Us Weekly Had Kristen Stewart Followed

According to experts, those photos of Rupert Sanders dry humping Kristen Stewart and making out with her in a car may have fetched anywhere from $250,000 to $300,000. Though not from Us Weekly which was the publication that first broke the story and published the candids. That’s because it’s suspected Us, working off a tip Kristen was cheating on Robert Pattinson, contracted photo agency FameFlynet to follow her and Rupert around.

“If it’s an assignment, there’s not really a mega-money negotiation in advance (with the magazine),” explained Randy Bauer, owner of one of the world’s top paparazzi agencies, Bauer-Griffin. “There’s an understanding that the photo agency or the photographer will have the back end sales of the pictures worldwide, and that’s where they’ll make their money, in exchange for the information (the magazine gives them about the stars’ location).”

“From what I heard, it was an assignment, the magazine was actually working the story,” explained Bauer. “(The story) didn’t come from the photographers, it was the other way around: it went editorial to photo, as opposed to photo to editorial.”

“For a story of this magnitude, with that kind of information, I would think that (the magazine) would want to dedicate at least a week,” to trailing Stewart and Sanders, said Bauer, which comes out to a fee of about $3,500 per photographer. “Sometimes the pay (for a photographer) wouldn’t be anything more than (a day rate). But then the magazine uses the tactic of, ‘Well, yes, we’re giving you a relatively small amount of money for such a big story, but you’re going to make several hundred thousand dollars in your other markets,’ so it’s in the photographer’s best interest to take the job.”

FameFlynet said they opted to sell to Us Weekly directly because they had “a big budget and would pay a premium amount.” Granted, I’m guessing that’s just for the domestic market or a limited time exclusive because they then say they are still selling them due to increased interest.

Really though. $500 a day to have a photog to follow a celebrity around? If that’s the case, I have a hot tip for FameFlynet. I hear Kate Upton is cheating on, um, someone and she does it in a bathroom of her house at around 9 or 10 at night. Please take some pictures. Kthnx.