Recently, an article surfaced that Henry Cavill, and Gal Gadot, Superman and Wonder Woman of the DCEU, respectfully, were charging $350.00 for autographs and photos, charges were $175.00 for each service, at the ACE Comic Con that took place in Long Island, December 7th-9th of 2017.
Many took umbrage that these highly paid actors, among others, would charge such a high price from their fans. However, this story is not that simple and needs to be looked at further.
Some celebrities can set their own prices, outside of their appearance fees, depending on their contract with a particular con. Some celebs, such as Jason David Frank and Dean Cain, have negotiated to set their own prices at different shows for their table charges. Sometimes these charges are lower than what then autograph or photo vendors charge.
At some shows, celebrity ‘handlers’ are put into place to ensure all celebrity guests charge for their pics and autograph signings. These are normally put into place by the con itself and not something the person can work around.
In the case of Mr. Cavill and Ms. Gadot, they were on a promo tour for Warner Brothers to promote the Justice League movie, and as such the studio would have negotiated the charges with the con owners. And as such, the celebrity guests would have had no say in charges.
Usually, most shows charge reasonable prices for their guest’s special mementos for the fans. At some cons, some guests will even have different charges at their tables than what the con has listed.
Whenever you attend a con, it’s best to find out what charges for a celebrity may be for their autographs and/or photos.Likewise, for well known or hottest new comic artists, their sketches may be quite a bit more than the artist doing small press stuff or just starting out.
A little prep on your part can go a long way in getting a one of a kind memory you can take home with you.