"Starstruck" by the Industry

In my research, I found myself wondering how I could write so much about celebrities without actually talking to one, so I did just that. Today I interviewed a movie star in our own school, Danielle Campbell. Danielle is a senior here at Central, and she's been acting now for years. Her claim to fame is the Disney Channel original movie, Starstruck, but she was also cast in the big screen Disney flick, Prom, as well as other productions such as Madea's Witness Protection Program and a reoccurring role on "Prison Break." Here are some bits from our interview...

Q: How is Disney in terms of commitment compared to other companies?

Danielle explained to me that it really depends on which part of the company you're involved in. When she signed on with Disney for the TV section she had to sign a two-year contract where the producers could pull you in for other TV productions or have you pilot for new TV shows, but when she signed on for Disney on the big screen, those contracts didn't apply. Now, though, since she has accumulated enough experience with Disney, she doesn't have to enter a 2 year contract to do a movie for Disney. Also, she told me about how easy it was for to be on "Prison Break" because the writers were really lenient- "if they wanted to bring your character back, they would contact you, but if you couldn't do it, they were really good with writing you out."

Q: What do you receive in terms of royalties for your work?

Danielle: "For movies, everything is paid to you upfront before production. For TV, you do get paid each time they rerun your movie or episode, but by the time the money gets distributed to your agents, managers, etc., you're not left with that much."

Q: There's this stigma with Disney stars that they can't just be actors- they have to sing and model and have other talents. What's it really like?

Danielle: "It's good to be versatile because Disney is such different acting than other acting because it's very over the top dramatic. The people at Disney are always going to push you to try the singing thing and the modeling thing, but if it's not for you, then they get that, and you don't have to do that."

Danielle was such a pleasure to interview. She gave me a lot of good, honest information, and was really nice with taking out time from her double life to meet with me. Thanks to Danielle Campbell!

Images: auditions-for-all.blogspot.com; justjaredjr.com; enjoythepics.com

"Friends" STILL With Money

I've already talked about the huge success of the 90's sitcom, Friends, but I didn't mention the success they had continuing into the 2000's. Beginning from season 5, the Friends stars began receiving royalties for reruns. That means that the cast was receiving money every time a different network like NBC or WGN played old episodes of the series. For those last 5 seasons, they weren't just making the $100,000 to $1 million per episode, but they were also making money from reruns on top of that. The amount of money they receive in royalties is disclosed, but we can assume that by the high price of their salaries, the stars were more than well off with these additions. Friends was such a success that the show is still playing on stations like TBS and Nickelodeon.

WILL THE FRIENDS EVER STOP GETTING MONEY?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends
This source can be trusted because Wikipedia is a widely known source for all information. Also, the source is known for editing frequently, so you can trust that the information is up to date and current.

Krazy for Kardashians

Everyone knows who the Kardashians are- Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Rob, and their Jenner relatives, Bruce, Kris, Kendall, and Kylie- Not to mention their in-laws, Lamar Odom and Scott Disick. But why are they so famous? Why do they make so much money just for being Kardashians?

The trick is in everything that they do. They don't just specialize in acting or singing, but they specialize in everything. Aside from modeling and being on their popular reality series Keeping Up With the Kardashians, the girls sell their name in many products. They create best selling books (Kardashian Konfidential), launch their own clothing line at Sears, market their own fragrances, and keep up with their fans through personal appearances and Twitter. Kim even launched her own single. The key for the Kardashians to making so much money is just putting themselves out there into every industry.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/the-kardashians-65-million_n_824747.html
This source can be considered credible because it comes from the entertainment column of the well-known current events newspaper, the Huffington Post. This article was also published fairly recently in 2011.

Synthesis & Plan

So far, I've learned that the main reason that celebrities make so much money is because they are the only ones who can do what they do. Actors are needed because they're the only people who can act and singers are needed because they're the only ones that can sing. I also learned that it's not just talent that gets you a lot of money; it's also what you do after you get famous. Any publicity stunts that celebrities put out to the public can make them make more or less money.

Questions to answer:
1. If celebrities are needed because they have special talents, why are other people famous without having any talents? (ex. Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, Kardashians)

2. How does this theory affect the jobs of professional models?

3. How does this transfer to child stars like the Olsen twins who were in the business before they could even talk?

4. How do the paparazzi affect how much money a celebrity makes?

5. Does this theory apply to cartoons? (the people who play their voices)

LiLo's Losing It

How did Lindsay Lohan go from <--- in The Parent Trap in 1998 to ---> in jail in 2007 and again in 2011?

It turns out she could be a Mean Girl in real life.  We love her in movies like Just My Luck, Herbie: Fully Loaded, and Freaky Friday,but we hate her when she continuously gets arrested. So why do we still follow her? Why does she still get booked for high paying jobs like her upcoming role as Elizabeth Taylor in the new Lifetime movie of her life?

Part of being a celebrity is seeing your face and your life plastered on TV, in magazines, and in the tabloids because people love the drama of it. Celebrities still get paid while they're doing crazy things like attacking the paparazzi and shaving their heads because it gives viewers something to be interested in. The life of a celebrity is all about getting publicity, so by doing crazy stunts like LiLo does, her face gets out there and people feed into the drama, so she gets paid for it.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/lindsay-lohan-court-jail_n_1071804.html
This source can be considered reliable because it comes from the Huffington Post, a credible source especially in the entertainment industy. The author goes further to establish his credibility by stating the sources of his information including Linsday's actual superior court judge, Stephanie Sautner. This article was posted in context of when the trial was actually happening in 2011.
Images: baderknowsbest.wordpress.com ; people.com

CGI Takeover

 Is this woman real? Or is she fake?
It's the uncertainty that's threatening the careers of those in the acting industry. Researchers at Penn State have spent long hours researching the use of CGI computer generated technology to create characters in a movie, and this is what they've found.

Producing a film is all about money, so if one day it turns out that producing a movie with CGI actors instead of real actors is cheaper, real actors probably won't be hired anymore.

On the flip side, the researchers also noted the reasons as to why CGI actors might not be a part of the future of cinema. Although CGI technology can be extremely life like, it's not the same as real humans. Some say that there's just that spark missing in the character's eyes that an actor can produce but a computer model just can't. Also, using CGI actors takes away one of the world's greatest guilty pleasures: pop culture gossip. Without actors, there are no celebrities to post in the tabloids, watch at the Oscars, or follow on Twitter. Movies are simply movies, and that's all they are.

So will the benefits of CGI technology end up outweighing the use of real actors?
WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD DO?

I Am Legend (2007)            

                                   
                                                        Avatar (2009)                                             


Source: http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/digitalactors.html  
This source can be considered credible because it comes directly from the research link at Penn State, a prestigious institution. Credit is also given to Kenneth Womack, a prestigious professor at the institution. This article was published fairly recently in 2008.
Images:  fallout3.nexusmods.com; ultrapublications.com     

Windmills and Will Smith

Who would have thought that there would be a connection between wind turbines and celebrities? You wouldn't normally put the two ideas together, but they actually have more in common than you'd think.

The wind turbine industry is a competitive one. Wind turbine farms require a lot of open space and farmers who are willing to give up their open space to set up wind turbine farms. Farmers usually have many offers put on their tables. Those farmers are needed to create the wind turbine farms. They own the "scarce but necessary input."

Just like farmers, celebrities also own the "scarce but necessary input." In this case, the input is not land but talent. Actors, singers, and comedians like Will Smith are paid as high a salary as they are because they have the scarce talent that is needed.

WHAT OTHER THINGS ARE SO VALUABLE BECAUSE THEY OWN THE "SCARCE BUT NECESSARY INPUT?"

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/07/03/celebrities-why-do-they-get-so-much-money/ "Celebrities: Why Do They Get So Much Money?"
This article can be considered credible because it was written by Tim Worstall, a contirbutor to Forbes Magazine. Forbes is a highly respected news source. Also, this source can be trusted because the author, Tim Worstall, specializes in commentating on business and technology, and this topic clearly falls under the business category. This source is also credible because it was published fairly recently in 2011.

Images: www.geograph.org.uk; www.fotopedia.com

"Friends" With Money

The popular TV sitcom, "Friends," ran from 1994 to 2004, airing ten full seasons. It started the careers of household names like Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry.
As the show become more and more popular, the stars demanded more and more money per episode because they knew that NBC still needed the show. At that point, it was too late to replace them with lower paying actresses. The stars had grown into their roles of well-known characters like Rachel Greene or Monica Geller. The stars' salaries started out with $40,000 per episode before they were hiked up to $100,000 and then on to $750,000. By the ninth season, the stars refused to sign back on until they got their wish of a whopping $1 million per episode of "Friends."

DO YOU THINK THEY DESERVED $1 MILLION PER EPISODE?

Source: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20138811,00.html "To Be Continued?"
This source can be considered reliable because it is taken from the website of People Magazine. The author is Tom Gliatto, a famous television critic for People Magazine. People Magazine is one of the leading pop culture magazines in the country, so the source obviously can be trusted to release the latest facts in the media world.The article was published in 2002, but it's okay to be outdated in this case because it's set in the time that these salary raises were actually taking place.
Image: www.happyweeble.blogspot.com

Why do celebrities make so much money?

I am passionate about researching this topic because I am interested in pop culture and want to know more about how this system of celebrity salaries works. I also want to specifically look at the salaries of certain celebrities and why they make more than others (or what specific talents they have that give them the comparative advantage over other celebrities).I know just the basics of the topic of why celebrities make so much money. I know that it is easy for a celebrity, like Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, or Gisele Bundchen, to request a bigger salary because they’re needed. They have the talent in the business. Movie sets can move on with new cameramen or prop managers, but without the actual actors, they have nothing. Celebrities have the necessary desired talents.