- Good humans.
Welcome to another episode of Spectrum.
We do this series to humanize people.
- That's right.
And this episode's about paparazzi.
- Paparazzi. - Ooh, I knew,
- I knew nothing about that.
- Absolutely nothing.
But we're about to find out.
Enjoy the episode.
- In my first couple of weeks working,
Adam Sandler spit on me.
- Oh.
- And just two years before that
I was caddying for him at a golf tournament.
And we were best friends.
(upbeat synth music)
- [Announcer] I know the lyrics to Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi".
3, 2, 1, go.
- I know the Kid Cudi version.
I know Gaga's version.
I know Exhibit's version.
Like, damn that song B!
I know that song.
- Yeah. And if any paparazzi says they don't know the lyrics
at least as much as I do, where I could sing
along if I hear it and if they say they don't know it
that's a lie too, because it's a song made for us.
- None of those guys know the lyrics to paparazzi.
(group except Rick singing "Paparazzi")
- [Announcer] I don't like having photos taken of me.
3, 2, 1, go.
- I don't mind photos being taken of me.
Obviously if I was in celebrity shoes
and I was cashing big checks and I was a public figure,
I would probably have to get used to it a little bit more.
But as just a civilian, you know, I don't mind.
- I love being photographed
only for the fact that it's memorable.
It's a part of history.
You know, you can relate to something of the past
by looking at it.
Or even nowadays you can remember a moment.
So I love that.
- I like that answer.
- That's a good answer.
- [Announcer] Celebrities treat us poorly.
3, 2, 1, go.
- Damn.
- I'm not gonna strongly agree with it,
but nine out of 10 times, you know,
if you take a picture of a celebrity
and they don't want you to take a picture of them, you know
there'll be some sort of rude comment that they'll
that they'll throw out there.
You know, "get a real job."
Something like that.
You know, I always rebut with,
"well, you chose your job
and this is what comes with your job.
So we're in this together."
But I won't strongly agree with it just because, you know
they don't always treat me bad.
- I think it depends on what you picture them
and they see you, what you're picturing.
For example, I photographed the Hemsworth brothers surfing.
They don't mind it 'cause they look good surfing.
But if they couldn't surf like Liev Schreiber,
he can't surf at all.
He didn't like it when I photographed him
trying to learn how to surf.
He wanted me to delete the images.
He didn't like it.
- Overall, I disagree for sure.
In general, I've had way more positive experiences
with celebrities than I've had negative.
- It depends on you really.
I'm trying to be nice at the end of the day.
I'm trying.
Like, I got attacked
by Woody Harrelson at the airport.
- Oh. - [Mark] Oh yeah.
He's an attacker. He's gnarly.
- He hates it.
- [Mark] Yeah. Woody. - That was me.
- Wow.
- But you know, it happens.
- In my first couple of weeks working,
Adam Sandler spit on me.
- Oh.
- And just two years before that
I was caddying for him at a golf tournament.
And we were best friends.
- I strongly disagree
only because I knew what I was getting into
when I chose to become a paparazzo.
The way I imagined it at one point
in my head that it was gonna be "wow, I meet celebrities.
I take their photo, I make some money."
I don't take it personal, I don't take it home.
I do what I do.
Whether they woke up on the right
or wrong side of the bed, that's up to them.
That's their reaction.
I'm there to work with them
as much as they allow me to work with them.
But after that it's on them, you know, whatever they do.
And you know, you just follow the laws,
you follow the rules and you work with it.
You never work against it.
And I sleep good at night.
I sleep really good at night.
- [Announcer] Everyone deserves a right to privacy.
3, 2, 1, go.
- [Dutch] Gotta have an opinion.
- You gotta have an opinion?
- [Staff] Yeah that's a tough one, right?
- I'd like to say that of course, I agree.
I would never go into a celebrity's bathroom
or inside of someone's house or inside of a restaurant.
Outside on the street, walking on the beach.
Those are where I sell or get my photos and video.
Outside. It's all open.
- There's two points with the whole privacy thing.
Number one, they're a public figure.
Okay? And if you put it on your Instagram
you're a public figure.
There's there's a meaning there.
And there's,
- [Wilbert] That's a good point.
- You know, there's a reason why they're a public figure.
They're a public figure because they're out in the public.
They've given up their privacy somewhat
to be a public figure.
- I've never shot a funeral and I never will.
I think a funeral's pretty, very, very private.
No matter what status of a celebrity.
So I've been offered a lot of money to work on funerals
and I will not work on a funeral.
Shooting to a pool and a resort from the hilltop.
Yeah, I'll do that.
- [Dutch] People went crazy
for the last shot of Michael Jackson.
The guy that ran up to Michael Jackson's ambulance
and shot inside.
- [Mark] Yeah.
- And all those guys that pushed to get that shot.
- [Mark] He got lucky.
- He got a lot of money.
My conversation steers towards
"I'm gonna take a clean photo, nice fashion,
have a exchange, keep it moving, B."
- I strongly disagree that they, everyone deserves privacy.
Now I know the laws
so I don't have to justify what I can or cannot do
because I already know better.
I don't have to speak about things that are godawful, this.
'Cause I don't do that because it's common sense.
You don't have to even justify it.
It's not even in my realm.
Because it's public figure, public domain.
No privacy there.
- [Announcer] My job is exploitative.
3, 2, 1, go.
- The way I always see it,
the way we talk about on our podcast is that,
you know, there's a lot of guys that are,
that I consider, I call 'em savages.
They're just the aggressive photographers
that are always out there to,
to exploit whatever they're trying to do.
Everybody's different.
Some guys make us look bad.
Some guys make us look a little bit better.
But there is a bad and a good side to this business.
- What's that old saying?
You can't have your steak? - And eat it too?
- Yeah. - Right.
- You're making a lot of money.
You're in the public figure.
You're out and about.
You're gonna get noticed.
If not by a fan, you're gonna get noticed
by one of us and you're gonna get your picture taken.
If I was an A-list celebrity and I was out and about
I would make sure that I don't take big bites of my burrito
and I would make sure that I don't pick my nose, you know
after sipping my coffee.
I would just try to be proper in every which way.
- Let me make sure I got this question down right.
You're saying that my job exploits?
I disagree that it exploits.
I'm here to capture a moment for a mass audience.
If it wasn't for the mass audience, it wouldn't sell.
So there would be no point to even having me on the streets
or having me find some kind of newsworthy story.
Journalism.
Whether you like it or not, it's journalism.
- Yeah. And I've always felt like the celebrities,
they want us to pay to go see them on movies.
They want us to pay and buy their album or,
you know, go see them in concert.
What comes with the millions of dollars in fame is,
kinda like you were saying,
is people are gonna take your photo.
People click constantly to see these people
walking out of a burrito stand or I don't know,
going to see a movie
because that's the life they chose
and so they chose that life.
So I'm just trying to feed the demand.
- [Announcer] Celebrities benefit from my work.
3, 2, 1. Go.
- Rick, if you go that way, I'm gonna smack you.
- I can't get here fast enough.
I ran over here!
- I made sure to run over here.
- Yeah. I was like, I would run over here.
Of course, they do.
- Of course. They benefit from us.
They benefit from my photos.
They benefit, you know
they got into the game for publicity.
They wanted that feel when they were going to acting school
when they were thinking about the thought,
when they were dreaming
when they were 12 years old, nine years old, eight years.
Who, whatever age they dreamt about that stardom.
That's what hooks you into Hollywood.
That's probably why.
I know, that's why I'm in it.
I love Hollywood.
So yes, our photographs give them a little more publicity,
good, bad or ugly.
It doesn't matter.
They stay in the spotlight.
They stay, they're relevant.
That's why it works.
- I agree completely with Rick
and I'm sure everybody agrees the same thing
that our pictures benefit them.
By far, since the advent of Instagram
I've seen more celebrities steal my pictures.
- Yeah. That's up.
- To put on their Instagrams
to promote their products for free
and they make tons of money on Instagram for their products
when they post our pictures.
They definitely benefit from us.
- I'll take it to a different level.
I've had celebrities come up to me and do setups.
- Yeah.
- And say, "Hey, I'll be at the park riding my bike"
or "I'll be surfing", or "I'll be bikini."
- [Wilbert] All the time.
- "I'll be here.
Why don't you come get it exclusive,
put it out there so my name's out there
so I could get more work."
- And they'll be wearing a certain outfit.
- Yeah.
- It's all about "I." Yeah.
- There's also that aspect
where they want to do the cleanup.
The Kardashians stories start to die down.
All of a sudden you see them come out in groups
and they start hitting all the little trendy areas
one day after the other.
That's not coincidence. - They do a lot of work, man.
The Kardashians do a lot of work.
- Man, this is strategy
- Kate Beckinsale will like circle Craig's
until there's enough paparazzi to come there.
Then she gets out in her dress.
Stops but then is like, "oh no!"
You got it? You got it?
- [Announcer] I am proud of my job.
3, 2, 1, go.
- [Rick] It's adventurous.
It's fun.
It's exciting.
It's dangerous.
I'm very proud of it because I touch people
and I bring out emotion in people.
I create something out of nothing.
I'm, I consider I'd never did before.
But I guess I consider myself an artist.
I've touched someone in life.
- As long as I do my best work, do my due diligence,
I'm not gonna get hurt.
And I'm not trying to hurt nobody.
I just want to make sure that
everything I put forward in the world looks clean,
looks proper.
- [Mark] I agree.
I'm not on the strongly agree part just because
there are aspects of the job that I'm not proud of doing.
I feel like many pictures I've taken have been viewed
by more people than the biggest photographers in the world.
There's a way of doing this job proudly
and there's a way of not doing this job proudly.
And I'm sure you contacted a lot of people
and they didn't show up here today.
Those are the people that don't do the job proudly.
The people that would actually stand here and get on camera
and tell you that this, the way this job really is?
That's a proud way of doing the job.
- [Staff] That's a wrap.
- All right. - All right!
- Good job.
- My hands kinda sweaty but I'll just go like that.
- Bam! Bam!
Good job. Good job.
- We should take some kind of group picture.
- Good luck.
- Shut up.
- Mr. Rick. - This guy right here.
- I never met a paparazzi before.
- Yeah. - But this is interesting
'cause it shows that there's like obviously good people
and like different perspectives
- And all that. - Yeah, sure.
Well, you can't just judge right away.
We have a lot more of these coming for you.
So comment below, collaborate with us.
We love hearing from you.
- As always, make sure you subscribe,
follow us on Instagram, like, comment,
and we'll see you next time.