shane8960 wrote:Hi all,
Im from the UK but would like to get autographs for all the main cast from Lost & Prison Break.
Is it best to write one letter to the studio and ask for them all? Individual letters? How much does it cost to send the letter/stamps for return? What sort of stamps do I send them? Am I best to send my own pictures?
Sorry its a lot of questions, never asked for autographs before.
Hi, shane8960,
For the cast of "Lost," if you write one letter to the studio you'll most likely receive a pre-print of the entire current cast. If you're looking for authentic, hand-signed photos, it's probably better to write to the actors individually. But know that several of the show's cast members DO NOT sign through-the-mail. The ones (past and present) not known to sign are:
Matthew Fox (Jack; sends pre-prints out only)
Naveen Andrews (Sayid; doesn't send anything)
Ian Somerhalder (Boone; doesn't send anything, you have to catch him in-person)
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Eko; doesn't send anything)
Michelle Rodriguez (Ana Lucia; I believe the only way to get her is in-person)
Cynthia Watros (Libby; doesn't seem to send anything)
Jeremy Davies (Daniel; not sure about him, but I've never seen a success from him)
Josh Holloway (Sawyer; he stopped signing a few years ago)
Dominic Monaghan (Charlie; I believe there were a handful of successes from him several years ago, but nothing within the last few years)
The rest of the cast is pretty good at signing--Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Michael Emerson (Ben), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), and Terry O'Quinn (Locke) are especially good at keeping up with their fan mail. There have been several recent successes from Ken Leung (Miles) as well. Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) and Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) are also fairly good at keeping up with their fan mail.
As far as "Prison Break" goes, Wentworth Miller is an excellent signer; the message boards here are full of successes from him. I've never seen a success from Dominic Purcell, but I may be wrong. Robert Knepper seems to be going through his mail right now; there were some successes from him a couple of weeks ago. And I believe I've seen some from Sarah Wayne Callies. I would write to them individually, too. Since the show has ceased production, you should write to their agencies rather than the "Prison Break" set.
Since you're in the UK, I would suggest going to your local post office and buying several International Reply Coupons, or IRCs. These can be used in any country. Include a few (probably 3 or 4) with your letters. Don't put any stamps on the return SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) that you send along with your letter. Leave it stamp-less; the celebrity will then exchange your IRCs for U.S. stamps, and they'll use those to sent your autograph back to you.
As far as sending a photo to the celebrity to sign, it certainly doesn't hurt to do so. Sometimes the celebrity will sign photos that you send, but other times they'll provide their own photo. Some celebrities, such as Mark Wahlberg and this season's "American Idol" finalists, require a photo, otherwise they won't sign.
As far as the amount of postage needed to send from the UK to the U.S., I have no idea. Maybe someone else will be able to help you out there.
Happy collecting, and good luck! And welcome to fanmail.biz!
-indigo15
I have a few framed signed posters in my cinema room (Shaun Of The Dead, Men In Black, Back To The Future, XxX & My Favouriute - Shawshank Redemption) and wanted to get autographs for those 2 tv shows to have them framed as well.