Need help please!: Why is letter request separate from SASE?

[Koei]

Hi, I'm new to this website, and I want to send a fan mail to John Tartaglia. Except, he has an agency.

Assuming I put my photo and IRC in the SASE, why is the letter request separate from it? Doesn't that mean if the agency receives the whole envelope, they'll open it and see my fan letter?

Is it ok if I enclose my fan letter in the SASE for only John T. to see? Or does the agency just send the entire thing unopened to John T.?

Thank you in advance.

[nowandagain]

Hi Koei

Welcome to the forum

I'm not 100% sure I understood your post, but I'll try to answer it the best I can.

The letter you send is not put in the SASE as whomever opens it will see the letter addressed to John (whether this be John himself, or someone who works as his Agent.) If it is put in the SASE, it could be overlooked, or worse still, misplaced.

I would suggest you keep any photos and IRC's separate from the SASE (not in the SASE), just in case it gets overlooked as well. Keep any IRC's and photos together with your letter and SASE, as if John (or his agent) opens the envelope, they will see everything together and will understand exactly what it is for when they read the letter.

I'm not 100% sure how agents handle fan mail, but my guess would be they collect any fan mail which gets sent to them by person, and then forwards the mail unopened to the relevant person for them to open. That's just my guess.

Good luck, and happy collecting

nowandagain [rockon]

[leela]

koei,

if u r sending a sase there is no need to send ircs. This how i suggest u do it, step by step:

1. take an A4 size envelope and on it write the address you're gonna use 2 send ur request to the celeb. in john tartaglia's case, you would have 2 write:

john tartaglia
c/o Cunningham Escott Dipene
257 Park Avenue South, #900
New York, NY 10010

2. type/write the letter to the celeb and put it in the a4 size envelope.

3.put the picture for the celeb to sign in the a4 envelope.

4.put EITHER a sase OR a sae and ircs in the envelope. DO NOT SEAL THE SAE/SASE AND DON'T PUT ANYTHING INSIDE THE SAE/SASE. ATTATCH THE IRCS TO THE SAE WITH A PAPER CLIP (if thats what ur sending)

5. send off your request and BE PATIENT! the agencies normally forward the mail unopened to the celeb. i live in india and a request normally takes 2 weeks - 1 month to come back to me, so u have a location bonus.

just use these tips whenever u wanna write 2 a celeb and u'll do gr8.

[TheCollector]

Hi guys!

I totally agree with nowandagain

Don't put anything in your return envelope (SAE or SASE). Instead put your request letter, your photo(s), your IRCs and the return envelope seperately in the main envelope.

What I sometimes do though is to paperclip the IRCs to the outside of the return envelope, or to the letter.

That way, the person opening it (either the celeb or their agency) will easily see exactly what you are sending

Ian

[Koei]

I see. But if everyone is placed separately into the large envelope, the agency will be able to open it and read my personal fan letter... And I'm worried they might not let John Tartaglia read it.

[nowandagain]

Hi Koei

You have to keep it separate in case John misses the letter all together when he opens the letter.

I don't think it will be a problem. If his agents open his letter, they probably will have many others to open and may not have time to read one, if not all the letters that are sent to him. If John opens it, he'll be able to see the letter when he first removes the contents.

You have to understand that some celebrities receive hundreds and hundreds of letters a week (or even per day!) They may read all, some or even none of the letters. We don't know who does and who doesn't. However, if you do send a photo and SASE, they probably will sign it, and may personalise it if they skim over your letter and find your name.

nowandagain [rockon]

[TheCollector]

I see. But if everyone is placed separately into the large envelope, the agency will be able to open it and read my personal fan letter... And I'm worried they might not let John Tartaglia read it.

Hi Koei

I understand what you mean, but you have to remember your only way to reach the celebrity via mail is usually through their agent. Agents are there to protect their clients.

Agents will almost always open client mail sent to them to check it is OK to pass on, so either way it will most likely be ready by several people before it gets to the person you have written to

So if you put it in a seperate envelope it will in all probability still be opened. The benefit of not putting it into a seperate envelope is that the agency can read it far more easily, and your job as a collector is to make things easy if you want positive responses

If you are worried that the agency might not pass on your letter to the celeb you are writing to, then you must ask yourself if what you are writing is appropriate!

Ian

[Koei]

I see, thank you. Apparently, the new address for sending him fan mail is now the Sesame Street Workshop in New York City.

John T.
c/o Sesame Workshop
Attn. Viewer Mail
One Lincoln Plaza
New York, NY 10023

I am going to make my letter as long as possible, 2 or 3 pages handwriting, so in order for John T. to reply, he HAS to read my complete letter to know what I'm talking about.

I'm just worried that even the Sesame Workshop people will open my letter and remove some of the contents eg IRCs, or rip off one of the pages in my fan letter if they find it "offending". I'm not going to put any swear words or insults, just praises and 1 question.

I hope all goes well.

Btw, how did the moderators discover the new contact address for him?

[nowandagain]

Hi Koei

2 or 3 pages for a letter sounds a bit long. You have to understand that any celebrity (not just John) may receive a lot of fan mail on a daily or weekly basis. They won't have time to read everything in great detail when they do sort through their mail. If you send a long letter, John (or any other celebrity for that matter) may even decide to ignore it altogether.

I would recommend trying to fit your letter onto one page at a maximum. I find it hard at times, but you have to keep things short and to the point. You don't want to go on and on about something which you could try and keep to a few lines.

Whoever handles your mail will not remove anything from your letter unless it is really offensive or threatening. You don't have to worry about that unless you are going to send something offensive or threatening.

Good luck

nowandagain [rockon]