E3 Group

Series 6 of the X-factor aired on Saturday night with a significant twist to the new series. Where awful contestants used to be eliminated in front of the judging panel and a television camera, they now have to confront both this and an arena sized audience. Clearly adopted from Simon Cowell’s other similar show, Britain’s Got Talent, this move by the producers has created an unusual result. Perhaps it has something to do with the sense of vastness in the studio, or maybe it is the lack of a flashing red ‘X’ that the judges can summon by buzzer, but the process of ousting the awful wannabes seems less fun. In fact, at times, it seemed quite cruel. Perhaps the difference with BGT lies in the fact that many of the contestants were there simply to “have a go” and enjoy themselves whereas the format for X-Factor lends itself to those who have a genuine belief in their ability to make it in the pop world.

Although some of the contestants were truly awful and a bit painful to watch there were, of course, some obvious winners. Danyl Johnson is already an internet sensation; his performance outstripping all the others. The phones in our office are already buzzing with enquiries about how to hire X-factor singers for parties and events, and Danyl is set to become top of the list. Of course, bookings for Danyl will not be possible until the the show has finished. All contestants on the show have contractual obligations with ITV and, unless they are eliminated, will not be available to hire for some time. So if you’re planning an event and would like to hire Danyl Johnson, don’t hold your breath, as we predict he may have some distance to go.

Our entertainment agents here at E3 Artists are used to dealing with requests to book professional chefs for cooking demonstrations and activity days, however, following her win on the Grand Final of this year’s Celebrity Master Chef, our agents are now dealing with a surge in requests to hire Jayne Middlemiss for her culinary skills.

The television and radio presenter, who nearly fell to pieces in Theo Randall‘s kitchen on Thursday night’s penultimate installment, went onto win on Friday evening’s show preparing a sensational starter of seared scallops on apple puree, followed by a main course of pan fried veal and a dessert of lavender panacotta with crystallised violets.

Having worked on countless culinary workshops with our clients in the past (co-ordinating demonstrations from maestros such as James Martin and Aldo Zilli), we know that booking a charismatic chef is a guaranteed winner for event planners seeking a unique and unifying team building experience. Those looking to employ the skills of a celebrity chef, Miss Middlemiss included, can contact our agents for advice on 020 7836 4759 (Option 1).

Filming for the 2009 series of ITV’s The X Factor began last week with an audition in London presided over by judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Louis Walsh and Danni Minogue. A ratings winner since the first series aired in 2004, the show has made stars of Leona Lewis, Steve Brookstein and Shayne Ward.

At E3 Artists we work with many of the show’s former contestants. This weekend the memorable and uniquely talented singers Ruth Lorenzo and Diana Vickers will be performing for our client Barnstaple Town Centre Management. Appearing as part of our client’s “Games to Inspire” event, the singers will support the local Devon authorities fundraising endeavours whilst also adding some star quality to the day.

Alongside Ruth and Diana we have worked with and acted as booking agents for a range of other former X Factor stars including Chico, Journey South, Same Difference, Austin Drage, Laura White and G4. With the new series of The X Factor set to air on ITV this August, I will certainly have my entertainment agent hat on whilst watching the show; always on the look out for great new acts to book!

Studying this year’s crop of Big Brother housemates has taken up a bit of our time this week as we try to determine which housemates will progress to the final weeks and build up booking-worthy public interest. It may seem odd, but Big Brother housemates are an extremely popular booking for corporate clients looking to promote their products or services to the young generation of avid Big Brother fans. Those who follow the show tend to do so avidly and as a result, build up strong opinions, likes and dislikes regarding their favourite housemates, ultimately voting with their hard earned money to keep their favourites in the house. Those who watch the show take part in the journey of that particular housemate and they subsequently become an important and relatable media profile. Brian Dowling, Kate Lawler and Brian Belo all enjoyed this rapport with Big Brother fans and it is obvious why they are still popular with clients looking to hire a Big Brother Housemate today.

It may be still too early to tell, but there are a few candidates for success in the current house. Sophie Reade, whose legal name is now Dogface thanks to a particularly cruel BB task, will no doubt have a glittering career in modelling waiting for her post eviction or victory, which ever comes first. Rodrigo is the clear fans favourite at the moment with Heat magazine professing their love and the bookies labelling him early favourite. The dark horse of the show could be Freddie Fisher, now known as Halfwit after he carried out the same task as Dogface. He seems likeable enough although he’s perhaps even too wide eyed to go the distance. The housemates seem to think so after putting him up for eviction this week. As the show progresses, it will be interesting to see who reveals their hidden talents and that unquantifiable likeability that keeps certain former housemates so popular for so long.

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Tickets are still available for E3 Group’s one-off West End musical spectacular, celebrating the career of BAFTA and Olivier award winning actress, Dora Bryan OBE. The show will feature songs from musical favourites including Hello, Dolly, Showboat and 70 Girls 70 together with exclusive performances from Sir Cliff Richard, Brian Conley, Rosemary Ashe, Zoe Tyler and many others. The show will also feature a full supporting cast and a live orchestra.

Tickets start at £25 and are available through See Tickets on 0844 4124 657. Ticket sales will raise money for two charities close to Dora’s heart; the Variety Club Children’s Charity and the Alzheimer’s Society. A special £20-off discount is available on the top two ticket price bands for readers of this blog; call See Tickets and quote “Dora31″.

Sir Cliff Richard has confirmed that he will be making a special guest performance in E3 Group’s one-off musical spectacular commemorating the career of BAFTA and Olivier award winning actress Dora Bryan. Cliff will appear alongside a host of other celebrities, many of whom will also be performing supported by a live orchestra and full-cast, including Brian Conley, June Whitfield, Amanda Barrie, Liza Goddard, Robin Cousins, Zoe Tyler, Linda Lusardi and Sam Kane.

Tickets for the show are now on sale through See Tickets on 0844 4124 657. The show will take place on 31st May 2009 at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London and ticket sales will raise money for the Variety Club Children’s Charity.

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In the last few months, there has been a bit of press surrounding Simon Cowell’s predicted exit from one of his many talent shows. Depending on who you believe, Simon is set to depart from Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor and American Idol. Obviously, to assume that he will be leaving all three would be slightly absurd, I mean, what would this multi-millionaire find to do in his spare time? It is still quite possible that he will leave one of these shows and this got me wondering which one and what, if any, impact this would have on the show in question. I think it is unlikely that Simon will leave Britain’s Got Talent as he seems to really enjoy judging this show. He has, however, said no to judging the American version perhaps indicating that one is enough. The X Factor producers have indicated that they think Mr Cowell is “replaceable” but I think you have to take that with a pinch of salt since Simon owns the whole format and he himself hires and fires those same producers. American Idol is the most likely of the three to see Simon depart, in my opinion. The format is owned by Simon Fuller and not Mr Cowell and although he has said that he enjoys not worrying about anything except the judging while on Idol, I think that he could leave and subsequently try to launch The X Factor in the USA. This is exactly what happened to Pop Idol in the UK with that name long removed from the popular vernacular.

If Simon was to depart from any of the above franchises, the impact could be devastating. E3 Group recently created a bespoke production of Strictly Come Dancing for clients Thomas Cook, replicating the format as close to the original as possible. Initially, the view was taken that we would not use a Craig Revel Horwood style, nasty judge in the production as we worried this could de-motivate the contestants and audience, defeating the point of any corporate production! We found this notion to be completely wrong. The second version of the production came complete with the nasty judge and the audience revelled in it. It gave them a figure to unite against in mutual hatred and somewhere to direct those almighty boos! If Simon Cowell leaves any of his talent shows, this will be the result. A void where the boo-absorbing sponge used to be will appear and overly nice comments will begin to pour from those remaining judges without anyone to keep them in check. If the producers try to replace Simon with another harsh talking judge, audiences will see through this too easily. It will become all too obvious that a format has been created independent of those who appear on it, easily dismantled and repackaged with new faces. I know, to some extent, this has been happening already throughout the evolution of this kind of talent show, but for me, Simon is the lynchpin that keeps all these formats ticking over. To remove him could truly sound the death knell for any one of these popular talent shows.

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Dora Bryan is one of the nation’s most beloved stars of stage and screen. As Aunt Ros Utterthwaite she endeared herself to fans of Last of the Summer Wine and picked up a BAFTA nomination for her role as Dolly in Absolutely Fabulous. Before these memorable roles, Dora picked up a BAFTA for her scene stealing performance in A Taste of Honey and an Olivier Award for her turn in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party. All these accolades lead to Dora receiving an OBE in the Queen’s honours list in 1996, recognising her stellar contribution to British film, television and theatre. Dora’s life has certainly been eventful and not exactly what you would call smooth sailing. This excellent article in the Daily Mail served to emphasise this while extolling what a true talent to be admired Dora really is. E3 Group entertainment agency CEO David Hill, who is also Dora’s manager and close personal friend, decided that at the very least, Dora deserved an evening of entertainment to celebrate all her achievements. And so Dora was born; a Gala Charity Show celebrating the career of Dora Bryan OBE. David Hill commented on the celebration, “It is a wonderful opportunity to pay tribute to a very special lady and an incredible British talent.”

The event will be held at The Really Useful Group’s Her Majesty’s Theatre, London on the 31st May 2009. Dora herself will be the guest of honour at the gala show which will bring together many of her friends and fans for an evening of entertainment and reminiscence on the career of this highly renowned BAFTA and Olivier award winning actress. The evening will consist of performances and speeches from many of the famous friends Dora has made throughout her career which has now spanned seven decades. The show will be ticketed in order to raise money for a charity very close to Dora’s heart, the Variety Club Children’s Charity, whose dedication to helping sick and disabled children through variety entertainment has inspired the evening. The Variety Club’s Chief Barker, Kenneth R. Mustoe commented on Dora. “Dora Bryan is a true legend of the entertainment industry and has been a supporter of The Variety Club for over 30 years. We are extremely honoured that she has nominated us as the charity of choice for her well deserved tribute evening. This gift will make a true difference in the lives of sick, disabled and disadvantaged children and young people across the UK.”

Tickets are available to purchase through See Tickets and ticket enquiries can be made on 0844 4124 657 or through www.seetickets.com. The full line up of the evening’s entertainment will be confirmed shortly. Please don’t hesitate to contact E3 Group for any information pertaining to the show.

For more information on the Variety Club Children’s Charity please visit www.varietyclub.org.uk

BAFTA’s television awards went ahead yesterday with much aplomb but significantly reduced viewing figures on last year. With Britain’s Got Talent drawing a whopping 12million viewers over the weekend, BAFTA’s 4.4million means just over a third of the amount of BGT viewers made the effort to watch the ceremony. Although it could be argued that awards ceremonies are somewhat self-congratulatory affairs where the TV industry recognises the brilliance of the TV industry, for me, these awards are vital to ensure that standards of programming do not dip. Without goals and benchmarks to aim for, how can TV ever be expected to progress and improve? These BAFTA’s seemed to recognise the changing landscape of British television reflected by some surprise nominations and some surprising wins.

June Brown, whose nomination for best actress was unusual for a performance in a soap, failed to take home the award; a step too far for soaps this year perhaps. Struggling Broadcaster ITV were surprised to pick up gongs for the Bill and their coverage of the Formula 1 Grand Prix victory of Lewis Hamilton, an award almost universally handed to the BBC’s Olympic coverage before the winner was announced. The awards which seemed a shock to some observers but came as no surprise to us here at E3 were the BAFTA for best entertainment programme and the Phillips Audience award. The X Factor beat off competition from The Apprentice, QI, The Sunday Night Project and TV Burp to pick up the best entertainment programme award and this is a reflection of the huge public interest and engagement with the talent show. Advertisers and events organisers have understood the power of this programme for some time now and are continuously looking to hire former X Factor contestants to associate their brand or experience with this hugely influential brand. The Phillips audience award shocked some due to the winner, Skins, enjoying significantly smaller viewing figures than its competitors such as Coronation Street and The Apprentice. The nature of this award’s voting almost guaranteed Skins the win, as the online and text based voting system seemed to inadvertently target Skin’s primary, tech-savvy, audience. Ultimately, the results from this years BAFTA’a should act as a lesson to entertainment industry professionals. Writing off potential victors based on trends from previous years and underestimating your target audience can be costly for anyone using entertainment as a selling point. All in all, these BAFTA’s seemed to do a good job reflecting an tenacious but slightly weary industry, while pushing to the fore those entertainment concepts which really will really work in 2009.

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So Alistair Darling has announced the 2009 budget to mixed reactions. Some say his economic projections for the coming years are ludicrous and that the Government is living in a “fantasy world”. Others are slightly more positive, but only as much as “it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be”. While the budget will affect us all personally and impact on everyone’s lives in some way or other, I was more concerned with the impact the current economic climate would have on the arts budget. Arts are always first on the chopping block. It is as if entertainment and culture are luxuries that we can’t afford in difficult times. With the joy that London felt after it was announced we had secured the 2012 Olympic Games, many people in the arts and entertainments industry began to notice subtle relocations of funds from community arts projects to the ever growing Olympic pot. As soon as a funding gap emerges, the arts suffer and that is a false economy, especially in an economic downturn.

The Guardian has taken the view that the £4 million cut from the Arts Council is good news following predictions that were much worse than this eventual result. The Stage however has emphasised that this will have an impact on the Arts sector and reiterate my view that arts are more than “a luxury add-on” to be cast off in times of want. My worry is for the future of entertainment if this trend continues. Now those artists who find themselves out of pocket can look to supplement their income by working with a company like the E3 Group. Our corporate clients are always looking to hire talented singers, dancers and performers so options still exist. It is those just getting in to the industry at, to coin a sporting phrase, ‘grass roots levels’. Without the funding to community projects, arts schools and workshops, our resource of entertainers may dry up as time goes by. With less encouragement and support for young talent, we run the risk of impacting on all of the entertainment sectors we love. Fewer British artists sweeping music and film award ceremonies. Reducing queues at The X Factor and Britain’s got Talent auditions and fewer Star studded West End productions. The Government must stop ignoring all the evidence indicating just how important entertainment and live performance is to the British public and stop treating the Arts Council and community arts projects as cannon fodder in difficult economic times.

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