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Just two years ago Sheeraz Hasan was serving milkshakes and burgers at his family's London café. Today he has Britney on his speed dial, can tell you where Brad and Angelina are eating every night of the week and is called “The American Dream"' by Tom Cruise.
Founder and CEO of Hollywood.TV an online media agency for celebrity news Hasan has made a name for himself by being “the nice paparazzi guy" in Hollywood.
And now the London-born entrepreneur plans to bring the paparazzi to Dubai and take Dubai to Hollywood with the launch of Dubai.TV — a new television-based media tracing the celebrity lifestyle across the city.
With a clever approach to snapping and filming the celebs we all know and love, he has somehow managed what other agencies have never fathomed – to gain the trust of the stars.
“Britney has three numbers to call in an emergency — 911 — and in her entire career she has never called them because of problems with the paparazzi," said Hasan, a knowing look across his face. “I have become friendly with Spears over the past few years and I know she thinks of us as her friends and family. She allows us to get close and doesn't have a problem with us. She loves the drama and craves the excitement."
What celebs want
Now voted one of the top five celebrity websites,Hollywood.TV supplies daily content to CBS, CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, ET, The Insider, SKY, BBC, Reuters, TV Guide, E!, Today Show, The Early Show, Good Morning America, Youtube, Myspace, and Perez Hilton, just to name a few.
The logo is viewed by an estimated one billion people around the world on television each month, a statistic which has made Hasan's original dream a reality – to bridge a gap between Hollywood and Bollywood.
“What people often misunderstand, is the majority of these celebs want to be photographed, they want to be followed and they most certainly want to be on every major television channel across the world."
It was sat in a chocolate-chip-covered uniform after a long day selling cookies as a street vendor in LA, Hasan realised the gap in the market.
“Hollywood was well covered of course. But it was the rest of the world which wasn't. Celebrities travel across the globe but Hollywood rarely hears of it. And equally, Bollywood was booming but Hollywood didn't know it. I wanted to bridge the gap and bring Bollywood to Hollywood and visa verse."
But unlike other cut throat agencies, Hasan claims to pride himself on not ripping celebrities apart and instead lets the world make decisions based on the facts they see.
“Don't get me wrong we hound celebrities and show up when we're probably least wanted or expected but we certainly don't rip them apart. We film what happens, edit the film to show all the facts and put the footage up for grabs to all major networks. The public can judge after seeing all the facts and are free to make up their own minds."
And it's this attitude which has allowed Hasan to gain the trust of almost all of the world's A-List celebrities.“They call me now," said Hasan.
“They know we don't pull them apart, don't get in the way and have the added bonus we can distribute the footage within 30 minutes all over the world. Managers, doormen, cab drivers and the celebs themselves will pick up the phone and call at any time of the day or night and we will be there."
The start
So how did it all begin? As all good stories do it's taken straight from the pages of Hollywood. In January 2002, Hasan, of Pakistani heritage, flew from London to the US with no money, no contacts, and no filmmaking experience. “I had nothing," he recalls.
“Except my Muslim faith which is often what kept me going."
Working as a cookie vendor Hasan returned home and found himself watching Bollywood movies – the favoured choice of his grandfather who he was living with in LA.
“It struck me there and then and I called a major television network and blagged a meeting with the CEO. I told them I was returning his call and to my utter shock he scheduled a meeting and drew up a contract for the first season of a show. He asked the name and I just said Tinseltown TV – the name of my restaurant in London. I had no clue what I was doing."
Within months Tinseltown TV, the talk show was broadcast to 500 million people in India, Iran, and elsewhere in the Middle East and Hasan has become a Hollywood institution, showing up at virtually every film premiere, chatting regularly with the likes of Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lopez, Meryl Streep, and Steven Spielberg.
But it wasn't all plain sailing as Hasan admits it nearly all fell apart at the seams just days before deadline.
Despite being viewed in Hollywood as a Bollywood expert, Hasan has never been to South Asia. He does not speak a word of Hindi and, by his own admissions, his Urdu is not much better.
Hasan had promised celebrities, yet had never spoken to one, much less secured any interviews.
“I didn't have any experience, any contacts or equipment and had to produce the first three episodes. I bought a camera and roped in a cameraman to help. But we were getting nowhere so there was one thing left to do — pray."
Hasan prayed everyday within the shadow of the Hollywood sign but what he didn't know was he was being watched by a friend of Rowland Perkins, founder of CAA, one of the biggest talent agencies in Hollywood.
“This man approached me after five days of LA prayers and asked what I was doing. He said in all his years in Hollywood he had never seem someone pray at the sign and I told him my story. I was ready to just pack up and run away but he told me he was going to take me to a friend.
“When I saw Roland Perkins I knew I'd hit the jackpot and I pleaded with him to give me the break I was searching for. He did and the rest, as they say, is history."
“Nobody turns down an interview with Hasan," says Perkins who describes Hasan as the “Gateway to Bollywood".
Breakthrough
Within weeks, he had his own TV show, and was covering film premieres and interviewing the biggest celebrities on the red carpet. He produced and hosted more than 200 episodes of his multiple-award winning program Tinseltown TV, which broadcasted to 500-million people in 130 countries, and he built the bridge between the two biggest film industries in the world, Hollywood, representing 3.6 billion worldwide fans, and Bollywood, representing 3.8 billion worldwide fans.
Hasan says he is determined to create a positive image for Muslims in America. He sees it as his mission to build bridges between cultures by making sure Tinseltown TV focused on spreading a message of spirituality, religious beliefs and the spiritual lives of celebrities.
After only 18 months of arriving in the US, Fortune Magazine, the world's premier business magazine, featured Hasan's story alongside the billionaire Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin and the richest man in the world, Microsoft's founder Bill Gates.
Next up it's Dubai.TV, which top Silicon Valley analysts have already estimated will become a multi-billion-dollar media company within 12 months. Backed by Hydra Properties, Hasan says the world is waiting for Dubai's every move.
“I can't believe it hasn't been done before to be honest. The world seems to be coming to Dubai and yet Dubai is not being taken to the rest of the world. Celebrities are followed religiously around Hollywood and then the story ends. With big stars coming to the Middle East it's about time the region got some publicity across the rest of the world. It's a wonderful place and everyone is interested."
Just as Hasan built a bridge between Hollywood and Bollywood, he now plans to connect the United States with Dubai through his many contacts and links out of LA.
Since moving to America, Hasan's journey has brought him full circle, from reporting on the headlines, to making them. He has scooped too many awards to mention them all, graced the covers of the largest newspapers and magazines and has been featured on the most popular TV shows around the world.
At just 31-years-old this entrepreneur has achieved more in life than most do in an entire lifetime. He sleeps for only three hours a day, parties and socialises but by his own confession, mostly works.
“Britney, Lindsay Lohan and Paris keep me the busiest but I can honestly say that I believe I have the best job in the world and I wouldn't change a thing."
Hasan on the Lohan
He knows them all by nickname and gets a daily glimpse into the lives of the celebrities he follows but Sheeraz Hasan – CEO and founder of Hollywood.TV claims to him it's about more than that.
“They really have become friends of mine," he insists. “When you live on the outside of people's lives like I do it's only going to be a matter of time before they let you in. I consider many of the stars my friends and know things about them that only family and close friends know. “I consider it a privilege to have that opportunity."
On Lindsay Lohan…
“Lindsay is a great girl and people really want to know what she's up to but she can be very frustrating. We get calls from her people, tipping us off about where and when she'll be and then when she arrives she plays the timid card. She covers her face with her hands and makes out she doesn't want the publicity. To be fair to her she plays it well because it always looks so genuine but it's annoying for us."
Paris in dubai
Hasan has announced that Paris Hilton will be in Dubai in a couple of months. Although the date is still a secret, he has assured Dubai that the world's most famous heiress will be swooning about the UAE soon.
“The great thing about Paris Hilton is she sells everywhere. Papers from New York to Nairobi want to know what she's up to. She has fame and glamour but most of all she's a really great girl. I know Paris well and she works with the cameras to make the best for us and her. She is genuine, kind and sweet and we have become quite close. I can not give too much away but I can exclusively reveal to tabloid! I will be bringing Paris Hilton to Dubai in the coming months."
Bio
In 2006, Hasan launched his personal autobiography, Sheeraz the Muslim American Dream, which is an emotional, spiritual and gripping story describing his rags-to-riches success story in America.
The book received the Best Autobiography award at the 2006 Bollywood Awards held in Trinidad, as well as the coveted Dr Zakir Hussain Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts at the 59th Anniversary of India's Independence Day in August 2006.
The book has also earned Hasan personal commendations and endorsements from luminaries including Senator Hillary Clinton, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, who compared his own success story in America to Hasan's tale, saying they were both “examples of the shining reality of the American Dream".
Awards
He was given the “Hall of Fame" award at the 2004 Indian Telly Awards, the most prestigious television award show in India, for connecting Hollywood and Bollywood.
He was named ‘Hollywood Ambassador to the Middle East' at the 2004 Arabian Music awards in Dubai, and the One Night Foundation named him their ‘Humanitarian Communicator of the Year' for his work in promoting their efforts to fight AIDS in India.
He has been appointed the Global Ambassador for Youth for Human Rights International, as well as a special representative for Friends of the United Nations, and devotes time to educating children around the world about the principles of Human Rights.
At the 2005 Bollywood Awards, also known as ‘The Indian Oscars' Hasan was appointed ‘Hollywood Ambassador to Bollywood' for his outstanding work in bridging the two largest film industries in the world.
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