Sagittarius
Around the time that ‘Clueless’ came out, my husband had requested a studio appointment with Alicia Silverstone and was denied. Then he saw her on the street one day, grabbed his camera, took a few pictures, and the pictures sold.
He quickly realized he was making more money doing that than he ever made as a poor journalist in mainstream print media. That’s how the story goes – he decided to take on this business and do it on his own.
The cult of celebrity has changed on many fronts over the last five years; in general it’s getting bigger and bigger, with more and more magazines being created as outlets for our type of content. Because of the increasing number of outlets for this content, there are increasing numbers of paparazzi in Los Angeles.
We’re seeing a relationship developing between the celebrities and the paparazzi. Celebrities are working specifically with us at X17online.com more often because they consider what we’re doing to be quite different than what some of our photo agency competitors are doing. They look at X17online.com everyday, they know what’s being said about them, and they also know the reach we have with our website.
The publicists are realizing that this whole paparazzi machine is probably not something you should fight, and increasingly celebrities or their publicists are coming to us directly. Publicists who have traditionally only worked with more mainstream magazines like People Magazine or Us Weekly, are now starting to work more with us, and it’s not seen as something negative that the paparazzi are taking pictures of their clients. It’s seen more as, “Oh great, exposure for my client.”
Head And Shoulders
A lot of photo agencies have started websites, but the traffic hardly registers in comparison to the numbers we draw.
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Comments
Re: It's Not Paparazzi, It's Celebrity Journalism
By Feisty, January 7, 2008 at 20:26I think there is a fine line between journalism and the public's right-to-know and invasion of privacy. I am not a purchaser of the weekly "rags" so I am not part of the public paying to see these photos.
Re: It's Not Paparazzi, It's Celebrity Journalism
By Heather Wallace, January 5, 2008 at 23:16I do think there needs to be laws governing what boundaries the paparazzi can cross. The latest circus at Britney's house was a spectacle. Why were there so many police officers there, and if there were so many, why wasn't anyone trying to keep the cameras back during this moment where the woman clearly needed privacy? She's having her kids taken away, for reasons that include her huge mistakes, but all the same, any mother denied her children would lock herself in a room with them.
We're killing this girl's spirit. There's no opportunity anymore for it to be on Britney's terms. Let's just have an experiment. Britney Blackout for one week...Why doesn't the world make a pact to let her go about her life unphotographed for one week, and let's just see what happens.
Let's stop the madness.
Re: It's Not Paparazzi, It's Celebrity Journalism
By senhoritacin, December 22, 2007 at 08:17Great article. It's human behavior, isn't it? People like to see what other people do.
If it sells, it's because people want to buy it.
Re: It's Not Paparazzi, It's Celebrity Journalism
By Michelle Kenneth, December 11, 2007 at 09:44Wow...this is the moment I can actually talk smack about x17online.com. Thank you, ORATO!
To the owners: I'm sorry, but x17 is smut. You allow people to say crap about celebs on there all the time. Some of the most atrocious things are said about celebs on there. You act like they are less then human on there. YOU profit off of them. YOU stalk them. There should be laws that govern all of your actions.
What kind of logic is it that they should not leave their homes if they don't want to be photographed??? You want celebs to be prisoners within their own homes??? Fine, then don't ever leave your house and see how long it takes before you get that feeling that you need to get out.
I blame you paps for the downfall of Britney Spears. You think it's easy being her? Of course, she knows the majority of the paps and she tries to be nice to all of you, but do you give a damn that what you're doing is really hurting her behind closed doors? Do you ever think that maybe she's upset or that she may be crying behind closed doors? Do you ever think she just wants to be left alone every now and again?
She goes to the gas station to put gas in her car...how many paps are surrounding her? It's insane the numbers of cameras flashing and paps surrounding her. It's worse then Princess Diana. The paps were solely responsible for Diana's death. YOUR SITE falls into that category. We've been saying for some time now that the paps will be responsible for Britney's death. Just watch and see.
Oh, and you should tell your employees to get out of the friggin way and let her drive.
You're looking at this whole thing from the dollar side of the story. You fail to see the human side of the story. That's what sickens me about your site. Read my Jamie Lynn Spears exclusive. The crap your site and posters alike had to say about Jamie's outfit put her in tears.
I'm just happy that there are a few celebs out there fighting back against you low lifes. There is nothing honorable about what you do. Don't group yourself in the same category as us journalists and professional writers. We'd never sink to your level.