NY MAGAZINE: THE CO$T OF CELEBRITY.
So how does the upper-strata celebrity really live?
We sought out a high-level Hollywood money manager to show us just how all that dough is spent. Do any of these people live within their means? “Very few,” he told us. The main worries are divorces, unreasonable career expectations, and private jets, in that order. “You can get a prenup, but buy a new Gulfstream and you’re out about $50 million.” Oh, and “cash”: “Cash is dangerous. We had one guy go through $600,000 one year. We try to get everything on a credit card: It helps track it.
HOW MUCH DOES AN A-LIST ACTOR MAKE AND SPEND?
He walked us through the finances of one Hollywood star (not the person on the home page picture, so don't try to ID the dress and haircut!), explaining everything from “loan-out corporations” (legal entities actors and producers funnel money through for tax purposes) to how some clients won’t even send assistants to the ATM, getting bills delivered by the bank in passels instead. Despite devoting $175,000 to “cash,” such an actor can still do quite well - a true salary of over $13 million on earnings of more than $18 million. Click on the picture to look at the budget in full.
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HOW MUCH DOES A MEGA-PRODUCER MAKE AND SPEND?
We know they're rich, but just how rich are Hollywood's biggest movers and shakers? Sit down, take a deep breath, become at peace with your own bank account and then read on, because a high-money Hollywood money manager showed us an actual sheet of finances for a big-deal producer, and it involves the influx and outlaying of numbers with many, many zeros.
This producer funnels his earnings through a tax-friendly “loan-out” corporation (these are legal entities that actors and producers put their money through for tax purposes); in this case, our money manager explains, those earnings are profits from seven previous movies and producer fees on two new ones. Just click on the picture to read the whole enlarged sheet.
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HOW MUCH DO ACTORS ACTUALLY MAKE AT THEIR JOBS?
Ever since Clint Eastwood demanded a tenth of the gross (plus a Ferrari) to appear in 1966’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, studios have been supplementing stars’ upfront salaries with a cut of the box office. It was the cost of doing business: Stars sell tickets, the thinking goes (or went), and giving them a portion of a movie’s first-dollar earnings was insurance against empty theaters and red ink. But in recent years, with tentpole budgets growing and fewer movies being made, sharing the pie became dicey, in part because gross participation is a zero-sum game: Executive producer Steven Spielberg’s slice comes at the expense of star Will Smith’s, and so on. But more pressing, an actor’s seat-filling power in one hit franchise is no longer easily transferrable to other films, a lesson driven home by the costly failure of last summer’s Cowboys & Aliens, headlined by Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, stars of the Indiana Jones and James Bond movies.
These days, financial ruin is never more than a few bombs away, so studios are asking talent to share in the risk. Blockbuster advances have faded into Hollywood memory-Jim Carrey, famous in the nineties for his $20 million price tag, has recently been known to defer upfront payment-and now stars are being asked to wait until their movies break even before collecting a share of the receipts. That means two things: Names like Cameron Diaz-who slashed her upfront salary on last summer’s Bad Teacher in exchange for a bigger piece of its post-recoupment box office, and is understood to have made $28 million-are betting on films rather than the reverse. And actors are at their most valuable in sequels to hits, basking in the light of franchises more than radiating their own star power. This is why Disney paid Johnny Depp a reported $350 million for the four Pirates of the Caribbean films, but declined to green-light his upcoming Lone Ranger movie until its $250 million budget was trimmed and Depp agreed to a more modest deal. All of which is to say that Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner-the stars of the Twilight movies, who each made $25 million plus 7.5 percent of the grosses for the series’ two-part finale-might want to consider opening savings accounts. Especially if they ever want to do anything other than Twilight.
AND HOW MUCH ON THEIR BREAKDOWNS?
A profit-and-loss statement of Charlie Sheen’s meltdown of 2011 has him $8 million in the black: Experts estimate that he banked at least $7 million from ticket sales and merchandising from his “Torpedo of Truth” tour, and that he also made around $1 million in Twitter endorsements. (It’s believed he recouped his $25 million of his salary for Two and a Half Men and that he still holds a stake in its syndication deal.)
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IS THERE ANYTHING CELEBRITIES CAN'T GET FOR FREE?
At Sundance last week, Emma Roberts and William H. Macy walked out of the Gateway Center with leather jackets retailing between $595 and $695. Others got gift certificates for Apple TVs and iPads. Mary J. Blige picked up a $250 puffy jacket from Sean John while Andie MacDowell grabbed herself $200 Matt Bernson booties.
This is, actually, normal: On average, a regular red-carpet walker will receive about $100,000 in free goods and services annually, some in all-gratis pop-up shops and some unasked-for in the mail. The No. 1 freebie is apparel, from brands like Calvin Klein, Burberry, and John Varvatos. (Louis Vuitton is an exception: They won’t ever gift or even discount.) Then, consumer electronics: laptops and flat-screens. Celebs can afford to buy a new car every season but are often given free long-term leases from manufacturers like General Motors and Audi.
The minute any celebrity has a baby, she is targeted by diaper companies and stroller manufacturers. And it doesn’t stop when the kids start walking: When Tom Cruise threw a 17th-birthday party for his son Connor at the Staples Center, the event was sponsored, and Connor was showered with gifts, including cars. Even vacations get paid for. Resorts like the One & Only chain and Atlantis in the Bahamas will foot the bill for a celeb and entourage. At the Golden Globes, Air Pacific handed presenters like Johnny Depp and Jake Gyllenhaal two round-trip tickets to Fiji, as well as accommodations at a five-star resort. Total value: around $15,000.
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HOW MUCH CAN A CELEBRITY MAKE FOR TWEETING?
The weirdest thing about the rumor that Kim Kardashian gets paid $10,000 for a Twitter endorsement is that it’s true. (Recent plugs have been for ShoeDazzle.com and CVS.) The biggest player in the pay-to-tweet market is Ad.ly, a social-media advertorial clearinghouse pairing brands with celebs to inject highly personalized advertising into their Twitter streams.
The pay rate for endorsing companies like Old Navy, Toyota, Best Buy, and American Airlines is determined by the size of a celeb’s following and how that group responds to his tweets with shares and retweets.
On that sliding scale, Snoop Dogg (6.3 million followers) is in the top tier of payments, on the upside of $8,000 apiece, while Paula Abdul (2.2 million followers) falls somewhere in the middle, in the $5,000-each range, and Whitney Port (800,000 followers) falls in the bottom tier, making around $2,500 per tweet.
But there are outliers. When Ad.ly introduced self-destructing Charlie Sheen to Twitter, he was paid about $50,000 per tweet. It was worth it. Sheen’s tweet for Internships.com generated 95,333 clicks in the first hour and 450,000 clicks in 48 hours, created a worldwide trending topic out of #tigerbloodintern, attracted 82,148 internship applications from 181 countries, and added 1 million additional visits to Internships.com.
Of course Charlie didn’t write those tweets himself. No celebrity does. Instead, they’re composed by hungry young tweet ghostwriters whose job it is to broadcast a celebrity’s voice in 140 characters. Says Ad.ly CEO Arnie Gullov-Singh, “Consumers react positively to organic authentic messaging.
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WHAT DO YOU GET FOR JUST SHOWING UP?
An Appearance Fee Pecking Order:
$100,000+
Who gets it: Kim Kardashian, Fergie, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé.
Who pays it: Las Vegas nightclubs (Tao, Lavo).
$25,000+
Who gets it: “It” girls like Ashley Greene, Lea Michele, Camilla Belle, Zoe Saldana, Leighton Meester, Blake Lively.
Who pays it: Nightclubs in New York (Greenhouse, SL) and Miami (Mansion, Mokai), fashion houses during Fashion Week.
$10,000+
Who gets it: Upper-echelon Real Housewives (New York, Beverly Hills), Jersey Shore stars, Vanilla Ice (yes, Vanilla Ice).
Who pays it: Corporations hosting events, resorts, nightclubs in the middle of the country.
$5,000+
Who gets it: Nineties sitcom stars (Alfonso Ribeiro, Dennis Haskins), eighties movie villains (Billy Zabka of The Karate Kid), minor Real Housewives (Atlanta, New Jersey).
Who pays it: Small corporate events, consumer-product launches, chain bars.
$2,500+
Who gets it: Celebrity mistresses (Joslyn James, Jamie Jungers, January Gessert).
Who pays it: Strip clubs (Sapphire in NYC), adult-video conventions (AVN Awards).
$500+
Who gets it: Nonwinning Biggest Losers, Survivors, andAmazing Racers; long-forgotten Real World cast members (like Mandi moyer).
Who pays it: Malls, car dealerships, salons.
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KIDS: MONEY PITS OR MONEY MAKERS?
A nanny who won’t gab to the tabs isn’t cheap. But family pictures can be worth even more than Blue Ivy’s rocking horse. A sampling of the money spent, and earned, at home:
Expenses:
$70K-$130K
For each nanny-many stars double up. They pay more for English accents and graduate degrees. And discretion will cost you, too.
$95K
Tutor for Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s 5-year-old in Latin, Greek, sailing, and philosophy.
$600K
Part of the pampering arms race: a solid-gold rocking horse for Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Blue Ivy.
$100K
Annual cost of a 6-year-old’s stylist. After all, the kid’s look complements the star’s.
Gains:
$11M
For baby pictures (if you’re Brad and Angelina, anyway).
$8M
The net worth of child star Jaden Smith. Shouldn’t a celebrity’s kid learn to foot some bills?
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HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO SEND CHARLIZE THERON DOWN THE RED CARPET?
The celebrity stylist wants to be seen as a mix of fashion consultant and best friend, but the job is really more hustler-broker, netting a red-carpet day rate of $1,500 to $10,000 for the ugly grunt work of wrangling, bullying, and pleading with designers to spare a gown or a clutch purse so that the client (or, more often, the film studio that’s paying) doesn’t have to buy it. Often the stylist has to donate, too.
If a movie company won’t pay for the day rate, the celebrity probably won’t either, in which case she might ask a stylist to dress her in return for exposure. Stylist Phillip Bloch says that some of his top-tier clients never pay him. “Honestly, Salma [Hayek] never paid a dollar, I don’t think, in all the years I’ve worked for her,” says Bloch. “She and I were best friends.”
See a breakdown of Charlize Theron's Golden Globes 2012 outfit:
Vintage Cartier bandeau from 1920
Worth: About $2.5 million
Who paid for it: No one. It was a loan.
Who keeps it: Cartier.
Makeup
Worth: $251 in products, at least $1,500 for Paish by Shane Paish
Who paid for it: Dior.
Hair by Enzo Angileri
Worth: $79 in products, at least $400 for Angileri
Who paid for it: Likely Paramount Pictures.
Cartier white-gold-and-diamond earrings
Worth: $76,525
Who paid for it: No one-a loan.
Who keeps it: Cartier.
Christian Dior couture gown
Worth: About $30,000
Who paid for it: No one. Dior lent the dress to Theron.
Who keeps it: Dior.
Vintage Cartier brooch from 1951
Worth: About $1.5 million
Who paid for it: No one-a loan.
Who keeps it: Cartier.
Cartier platinum and diamond ring
Worth: $3,950,000
Who paid for it: No one-a loan.
Who keeps it: Cartier.
One-of-a-kind Dior couture handbag
Worth: About $20,000
Who paid for it: No one-a loan.
Who keeps it: Dior, most likely.
Givenchy spring 2012 shoes
Worth: $1,150
Who paid for it: Likely a gift from Givenchy.
Who keeps it: Theron.
Total “cost” . . . . . . . . . $8,079,905
Cost to Theron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0
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HOW MUCH DOES SECURITY COST?
Brad Pitt turned five houses into a private compound. R. Kelly built a twelve-foot wrought-iron-and-concrete fence around his estate. Ellen DeGeneres spent $5.5 million on a house that had sight lines into her backyard. These are the lengths celebrities go for a taste of anonymity in a business that ignores those who want to be noticed and incessantly hounds those who want to be left alone. “They’re just looking for privacy,” says Martin Genis, a Hollywood real-estate agent with many celebrity clients. That leaves stars with two choices: Find a secluded home that provides cover from what Genis calls the “lookie-loos” or move into a place like the Beverly Park, an exclusive, gated community where there’s a decent chance your neighbor is more famous than you are. Of course, you could always just move to a private island.
Security Expenditures
$500K: Armed security guard on duty 24 hours
$30K: Security-camera setup for 30 cameras
$25K: At-home nerve center for cameras
$10K: GPS device hardwired into cars
$5K: Shatterproof coating on windows
$820: Setting up LLC to keep purchases secret
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HOW MUCH DOES LOOKING YOUNG FOREVER COST?
Age 25
Acne microdermabrasion: $1,500
Facial-hair laser removal: $1,500
Botox for crow’s feet and frown lines: $1,000
Cool-fractional-laser resurfacing for sun damage: $5,000
Dermal fillers for lips: $1,000
Dermal fillers for dark circles under eyes: $2,000
Dermal fillers for flat cheeks: $3,000
Laser hair removal (non-annual): $3,000
Ultrasound cellulite therapy: $1,000
Stretch-mark removal (non-annual): $3,000
Rhinoplasty (non-annual): $12,000
Breast augmentation (non-annual): $10,000
Melasma lasering (non-annual): $5,000
Cost: $49,000
Age 35
Large-pore dermabrasion: $3,000
Lip-line filler: $1,500
Frown-line, forehead-line removal: $1,500
Eye lasering (non-annual): $2,500
Semi-permanent derma-fillers for cheeks: $4,500
Neck fillers (non-annual): $3,000
Liposuction (non-annual): $6,000
Tummy tuck (non-annual): $12,000
Breast lift (non-annual): $10,000
Cellulite removal: $2,000
Stretch-mark removal: $3,000
Body laser treatment for saggy skin: $2,000
Cost: $51,000
Age 45
Microdermabrasion facials: $3,000
Fractional lasering for discoloration (non-annual): $5,000
Dermal fillers for lip lines: $4,500
Dermal fillers for frown lines: $1,500
Laser skin resurfacing for eyes (non-annual): $3,500
Fractional resurfacing for sagging skin (non-annual): $8,500
Dermal fillers for sagging cheeks, neck, and necklines (non-annual): $9,000
Ultrasound cellulite therapy: $2,000
Mini face-lift (non-annual): $8,500
Redo breast implants from twenties (non-annual): $10,000
Cost: $55,000
Age 55
Microdermabrasion: $1,500
Fractional lasering for skin discoloration (non-annual): $5,000
Lip- and nose-line fillers: $4,500
Frown-line fillers: $1,500
Laser resurfacing for loss of elasticity (non-annual): $8,500
Ultrasound cellulite therapy: $2,000
Cheek derma-fillers: $4,000
Body laser treatment for sagging skin: $2,000
Face and neck lift (non-annual): $30,000
Eyelid lift: $7,500
Cost: $66,500
Four-decade total: $856,500
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HOW MUCH MONEY CAN YOU MAKE OFF OF EXCESS WEIGHT?
You don’t have to be thin to succeed in Hollywood anymore. Sometimes you’re better off getting a little bit fat. Why?
Telling a weight-loss story in a magazine or on an entertainment-news show can be worth between $10,000 and $100,000. A celebrity diet book can command an advance of $250,000 to $500,000. And then there’s reality TV- even relative nobodies like Britney Spears’s ex-husband Kevin Federline reportedly got $100,000 to appear on Celebrity Fit Club in 2010. (He’s since gained back the weight and will be on the Australian reality weight-loss program Excess Baggage later this month.)
The biggest money comes from endorsements, though. On average, a celebrity like Charles Barkley or Mariah Carey who signs a deal with a major weight-loss company like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig can stand to profit at the rate of approximately $33,000 per pound.
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CELEBRITIES WILL SELL MOST ANYTHING, AS LONG AS IT'S NOT HERE:
Click to viewIt started with Charles Bronson. The year was 1972, and Jsapanese toiletries and men’ skin-care company Yanagiya, trying to reinvent itself, changed its name to Mandom (a portmanteau of human and freedom) and signed up the most macho of men to splash aftershave on his face in its commercials. The campaign exploded, and Dentsu, the ad agency behind it, started importing American stars to Japan by the boatload.
Today the market has shifted to Russia and Brazil. For endorsing a product abroad, stars can pull in anywhere from the mid-six figures all the way up to $10 million. Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt each reportedly made around $1.7 million appearing in Japanese ads for SoftBank Mobile, a cell-phone company. In 2010, Julia Roberts reportedly banked $1.5 million for a 45-second coffee ad in Italy. They’ll have to keep grinding if they want to match the reported $4.8 million payday Robert De Niro saw for a 1999 Italian lamp ad, though. And while Madonna would command top dollar anywhere, some countries, like Brazil, are still obsessed with eighties action stars and MacGyver’s Richard Dean Anderson. Click on and watch sixteen variations of stars shilling all around the world.
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