Star-for-Hire Firm Helps Keep Up Appearance Fees

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Star-for-Hire Firm Helps Keep Up Appearance Fees
Star Power: Corey Shapoff at his Brentwood home with ball signed by Magic Johnson and guitar signed by Stevie Nicks.

If you want a superstar to show up at your company conference, birthday party or even your son’s bar mitzvah, Corey Shapoff is your guy.

“I had Elton John play at a wedding. His fee was $1.2 million,” said Shapoff, founder and president of Brentwood stars-for-hire firm SME Live Nation.

On his books are the likes of Donald Trump, former President George W. Bush, Katy Perry, Richard Branson and hundreds of other rich and famous celebrities, politicians and entrepreneurs eager to make more cash for an hour or two of work.

“Stars are always looking for more. It’s easy money for them,” he explained.

Grammy-winning L.A. songwriter and producer Michael Jay, who has worked with the likes of Celine Dion and Eminem, said it’s not just pure greed that prompts millionaire entertainers to cash in on such lucrative gigs.

“Artists inherently love to perform, and they like to be paid for it as well,” said Jay. “If performing is what you do for a living, why limit your revenue sources only to ticket sales and song royalties? It’s no different from licensing a song for a TV commercial.”

However, there are a few superstar acts that won’t do corporate or private gigs at any price – three, to be exact.

“Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift and U2 look at all this as selling out,” said Shapoff.

Fees, perks

The rest, said Shapoff, have no problem taking such lucrative gigs from his company. In exchange, entertainers hand over 10 percent of their performance fee. Those hired to give speeches hand SME a commission between 10 percent and 20 percent.

“We’re a niche business, a custom service and business is good – we increased gross revenue to $30 million last year,” added Shapoff. “Fascination with celebrity is as high as it’s ever been and it’s great for our business that people are so enamored with stars.”

With 14 full-time employees and freelance staff working around the world as needed, the Brentwood company offers more services than Hollywood talent agencies, said Shapoff.

Its team members plan, coordinate and execute each event, which includes booking travel and assisting the star in any way possible during the function.

Shapoff, a former “Jerry Maguire”-style sports agent, started the business in 1991 and sold half of it to entertainment giant Live Nation in 2010. When it comes to making everything run smoothly, he said experience and temperament go a long way.

“After 24 years of doing this, I’m very calm,” said Shapoff. “But it’s always stressful worrying if the artist is going to show up on time.”

Much of that institutional knowledge involves knowing the particular quirks of each client.

“Paul McCartney rarely does this kind of thing, but he is the kind of person who will show up on time and immediately ask, ‘What would you like me to do? Would you like a sound check?’” explained Shapoff. “Contrast that with a certain unpleasant A-list actress who will complain if there is no Cabernet in her dressing room.”

Handle with care

Trump might be focused on his presidential bid for the time being, but the real estate developer and former reality TV star has been a frequent client of SME.

Shapoff said Trump charges a minimum of $300,000 for corporate speaking engagements and requires the company hiring him to pay for a private jet.

Even then it can be hard to get him there on time, said Shapoff.

“We’d had a contract in place for six months that he should be at a business event at 6:30 p.m.,” he said. “On the night, he told me he’d be there at 8 p.m. I reminded him of our contract, and he again said he’d be there at 8 p.m. I said, ‘Mr. Trump, I would really appreciate it if you came at 6:30 p.m.’ He walked in at 6:45 p.m.”

Though he’s only a White House hopeful, Trump is still more expensive than former President Bush, who charges $150,000, plus the cost of a private jet for his own use and commercial flights for his security team.

“For that, he’ll do a 45-minute talk, a 15-minute Q&A and a 20-minute meet-and-greet,” said Shapoff.

“Any Kardashian will run you $100,000,” he added.

If that’s too high for your budget?

“Take Magic Johnson,” said Shapoff. “He’s in the $75,000 to $90,000 range – plus a private jet ride.”

At the lower end of the scale, $20,000 gets you Rudy Ruettiger, the inspiration for football-underdog movie “Rudy,” who now works as a motivational speaker. Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 USA Hockey team who scored the winning goal against Russia during the Winter Olympics, will run you $25,000.

Noncorporate events, such as birthday parties, bar mitzvahs and weddings, are typically negotiable, said Shapoff. A-list acts, such as John Mayer and John Legend have recently done birthday gigs while fellow pop stars Katy Perry and Elton John have performed at weddings for SME.

“We’ve done bar mitzvahs, too, but it tends to be the rappers who get the most requests for those,” added Shapoff.

There are occasionally times when a star will do a charity performance for free, but those are few and far between, said Shapoff.

“The cause really has to pull at the heartstrings for them to do it for no money,” he said.

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