Britney Spears's behaviour has become less erratic and she has taken on a healthy, happy appearance - great news for her, dreadful news for the mini-industry of paparazzi that had been feeding off her lowest moments, writes Harriet Ryan
TO THE MORTGAGE crisis and the energy crunch add this: a recession in the Britney market. The young woman who rose and fell (and fell and fell) in the paparazzi's strobe lights seems to have put bizarre public displays behind her, and the photographers who made hundreds and thousands - and in some cases, hundreds of thousands - capturing her missteps must look elsewhere for celebrities more predictably unpredictable.
"She's boring. She doesn't even have a boyfriend," says Francois Navarre, the co-owner of X17, the photo agency that set the standard for aggressive 24/7 coverage of Britney Spears. Photographers who relied on Spears for hourly material for the gossip blogs are confronted by a lack of access and a lack of drama. She rarely goes out, and when she does she behaves herself. No umbrella attacks. No head shaving. No fake British accent. No pantie-less car exits. Agencies that dispatched truckloads of freelancers to track her every move last year have downsized their Britney teams.
"At the height of the story, we had maybe six or eight guys on it around the clock," says Chris Doherty, the owner of INF, which sells pictures to magazines, websites and TV shows. "Now, we would have at most two. There's no real point to being there all the time."
Spears's allure remains, as evidenced by two paparazzi arrested last week near her residence, but the coverage does not compare to the intense stakeouts that preceded her confinement in a psychiatric ward in January. A court subsequently named her father Jamie co-conservator of her and her estate, giving him and a lawyer control of the 26-year-old's medical care, finances and day-to-day activities. The structure and supervision transformed Spears's life for the better, her representatives say. Ten months after she lost custody of her sons, she finalised an agreement with her ex-husband that provides for gradually expanding visitation rights. She is reportedly back in the recording studio. On the rare occasions she ventures out, the gossip sites that documented her woes have congratulated her on her healthy, happy appearances.
"Her father is doing what a good parent would do, but that doesn't help the paparazzi," says Bonnie Fuller, who was editor of Star magazine and Us Weekly when Spears was a staple. "She's not going out with her former BFFs Paris and Lindsay any more," she says, referring to Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
Before the court intervened, Spears was seemingly constantly available to the cameramen and still photographers who camped outside her gated community. She dated a paparazzo. A close friend and adviser, Sam Lutfi, allowed photographers into Spears's house and provided them with information about her comings and goings, according to her mother, Lynne. Every rant meant sellable video, each new outfit meant fresh photos. The prices that photographs sell for are often overstated, but Navarre says an exclusive photo of Spears today would bring 10 per cent of what it did during her most erratic times.
"Then it could sell for $10,000-$15,000 (€6,400-€9,600), but now it would be hard to get over $1,500 (€960)," he says. Others who sell photos disagree, saying that the smaller number of paparazzi has kept the prices relatively stable.
Navarre's agency, X17, had 25 people assigned to Spears duty earlier this year. Now it's fewer than 10, he says. On a recent weekend, "we were the only ones".
Nick Stern, a photojournalist who quit his agency in disgust at the apex of the Spears coverage, says that many photographers who tracked her were foreigners drawn by the relatively easy money. "These guys don't really have any interest in the media or reporting news. It was about money. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the snappers covering Britney have moved on to other jobs or other parts of the US, or even back to their home countries," he says.
An attorney for Spears says the singer does not miss the glare. "Britney and her family are delighted to disincentivise the outrageous behaviour of the paparazzi," lawyer Blair Berk says. Her neighbours have noted the shrinking number of lenses camped outside the house. "At the peak, there were 25, but now it's down to three or four," says Jim DeBoard, adding that it has been about six months since he saw paparazzi breaking traffic laws to get behind Spears's vehicle. "We are still all amazed at how crazy it was," he says.
Frank Griffin, a partner in Bauer-Griffin photo agency, says the fact that Spears's coverage tanked proves the safe money was in happy stories. "At the end of the day, people don't want to see train wrecks," Griffin says. "Yes, they might want to see the mighty fall, but they don't want to kick dirt in their faces."