Saturday, August 02, 2008

The Price Paid By The Famous And Infamous—Paparazzi!

Hollywood--Humans have a fetish to peer into the lives of those who are exposed in the various media outlets. Those movie star rags you see at supermarket checkout stands are big business.

If you become famous or infamous you will have your privacy compromised in a big way. It comes with the territory. Entertainers need publicity and exposure or to get respect as money makers. Hollywood’s top talent agencies don’t care about those that don’t get media attention. Fame nearly always leads to wealth except for axe murderers and there are even a few exceptions here too.

The trick is to be famous for your art form or product. If you can manage that then your publicity stays limited to what you’re producing. The amount of people rummaging through your trash or following you with cameras outside of special events, are reduced.

Magazine covers sell lots of movie theater tickets and music. So do stories about the famous. The truth is that photographers and tabloid writers get paid a lot more for celebrity misdeeds. A picture of a star flipping off the photographer puts lots more money in his pocket than a nice picture with just a great smile.

A grainy, nothing video of actor, Robert Blake sitting on a curb sobbing after he discovered the murder of his sleazy, extortionist and check forging wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley brought a quick and cool $50,000. Imagine what the video would have been worth if it contained O.J Simpson minutes after the killings of Nicolle Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman?

For the most part it’s the gracious and classy stars that get the least amount of abuse from the Paparazzi. The famous who demand complete control the photographers are the ones with the most problems.

Publicists try to show their clients the ropes and the ones who follow advice get the best publicity with the least amount of grief.

The stars with tawdry personal lives filled drug, alcohol abuse and bad marriages will always get unwanted attention. These are often the infamous rather than the famous.

New laws are not needed just better courtesy on both sides. Paparazzi photographers have families and kids to put through school just like anyone else.

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