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Todd Hausberger's chance encounter with Mel Gibson at Moonshadows in Malibu will result in a payday of anywhere from $80,000 to $120,000. That's what photo agencies are willing to shell out to Hausberger and his two friends, who were at the right place at the right time. After finding out about Gibson's drunk-driving arrest, Hausberger began pitching the pictures to People, US Weekly, and the National Enquirer. As reported by BusinessWeek.com, he wound up cutting deals with In Touch Weekly and "Entertainment Tonight." There's also the international market. It gets confusing but apparently In Touch has the exclusive U.S. rights for the photos for a couple of weeks, after which they can be resold to other publications.
More by Mark Lacter:
American-US Air settlement with DOJ includes small tweak at LAXSocal housing market going nowhere fast
Amazon keeps pushing for faster L.A. delivery
Another rugged quarter for Tribune Co. papers
How does Stanford compete with the big boys?
Those awful infographics that promise to explain and only distort
Best to low-ball today's employment report
Further fallout from airport shootings
Crazy opening for Twitter*
Should Twitter be valued at $18 billion?
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Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.