The "Entourage" star follows a 13-year-old on the hunt for the money shot in a new documentary.

On the hit TV show "Entourage" Adrian Grenier plays a celebrity who is followed by the paparazzi.

In real life, Grenier is a celebrity who is followed by the paparazzi.

So the Hollywood-based actor didn't think much of it one night when he was getting relentlessly photographed or "sprayed" by yet another photographer. Until he noticed that the photographer was just a kid who introduced himself as "paparazzi, dude."

Grenier was so intrigued by this teenager who was prowling club parking lots in the middle of the night hoping to spot the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan that he decided to make him the focus of his new documentary.

"Teenage Paparazzo," which is Grenier's second film after 2002's "Shot in the Dark," attempts to understand the world of the paparazzi and the obsession with celebrity culture through the eyes of 13-year-old Austin Visschedyk.

It also features interviews with celebs such as Hilton, Lohan, Eva Longoria and Matt Damon, as well as psychologists, historians and critics.

Grenier watched as Visschedyk would get tip offs about where celebrities would be. The boy would drop everything to get there as fast as possible – whether by asking his dad to drive him or setting off on his scooter.

"I gotta say I was a bit intimidated by him," admits Grenier, during a recent round table interview with CTV.ca in Toronto. "I didn't know how to control him. I was literally chasing him around."

As well as the lure of money – the right photo can score upwards of $2,000 – Grenier discovered it was also the thrill of the chase that motivated Visschedyk.

Wanting to know what this felt like, Grenier grabbed a camera and set out to become the paparazzi. He couldn't believe the adrenaline that came with it.

"It touched this primal side of you where there's the chase, the hunt and that's undeniably exciting and wonderful and they get that rush every day. It's more than a lot of people can say about their daily jobs so it's hard to judge them on that," explains Grenier.

He says as he got to know some of the paparazzi on the Hollywood beat, it gave him some insight into why they do what they do.

"If they're just trying to make some money and make a living and support kids often, and a lot of these guys are out of jail, (have) criminal records, (they might) have a harder time getting a legitimate job, so it sort of just makes sense to me."

What Grenier didn't expect was that Visschedyk himself would also become a celebrity in the process.

Soon Visschedyk was the centre of media attention and being offered his own reality show.

It was an unexpected turn of events that Grenier couldn't help but feel responsible for.

"I think when I saw this kid and the other paparazzi, (I had) this sort of air of being better than what they do and judging these guys and then by the end, I was like, I'm just as capable of exploiting this kid,'" says Grenier.

He thought the best thing he could do was teach Visschedyk how best to be famous.

"If you're going to be famous do it the right way, with grace and humbleness and self-reflection and don't take it for granted," says Grenier.

But it wasn't until Grenier showed Visschedyk the film did he – and his seemingly irresponsible mother – really ‘get' what it meant to be famous for being a teenager paparazzo and how this might not be something to be proud of.

As well as prompting changes in Visschedyk, the documentary has made Grenier feel more empowered when it comes to the paparazzi in terms of how to fight back from the endless tabloid photos and rumours.

"This whole film was a way of saying, ‘You know what? We all have tools of the media, we all can utilize them and here's my two cents.'"

But just because Grenier understands the paparazzi better and now even knows some of them, it doesn't mean he allows them any more access than he did before.

"No, now I just call them by their name. I say, ‘Oh hey, Joe. Get out of here, Joe."

"Teenage Paparazzo" is now playing in Toronto and Vancouver, with other Canadian cities to follow.