A journalist from the Chicago Sun-Times called the motion picture office I work at wanting to know if he could get a quote from my office's Founder (my boss).
Back in the early 90s, my boss and his famous photographer friend, Victor Skrebneski, photographed Ms. Smith in a fairly famous photo shoot. My office retains the sole publishing rights to the most famous shot from that session. (see below)
Less than 10 minutes after the supermodel's death, the local papers were hounding us for not only quotes, but for high-resolution jpegs (computer pictures) for tomorrow's edition of the paper.
We gave them what they asked for.
But all of this gets much more morbid.
By 3:15 p.m. the phone lines began to jump and shimmy with calls from people trying to get a copy of the (now legendary??) model's poster.
It just so happens that a framed print of the photograph is situated close to my cubicle. Over the past two weeks, I've become well-acquainted with this photograph. Less than 17 minutes after the model's announced death, the framed print was taken off the wall and moved closer to the main lobby, where people can see it better.
In Anna's place, a framed poster of the 33rd London Film Festival now hangs.
By 3:18 p.m. we had doubled our sales of this poster from the last two years.
One of my office directors was so distraught about these limited posters flying off the shelves, she had us raise the price from $35 to $50. She hurried one of the office employees to change the web-site price before "another [customer] sneaks in a steals one for $35!" (it's a little less skeezy when you consider we're a non-profit organization, but not completely "sans skeeze").
By 3:25 p.m. we had sold everything left in the closet and put a hold on selling the posters held in storage....
But all of this gets much more morbid.
By 3:15 p.m. the phone lines began to jump and shimmy with calls from people trying to get a copy of the (now legendary??) model's poster.
It just so happens that a framed print of the photograph is situated close to my cubicle. Over the past two weeks, I've become well-acquainted with this photograph. Less than 17 minutes after the model's announced death, the framed print was taken off the wall and moved closer to the main lobby, where people can see it better.
In Anna's place, a framed poster of the 33rd London Film Festival now hangs.
By 3:18 p.m. we had doubled our sales of this poster from the last two years.
One of my office directors was so distraught about these limited posters flying off the shelves, she had us raise the price from $35 to $50. She hurried one of the office employees to change the web-site price before "another [customer] sneaks in a steals one for $35!" (it's a little less skeezy when you consider we're a non-profit organization, but not completely "sans skeeze").
By 3:25 p.m. we had sold everything left in the closet and put a hold on selling the posters held in storage....
...Those we'll save until after the Sun-Times article hits newsstands tomorrow. I can only imagine once Chicagoland sees that beautiful print in the paper, we'll be charging a hundred bucks for it.
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ADDENDUM: It is 4:27 p.m. and the 150 posters left on the planet now cost $100. We didn't even wait until tomorrow morning. R.I.P. Anna Nicole Smith.
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ADDENDUM: It is 4:27 p.m. and the 150 posters left on the planet now cost $100. We didn't even wait until tomorrow morning. R.I.P. Anna Nicole Smith.
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