[IMG:L]Do you know, by chance, exactly how many days, hours, and seconds remain before our favorite, lawbreaking heiress–Paris Hilton–heads off to the slammer? That’s a tough one. Can you, instead, perhaps explain why it is that Jessica Simpson keeps getting blonder in recent weeks? Not certain. Take a closer look at the glossy, weekly publication US Magazine. Regular readers of this magazine often liken it to crack–cheap, intoxicating, and utterly addictive. Why? That’s what I wanted to know. And so, one day, not long ago, I found myself in midtown Manhattan at the weekly editorial meeting for US Weekly.
Just before noon, roughly twenty staff members shuffled into a giant glass tank of a room that sat in the middle of a sprawling labyrinth of grayish cubicles. The only discernable splash of color in the room came from a large bulletin board, which was wallpapered with the covers of past issues that paired fleshy glam-shots of celebrities with pithy headlines. The headlines read: How Jen Found Out, Why Brad Said Goodbye; J-Lo: I am ready for a baby; Justin Didn’t Cheat on Me, and Nick & Jessica: Will they split?
These were some of the hottest selling covers in the country. The magazine’s formula is relative simple–it pairs dozens of luscious photos with incredibly short articles on a whole cast of celebrities who appeared in almost every issue. The formula has been a resounding success and the magazine’s staff is constantly scrambling to keep its pages filled with this kind of content.
“Hey, did you see the quote by Gwyneth in Time magazine where she dissed Brad for not being more private about his relationships?” asked Bradley Jacobs, the magazine’s senior editor in charge of film coverage.
There were a few uh-huhs followed by a great deal of nodding.
“Why don’t we do a story on everyone who has dissed their ex’s in public?” he asked. “Because didn’t Ben a just talk about Jen in Elle?”
“Yeah,” affirmed one of several twenty-something young women who sat along the conference table dressed in chic-casual style–jeans, tight tennis shirt, and flip flops with pedicured toenails. “And I think that Nicole talked about Tom in Vanity Fair…”
[IMG:R]“Good,” said Jacobs, who was jotting down notes studiously. Clearly, a story was coming together. “This is how we like to do it,” he later told me. “We try to take a quote like this, and build a two page feature out of it by providing six or seven other examples.”
I saw this same formula at work again several minutes later, when the magazine’s executive editor, Michael Steele, proposed a story about celebrities who had once worked at fast food restaurants. According to Steele, a young Brad Pitt got his start at a restaurant on the corner of LaBrea and Sunset Boulevards, where he donned a giant chicken costume, waved at oncoming traffic, and received a cacophony of jeers from passersby. “They weren’t yelling at me,” Brad Pitt allegedly insisted. “They were yelling at the damn chicken!”
Paying close attention, I soon learned: Madonna had sold glazed edibles at Dunkin’ Donuts; Andie MacDowell had shoveled fries at McDonald’s; Queen Latifah had slaved away at Burger King; Pink had worked at Wendy’s; Jason Lee had pushed Mexican fare at Taco Bell; and Marcia Gay Harden had worked at Howard Johnson’s.
As all of this was being discussed, an attractive woman in her mid-thirties with pearl earrings and blazing-white teeth sat at the head of the table, sipping a cold drink and looking pleased. This was Janice Min. Min is, by her own admission, an unlikely candidate to be running the magazine. “Growing up, I was not one of these girls who hung posters of celebrities on her wall,” she later told me. “And I think that not growing up as a celebrity-addict has been incredibly helpful.”
[IMG:L]In general, Min exudes a certain detachment from the subject matter that she covers, and she claims that this enables her to focus on what the readers want. “One of the most popular sections of the magazine is the ‘Stars – They’re Just Like Us!’ section,” she later told me. “At its essence, it is this preposterous little photo act showing celebrities shopping for groceries or getting gas or eating a pizza–but it’s just incredibly compelling to the reader.”
According to the editors at US Weekly, the secret to their success is that they have perfected the art of portraying celebrities as friendly, down-to-earth, neighborly types of people. The clever magazine does this best in its ‘Stars – They’re Just Like Us!’ section. But, even beyond this, most US Weekly articles are infused with a decidedly casual and friendly tone.
“We shy away from any story that would make the reader feel creepy and intrusive,” explained Michael Steele. “It’s one thing to do a cheerful little story about a celebrity couple that goes out for a sushi date, in which we run a picture of them walking out of the restaurant, smiling and holding hands. It’s another thing to show them caught during an awkward moment and waving their hands like, Please don’t take my picture! The reader will be turned off by this. And it’s important that our readers not feel as if they’re making their favorite stars miserable because our readers like these celebrities.”
[IMG:R]Steele’s observations made perfect sense: if the reader comes to feel that he or she is snooping on private moments, then the chummy, intimate magic that the magazine creates is broken. And this may be the real power behind US Weekly: It offers the illusion of friendship. “Our readers feel like Jennifer Aniston is their best friend,” said Bradley Jacobs, during one of our chats. “There’s a reason that the magazine is doing better than ever this year. Jen became everyone’s best friend in the TV show, Friends, and then she breaks up with Brad and has this big trauma. Has this raised magazine sales? Absolutely!”
Now that the Jen-Brangelina-Vince maelstrom has subsided and evolved into focusing on maternal Angie portraiture, it’s only logical to wonder who’s being groomed in the tabloids to be our next BFF. Which celeb will soon hold the key to our unequivocal sympthies? And do remember: it seems that this person needs to have an ‘air of normalcy’ surrounding their day-to-day existence, so probably Paris and Britney don’t fully count.
This was adapted from the new book, Fame Junkies. Read the hot, page-turning exposé that everyone in Hollywood is talking about! Purchase a copy of FAME JUNKIES for a discounted price on Buy.com right now.
Also on Hollywood.com:
[IMG:L]Meet America’s Youngest Fame Junkies
Why do more people watch the ultimate competition for celebrityhood, American Idol, than watch the nightly news on the three major networks combined? How come the average teenage boy desires fame almost as much as intelligence–while the average teenage girl craves fame more than intelligence? And why do 43.4% of teenage girls say that they want to be a “celebrity personal assistant” when they grow up, while only 13.6% say they’d want to be a U.S. Senator?
Watch this eyebrow-raising, documentary short based on Fame Junkiies, the critically acclaimed book by Jake Halpern.
[IMG:L]Fame Junkies – Volume 2: Beneath the Red Carpet
OK, so merely one month later, the Oscars are already a quickly fading memory. In fact, the entire two-month-long American bacchanal known as “award show season” seems like it was a frantic, distant dream. At long last, Martin Scorsese is sleeping well. The vintage couture ‘borrows’ have been returned. The Hummer stretch-limos are back in their garages. But what about all the red carpets? I mean this quite literally. What happens to all that red carpet? And, on a slightly more philosophical note, why is it that we are so obsessed with the red carpet in the first place?
[IMG:L]Fame Junkies – Volume 3: The Grooming of Baby Idols
American Idol’s controversial, Sanjaya-focused season is quickly building toward its climatic finale; however, for all those dazed contestants who have been brusquely eliminated–yet emotionally crippled by razor-tongued Simon–there is still hope. Look no farther than the International Model and Talent Agency (IMTA), which hosts two annual talent conventions, one of which is quickly approaching this summer.
[IMG:L]Fame Junkies – Volume 4: The Secret Lives of Stylists
Marcel Winter* has made a life for himself by dressing other people–mainly powerhouse celebrities. Their distinguished ranks include the likes of Halle Berry, Jim Carrey, John Travolta, and Nicole Kidman to name just a few. Over the years, Winter has also developed a successful second career as an analyst of celebrity fashion for several television networks, on which he identifies, candidly, the “best” and “worst” dressed attendees at the biggie events like the Oscars and the Golden Globes.
[IMG:L]Fame Junkies – Volume 5: The Devil’s Helper
Anyone wondering just how aggressive paparazzi photographers are these days should look no further than Britney Spears’ Malibu home. Earlier this week, two photographers–who were staking out Britney’s house–got into a heated scuffle as they vied to snap a shot of the recently-rehabbed star. In truth, the paparazzi have good reason to be so aggressive; an exclusive photo of Britney can earn upwards of $250,000 these days. Yet if these two brawling photographers were truly interested in mastering the tricks of their trade, they would put Britney on hold–at least for a few hours–and pay a visit to the home of Russell Turiak.
[IMG:L]Fame Junkies – Volume 6: Celebrity Stalkers, a Special Breed
In case you haven’t heard, just a few days ago, the actor Hugh Grant was arrested for allegedly throwing a container of baked beans at a photographer. No doubt, Grant is pursued around the clock by paparazzi and stalkers from all walks of life. Yet, before he tossed the beans, he should have really considered paying a visit to the offices at the Los Angeles Police Department’s “Threat Management Unit”–informally known as, “The Celebrity Anti-Stalking Unit.”
[IMG:L]Fame Junkies – Volume 7: The Monkey Business of Celebrity
Even those who claim to have no interest whatsoever in “celebrity news” have to admit that this week the headlines have been especially juicy. Paris Hilton, Sylvester Stallone, and Richard Gere have all had brushes with the law. The real question, of course, is not whether Paris will do hard time–though certainly there is, already, a reality TV show in the works–but why we, the public, get so caught up in all of this hoopla. Why do we find these stories so irresistible?
