How to Become a Star

I am lucky — I have lived for a while, so I had a chance to witness the development of social movement. I witnessed Tina Kandelaki’s “birth”. I still remember seeing her at this club called Jazz Cafe. Back then, Rita Mitrophanova was the voice of Radio Maximum.

The internet was just created, and not many people knew how to use a computer in general. At that time, there was a magazine called OM, and Igor Grigoriev was considered the coolest guy on the block. He was friends with Likka Star, and her videos were directed by Fedor Bondarchuk himself. Back then, there was not a company as progressive as Art Pictures. At that moment, Svetlana Bondarchuk was just Fedor’s wife. The main photographers were Korolev and Loktev. From Russian designers, there were merely Chapurin and Yudashkin (everyone is wondering how they still manage to continue creating clothes).

Evelina Chromchenko had just taken over Officiel. There was no Vogue nor Tatler in Russia yet. However, there was Bazzar, and its marvelous Shahri. The most stylish lady was Olga Slutsker. She was always dressed in Voyage and Chanel. To get inside the Voyage showroom in London, you needed to make a “call”: when you rang a doorbell, they would see you in the camera, and if they determined that you were not “cool” enough, they would simply not open the door. And yes, back then Olga had a crocodile Birkin. Also, anyone rarely wore Frank Muller diamond watches like she did.

The ones who could not get in the Jazz Cafe by status, went to the club called Cinema. This club had a prototype similar to this other place called Siberia. There, you could observe the It Girl, Uliana Tseitlina, together with her uprising billionaire-boyfriend, Andrei Bakarev.
And then something happened. As if all these characters above have proven Perelman’s theorem to themselves. What does it mean? Well, try to google it and decide what I’m talking about.

In order to become a star, MUCH less needed to be done in the past than nowadays. Yes, indeed, it was enough to have a producer as your lover to become famous. The market has changed entirely, and currently the
“product” (despite what it is) requires to be funded, according to my calculations, one million dollars on average, to achieve success. Yes-yes, no need to be surprised by this number.

Let’s take a certain time period. As a rule, the promotion cycle takes at least 12 months. An integral part of the work of turning a person into a star is PR. Without it, you could go nowhere. And if at the end of the 90s PR was “on a whim”, and something else could be done “by acquaintance”, now PR is a whole strategy. A PR cycle lasts always at least four months. I’m talking about glossy publications. If you have a photo session today, the material will be released, as a rule, only after 2-3 months. And not just one article should feature you, but several. A good PR manager is 90 percent of success. How much does good PR cost per month? Approximately 10,000-30,000 dollars, depending on the “gravity of the case”. And that’s not counting the overhead. Undoubtedly, there are several great PR figures in Moscow. Yet, the question is, would they take you? They would, of course, consider your case and make an offer. In fact, the price stated above would probably be announced. There are 2-3 people in Moscow who work individually with their clients, and they “lead” the process. I will not name them, but they are certainly well-known. These people work according to a certain scheme. Basically, this is “getting introduced to the society” – an acquaintance with the star crowd of Moscow, the “pimping” of good quality. Let’s call this PR man an agent to make him feel good. So, the agent would keep his finger on the pulse of social life and control your every appearance.

“Talent”. In America, this word encompasses various meanings, and it doesn’t matter if one has a talent or not. A “talent” can be an artist, presenter, singer, actor, model, blogger, designer…
A good PR person knows that the easiest time to get into a magazine is in July-August. Or January. It’s off season. A good PR specialist also knows which portals the “talent” should work with and which ones it would be better to avoid. The same applies to the print media. “Talent” can be featured in versatile magazines, such as 7 days, Star Hit, or Caravan of Stories…

A good PR person understands which events the “talent” should attend and which ones to refrain from.

Any “talent” has “overhead” costs. This is especially true for all “fashion icons” or fashion bloggers. They invest an immense amount of money in their outfits, and until their Instagram reaches a million followers, not a single Chanel would give them free clothes. All the expenses for travel and flights, agents, stylists (oddly enough, “fashion icons” have stylists), photographers, “fashion icons”, who lead social networks, also cover themselves. That said, I can assure you that both the pioneer, Miroslava Duma, and its follower, Natalya Davydova, bore enormous costs in the first years of their career. Moreover, if Mira managed to monetize the product (i.e. herself) through Buro 247 franchises, then Natalia, in the light of the new realities, may be able to develop her brand with more obstacles on the way. Natasha was just a little late: any investment in fashion now is a failure. After 2010, there has not been a single successful fashion project. The exception, perhaps, is Vetements, although no one really knows how things are with the investment part of this project.

Brand recognition is not nearly enough to indicate the project’s success. Yes, you can invest a million, and you would be recognized on the streets, but for what? Where is the profit from the product?

Nowadays, even wealthy parents aren’t ready to pay for their children’s costly projects. If earlier, a daughter wanted to sing, nothing stopped her father from turning this dream into reality. Yes, parents used to sponsor the projects like the Star Fabric. Parents invested large sums of money, and thanks to them for doing so —a lot of real talents were discovered back then, like Ira Dubtsova, who now is recognized as #wantcando and spends time on what she does best — she sings!

Speaking of the rising stars… It also has its own math. First, how much does one song cost? In principle, it may be inexpensive, if it is not written by a famous composer — approximately 10,000-15,000 dollars. However, if you want to order a song from Igor Krutoy, then it would be 10 times more. Plus, some money for the lyrics, as well as studio, production, and mixing. But then you’d have your song recorded together with Krutoy. What’s next? Here the fun begins. You need a producer who can broadcast the song. You can, of course, try to connect by yourself with the radio stations and other platforms. Keep in mind though, there are a lot of people like you, and there are thousands of songs on the radio. Accordingly, the chance that the program director would listen to your single is small. Therefore, you need someone who knows how to broadcast a song. Yet, remember that it’s not for free! It’s super expensive. For your song to be in the same charts with Yolka or Loboda, it is worth a lot, literally and figuratively!
In the meantime, here’s a list of the essentials in addition to talent, or at least possessing a skill (i.e. you must either be able to sing, or sew, or speak quickly and distinctively):

● Money (sources: parents, lover, husband)
● Strategy. Here you need a team that would correctly “accelerate” exactly “your story”, come up with the articulate “backstory”, determine the subsequent steps, time frames, and progressive control.
● Connections. You need to get into the right “circle”, and if you have money, the story is not always doomed to success. Moscow is cruel: it will take your money, but it will not give you any guarantees.
● Competent consultants: strategist, adequate stylists, PR, manager, producer, promoter, etc.
● Egocentrism or egomania. An integral part of the success of a public person is narcissism and exposing your data to the public.

If all the above is “in stock”, then you can begin the journey… but do not flatter yourself. You’re entering a battlefield. Don’t expect all the members of the Marlezon Ballet to welcome you with open arms. First, you will be
“punched in the face” — Moscow should test your level of resilience and where you come from. It is important. If your sponsor is “daddy”, “uncle”, then everyone would quickly lose interest and would look forward to the moment, when he leaves you. If your dad is part of the Forbes list, then the attitude may be better, and it is quite possible that they would want to become friends with you. Yet, it is better if your protege has access to the people of our country – the society would respect and fear you. However, they would look for the skeletons in your closet in any case. It is necessary to take the right position from the very beginning. You will be checked for lice not only by colleagues in the shop, but simply life will constantly ask you one question: why do you need this? And if you have an answer, then get started!

Conquering Moscow is not easy, but it is possible. Many of my friends have followed this path. Many managed to save their face, but there were those, who at one point left the race. It is vital to not feel threatened. You should be moderately “nice”, with good manners, but at the same time remain a person with a core, and others should feel it. A principal rule and the key to success is the ability to keep your mouth shut. Do not fall for the gossiping triggers, drawing you into the discussion of third parties. Take responsibility for yourself. Be smarter, collect information, but don’t release it yourself. It would be safer this way. One false negative public statement, and it is not known how life might turn out. You never know where the problem would come from.

Get ready to go to social events on a regular basis, as if you were going to work. There are 2-3 of them a day, and it is crucial to check in everywhere. Firstly, this, as they say in Hollywood, is an opp photo, that is, routine photographing on platforms, such as Spletnik. Keep in mind that as soon as your image appears on the pages of the forums, you are “in trouble” – such a stream of negativity always pours from there… Even in the most impeccable figures and beautiful faces, forum participants would find something to get to the bottom of. This, of course, is not worth paying attention to. You would not be loved, and no one would perceive you as a person. For them, you would become the object of discussion. In fact, they would also search for any incriminating evidence — everyone would yearn to know how it happened that you are now a new rising star!

Author: Masha Lopatova