# Do magazines generally pay for interviews of famous people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946 "2009-08-01T01:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/1 "2009-08-01T01:46:26Z")
If a magazine wants to interview someone reasonably famous, and they are essentially offering them free promotion for their upcoming movie/album/show/whatever, do they usually pay for the interview on top of that? If so how much? Or can they get away with saying, “this is going to be great for your publicity” and not need to pay them? I’m tangentially curious about television interviews as well, although that is obviously something different. I’m especially interested in print interviews because I work for a small magazine and am interested in securing an interview with someone who is well known (but not _really_ famous, like A-list or anything), but we have very little budget. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/2 "2009-08-01T03:32:19Z")
Well, they pay the author who writes up the interview for publication. But if the interview subject is promoting something (author, actor, singer, etc.), this is normally part of the publicity tour for that, and they do not get paid by the magazine. Generally the company selling the book/movie/CD etc. will pay the expenses of this tour, and sometimes pay a certain per diem amount to the artist. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/3 "2009-08-01T03:48:24Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, they pay the author who writes up the interview for publication. That would be me. 😉 (though God knows they don’t pay me very _much_) That’s good to hear. I think I am going to check with the editor to see if there is still space in the upcoming issue then call (the person I want)'s agent. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/4 "2009-08-01T04:29:26Z")
I’ve heard that people who appear on talk shows receive a fee. Their appearance is considered a performance. It’s not a trivial sum - I believe it’s a few thousand dollars. It’s a set fee rather than a negotiated one. You receive the same if you’re some stand-up comedian making his first appearance or if you’re a multiple Oscar winner. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/5 "2009-08-01T16:25:53Z")
I heard this story recently about a TV new organization that never, _repeat **never** _, pays for an interview but they did purchase some very expensive photographs for background and the interviewee got royalties from the photographer for the pictures. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/6 "2009-08-01T16:35:18Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > I heard this story recently about a TV new organization that never, _repeat **never** _, pays for an interview but they did purchase some very expensive photographs for background and the interviewee got royalties from the photographer for the pictures. I heard a similar story about Entertainment Tonight during the Anna Nicole Smith fracas in 2007. They didn’t actually pay people who knew her for interviews, per se. Rather they paid a third party to “secure” said interviews, and it was that third party which paid the people to come on the show. I guess that way ET could say technically they don’t pay for interviews. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/7 "2009-08-01T16:42:58Z")
Conan, Letterman, Leno , etc. pay a set fee for their show but it’s not a lot. Most of their guest are celebs who don’t really need the money. For actors the pay rate might be part of the union contract the show has. I don’t know if Oprah, Maury, Springer, etc. also pay but I guess they do. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/8 "2009-08-01T22:37:55Z")
No reputable publication pays for interviews. I was an editor and reporter for a few different newspapers and magazines for a number of years, and that’s just one of the tenets of respectable journalism. (I can’t speak for tabloids, as I’ve never worked for one, but I’ve heard that they will pay.) Celebrities and their managers already know that they need publicity. I managed to get interviews with some major celebrities, pretty easily. Just call their agent, and they’re usually happy to set up at least a phone interview. You might only get 20-30 minutes on the phone, rather than an hours-long face-to-face interview, but it’s usually enough for a pretty good story. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/9 "2009-08-02T01:53:32Z")
When I worked in public relations, my clients didn’t even pay for interviews for customer testimonials. This was so that if an editor ever asked us if we paid someone to plug our client’s product, we could look them in the eye and say “no.” With the morning shows and the Washington talk shows there’s a lot of negotiations in the background that don’t involve money. F’rinstance, I’ve heard of celebreties picking the Today Show over Good Morning America (or vice-versa) because one show promised the interview would run in the first hour, where there are more viewers. With a well-known but not really A-list type person, the biggest issue is, what’s in it for them to agree to an interview. What bit of research, or book, or favorite cause do they want to talk about? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/10 "2009-08-02T02:08:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ve heard that people who appear on talk shows receive a fee. Their appearance is considered a performance. It’s not a trivial sum - I believe it’s a few thousand dollars. It’s a set fee rather than a negotiated one. You receive the same if you’re some stand-up comedian making his first appearance or if you’re a multiple Oscar winner. I thought they received scale pay, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/11 "2009-08-02T02:21:56Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > With a well-known but not really A-list type person, the biggest issue is, what’s in it for them to agree to an interview. What bit of research, or book, or favorite cause do they want to talk about? The person has a new season of their web series coming out at the end of the month so I think it would be a good time to promote it. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/12 "2009-08-02T04:52:56Z")
As for television talk show guests, IIRC, it was Steve Allen, the first host of the Tonight Show, who hit on the idea of paying all guests union scale rates for their appearances. It was a brilliant move because it paid people _something_, and honored the minimum requirements of their union contracts, while it kept the show from having to negotiate fees with each guest separately and possibly getting into bidding wars among guests or between shows. AFAIK, it has been SOP with all talk shows ever since. It is, on the scale of Hollywood salaries, a token amount. ISTR hearing that it was a few hundred bucks back in the 1980s, so a few thousand is probably about right for these days. (Sorry, I couldn’t track down any cites, so if I’m wrong about some part of this, I’m sure someone will correct me.) ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-magazines-generally-pay-for-interviews-of-famous-people/504946/13 "2009-08-02T09:55:27Z")
How about Playboy-style interviews, especially when the interview is with someone who is not necessarily out to promote a given work? Unlike standard media interviews, these are incredibly long, in-depth, often taking place over multiple days or the span of a week… it’s a pretty big time commitment for a subject to make, unlike taking an hour out of a day to talk to People Magazine or whatever.