ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 18, 1996 TAG: 9611190044
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JENNIFER BOWLES ASSOCIATED PRESS
They're the so-called video paparazzi, or in some circles ``stalk-arazzi,'' who earn a living hounding stars and selling footage to an ever-increasing slew of tabloid television shows.
``Celebrities are the ones out with their new boyfriends or girlfriends, and they don't like to be caught while they're doing that,'' said free-lance videographer Alan Zanger. ``That's too bad. That's part of life. They have to expect it.''
Enter ``ER'' hunk George Clooney, who simply doesn't want to take it anymore.
Clooney has refused to do interviews with ``Entertainment Tonight'' and ``Hard Copy,'' both shows produced by Paramount Pictures Television Group, after ``Hard Copy'' aired a segment about his girlfriend, Celine Balidran.
Clooney was particularly angered because the segment broke a deal the actor had with Paramount Television president Frank Kelly to keep him off ``Hard Copy.''
``I understand I'm a celebrity,'' Clooney said, speaking over the telephone from the set of his new movie, ``Batman and Robin.''
``I make a good living. I don't ask anybody to feel sorry for me, and I don't expect anyone to.
``But I think that we all should be afforded certain civil rights, and some of them are you can't put bounties on people's head and have people try to jump in your window for $300,000 to get a picture of you and your baby,'' he said, referring to Madonna's recent delivery.
Clooney's boycott of ``Entertainment Tonight,'' which unlike ``Hard Copy'' relies on celebrity cooperation for its interviews, has gathered steam - lots of it. Whoopi Goldberg, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, Demi Moore, Steven Spielberg and James Garner all have signed up.
Such shows, they say, have gone overboard.
Following telephone conferences with Clooney and other celebrities, Paramount executives implemented guidelines for such coverage.
The executives said their shows would reject footage in which the subject was harassed solely to provoke a reaction, footage that shows the celebrity's home address, unauthorized footage of celebrities or their children in the privacy of their own homes, or footage known to have been illegally obtained.
And now Clooney has taken it on himself to be the TV tabloid watchdog. Every night, he says, he videotapes the show to watch its use of paparazzi video.
``My responsibility now,'' Clooney said, ``and the hard part of this is to monitor it and stay on top of it and see if there are any changes at all.
``I don't want to belittle what has happened, what Paramount was willing to do. I think it's great. But if it were just left up to its own devices, I don't know that anything would change and there would be any difference at all.''
What, if any, effect the policy will have on ``Hard Copy's'' coverage won't be known immediately; Paramount officials refused to comment beyond the corporate news releases.
But Zanger, who has sold his footage on a regular basis to ``Hard Copy'' - including the infamous videotape of Alec Baldwin and wife Kim Basinger arriving home with their new baby - said he has followed those rules anyway and that they won't affect the way he nabs celebrities.
``I don't break the law, so I kind of go by those rules anyway,'' Zanger said. ``I totally agree with what they said. I will not antagonize someone to get a reaction.''
But what Zanger did do was hide inside the camper shell of a pickup parked across the street from Baldwin's house. The videotape showed Baldwin approaching the truck, spraying shaving cream on the windows and smearing it. The altercation that followed was not videotaped, but Zanger said he was punched in the nose and kicked while on the ground.
Jurors acquitted Baldwin of misdemeanor battery in March.
Like most free-lance videographers, Zanger seeks clues of stars' whereabouts from daily trade magazines. He picks his prey, keeping in mind that exclusivity is the key, and hunts them down.
With video in hand, Zanger shops it around to his regular contacts at ``Hard Copy,'' ``American Journal,'' ``Inside Edition,'' ``Entertainment Tonight'' and, before it was canceled, ``A Current Affair.''
While he won't reveal how much he earns per video, he said it's anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Zanger criticized Clooney's movement, saying he's just using his clout against something that serves a celebrity-hungry public.
``They have so much power in the entertainment industry they're using their power and wealth to try to make the shows not buy our material,'' Zanger said. ``But they need our material because the public wants to see it.''
Plus if ``Hard Copy'' doesn't want the video, he said, ``someone else will.''
While Clooney's campaign targets ``Hard Copy,'' he said he would like to see tabloid TV in general clean up its act.
``The point is you fight a war basically one battle at a time, and that's the only way you win and get inroads,'' he said.
But will his efforts make a difference?
``The truth is I don't know. I honestly don't know,'' Clooney said. ``At least the people who are involved will be able to say `Hey, we gave it a shot.' That's all you can do.''
LENGTH: Medium: 96 linesby CNB