01 / BOOK
Agree a guest
and a date.
Choose a name with a clear audience and an appearance fee that makes the event viable.
A partnership proposal for British Arena
Bring big celebrity names to British Arena.
Build a new ticketed event series.
A room full of people at British Arena. A major celebrity appearing live on screen. An evening driven by the questions the audience has always wanted answered.
UASK × British Arena · A proposed regular ticketed event series
ONE ROOM. ONE GUEST. YOUR QUESTIONS.Live from anywhereThe guest joins remotely.
Together in SunderlandThe audience gathers at British Arena.
A night worth going out forReal questions. Shared reactions.
The format
The room asks.
The guest answers.
UASK is a live event format where an audience gathers at a venue to question a major celebrity appearing live on screen. The audience drives the conversation.
Agree a guest
02 / SELL
Give people a
reason to come.
Promote the event together and sell tickets to an evening of direct access and live conversation.
03 / CONNECT
The guest joins.
The room comes alive.
A host in the venue welcomes the audience, manages the microphones and keeps the evening moving.
04 / ASK
Your audience
takes the lead.
People ask questions, hear the answers live and share an experience shaped by everyone in the room.
Possible guests
People you’d love
to spend an evening with.
Remote appearances could open the door to big names who might not otherwise travel to Sunderland. Comedy, television, documentaries, books and much more.
Bob
Mortimer
Unexpected stories. A room full of questions.
Stephen
Fry
Books, ideas and a lifetime of experiences.
Karl
Pilkington
Everyday questions. Unpredictable answers.
Louis
Theroux
Turn the questions towards the interviewer.
Illustrative targets only. No guest has been approached or booked for this proposal. Participation would depend on availability, fees and agreement.
Why people buy a ticket
Ask the question
you’ve always wanted to ask.
A chance to speak directly to someone you admire, with a live audience around you. Every evening takes its own direction.
“What’s the story you still can’t tell without laughing?”
Example audience questions, not guest quotations.
The opportunity for British Arena
A new reason
to fill the room.
Work together to build a repeatable event series capable of attracting 200–400 people, with each edition shaped around its guest and audience.
Ticket income
A new event product with potential for regular dates, repeat attendance and different audiences.
Food, drink and more
An evening at the venue creates opportunities for bar sales, suitable premium packages and event sponsors.
A wider choice of guests
No journey to Sunderland or overnight stay for the guest. A shorter diary commitment could make more names and dates possible.
A commercial partnership
Your venue.
Our format.
A series we build together.
The proposal is for British Arena and Rich Stonehouse to work together as commercial partners, developing the first event and building towards a regular programme.
British Arena brings
- The venue and event operation
- Local promotion and audience reach
- Ticketing and customer communication
- Food, drink and on-site hospitality
UASK brings
- The format, brand and event concept
- Talent targeting and approaches
- Remote production and guest preparation
- Event creative and launch support
Explore a pilot
Start with the numbers.
Adjust attendance, ticket price and costs to explore an illustrative event. The guest fee and production budget would need actual quotes before a commitment.
£7,500
Gross ticket sales
Ticket revenue after assumed VAT£6,250
Guest fee + other direct costs£3,250
Contribution before sharing£3,000
Break-even: 130 paid attendees
Illustrative arithmetic only. Assumes 20% VAT on ticket sales and costs entered on a comparable net basis. Excludes food, drink, sponsorship and premium upgrades. Booking and payment fees must be covered by the buyer or included in direct costs. This is not a profit forecast; tax treatment, staffing, equipment, marketing and all other event costs need confirmation.
The first step
One event.
Prove the demand.
Build from there.
Agree a workable pilot before planning a series. Choose the guest, check the costs and give the first evening the best chance of success.
01 / AGREE
The room and
commercial model.
Set the layout, roles, budget and a provisional date.
02 / APPROACH
A shortlist of
possible guests.
Get availability and fee indications within the agreed budget.
03 / CHECK
A viable first
event.
Confirm the guest, production requirements and break-even before committing.
04 / LAUNCH
The first UASK
at British Arena.
Promote together, sell tickets, deliver the night and review the result.
Relevant experience
A world
Rich knows well.
Rich Stonehouse previously co-founded and ran celebrity interview platform Interview Hub, which received national coverage in The Guardian. He successfully exited the business three and a half years after launch.
UASK brings that experience to a new format: live conversations between extraordinary people and an audience gathered in a venue.
Read The Guardian’s Interview Hub coverageBritish Arena × UASK
Let’s bring extraordinary
conversations to Sunderland.
A first conversation about the venue, the audience and a pilot we could build together.
Rich Stonehouse · rich@richstonehouse.co.uk