Charging for autographs

[Ratty]

I don't consider a cherished memory of meeting a celebrity who are in a thing that I like to cost £15, I dunno, it feels like it cheapens the whole thing.

Don't go in expecting a cherished memory, just go in expecting to have something cool to frame and put on your wall. You'll be a lot better off.

For example here's how my exchange with Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian in Star Wars and Harvey Dent from Batman 1989) at a con went. "Billy Dee: *puts down his pretzel and coughs* Hi" "Me: Hi *he can't hear anything else I say over the sound of convention noise* " then I paid $40 and his handler counted it, and I got a very nice signed photograph. After which I moved on to let the line of about a hundred other people keep going. Didn't have the extra $4 on me for the "official holograph of authenticity" but whatever. This is how a lot of meeting celebrities at cons will go.

Remember, not only do these people have to make a living, but hotel rooms and plane tickets aren't cheap. At the end of the day they're just individuals trying to make it in the world like everybody else. Some are good, some bad, a lot have inflated egos and they have off days like everyone else. Being swamped by hundreds of gushing people you've never met has to be exhausting. Or worse, you could show up to a con and no one could want your autograph, which would be very depressing and financially costly since a lot of people in the con circuit could be considered "has beens".

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Given they're going to be sat at a booth for X hours and dealing with a line of fans who all want autographs on any number of things. I can see why they would want to charge for that kind of thing as it would be a better alternative than making it so that they will only sign a very specific thing or, hand out pre-signed things. Speaking as someone whose tried drawing after a long while without having done so...hand cramps man...hand cramps...

 

[mysecondlife]

I always thought it was to (sort of) counter-act people from selling it on ebay.

 

[JimB]

Sign your name to papers for four hours straight without getting paid for it, and tell me how you feel afterward.

I don't know if money would or even should make your wrist feel better, but it couldn't hurt.

 

[Dalisclock]

I think it's a little absurd that if you're already making thousands or millions off your thing you should charge your fans for an autograph, specially considering they already bought their share of tickets and shit. Spock isn't gonna go broke if you don't give him $50 for his autograph.

If you're already wealthy, sure. But a lot of actors don't really make that much.


Bruce Campbell talked about this very thing in his auto-biography and said that he makes maybe $50K a year on a good year from doing movies. He's also talked about working other jobs to make ends meet, such as being a security guard.

Granted this was written before he was on Burn Notice so he might be doing better now, but he pretty much said "I need the money to live. If an autograph is so important to you, don't feel bad if you have to pay out for one".