Sergey Knazev - The Fame Game: A Superstars Guide to Getting Rich & Famous

The Fame Game

Copyright 2015 by Sergey Knazev

All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.

This edition published by SelectBooks, Inc.

For information address SelectBooks, Inc., New York, New York.

First Edition

ISBN 978-1-59079-125-7

eISBN 978-1-59079-139-4

Knazev, Sergey.

The fame game : a superstars guide to getting rich and famous / Sergey Knazev. -- First edition.

pages cm.

Summary: Founder of entertainment and brand management company who manages careers of the stars tells behind-the-scenes stories of how they reached their fame and offers information and practical advice on how to become a celebrity-- Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-59079-125-7 (hardbound : alk. paper)

1. Fame. 2. Celebrities--Case studies. 3. Publicity. I. Title.

BJ1470.5.K53 2015

302.54--dc23

2014013866

Caricature illustrations by Max Espinoza and Ruben Gerard

Book design by Janice Benight

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

1.
History of the Celebrity Phenomenon

2.
How to Become and Stay Famous

3.
Digital Age: Fame Reloaded

4.
How to Play the Fame Game and Win

5.
Money, Money, Money: How to Build and Run Fame Business

6.
Whats Next?

Foreword

Fame. Its something many people search for and few find, becauselets be honestbeing famous takes hard work! Theres still A LOT more to it than that, though!

Sometimes you need money, and sometimes you need luck, but when it comes down to being famous, you always need to be smart and know how to play the game. In Sergey Knazevs book, The Fame Game, the rules to becoming one of the Glitteratti are laid out plain and simple, and trust me, there are definitely rules to winning! However, sometimes breaking those rules can be the difference between the big time and fifteen seconds of fame. But you cant break rules the right way until you know what they are!

Over the years, the world of fame has evolved, and so have the people who have attained celeb status. When Elizabeth Taylor became the first nearly fully accessible star in Hollywood, people were obsessed with her life and relationships. Fast forward a few decades later, when Old Hollywood elegance no longer reigned supreme. Instead, scandalous sex tapes like Kim Kardashians and Paris Hiltons took over, launching entire families to stardom. Even though their rise to fame wasnt so long ago, in the fast moving Internet age, weve already moved on from sex tapes (although obviously we all still love a good sex tape!) to a world where YouTube stars and viral videos sit atop the totem pole. In todays world, fame is a completely different animal, and its a high-maintenance animal, too!

The Fame Game will give you the recipe to help you find your inner stars spirit animal, using tools like branding, self-promotion, and basically just figuring out why it is that you should be famous. Just having a pretty face or bunz of steel wont get you to the top. You need to learn the art of the publicity stunt, how to get the paparazzi to work for you, the best ways to make social media your bestie, how to establish a fan-base, and of course theres always understanding the business side of things. Will advertisers want to work with you? Why? What can you bring to the table? Youll need a website to promote yourself, a portfolio, and good contacts. Do you have any idea how much all of that will cost? Its a lot to think about, but youll find all of these answers right inside this info-packed, yet wildly entertaining book by one of todays leading fame and branding experts.

My own journey followed many of these guidelines. I went from blogging daily at a coffee shop, to having one of the largest, most successful entertainment and celeb websites in the world. And I did it by working very hardnot only at creating content people engaged with and promoting work Im proud ofbut also by putting myself out there as a personality and an authority in the world of Hollywood! I befriended the celebs I love, which helped me gain a celebrity following, boosting my fandom even more! And fans are a big key to your success in this game.

If youre reading this, and you want to be as famous as Snooki, you CAN! Take a look at the tools Knazev gives you in this book, put them in your bedazzled toolbox, and get to work making your dreams come true!

And remember, even making the worst dressed list is a good thing, because at least people are talking about you!

Perez Hilton

Acknowledgments

I would like to dedicate this book to my parents Olga and Boris Knazev and my sister Natalia Knazeva, and thank all my extended family, friends, and colleagues for making this book possible through all their tremendous support and help over the years while this book was in the works.

I would like to thank my extensive Fame Game family. First and foremost, special thanks to Michael East for his boundless trust in me, support, personal inspiration, and encouragement; Zac Albright for being the most loyal, talented, and the hardest working colleague and friend; Igor Glavatskih for being the best web designer and programmer and loyal friend of almost twenty years; Elkhonon Goldberg for being a family in my newly adopted country and for his vote of confidence and encouragement; Richard Flaster for being the best friend and the best business partner one can dream of; Wallace Wang, Sharon Roth, Max Espinoza, Ruben Gerard, and Nancy, Kenzi, and Kenichi Sugihara for sharing with me their friendship, support and talents as editors, illustrators, and publishers to make this book such a fantastic read despite the sometimes puzzling communications that arise from my distinct (but charming) Eastern European dialect; Bill Gladstone and Karen Kinney for their business acumen in publishingand trust in me as a first-time writerand Omarosa for her advice and support along the way. I also would like to thank my dear friends and business partners at Perfectomundo Tequila: Richard Cabo, Howard Balaban and Paul Oakenfold for being such great sports, loyal friends, and for making working with them almost criminally fun.

I would also like to thank countless celebrities, lawyers, agents, managers, and other esteemed colleagues that taught me, fought me, inspired me, and gave me the privilege of working with them. The joking about celebrities in this book is all meant to be in fun, and is written with love and respect for these people who have helped to create the Hollywood machine and keep it spinning from both on and behind the stagemany of whom I have been honored to meet, work with, and learn from.

And last, but definitely not least, I would like to thank the illustrious Perez Hilton for writing such a terrific foreword and being such a tremendous encouragement and support.

Introduction

If cash comes with fame, come fame; if cash comes without fame, come cash.Jack London

Everyday in Los Angeles, I see hundreds of aspiring actors climbing out of buses, trains, and airplanes to pursue their dreams of fame and fortune in Hollywood. Many of these fortune seekers are supremely talented, yet the odds are heavily stacked against them.