Life Network presents Hounds: What is the price of fame? Articles / Slice Posted by RAD on May 13, 2003 - 09:39 AM How much are you willing to pay for a celebrity signature? A recent photograph autographed by Jennifer Love Hewitt sold for $40 and a guitar signed by the Rolling Stones fetched $7,500. Explore the underground world of celebrity autograph collecting in the broadcast premiere of Hounds: What is the price of fame? on Sunday, May 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. First-time filmmaker Richard Budman follows the hounding activities of professional autograph collectors as they visit countless autograph stakeouts in Toronto and pursue everyone from Michael Jordan and Al Pacino to Mira Sorvino and Joni Mitchell. The documentary also captures the hounds in the larger context of a culture fascinated with celebrities. Meet autograph hound Brad Byrne who has been collecting autographs for more than a decade. Once an enjoyable hobby, Byrne soon realized that a business existed with selling celebrity signatures. Byrne demonstrates his relentless hounding practices at the Toronto International Film Festival and his numerous tactics to convince Michael Jordan to sign a basketball. Byrne also shares his insider trade secrets, including disguising a seven-year-old boy as a Paul McCartney fan and using him to hound the singer as he disembarks from his private jet. Over the last ten years and with the emergence of the Internet, the demand for celebrity memorabilia has grown into a worldwide $1-billion business. Many stars are becoming more aware of the autograph business and have established their own policies for how and if they sign their names. Viewers will also hear from Joni Mitchell, singer Meatloaf, Celine Dion, Jennifer Love Hewitt and other famous personalities as they express their views on this suddenly controversial subject. This article is from CHANNEL CANADA   http://www.channelcanada.com/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.channelcanada.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=246