Can the LA paparazzi be tamed?

Britney Spears is among stars who have been under the gaze of photographers

The Los Angeles paparazzi are as much as part of Hollywood life as the studios, celebrities and publicists.

Snapping stars is big business for the legions of photographers who stake out the clubs, restaurants and shopping malls of Beverly Hills.

But all that could change if new laws are brought in to curb the activities of the paparazzi.

In recent months there have been some ugly incidents in which photographers are widely believed to have overstepped the mark.

The day Britney Spears was taken from her home on a stretcher and ferried to a local hospital, scores of tabloid photographers swarmed around her ambulance.

Flagrant flouting

A police helicopter and a dozen officers on motorbikes were drafted in to escort the singer, at a reported cost to the local authority of $25,000 (£13,000).

“We can’t afford to drain that type of resource from the police department,” says Dennis Zine, a member of the Los Angeles City Council.

Photographer Nick Stern thinks new laws would curb press freedom

“We need to come up with something to control the situation. Normally somebody is in an ambulance and it gets to the hospital without any kind of impediment.

“In this particular case it was impeded because of the paparazzi.”

Tabloid photographers have also developed a reputation for flagrantly flouting traffic laws. Many will think nothing of rushing into a busy street with a camera at the ready if it means they can get a shot of a celebrity in their car.

“Everyone thinks they’re going to get the photograph of the century,” says Mr Zine.

“It becomes a mob mentality. It’s like a pack of wolves, a swarm of bees going after their prey. That’s the issue that we really need to contend with and we need to come up with a solution.”

Another widely-reported skirmish involving the paparazzi occurred when actor Matthew McConaughey went surfing in Malibu.

Ethical journalism

Local surfers, apparently determined to protect their turf, ended up in a scuffle with about a dozen photographers on the beach.

Many local residents have since called for curbs to be imposed on paparazzi operating in the city. Some say they should be banned altogether.

Such a move is unlikely since it would violate freedom of the press laws that are enshrined in the US constitution.

“We need to make sure we comply with that,” says Mr Zine.

We need to come up with something to control the situation Dennis Zine, Los Angeles City Council

It has been suggested that the paparazzi should have a licence to operate, which could be revoked if they step out of line.

In addition, magazines and newspapers may be forced to employ only bona fide photographers with the necessary paperwork. A task force made up of local city officials is considering the options.

“A total clampdown, which I think is what the council is almost proposing, would be far too draconian,” says Nick Stern, a British member of the LA paparazzi.

“It will stop paparazzi, but fortunately paparazzi and showbiz go hand in hand – they always have done.”

At the height of the Britney Spears saga, Mr Stern quit his job with an agency that he claimed pursued the singer too aggressively.

He prefers to describe his work as that of a news photographer, although it still involves taking pictures of celebrities.

Matthew McConaughey was involved in an incident earlier this year

“I still think there’s a great call for good, ethical journalism and real journalism without having 30 or 40 large vehicles chasing a 26-year-old mother of two along Sunset Boulevard,” he says.

Taming the paparazzi is likely to be an uphill struggle for Los Angeles law makers. Glossy, celebrity magazines are sold around the world with much of their content coming from the streets of Beverly Hills, Malibu and Hollywood.

“In the end I don’t think anything will actually happen,” says Mr Stern.

“LA has always been a bit like the Wild West, that’s what makes it an exciting place. You can come here and almost anything’s possible.

“There’s still that feeling that you can come here and make a million overnight – so I think it needs to have that free spirit kind of atmosphere about it,” he adds.

A report by Peter Bowes on the Los Angeles paparazzi can be seen on E24, broadcast on the BBC News channel on Saturday 9 August at 1045 BST and Sunday 10 August at 1745 BST.

Olsen seeks immunity over Ledger

The actress was a friend of Ledger

Actress Mary-Kate Olsen will not speak to investigators about Heath Ledger’s death unless she is granted immunity from prosecution.

An official said the 22-year-old wants the assurance before speaking to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Olsen was the first person contacted by the masseuse who discovered Ledger’s body. Her lawyer said she has told the authorities all she knows.

Ledger was found dead at his home in January after an accidental overdose.

Federal investigators want to question Olsen about how Ledger obtained two powerful painkillers that contributed to his death.

Olsen’s lawyer, Michael C Miller, added that she “does not know the source of the drugs Mr Ledger consumed”.

Negotiations

According to the official – who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing – Mr Miller has twice refused requests for her to speak with them.

Investigators are in negotiations with Olsen’s lawyers and the prosecutor’s office, it was added.

Ledger’s ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams has answered questions voluntarily

The official said that authorities had obtained a subpoena that could force Olsen to appear before a grand jury if negotiations with her lawyer fail.

Other potential witnesses all have answered questions voluntarily, including doctors, Ledger’s ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams, and anyone who was in his apartment around the time of his death, the official added.

DEA investigators suspect the painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone found in Ledger’s system were obtained with false prescriptions.

Police say the masseuse who discovered Ledger’s body spent nine minutes making three calls to Olsen before dialling 911 for help, then rang the actress a fourth time after paramedics arrived.

At some point during the calls, Olsen, who was in California at the time, summoned her personal security guards to the apartment to help.

Can a disabled model make it in fashion?

Tall, slim and with flowing locks, Lara Masters modelled in her teens. But the work dried up as she developed a degenerative nerve condition. So is the fashion world ready for its first big disabled model?

The fashion industry has a very precise, exacting and unwavering view of beauty: a model must be tall, extremely slim and physically “flawless”. It’s a code of understanding which has ruled me out of modelling even though I am 5ft 9ins, size 6 and, if you’ll excuse my immodesty, beautiful.

FIND OUT MORE… Britain’s Missing Top Model is broadcast on BBC Three, starting Tuesday, 1 July at 2100BST Or catch up using the iPlayer

I have a degenerative nerve condition that has been gradually paralysing my limbs for many years, and now use an electric wheelchair. As a writer, model (I use the term very loosely as will be explained) actor and TV presenter, I’m more visible than most disabled people. But I have never been accepted in any of these jobs for my skill alone – there is always a focus on my disability.

My mum, Debbie Moore, (founder of Pineapple dance studios) was a very successful model in the 60s and 70s. In my early teens, before my disability set in, I followed in her footsteps – modelling for girls’ magazines and Mum’s company. But from the age of 14, because I had some paralysis down my left side and an awkward gait, I could not get an agent and that was the end of my hopes for a modelling career.

I even tried joining an agency called Ugly which claimed to be looking for something “different”. By the time my potential employers had scraped their jaws off the floor I felt that even for an agency that was thinking outside of the box, disability was more disturbing than different. Considering the agency name, I didn’t know whether to be flattered or outraged when they refused take to me on.

Lara Masters, whose modelling ambitions have been thwarted by disability

Role models were in short supply, until Paralympic runner Aimee Mullins briefly took to the catwalk for designer Alexander McQueen in 1998 – sporting hand-carved wooden prosthetic limb. But when McQueen said he wasn’t out to shock people but “to show that beauty comes from within”, I was appalled and confused. It was patronising the stunningly gorgeous Mullins and seemed to be saying that having a disability makes you a beautiful person.

Eventually, when I started using a wheelchair, I got signed up by an agency that only recruited disabled models. It felt like I was only a casting away from becoming the new face of Mac or Aveda. Instead, I found myself on a poorly paid path of infrequent job offers to advertise wheelchairs, stair lifts and accessible buses – all important campaigns but a far cry from New York Fashion Week.

So when the BBC set out to challenge stereotypes of beauty, with a reality-style show in which eight young, disabled women compete to be a “top model”, I was excited but also sceptical.

Car accident

It introduced me to other people who’d had similar experiences, such as 22-year-old Jenny Johnson, who had modelled until a car accident at 16 left her with some lower paralysis.

Aimee on the track in 1996, and at a McQueen opening in 2008

“I started modelling at age 14. I went on several photo shoots and gained some real experience. In spite of acquiring this knowledge, after my accident, it has been impossible to catch a break,” says Jenny. “I’ve even been flat out informed that the reason the agency would not accept me was because of the way I walked.”

So what about the industry’s insiders – are they really willing to give disabled models a fair chance?

Designer Wayne Hemingway initially sounds an upbeat note. “We’re learning to support diversity and be inclusive of disability in areas such as sport,” he says, name-checking the Paralympics and the disabled basketball players who featured in a recent series of BBC One idents.

“In new buildings and transport systems it’s now unthinkable not to design with disability in mind,” he says. But fashion sees itself differently.

“The fashion industry is still seeking out so-called ‘perfect symmetry’ in impossibly skinny girls and being predictably immoral.”

For Marie O’Riordan, editor of Marie Claire magazine, fashion isn’t alone in its promotion of the “perfect” human form – it is reflecting wider prejudices in society.

It’s a business

“Disability is largely ignored by the mainstream. Traditionally, fashion models have represented the ‘ideal’ of womanhood – they are taller and slimmer so that they can show off clothes to the maximum benefit. Being a clothes horse is not something most women could do very well.”

A disabled model, by definition, will be more memorable in a photo than an able-bodied girl Marie O’Riordan

The fact is that fashion is a business and it is us, the consumers, who keep it thriving. Is it any wonder the industry sticks to a winning formula and largely shuns the idea of using bigger, more representational female models, let alone disabled models whose physical forms will be even more difficult to sell as aspirational?

Yet maybe the BBC’s reality show will make a difference. After all, fashionistas are always looking for something new, and disabled models are perfect to create intrigue and attract attention.

“A disabled model, by definition, will be more memorable in a photo than an able-bodied girl, thus making her attractive to a commercial person trying to sell clothes in an advert, or in editorial,” says O’Riordan. Her magazine will feature the programme’s winner in a high-end fashion spread by world-renowned photographer Rankin.

This gesture in itself would give any able-bodied model major kudos and guarantee further bookings, so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this shoot will have on the future of the disabled model.

After that, maybe, it’s up to the public. Are they willing to prove their readiness to accept a different ideal of beauty by buying a magazine featuring a amputee model. It’s our collective responsibility. If we want to see the fashion industry broaden its parameters, we must put our money where our mouth is.

Can a disabled model make it in fashion?

Tall, slim and with flowing locks, Lara Masters modelled in her teens. But the work dried up as she developed a degenerative nerve condition. So is the fashion world ready for its first big disabled model?

The fashion industry has a very precise, exacting and unwavering view of beauty: a model must be tall, extremely slim and physically “flawless”. It’s a code of understanding which has ruled me out of modelling even though I am 5ft 9ins, size 6 and, if you’ll excuse my immodesty, beautiful.

FIND OUT MORE… Britain’s Missing Top Model is broadcast on BBC Three, starting Tuesday, 1 July at 2100BST Or catch up using the iPlayer

I have a degenerative nerve condition that has been gradually paralysing my limbs for many years, and now use an electric wheelchair. As a writer, model (I use the term very loosely as will be explained) actor and TV presenter, I’m more visible than most disabled people. But I have never been accepted in any of these jobs for my skill alone – there is always a focus on my disability.

My mum, Debbie Moore, (founder of Pineapple dance studios) was a very successful model in the 60s and 70s. In my early teens, before my disability set in, I followed in her footsteps – modelling for girls’ magazines and Mum’s company. But from the age of 14, because I had some paralysis down my left side and an awkward gait, I could not get an agent and that was the end of my hopes for a modelling career.

I even tried joining an agency called Ugly which claimed to be looking for something “different”. By the time my potential employers had scraped their jaws off the floor I felt that even for an agency that was thinking outside of the box, disability was more disturbing than different. Considering the agency name, I didn’t know whether to be flattered or outraged when they refused take to me on.

Lara Masters, whose modelling ambitions have been thwarted by disability

Role models were in short supply, until Paralympic runner Aimee Mullins briefly took to the catwalk for designer Alexander McQueen in 1998 – sporting hand-carved wooden prosthetic limb. But when McQueen said he wasn’t out to shock people but “to show that beauty comes from within”, I was appalled and confused. It was patronising the stunningly gorgeous Mullins and seemed to be saying that having a disability makes you a beautiful person.

Eventually, when I started using a wheelchair, I got signed up by an agency that only recruited disabled models. It felt like I was only a casting away from becoming the new face of Mac or Aveda. Instead, I found myself on a poorly paid path of infrequent job offers to advertise wheelchairs, stair lifts and accessible buses – all important campaigns but a far cry from New York Fashion Week.

So when the BBC set out to challenge stereotypes of beauty, with a reality-style show in which eight young, disabled women compete to be a “top model”, I was excited but also sceptical.

Car accident

It introduced me to other people who’d had similar experiences, such as 22-year-old Jenny Johnson, who had modelled until a car accident at 16 left her with some lower paralysis.

Aimee on the track in 1996, and at a McQueen opening in 2008

“I started modelling at age 14. I went on several photo shoots and gained some real experience. In spite of acquiring this knowledge, after my accident, it has been impossible to catch a break,” says Jenny. “I’ve even been flat out informed that the reason the agency would not accept me was because of the way I walked.”

So what about the industry’s insiders – are they really willing to give disabled models a fair chance?

Designer Wayne Hemingway initially sounds an upbeat note. “We’re learning to support diversity and be inclusive of disability in areas such as sport,” he says, name-checking the Paralympics and the disabled basketball players who featured in a recent series of BBC One idents.

“In new buildings and transport systems it’s now unthinkable not to design with disability in mind,” he says. But fashion sees itself differently.

“The fashion industry is still seeking out so-called ‘perfect symmetry’ in impossibly skinny girls and being predictably immoral.”

For Marie O’Riordan, editor of Marie Claire magazine, fashion isn’t alone in its promotion of the “perfect” human form – it is reflecting wider prejudices in society.

It’s a business

“Disability is largely ignored by the mainstream. Traditionally, fashion models have represented the ‘ideal’ of womanhood – they are taller and slimmer so that they can show off clothes to the maximum benefit. Being a clothes horse is not something most women could do very well.”

A disabled model, by definition, will be more memorable in a photo than an able-bodied girl Marie O’Riordan

The fact is that fashion is a business and it is us, the consumers, who keep it thriving. Is it any wonder the industry sticks to a winning formula and largely shuns the idea of using bigger, more representational female models, let alone disabled models whose physical forms will be even more difficult to sell as aspirational?

Yet maybe the BBC’s reality show will make a difference. After all, fashionistas are always looking for something new, and disabled models are perfect to create intrigue and attract attention.

“A disabled model, by definition, will be more memorable in a photo than an able-bodied girl, thus making her attractive to a commercial person trying to sell clothes in an advert, or in editorial,” says O’Riordan. Her magazine will feature the programme’s winner in a high-end fashion spread by world-renowned photographer Rankin.

This gesture in itself would give any able-bodied model major kudos and guarantee further bookings, so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this shoot will have on the future of the disabled model.

After that, maybe, it’s up to the public. Are they willing to prove their readiness to accept a different ideal of beauty by buying a magazine featuring a amputee model. It’s our collective responsibility. If we want to see the fashion industry broaden its parameters, we must put our money where our mouth is.