Most celebrities today have so many unofficial fan sites devoted to them with questionable information that they’ve decided so start their own official sites. Sometimes these are very user-friendly. Some are meant to stroke the star’s ego, and all you get is a few pictures and a couple of news tidbits now and then. Others are in-depth peeks at what makes the star tick, especially if the celebrity is personally involved in the site.
Ben Affleck used to have BenAffleck.com, but he had to close it when problems with a network TV pilot forced him to close most of his interactive production company. But while the site was live, not only did it meticulously catalog every step Affleck took in the world (from archiving newspaper interviews to presenting clips from TV shows) it also had a message board. Ben took great delight in answering questions asked on it. He even called up a few of the regulars, unannounced, just to give them a thrill.
Writer/director Kevin Smith has a very fan-friendly Web site at http://www.ViewAskew.com, where he not only answers questions from fans, but has also given some of them jobs and hosted special events where he’s screened unreleased films from his production company.
For several years on his own Web site, Sir Ian McKellen has been giving his fans information before he gives it to the press at http://www.McKellen.com. He even kept a running diary while shooting Lord of the Rings and shot a home video of the production as well.
Halle Berry’s own http://www.Hallewood.com goes as far to offer video workout clips, as well as Hally-approved beauty products. Both of these Web sites go above and beyond in welcoming fans into the celebrities’ private worlds. Berry’s site has even spawned a group of fans who call themselves "The Groovers," who communicate with her on a regular basis.
Many celebrities have started their own official Web sites that give fans a look into their everyday life. Thousands of celebrities (or their publicists) have taken the time to create a site where they can connect with their fans. Celebrity blogs are also becoming popular, with stars like Rosie O’Donnell and Moby contributing almost daily posts about their personal lives.
These examples, however, are far from the norm. Most official celebrity Web sites are little more than a PR offering or a business-driven corporate site, rather than a serious attempt to connect with fans. For example, David Lynch’s Web site charges users for access and offers them unique online series content when they do. Fail to pay and there’s not much for you to see.
Quentin Tarantino’s ABandApart Web site http://www.ABandApart.com is similarly business driven, serving mostly as a lure for commercial and music video gigs for his production company.
When Johnny Carson was alive, his site said, "Wrong, Johnny won’t read your email, but someone from Carson Productions will." Then they offered a series of tapes and DVDs to purchase.
Other official star sites combine commercial and non-commercialism. Madonna’s official site, http://www.Madonna.com, offers free streaming music and music videos, with the option to join her official fan club for instant access to exclusive remixes, autograph giveaways, a newsletter (which is actually a very well-produced magazine), interviews with dancers, artists and photographers who work with her, and more.
Whether or not an official Web site gives you full access, it does give you an insight into how easy or difficult it will be to contact the celebrity. Mariah Carey has an official Web site http://www.MariahCarey.com that is not only hugely popular with fans due to the singer’s penchant for leaving personal messages, but also because the statuesque superstar once had a very public personal breakdown on the site. Now, instead of a few messages a week, she leaves only a few a year.
For those involved in film and television, there’s not a better resource for finding official Web sites than the Internet Movie Database at http://www.IMDB.com, which allows you to search for the names of anyone ever involved in film or television. If an official Web site for that celebrity exists, it will usually list it right there, free of charge.
Of course, you can always do a search on Google for "celebrity name" + "official site". The problem, however, is that this will only show accurate results if the celebrity’s site is titled an "official site". Usually it will bring up hundreds of fan sites instead, so it’s best to check a resource like http://www.IMDB.com where the celebrity’s personal assistant or publicist has listed the celebrity’s actual official site.
If one particular celebrity is the object of your interest, consider starting your own unofficial Web site devoted to that person. Many fans have done so and ended up in close contact with the celebrity once that person realized the unofficial site served a valuable purpose, especially if a lot of people visit it. The official Julia Stiles Web site was one example, where an unofficial Web presence was done so well, the actress got in touch and hired the person to be her official Webmaster.
Unofficial Fan Sites
Just as the official fan sites can be great places to research celebrities’ interests, their unofficial fan sites can be even better. Sometimes the info you’ll get from an unofficial site will be more in-depth and personal than what you’d find at the star’s official site. This is because all of the information found on official sites has to be screened by the star’s publicist, and they don’t want a lot of information to be made public. The people who run unofficial sites tend to know a lot about their favorite celebrity--probably more than the star knows about his or her own life!
Fan Clubs
Every celebrity with a decent amount of fans has a fan club, more so with the music industry than any other field of entertainment. If you are interested in contacting a musical artist, the fan club mentioned on the liner notes of one of his or her CDs is a good place to start. Of course, if you download music instead of buying it, you can’t read the liner notes, can you? (Unless you legally download music at iTunes, which does include liner notes.)
Any official fan club will have access to its celebrity, but that doesn’t mean the star will show up for gatherings or hang out with fans on a Friday night. What is does mean is if you join for a price, you’re guaranteed to get a signed picture, maybe a t-shirt, a membership card, preferred seating at concerts, and a newsletter. For the diehard fan, the cost is generally not a big deal since the newsletters will give you information on exactly where you can meet your favorite celebrity. Maybe they’ll be at a book signing in Savannah, Georgia this week or a charity event in Saskatoon next week. That newsletter will usually tell you where and when.
Most fan clubs also have giveaways every so often for backstage passes, front row concert tickets, meet and greets, sound checks, and autographed memorabilia. Becoming a member of a fan club of one of your favorite stars and entering their contests is a great way to score some cool stuff. (This author won two free tickets to Madonna’s "Drowned World Tour" through her fan club--worth $500 since the tickets were $250 each!
Admittedly, not every fan club is professionally run and operated. In the 60s and 70s, fan clubs were huge and were a substantial business for those who ran them. Nowadays, however, mostly due to the Internet, things are more casual. There are a lot of free online fan clubs with no charge for membership and no real return other than regular news and updates.
There are also plenty of places online that claim to be fan clubs, but very few are in the traditional sense where you actually get anything for signing up. Most are merely collections of photos and in-depth news, but if you’re interested in seeing what’s out there, try using a reputable search engine like Google or Yahoo. Search for the celebrity’s name in quotation marks and the words fan club. For example, if you’re looking for Madonna’s fan club, type in "Madonna" fan club. It’s usually the name of the celebrity--for example, hers is Madonna.com. Easy, right? Oprah’s site at http://www.Oprah.com invites you to sign up for a free membership and "become part of Oprah’s world." Yeah, right… if only it were that easy!
For the music fan, thousands of these fan clubs are listed and housed at http://www.musicfanclubs.org. Some of them are very professional with lots of information, which wouldn’t hurt you to have if you ever do meet the celebrity, but most don’t offer any contact information.
To actually contact a celebrity and get a response, you’ll probably have to skip fan clubs and instead send a letter to his or her personal address. For the personal addresses of over 54,000 celebrities, join Contact Any Celebrity at http://www.ContactAnyCelebrity.com for instant access to their online database.
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