Robbie Tomkins on working with celebrities
By Sophie Nutt | 22 August 2019 | Expert Advice, Feature
When I tell people I am a session manicurist and explain what the job entails, one of the first questions they ask is, ‘which celebrities have you worked with?‘ or my pet hate, ‘who is the best/worst celebrity that you’ve worked with?‘. I always find these questions rather uncomfortable and awkward to answer as I like to maintain client confidentiality and I hate to sound like I’m name dropping, so I usually reply with something like, ‘if I told you, I’d have to kill you’, or point the person to my agency portfolio.
Here are my top do’s and don’ts when working with talent, which will hopefully give you a head start and ensure you get booked again:
DO:
- Turn up on time. Time is of the essence before a film premiere, for example, so being late is an absolute no-no!
- Make sure you have everything in your kit bag.
- Treat them like you would any client; smile and be friendly.
- Give your celeb some space when they arrive but be on-hand if they want anything.
- Teamwork is essential – you’ll usually be working together with hair and make-up, as time is often limited.
- Be prepared to work fast – most of the time the window is tiny to get a celebrity camera-ready.
DON’T:
- Ask for a selfie, unless you are absolutely sure that the celebrity is comfortable with it (or my personal favourite, just wait to see if someone else asks for one)!
- Take pictures or videos of the shoot or backstage area.
- Break client confidentiality – what you hear on set, stays on set!
- Try not to be too nervous, it can be hard at times but they are just regular people, too.
- Be overly familiar – take it case by case but pushing to get noticed and strike up a conversation about their latest piece of work can be quite off-putting.
Nothing will quite prepare you for your first big celebrity job, so my advice is to just turn up, put on your game face and do your best.
Follow Robbie’s session nail journey on Twitter & Instagram. and check out his columns in Scratch magazine throughout 2019.
