27 / Annie Leibovitz needs you to buy her book
It's tough times and photographers everywhere are struggling, but no one more than Annie Leibovitz. She makes tens of thousands a day (update: It's actually more than a hundred thousand) for advertising assignments and is on a seven figure salary with Vanity Fair - seven figures = more than a million dollars (update: It's more than $2m, guaranteed until at least 2011); that's on top of the $88 I spent on her book At Work a couple of months ago.
But unbelievably, she's run up a line of credit of US$24m. The woman is twenty four million dollars in debt! It makes me dizzy thinking about it: How on earth is this possible? A few bad business decisions? We all do that - I, for one, know all about debt and bankruptcy. Apparently she owes $700,000 for 'photographic services.' Oh boy, that's a lot of Hasselblads, PRO Fotos and Macs.
Incredibly, she's pledged as collateral for her loan not only her houses, but also her catalogue of work. The finance company is about to call in the loan, and Leibovitz stands to lose the rights to her pictures. This is one of the most depressing stories about an artist's financial misfortune I have ever heard.
I remember the great French photographer François Gillet, who had been 'bought' by a Swedish ad-agency. They set him up so he could work according to his own schedule. I hope a similar solution is found for Annie Leibovitz.
Update: SMH, Good Weekend, 3 Oct 2009
Apparently Annie is incapable of managing money. Her shoots a more like movie productions. She spends money with abandon and is notoriously unreliable as regards keeping deadlines or sticking to budgets. This is all in the quest for ultimate quality. A true artist. Here's to hoping she pushes open doors and garners understanding and sympathy for all commercial artists who - while striving for quality - struggle with budgets and deadlines.
Update:
It is being reported that Art Capital Group withdrew its lawsuit against Leibovitz, and extended the due date for repayment of the $24 million loan. Under the agreement, Leibovitz retains control over her work and will be the exclusive agent in the sale of her real property and copyrights.
But how about this story:
Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz is being sued by an Italian photographer who says she used his pictures without permission (BBC News - 6 September 2009)
Paolo Pizzetti claims Ms Leibovitz used photos he took in Venice and Rome, and passed them off as her own in a 2009 calendar for a coffee company. He is seeking a court order to stop the images from being used and $300,000 for copyright infringement.
A spokesperson for Ms Leibovitz declined to comment.
According to legal papers filed at a New York federal court, Mr Pizzetti said Ms Leibovitz, 59, hired him to scout locations in Italy for an advertising campaign for Lavazza coffee in April 2008. He said he photographed the Trevi Fountain in Rome and the Piazza San Marco in Venice as well as other images which he sent to her digitally, but was later informed Ms Leibovitz would not be travelling to Italy for the photo shoot.
Mr Pizzetti said that in October 2008, when the calendar was released, he noticed two of his photographs had been used, with models superimposed on it. A comparison of the Piazza San Marco photo shows "the same wet weather conditions, cloud formation and the same bird in the upper left portion of the photograph," Mr Pizzetti said in the complaint.
"It is clear that the Leibovitz defendants copied the Piazza work authored by Pizzetti and edited it," he said.
He added that Ms Leibovitz at no point told him she planned on using his photographs in the calendar, nor requested his permission to do so.
Ooops, if that is true … that's a little more than just naughty.