Clever New Service > Celebs Call Someone Live
 

http://www.HollywoodIsCalling.com

Celebs Go On Line

The phone rings. It's Lou Ferrigno. TV's original Hulk just dialed to pump you up. And it worked.

"[People] get very excited--'Oh, my God!' They get tickled to death," Ferrigno says. "And they can't stop thanking me enough for calling."

Don't mention it. It's all in a day's work.

While fellow former gym rat Arnold Schwarzenegger is reaching out to constituents on the campaign trail in California, the 50-year-old Ferrigno is one of more than two-dozen stars, some of whose luminous bodies arguably were never all that luminous, who has been touching his respective fan base via the phone service Hollywood Is Calling (www.hollywoodiscalling.com).

Launched in July, Hollywood Is Calling, in the words of its company spokesman, is in the business of breaking down "the Berlin Wall between fans and celebrities."

Translation: Put up $19.95, and Hollywood Is Calling will get Ferrigno, if he's available, or, say, Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter, if you so desire, to deliver a live, scripted, 30-second telephone message to your mom. Put up $29.95 (the price for a customized message), and you can write your own script for the star, provided it doesn't tell your mom where to get off.

"I won't do anything that's very derogatory or stupid," says Ferrigno, paraphrasing company policy.

Hollywood Is Calling began with a roster of about 10 familiar, if not stellar, faces, including NYPD Blue regular turned CNN anchor turned 24 guest star Andrea Thompson (news). At last count, the service had 32 IMDb.com entries at the ready. The names, if you will, include: former prime-timers Lorenzo Lamas (news) (Falcon Crest), Greg Evigan (news) (B.J. and the Bear) and Todd Bridges (news) (Diff'rent Strokes); former reality TV stars Alex Michael (The Bachelor) and Richard Hatch (news) (Survivor); and, former chart-toppers Doug Fieger (news) and Berton Averre, both of the Knack ("My Sharona").

There's also, of course, the former Incredible Hulk (Ferrigno), the former Sweathog (Ron Palillo (news)), and for space buffs, the former space-shuttle commander (Rick Searfoss).

Less you think Hollywood Is Calling employs anybody with a TV Guide credit, spokesman Michael Stevens says the company vets out potential callers to make sure they have "a sizable international fan base." Presumably this means that just because you're not sure who actor Steve Monroe is, doesn't mean everybody else on Earth is equally in the dark.

Not just a Hollywood, or even U.S., thing, Hollywood Is Calling claims customers in Europe, Australia and South America, among other far-flung, starstruck regions. (Just so you know: Fred "Rerun" Berry and his like will not pick up the long-distance tab. Surcharges apply for overseas calls.)

The most popular standardized messages are birthday greetings. Owing to the season, the service recently added Halloween and Thanksgiving options.

To make the most of the Hollywood Is Calling experience, the company suggests civilians disable call-blocking functions and have their answering machines at the ready once an order is placed. The lesson: Hollywood will call, but it won't necessarily wait.

"I'm not going to sit by the phone all day trying to track the person down," Ferrigno says.

Instead of an actual phone bank, the service uses a virtual phone bank. The calls are placed by the semi-notables at their convenience, within seven days of an order, and from their own home, office, or whatever. "They're doing [the calls] from wherever they are, whatever time zone they are," says Stevens, adding optimistically, "whether they're filming a movie, or they're outside the country."

Filming a movie? Media cynics have called Hollywood Is Calling a halfway house for B-listers and has-beens. Media cynics, according to Stevens, are missing the point.

"There's a little bit of magic there," says Stevens. "If you're out there and you don't have contact with [the celebrity world] on a regular basis, and you get a call from a celebrity who is encouraging you with your job search, or congratulating you on passing the bar, or congratulating you on the birth of your new child--that's a real, feel-good sort of thing. There's no other way to describe it. It's positive. It's heartwarming."

Make no mistake, though, a Hollywood Is Calling celeb is on a 30-second mission: "Say hello, wish them a happy birthday, or reinforce a positive attitude," Ferrigno says. "Very brief. This is not about doing a long conversation."

Rather, it's about coming ear to ear, if ever so briefly, with somebody who still is somebody--to somebody.

Says Ferrigno: "It's kind of like a treat to them."

great....1-800-COLLECT rejects!

How much is Heather Locklear?

i want jim bruer to call my mom

God some of these have got to be worth some cash though.


Lorenzo lamas is gonna spend the time dialing, possibly getting through (although I bet the message on the machine counts as the call too) and yap for 30 seconds all for 15 bucks?


Rerun and that startrek guy, I could understand, but not some of the others.

Sounds like a good idea if they can get some high end celebs to participate.

WG

I was surprised to see him in there showing as AVAILABLE.

Times must be tough in tinsletown if he has to stoop down to $15 phone calls to make money.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

yeah, heather would be good. She´s not on the list :(

define:

"very derogatory"

cause we may just have something here

Very cool service. I wonder what happens when the person the celeb just called start talking like crazy... the celeb just say "I'm sorry, but I gotta hung up"?

I used this a few months ago, I had Todd Bridges call, he did like 20 minutes after I placed the order. He just was like "hey hows it going", shit like that, kinda awkward.