Midrange celebs give ‘shout- outs’ for suitable price
Remember Nikki Blonsky?
She was the unknown teen from Long Island, New York, plucked from a Cold Stone Creamery and cast as the star of the 2007 movie musical “Hairspray.”
Now, a decade after that big splash, her acting career has slowed to a drip. Recently, she lent her voice to “Pup Star,” a direct-to-digital entry in the “Air Bud” extended universe. And soon, she will appear in a horror movie opposite Gary Busey’s son.
Lately, though, Blonsky has found a new performance platform: Cameo, a service that allows fans to pay low- to midrange stars to send them short, personalized video messages.
Blonsky is the bard of Cameo. She excels at the projection of intimacy. She takes a few spare details about her subject — an upcoming birthday, a career milestone — and spins them into a sugar-voiced pep talk filmed as a dim, shaky selfie.
The heady mix of heartfelt emoting and janky video quality creates the illusion of a bridged gap between celebrity and fan. The experience costs $20. I bought one for myself.
Commoners have long had a tenuous relationship with the stars. Their images and life stories exert a strong gravitational pull over our own, and the internet has provided the opportunity for the masses to yank back.
Attempting to assert control in the confines of celebrity culture can take the form of fanatical image monitoring (as is the case with celebrity Photoshop-obsessed communities such as Pretty Ugly Little Liar); creepy body fixations (indexing and cataloging celebrity parts on sites such as WikiFeet and CelebHeights.com); erotic fan fiction (where you can write your favorite star into any scenario you choose); and criminal invasions (hacking and trading nude images).
Cameo offers something: the opportunity to project your voice through a famous host, the “Being John Malkovich” of apps.
Here’s how it works: You browse an array of available Cameo “talent” — the list includes “The OC” star Mischa Barton (current rate: $75), the NFL Hall-ofFamer Terrell Owens ($350), the former boy-bander Lance Bass ($125) and a raft of “Real Housewives” socialites — and choose your favorite player. Then type in some credit-card information and a set of instructions.
If the celebrity accepts the request, a video materializes in your inbox within a week. If he or she does not, you will receive a sad GIF and won’t be charged.
Cameo “talent” is free to reject any request found “confusing, difficult, or not in line with an athlete’s or influencer’s image,” so the potential thrill of being recognized by a B-list celebrity always comes with the risk of being rebuffed by one.
Steven Galanis, a former LinkedIn account executive who is CEO of Cameo, realized a couple of years ago that “the celebrity selfie is the new autograph” and set out to democratize the experience with the help of co-founders Devon Townsend, a former Microsoft engineer, and Martin Blencowe, a producer and NFL agent. Now, you no longer need to hope for a random celebrity run-in to secure such an image; you can pay Cameo to engineer it for you.