About this project

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my project! 

MY PROJECT

I’ve written a book, a memoir.  It's the true story of my life as a paparazzi.  Yes, I was the real thing.  Lived in L.A. and staked out celebrities for a living.  We’re talking full-on stake outs too:  backs of cars, tops of trees, undercover in hotels and restaurants. There were direct approaches at times: an elevator ride with Cameron Diaz (which didn’t go over well), little notes on Adrian Grenier’s door (which “sort of” went over), and a mani-pedi with Katherine Heigl (which worked great!).

The book is sort of an Indiana Jones meets Bridget Jones… in Hollywood.  It’s chock-full of celebrity anecdotes – tales of our interactions.  As well, it’s an Idiot’s Guide – a “How-to” book if you like:  How-to be a paparazzi; How-to be a celebrity; How-to get famous; How-to get less famous.  And it’s all weaved through my story:  the story of a girl in her mid-thirties looking for love, babies… and adrenaline.

MY PROGRESS AND PUBLISHING PLANS

I’m in the home stretch.  After several drafts, the book is solidly “a book” – 158,000 words!  Writing has been my job for the last year and a half, and now I’m fine-tuning.  The book needs an outside editor, then revisions on my end.  Over the next nine months, my full attention will be dedicated to completing the memoir and pitching it to publishers. 

I’ve never doubted its marketability.  It has bestseller, TV and movie potential. (Think Sex in the City meets Entourage... substituting titillating car chases for copious sex scenes.)  The book is a one-of-a-kind, a story that has never been told; and now it’s being told by me, also a one-of-a-kind.  There are hardly any native English-speaking paparazzi and barely half a dozen girls in the biz.  Barring the paparazzi themselves, few people even in Hollywood understand the innards of the business. 

Solid marketing will back up the manuscript. I plan to hand-deliver books to celebrities (obviously, I know where they all live) with timing considerations:  must have paps eagerly waiting in the background to photograph “what they’re reading.”  I hope, as well, for a few celebrity endorsements from my famous “friends.”  Appearances on talk shows and write-ups in newspapers are also the plan.

The thing is, I know I can get people to notice.  I just need a killer book when they do.

Which brings me to…

WHY I NEED MONEY

Your contribution (one you actually get something in exchange for! – see box on the right) will go towards:

--Hard production costs (hiring a professional editor, marketing and social media, consulting for digital production options/ebooks).  The first $10,000 I raise (my goal) will be used for this. 

--Any funds over $10,000 will be used as a small stipend to allow me to focus exclusively on writing and pitching over the next several months.  I have a beautiful two-year-old boy, Charlie, who I solo-parent.  It’s just about impossible to get any writing done caring for a toddler by myself.  There are daycare costs; and of course basic living expenses.  Prior to now, Charlie and I have been frugally living on my paparazzi photo residuals, supplementing with sporadic photo gigs…. But, alas, the money’s almost gone.

HOW IT WORKS

Kickstarter is a website which assists “creative types” – artists, writers, inventors, etc. – in raising funds for their projects.  It operates on an all-or-nothing funding model, which means if I don’t reach my goal ($10,000) in the designated time (28 days), I get NOTHING.  (And, you pay nothing.)

In exchange for your contribution, you receive a gift(s).  In my case, those gifts are super-cool, one-of-a-kind celebrity paraphernalia-type stuff.

Approximately 10% of all monies go to kickstarter admin and credit card fees.  90% comes directly to me. 

A $5 contribution matters.  If your 2011 charitable contributions are no longer, please consider buying me a cup of jo.  It tells publishers, you want this book written.

FOR MORE INFO (and pictures!)

Follow me on www.facebook.com/paparazzibook.

To contact my marvelous, talented and creative editor/shooter, email him at brandonschrichten@yahoo.com.

(And in case you’re wondering, WHY I BECOME A PAPARAZZI…)

My shift ended at Tropicalia, the Brazilian restaurant up the street from my house in my adored Los Feliz neighborhood.  I had grabbed a coffee and was sitting outside reading the newspaper.  Suddenly, eight blacked-out SUV’s screeched up in front of the boutique across the street.  Seven guys jumped out of their cars, and a beautiful, skinny blond slithered out of hers.  It was Paris Hilton, and she and her sister Nikki were shopping at White Trash Charms.

I watched the ten minute, quite friendly, gangbang (unfortunately, that’s what it’s called), and thought, “that looks like fun.”  I chatted with one of the paparazzi after it was over… then something clicked:  “I can shoot,” “I drive fast,” and “Oh, do I need money.”

Up until then, I’d seen just one celebrity (Brian Austin Green – if you can even count him), but that day, the stars aligned, and one of them, Paris, changed my life.  Right then, I just knew.  It was like a dove flitted down from heaven and said:  Jen, this is your new profession.  And well, I laughed.  Only God could think of something so ludicrous. 

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