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Anorak News | Hollywood Lives: Lindsay Lohan, Michael Lohan And X17 Stalkerazzi

Hollywood Lives: Lindsay Lohan, Michael Lohan And X17 Stalkerazzi

by | 9th, November 2007

TABLOID Baby writes from Los Angeles for Anorak on how the deals are done over there, and, allegedly, how the snappers affected his project with Lindsay Lohan’s father, Michael:

Writes TB: A pair of noted Hollywood film and documentary producers filed a potential million dollar lawsuit this morning against the paparazzi photo agency X17, claiming breach of contract and fraud relating to photos of the reunion of Lindsay Lohan and her father Michael.

According to papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in Santa Monica, Burt Kearns and Brett Hudson of Frozen Pictures claim they’d “entered into a contract with Brandy Navarre & X17, Inc. on August 29, 2007, to ‘set up and shoot’ ‘exclusive pix’ (photos) of the reunion of Lindsay Lohan and her father Michael (the subject of a Frozen Pictures documentary project) in Provo, Utah” in early September, but that “on October 5, 2007, Navarre refused to pay, claiming she had made a side deal… paying an unamed third party a flat fee… and ‘assumed’ Plaintiff would share in the funds.”

The suit asks for $66,500 in unpaid fees, $200,000 in damages and a percentage of photo of video sales that could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the total, It states that Navarre claims her photographer in Provo had organized a “flat rate” with Michael Lohan, but “wired (the money) to a bank account in someone else’s name… (I don’t know it off the top of my head). I assumed Michael would split this with you.”

According to the suit, Lohan denies making any deals with X17. Both he and his daughter Lindsay are expected to be subpoenaed to testify.

“This is a simple lawsuit. We had an written agreement to perform a service for X17. They approached us! We did our part, but X17 thought they’d get off more cheaply by double-dealing,” says Kearns. “We asked X17 nicely to pay what they owe. They forced us to sue them.”

He goes on: “We’ve been working with X17 since the spring. We thought they were the new breed. Unfortunately it’s a new breed that hands cameras to valet parking attendants and street people, that endangers lives by chasing unstable young women in cars—and doesn’t live up to its word.

“I’ve worked in the tabloid news business for close to thirty years,” Kearns, former managing editor of Hard Copy and producer of A Current Affair (and author of Tabloid Baby! — ed.), adds. “I’ve dealt with the great paparazzi, from Zanger to Ramey to Woody. We don’t work this way. TMZ, X17– they’re all the same. They’re slash-and-burn amateurs. We want this lawsuit to shine a light on the slimy practices of the new stalkerazzi—and to bring all their dealings and bookkeeping to light.”

(Kearns and Hudson ((formerly of The Hudson Brothers and uncle of Kate Hudson)) may be best known for writing and producing the Burt Reynolds sports comedy feature, Cloud 9, along with Academy Award winner Albert S. Ruddy; they’re currently producing the musical biopic The Seventh Python. X17 made headlines for suing Internet gossip Perez Hilton.)

Note: How Burt Kearns (TB) interviewed himself for this piece will be revealed…

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Posted: 9th, November 2007 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink