site to oversee the artist's performance. This is where the corporate entertainment company takes over. In addition to handling the paperwork and financials, it will control communication and will have one of its representatives present on site. The company can also act as the show's producer and handle the rider requirements if the planner transfers that responsibility to them, since the entire obligation to fulfill the rider requirements lies solely with the purchaser.
Richard Aaron, CMP, CSEP, of BiZBash in New York City reveals, "Planning for star shows can often prove a complex maze of hidden costs that an experienced producer must carefully probe."
Celebrities can create the memories that could last a lifetime for your meeting or event. Some headline entertainment is very affordable, and with the assistance of a professional event management company, you could begin to investigate the option of obtaining headline entertainment for your next event. While the experts admit that booking your own entertainment is certainly feasible, it is much easier to let the professionals handle the task of finding the talent and then negotiating what could be a very complex contracting process. Headline entertainment that fits your event's theme and goals will make an impact that your attendees will continue to talk about for months or years after the event.
Excerpted from the new book, Event Entertainment and Production, by Mark Sonder, CSEP. Publisher: Wiley; ISBN: 0-471-26306-0. Order directly from the author: http://marksonderproductions.com/event-book. Sonder is the CEO of Mark Sonder Productions. In addition, he is on the faculty at George Washington University in the event management department. He can be reached at (703) 968-8670.