<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Originally posted by AntonyF:
That would cover half of Jeri Ryan's fee if she were to be invited.
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Do you know that she gets a $20,000 appearance fee?? That seems high.
Between $2000 - $5000 is the last figure I heard quoted for most of the actors.
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Accomodation is the easiest can generally get it free for the special guests as the hotel gets lots of business due to others coming to the convention. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
That is one of the things that has to be Negotiated with the hotel.
The usual deal is that the Convention is asked to Guarantee a minimum number of Room Nights (x rooms rented for y nights).
If they meet that minimum, the Hotel gives them various perks.
It may be free rooms.
Or free Convention space.
What they choose depends on any number of variables.
The contract should also cover what additional perks they can get if they do Better than the Minimum room nights.
But, it's the Convention that does this negotiating with the hotel, not the Guest.
The Guest usually negotiates with the Convention for the accomodations and just what expenses the Con is willing to pay.
For instance, most Cons will NOT pay for Room Service, Bar or Minibar tabs.
I've seen deals where a Con will pay for a guest's plane tickets on only the Incoming flight.
Because the guest was flying to Another Con immediately after and the second con was taking care of the rest of the plane tickets.
Oh, Guests are usually not paid their appearance fees until During or After the con.
They usually understand Cash Flow.
Not to mention the Con's interest in not paying the money if the guest has an emergency and cannot attend. It happens.
As much as 75% of a convention's money comes in During the convention. So, contracts have to be negotiated with cash flow in mind at all times.
The Hotel/convention center will almost always require an up front deposit.
Phone bills, printing bills, postage, publicity, administrative supplies, etc. usually have to be paid "on the spot".
If the budget is expected to go over $20,000 it would be wise to think about both Accountants and lawyers.
Lucky conventions will have at least one of these in the fan base and willing to donate a certain amount of work.
In my experience, there are more Accountants in fandom than Lawyers.
Luckily, that's the talent that is most likely to be needed.
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