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GIVING IT UP

By Frank RUY

NEW AMSTERDAM ENTERTAINMENT, INC. - as PROD

Documentary - Completed 2009

Giving It Up” imbeds us in Hollywood’s “paparazzi wars” as it tells the story of two former LA gang members who co-founded “JFX Direct”, an “A” list celebrity photo agency.

- Year of production
- 2009
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- USA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Budget
- 0.3 - 0.6 M$
- Duration
- 88 mn
- Director(s)
- Frank RUY
- Writer(s)
- Frank RUY
- Cast
- Sergio HUAPAYA, Arnold COUSART, Mark MULLEN, Jonzen COUSART, Ulises RIOS, Galo Cesar RAMIREZ, Keith RESPICIO
- ISAN
- 0000-0003-6F38-0000-S-0000-0000-R
- Producer(s)
- Richard P. RUBINSTEIN (New Amsterdam Entertainment, Inc.), Douglas DURST, Rachel FLEIT
- Synopsis
- A feature length documentary shot from inside the belly of the beast (aka Hollywood) that gives a rare behind the scenes view of the most publicized and criticized group of working photographers in the world today, the paparazzi.
  GIVING IT UP tells the story of two former LA gang members who founded JFX Direct, a Los Angeles based celebrity photo agency. Now in their 30’s with families to support, these two best friends find themselves fighting a complicated reality of alliances and rivalries within the professional world of high profile celebrity photography and their not so far behind lives in the often fatal world of the LA gang scene. Their path has never been an easy one and the current flood of untrained and inexperienced paparazzi working for large rival agencies now threatens their livelihood.
  Although they have traded their “9’s” and Uzi’s for cameras, these two close friends and their small team of photographers still battle daily on the streets of Los Angeles. GIVING IT UP imbeds us in the “Paparazzi Wars” as the small JFX team successfully fights much larger companies to “capture” and sell valuable images of Brad Pitt, Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton and other high profile names in the news. With an overview from magazine editors from OK and In Touch the story of JFX Direct is a unique look into an American dream of upward mobility that is turning into an American nightmare.