Anyone know what Marina charges for a pic/autograph?

I'll be at a con where she's appearing this weekend and thought I'd go say hi. I'm not very familiar with the celeb/convention/autograph scene but I started to go to cons somewhat regularly lately and kind of accidentally started getting sigs from the ENT cast (long story) and I thought I'd start doing the same with the TNG cast.

Anyhoo, has anyone had any experience with Marina and what she charges? Ideally I'd like to get a cast picture for her to sign and then try and get the rest of the cast to sign it over time.

Any thoughts?

 

$47

 

When I met Marina Sirtis at Realms Con in Corpus Christi back in '05, she was chargin' $20 per signature, on your item or one of her's. She also had NEM 8x10s pre-signed by Jonathan Frakes that she would add her signature to for $50.

It was a smaller con, and not much of a crowd, and she was very nice to talk to. Drop dead beautiful, too. A very good experience all around.

And she would up joinin' the folks I had lunch with very briefly, but that was more to talk to Margot Kidder (who was sittin' across from me) than anything.

As for gettin' a cast photo signed, my suggestion would be third season on. Denise Crosby can't be counted on when she's scheduled to appear at cons (it happened in Dallas a few years ago, and I've heard others say she's done the same thing elsewhere). Wil Wheaton still does the occasional appearance, but mostly book signings (I consider myself lucky that I got TNG action figures signed when I met him). Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden would be hard to get, but the rest of the regular cast still do convention appearances.

 

At FedCon, an autograph from Marina was 30 euros.

 

I think the conventions often sets the signature price, rather than the person appearing (who, if I recall, are given a flat fee for appearing - this is how it works in the UK at least)

 

Maybe it's just me but I find it rather pathetic that some actors charge for their autographs.

 

I guess it's become standard practice, and they have to make a living, right?

However, I'm shocked to read what the going rates are. Back when I went to cons in the 1980s, they initially didn't charge anything, then toward the end of my tenure, the actors started selling their own pics for $3-$5, hoping you'd buy them and have them signed, rather than bring your own pic. But, you weren't required to buy their pics for a signature.

Doug

 

Yeah I was thinking along those lines. I was hoping to get a cast pic with the most amount of people but you still gotta play the odds. Wonder if I can get one with Whoopi. Now getting her sig is a real longshot.

To be honest I used to have a really negative view about both the actors charging and the people waiting in line and paying. I kind of look at it differently now as just something fun to do.

 

Yeah, if you can't get any acting jobs.

 

They should try to make a living acting or getting a real job. They had jobs for seven TV seasons and four movies because the fans liked them and they repay them by gouging them for every last dime they can.

 

I agree. Considering that actors make more in a week than most of us will see in our entire lifetimes, it's also criminal.

 

I've never understood why anyone would pay for an autograph, but if people choose to, more power to them. And I'm not knocking autograph-seekers; I have several prized signed books. I recall reading somewhere that Rene Auberjonois donates proceeds of his signed/auctioned items to various charities or causes, which seems an honorable thing to do...

 

If you get them 'in line' at a convention event or such, they'll demand payment just to keep the line under control (I've seen more than one convention get insane for celebrity lines, so the fee helps mitigate that a lot). Often times it's not to make a quick buck, but to make the 'freebie' people to leave them the hell alone.

 

Because obviously the 'freebie' people aren't fans.

 

The way I see it, the charge should be the same across the board. And it's something that goes towards the convention overhead. The actors are paid to come, and that's all they should walk away with. Stock photos for signing would be provided by the convention management, agreed upon before hand.

 

Never mind that, what does she charge for a lap dance?

 

When Rene Auberjonois was in Dallas a couple of years ago, all the proceeds from his table went to Doctors Without Borders.

And when Gates McFadden was in Dallas a couple of years before that, she was sellin' one signed item that the proceeds from that went to Doctors Without Borders. That's the one I bought for Crusher Disciple. It was slightly more expensive than a regular signature, but worth it.

 

Or the stars are pretty flippin' busy and having to been several hours at a stretch to sign autographs would be a pain in the ass. Honestly... stars owe fans very little. She made the show, you watched it and enjoyed it. Seems to me like the deal was done. Not sure what any star owes fans after that point...

 

Not a thing, and they don't have to do the cons. And I don't have to go, either.

So I don't.

 

Honestly I don't really appreciate it when the price gets super steep; but I do believe that in the case of say, Patrick Stewart the idea is probably to reduce the number of people buying tickets (and even then, at the Vegas con last year, they limited the number of tickets). That said, I don't think autos or photo ops should really be free either. The actors are taking time out of their schedules, busy or otherwise to sign autographs, do photo ops, panels, etc. I suppose in a sense we're paying them for their time. Just my take.