A screenwriter was saying that publicists, agents, etc, they are the pit bulls that handle all the nasty stuff about contract negotiation, etc, so that the talent can, to some degree, rise above it and act like gentlemen while their pit bulls battle it out.

Yeah - that's always been my impression.

I'm very uncomfortable with some of the photos of celebs I've seen - the ones where they're just stepping out of their house or ducking into Peet's. I know they've chosen to/are lucky enough to live a life in the public eye, but I think it shows a certain lack of respect for their essential humanity to stake them out and record their every moment. It's like people want to put them on a pedestal and tear them down at the same time. V. disturbing.

Hmm. I think there's some conflicting expectations here. Famous (and/or rich) enough to hire an assistant to buy your tampons, but not famous enough to need a publicist? I could be wrong about this because it's so NOT my lifestyle, but I tend to assume that publicists, stylists, etc, they aren't just for the divas, they really do help actors and actresses manage their careers.

That's my point. If paparzzi is tampon-stalking you its because you have an effective publicist (who is keeping you in the public eye in order to promote your career). You can afford an assistant.

And, Allyson, that story is badass and should be told whenever possible.

I'm very uncomfortable with some of the photos of celebs I've seen - the ones where they're just stepping out of their house or ducking into Peet's.

It's rude as hell. I don't like it and don't buy those magazines. Other than someone in, say, a political scandal though it doesn't just "happen" along with your career.

In the course of establishing yourself you hire a publicist. They get you invited to the right parties, they get you photographed with the right people, they get you gifts of the 'right' designer duds, they give or leak your schedule to the press, they make you a commodity and your photographs valuable. To then claim, "alright, I only want to be fascinating to you only when *I* want to be fascinating to you" is disingenuous. (Or a further garnering of publicity).

Since Hollywood's business model is currently built on fame -- above-the-title names, or titles that are themselves franchises -- then it's not altogether a surprise that fame is part of the business model of anybody trying to work in Hollywood.

Still, everybody's got a saturation point, and I bet a lot of people don't know it till they've crossed it. It's like eating chocolate pudding: suddenly you put down the spoon and go Oog.

I think it shows a certain lack of respect for their essential humanity to stake them out and record their every moment.

What continues to amaze me is the fact that it never seems to get boring. Individuals can become boring -- invisibly, so that they're not pronounced "over" but just quietly fall off the front pages -- but the churning industry of endless photographs of people talking on cell phones and walking dogs and trying not to spill coffee while crossing the street: boring!

It's as if every Star Magazine buyer is a little old lady on the stoop, watching the neighborhood like a queen her domain, but instead of the neighborhood being a city block, it's hundreds of people a thousand miles away that she'll never actually meet.

I don't know whether relentless buttinskyism, as a commercial enterprise, is more or less depraved than amateur buttinskyism, but at any rate buttinskyism is not a new concept.

So, uh, what about the paparazzi that hide at the end of people's driveways and then follow them around whenever they leave the house? Or the ones who go out in boats and helicopters so they can snap pictures of people on their own property? Are the celebrities just asking for that too?

Betty Friedan died.

Whoa! I didn't know she was ill! (I also didn't realize she was 85.)

May fish everywhere attempt to ride bicycles in her honor.

Are the celebrities just asking for that too?

That was the Oog part in my chocolate pudding metaphor.

Are the celebrities just asking for that too?

Sometimes, sure. If it ups your asking price? If it ups your visibility and your desirability? If your publicist leaks that you're at your Malibu house instead of your condo in town or that you're sailing off of Catalina on X day? Sometimes its a worthy trade off. Sometimes the "being upset" is a big fat act.

Lots of celebrities aren't hounded like that. What makes them different? Is it just luck or do they cultivate a different relationship with the public and press?

Lots of celebrities aren't hounded like that. What makes them different? Is it just luck or do they cultivate a different relationship with the public and press?

I have a theory that may or may not be valid: maybe a lot of the ones who don't get hounded might have a "do not feed the energy creature" attitude towards that sort of publicity. They ignore it, and since they don't raise a fuss, the paparazzi eventually leave them alone in favor of the ones who'll be entertainingly ballistic about having their privacy invaded.

The thing is, almost all celebrities court fame and attention. It's part of the job of making yourself marketable and selling your movie/TV/workout video. It's fine when they can control it. But with a lot of really big celebrities it gets out of their control, and it becomes a love/hate relationship when suddenly their whole life is under scrutiny. But some fear the attention leaving them as much as they hate the intrusion. I think it's hard to tell where the line is sometimes. Maybe it's all manufactured.

During the height of the TomKat insanity, there was footage of them arriving at a restaurant and being mobbed by papparazzi. Tom Cruise says, "How did you find us?" and you hear one of the papparazzos say "Your publicist called us."