Katy Perry could command up to $8m (£6.1m) for a tell-all memoir – while a future Hollywood package could potentially be worth as much as $10m (£7.6m), experts have claimed.
The pop superstar, 42, is reportedly considering finally opening up about her life and her short-lived marriage to Russell Brand in either a book or docuseries.
The reports emerged following Brand’s conviction for rape and three sexual assaults and his sentencing on Monday to 10 years and six months in prison.
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Brand, 51, denied the charges. He was acquitted of two further rape charges and attempted indecent assault, as reported by What’s The Jam.
Perry has not publicly announced a memoir or documentary project.
But two PR and entertainment experts believe that if she did choose to tell her story candidly, publishers and streaming giants could be prepared to pay millions.
Lynn Carratt, PR and entertainment expert at E20 Communications, estimates a publishing advance alone could be generous.
“I think we could be looking at around $6million, with $5million to $8million a realistic range for the publishing advance,” she said.
“That’s assuming it’s a full memoir and she reads the audiobook herself.
“Hearing Katy tell the story in her own voice would be a huge selling point.”
Carratt pointed to other blockbuster celebrity publishing deals.
Britney Spears’s memoir The Woman in Me was widely reported to have secured a deal worth as much as $15million, while Bruce Springsteen was reported to have received around $10million for Born to Run.
Carratt said: “Those are big deals even by celebrity standards, but they give you an idea of what publishers are prepared to pay when they think a book will sell around the world.”
And she believes Perry’s 14-month marriage to Brand would inevitably generate enormous interest.
She said: “Her marriage to Russell Brand is the angle most likely to get the book serialised and put it on the front pages.”
Perry married Brand in India in October 2010 before their marriage ended the following year.
In a now-infamous 2013 interview with Vogue, Perry said Brand had told her he wanted a divorce by text message on New Year’s Eve 2011.
She also described aspects of the relationship as “very controlling” and hinted she knew more about the end of their marriage than she was prepared to disclose.
Perry said at the time that she had discovered the “real truth” but was keeping it “locked in my safe for a rainy day”.
Carratt said that unresolved remark alone would make any memoir hugely attractive commercially.
She added: “We did get a glimpse of what Katy was going through as her marriage broke down in her 2012 documentary, Katy Perry: Part of Me.
“You see her in tears backstage, knowing she still has to go out and perform in front of thousands of people.
“But how much of that period would she actually feel comfortable sharing?
“She’s already wealthy and successful, so even if she were offered $6m, she’d have to ask herself whether she wants those details in the public domain.”
Fellow PR and brand expert Chad Teixeira also said the potential deal could command millions.
“I’d put a potential book deal for Katy Perry somewhere between $3million and $5million, although I wouldn’t rule out a higher offer if publishers were competing for it,” he said.
“There’s a big difference between a celebrity memoir that touches on a former marriage and one that offers a genuinely revealing account of it.
“Publishers know a book like this would generate headlines around the world before it even hit the shelves.”
And a book may only be the beginning.
Teixeira estimates that a documentary or limited streaming series could potentially attract a deal worth $3m to $7m (£2.3m to £5.3m).
When it comes to film, Carratt believes a Hollywood type deal could land her up to a whopping $10m.
She said: “Her involvement could help attract major talent and make the project more commercially appealing.
“The music licences, her producer fee and any payment for her participation would be negotiated separately and could push the total package into the $5m to $10mi range, depending on the studio, budget and distribution deal.”
There would also be far more material than her marriage alone.
Carratt pointed to Perry’s strict religious upbringing, extraordinary rise from gospel singer to global superstar, relationships, motherhood and decades in the music industry as potential chapters.
Carratt said: “People forget how interesting her childhood was.
“If she’s willing to be candid about what happened along the way, I can see why publishers would compete for it.”
However, Teixeira cautioned that the timing and handling of any hypothetical project would be particularly sensitive following Brand’s conviction.
He said: “I’d be telling them not to rush into anything.
“There’s obviously going to be huge media interest in Katy’s perspective, but just because people want to hear something doesn’t mean she has to tell it immediately, or at all.
“I’d also be very careful about the promotional side.
“You don’t want sensational headlines or a marketing campaign that makes it look as though you’re capitalising on somebody else’s trauma.”
For now, the eye-watering figures remain expert estimates rather than any confirmed offer on the table.
But if Perry ever decides that her long-promised “rainy day” has finally arrived, experts believe publishers and Hollywood could be ready to pay handsomely to hear what she has to say.
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