A special gift for a very special person

Youngski

Dear Moneysavers,
This is going to be an extremely long shot but I'm going with the notation that those who never try will never get to fly.

It will be my beautiful wife's 40th birthday in August and as a special gift, I have decided to make a short film comprised of her friends and family, each giving her a little message for the day. For the last few weeks, I have secretly been contacting everyone she knows and thankfully, most have been more than happy to take part in making a 10-20 second clip which I am starting to edit and piece together.

Now here's the bit that is a little more challenging, I would absolutely love to get a celebrity to add that element of surprise and magic by also giving a personal message to her too.

I've asked everyone I know if they know anyone and there are a few leads but nothing firm. I also cannot expect them to be pushy with friends of friends as this makes things awkward for all concerned.
I've have sent a few mails to some of the star management companies but so far it's silence as you can imagine the huge quantity of fan mail they must trawl through.

Do any of you have any advice you can help with as I'm determined to make the best film I can for such a special person in my life.

Yours hopefully,

Youngski

DomRavioli

There's not much you can do apart from contact their managers and ask nicely, and don't set your expectations on getting one as its pretty slim and you will be setting yourself up to fail which will make you feel like rubbish.

Youngski

Thank you very much Dom Ravioli,
Yes I'm under no illusion that this is a difficult quest and I'm safe in the knowledge that my wife will be touched in seeing some unexpected friends and family in the video.

A celebrity will simply be a wonderful bonus but the real heartfelt greetings will be fantastic in itself. All I can do is ask and see.

Thank you for the advice .

Youngski

C_J

I suppose it depends what type of celebrity person you want to approach - for a sports personality, maybe approach the football or rugby club directly, or the F1 team for a motor racing star. Otherwise I'd be tempted to send a very amusing and engaging email to a radio station (I'm thinking the Chris Evans breakfast show on Radio 2 .... he has lots of celebrity mates as well as contacts for all his guests on the show and also the One Show) to see if you can spark some interest and help from there.

caffscho1

I would also recommend something in the way of social media- if you can get something strong going on twitter you never know who might pick up on it.

Do you have any celebrities of any sort in mind?

Youngski

Hi guys,
Thank you for the great advice. I know someone working in radio for the BBC so they're trying for me but essentially, I don't want to put anyone in an awkward position.
I've messaged a few Facebook celebrities that appear to post themselves sometimes rather than an agent so I'm just waiting to see if I get a response.
I've recently set up Twitter but cannot get the hang of it.
The closest I've come so far is discovering a person in my company is the uncle of a young famous British pop singer. Without giving too much away, I was told that she wasn't very forthcoming even with signed photographs, his phrase was miserable cow! So therefore I didn't pursue it further.
In terms of celebrities, my wife doesn't know many sports personalities unless they're the likes of David Beckham, Lewis Hamilton, Serena Williams et al, she doesn't watch soap operas and probably appreciates down to earth characters like Ed Sheran or Katy Ashworth from CBeebies (as our children have grown up with her), both of which I've already tried to contact already
Some of the agents have been kind enough to reply with a kind "Thank you but they're too busy" which is still appreciated nonetheless.

Thank you all again for the advice, I will keep trying for another few weeks, then it's time to start editing as I'm already receiving some wonderful messages from friends and family.

Nick_C

Most "celebrities" would do this for a fee! How much are you prepared to pay?

Youngski

Hi Nick C,
I wouldn't know what the rate is for 20 seconds of film really. When I've had photographs taken with famous people previously I have never been asked for a fee but I guess this a little more akin to some of the promotional work they do.

Ultimately, I guess if the sole focus was so über important, I would be willing to pay a reasonable amount. My primary goal however is to gather the friends and family clips which are obviously far more important. The celebrity would be a nice surprise and a bit of fun really.

C_J

There are several youtube clips of Ed Sheeran singing Happy Birthday to various fans. Could you splice one of those into your film and somehow edit the name?

suejb2

Who is famous and comes from where you live,being local they may feel more inclined to oblige.

Youngski

Nice suggestion CJ, my editing skills will not be up to scratch and that's cheating in my opinion!
I haven't thought of finding anyone local SueJB2, but it's a good idea as I'd be willing to travel and film if they agree to meeting up in the first place. I thought that people were more inclined to oblige the less they had to do and maybe they would rather avoid a face to face encounter seeing as some people would get mobbed. The internet and social networking makes the world a smaller place.
You guys are just so great with your community spirit in the MSE forums, thank you all!