Anywhere from $300 to $30,000, which I realize is a useless answer. The range is that silly because a handful of completely different jobs share one job title. I’m one of the people quoting these prices, so let me walk you through who charges what and why.
| Who | Typical fee | What you’re getting |
|---|---|---|
| Hobbyists and part-timers | $300 to $600 | Mostly found on gig marketplaces. Some are terrific and some really aren’t. Always ask for video. |
| Working close-up performers | $700 to $2,500 | One to three hours of strolling at a private party, wedding or reception. This is where I am. |
| Corporate specialists | $5,000 to $15,000 | Full-time corporate entertainers doing after-dinner shows with custom material and several planning calls. |
| Headline stage acts | $15,000 to $30,000 and up | Conference keynotes and theater-size shows, usually from people with TV credits. |
I didn’t make these up. The low end comes from the average quotes that the big gig marketplaces publish on their Los Angeles pages, and the high end comes from the fee guides that several LA corporate performers post on their own sites.
The big booking sites show an average quote of about $600 to $700 for an LA mentalist. That’s a real figure. Two things pull it down, though. A lot of the listings are people doing this on weekends. And a lot of the requests are for forty-five minutes at a small party at somebody’s house.
There’s nothing wrong with booking at that level if you’ve watched video and liked what you saw. Ask for unedited footage of the person working an actual crowd, because a slick promo reel can hide a great deal.
At the other end, established corporate performers in LA publish numbers like $5,000 to $10,000 for a reception and $15,000 and up for a conference show. Some of that is simply demand. A lot of it is the work you don’t see, which includes planning calls, material written around the company’s message, insurance and contracts. And a performer who takes your Thursday in December can’t sell that Thursday to anybody else.
For a birthday, a dinner party, an anniversary or a wedding cocktail hour, a working strolling mentalist in LA is going to quote you somewhere from $700 to $2,500. My own sets start at $700 for an hour. Where you land depends mostly on these.
For a party of fifty to a hundred and fifty people, strolling entertainment works out to something like $10 to $25 a head. Your caterer is probably north of $100 a head. I’m biased, obviously, but in my experience people don’t go home talking about the chicken.
Make sure they’re for the same length and the same format, because a two-hour strolling quote and a thirty-minute show quote aren’t the same product. Ask whether travel and parking are included or whether they show up later. Ask for video of strolling work specifically (a stage reel tells you nothing about how someone handles five people at a bar). Ask what happens if your event runs late. And if it’s a company event, bring up insurance and payment terms at the start, so it doesn’t turn into a scramble the week before.
I start at $700, the fee is flat, and the drive and the prep are included in it. I’ll tell you the exact number on the phone, because I’d like to ask a few questions about your party first. The pricing page has the details, or you can send me your date and I’ll call.
For a private party, a working strolling mentalist in LA will usually run you somewhere between $700 and $2,500 for one to three hours. Hobbyists on gig sites come in under that. Corporate stage acts and people with TV credits start around $5,000 and go up past $30,000.
Not at the same level of experience. The average mentalist booking is higher only because mentalists mostly work adult and corporate events, and the magician average gets pulled down by a huge kids’ party market.
For strolling entertainment at a party of fifty to a hundred and fifty, $10 to $25 a head is a fair planning number.
Most of us quote a flat fee for a set length, which is usually one, two or three hours. The second hour costs less than the first because the drive and the prep are the same either way.
I’d rather talk for ten minutes than trade six emails. I’ll ask about the crowd and the timing, tell you what I’d do, and give you a price before we hang up. You don’t have to decide on the call.
Sets start at $700.