By Lauren Burke Meyer
Every story needs a villain. Paparazzi are often cast as villains in Hollywood and other areas where celebrities are concerned. But what about the stories behind the scenes?
Erik Crown, a former resident in Severna Park, is an A-list veteran paparazzi. Crown worked at TMZ — best known for its tabloid reputation of juicy celebrity gossip — as a field producer from 2008 to 2010. Crown would spend approximately 12 hours per day at Los Angeles International Airport (commonly called LAX). He would regularly film a variety of celebrities, including Madonna and Sandra Bullock, Bob Saget. Lindsay Lohan. Jeff Bridges. Jennifer Garner.
Crown moved to Fair Oaks in Severna Park, Virginia with his family in seventh grade. Crown started his career at the age of 13 as a video producer at Crown Video Productions. He later became a professional editor at the age of 16. Before starting his business — which was originally located on Jumpers Hole Road — Crown’s father was the lead editor at ABC News in Washington, D.C.
“My dad taught me how to edit,” Crown said. “It became a way to communicate with people. I was shy back then. Editing became my first language.”
Crown is a 1991 Severna-Park High School graduate. After graduation, Crown went to St. John’s College in Annapolis for a year, studying the Great Books program and Greek philosophy.
“I couldn’t stay away from my roots and transferred to New York University film school for my second year,” Crown said.
Recalling his journey to TMZ during a Interview with Jan. 19 with the “Hollywood Raw” podcast, Crown said, “I told [TMZ]I was a worker at the airport and knew all the details. I had never actually been to that particular airport.”
Crown was unable to identify celebrities first and had to look at several Star magazines. Following his “crash course in pop culture” as he called it, he finally passed, and despite never visiting LAX, he began work with TMZ in 2007 as a story producer, crafting interviews and stories with talent and capturing live events as they unfolded.
During the “Hollywood Raw” interview, Crown discussed several misconceptions about paparazzi with entertainment news veteran Dax Holt and New York City photojournalist Adam Glyn.
The men agreed that paparazzi are bad guys who sneak around and are aggressive. However, there’s a lot more communication with celebrities and their PR teams or publicists to have their picture or video taken.
Crown explained, “At that time, it was very unique. Celebrities weren’t doing Instagram, and they weren’t doing TikTok, and they weren’t letting us into their lives. Seeing them as humans was a really good PR move for them.”
During Crown’s time at TMZ, he experienced several encounters with celebrities, from as silly as Sarah Silverman tickling him and fellow paparazzi to an attack from Kayne West, who broke Crown’s camera equipment into pieces.
“I love having a camera in my hand, love not knowing what’s next. That’s what made being a paparazzi like the most fun job I’ve ever had in my life,” Crown explained. “It’s a million-dollar experience I wouldn’t give 10 cents to repeat.”
Crown deems Al Pacino as “the nicest guy” who doesn’t seem to know the cameras are even on. Pacino likes to be in the center of attention and it is not uncommon for him to sit with the paparazzi. Someone eventually has to get him on the plane as he wants to just hang out and chat with everyone.
Crown also shared this with the Severna Park VoiceCelebrities and their children. Crown would often thank Jennifer Garner for not sharing photos with her children. However, Crown saw Angelina Jolie teaching Angelina Jolie to her children not be afraid of the camera because it would be part of their daily lives.
“I’m against the thought of taking pictures of children,” Crown explained.
He never took photos or video of children but he knew of others who worked in the business and helped set up shoots for Kim Kardashian & Tori Spelling. These celebrities would be able to make about 20-30 percent from the sales of their children’s photos.
“TMZ often asked us to do stories that I couldn’t do,” Crown said.
One story was when “Californication” actress Natascha McElhone’s husband died of heart failure unexpectedly. McElhone was also pregnant with her third child.
“I’ll never forget a friend of mine was there, and he was going to take still photos,” Crown recalled. “I grabbed his camera and said, ‘We just have to walk away. She’s in misery.’”
Although Crown is no longer with TMZ, he’s taken much of what he learned from being a paparazzi into a career change to documentary film.
“It really taught me the art of interviewing on the fly, shooting in any lighting condition, shooting in any condition possible, always getting your story, always getting your footage,” he said.
Crown has become an award-winning documentary filmmaker in the years since leaving TMZ. He focuses on eco- and animal rights-based projects. Crown was diagnosed with incurable cancer and was unable to treat it. He switched to documentary filmmaking to explore the causes of his illness.
The year was 2005, and Crown was working on the set of the television show “Scrubs” as a production/writer assistant. After 14 surgeries, chemotherapy and multiple rounds of radiation, Crown’s type of environmental carcinoma is not like anything doctors have ever seen.
“It’s a non-metastasizing mass around my tailbone, and it grows these tentacles around my organs,” he said. “These tentacles will grow, and they will wrap around my critical organs and that will shut me down from the inside.
“It’s a terrible experience, but it’s a sharpening stone for my soul…if there’s a way we can stop environmental cancer or bring attention to them then that’s what I want to focus on.”
Crown has made documentaries on illegal pet trade, illegal fishing in South China, and corporate pollution causing cancer in America since his diagnosis. He is certified in plastic pollution management from the United Nations Environment Programme, and aside from his work in documentary, he runs a weekly podcast called “The Conservation Conversation” to examine international issues.
For his Latest documentary projectStel Bailey, a cancer survivor and Crown, will paddleboard the 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River known as Cancer Alley to examine the toxic environment that causes at least 50 times more cancer than the national average. Residents living in these communities pay the price of their lives by living in polluted communities. More than 150 petrochemical plants and refineries polluting the environment, water, and air pollute the air, water, and make the environment more toxic. Cancer Alley, Louisiana is home to millions of toxic chemicals that can cause cancer.
Cancer Alley will host an ecological investigation. The filming team will launch a social media campaign to raise money via per-mile pledges. All proceeds will go to local charities and organizations that help children fighting cancer.
“Every time you think of someone with cancer, it is someone with an IV or feeble…I want kids to think that they can do things,” Crown said when explaining the thought behind the paddleboarding, which will be Crown’s first venture doing the sport and entail roughly 10 miles each day.
To learn more about the Cancer Alley project or to donate to the effort, visit www.canceralleymovie.com. You can also find updates at www.facebook.com/canceralleymovie. Follow along with Crown’s personal efforts on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube by searching for Erik E. Crown.
“You don’t have to do extraordinary things to make a difference in the world,” Crown said.
One thing’s for sure. Crown is making the most out of every moment and his legacy of raising awareness about environmental cancer will continue to live on.
