Exclusive info & interview-Popporn & Zero Tolerance have a “Money Problem”

Popporn’s "movie?" 

NL-The comedic adult site Popporn made a movie with Zero Tolerance. Surprise, surprise, now that the content is shot the problems begin, well actually there were a lot of problems all along, but now comes the BIG problem, the two can’t agree. At first I heard ZT said there wasn’t enough content shot to make a movie. Now, according to Brian from  Popporn, that is no longer the case. Now Brian’s issue is that since he didn’t know anything about making porn movies, he should have asked for more money plus all their expenses and since he didn’t, he wants to renegotiate the deal now. Here’s a Q & A with Brian to explain it all.

I’d love to hear from Greg at ZT, happy to hear his side of the story. Who knows maybe LIB can give both sides smiley faces and hearts and flowers and solve their dilema.

I interviewed Brian Bangs, Head of Popporn.com
I think your site is funny, and you make it appear as if a bunch of bubbling fuck-ups are on your staff, especially Buckton (Buckton is a Popporn staffer who was to direct the movie) Here are some of your diary entries for your "movie shoot"

…we showed up at the wrong house…

… made us late to the set..

…fired the male talent that was set to shoot a scene with Bobbi Starr…

…he left the set on day two with a friend and the video cards…

…shoot a great scene, which I assume is ruined because BUCKTON kept getting in shots…

…BUCKTON tazed himself….

…BUCKTON tried to purchase a handgun…

So did you write the diary for comedic value? Or did all of the things mentioned  really happen?  

—Thank you for the compliments. The diary is a true account of some of the events that happened on set. While I am certainly not a fuck up (at least, not that I can tell) we do employ some folks who could certainly be considered that way. However, this was our first film. We’ve never done this before and after being on set it’s not like anyone can vouch for a porn set being the temple of professionalism!

So you put up money to do a movie with Zero Tolerance? What obligations did each side have as far as financing, cast, shooting, pre & post production? 

—While I’m sure you understand why I cannot explain the complete details of our contract, we were provided the chance to casdt and direct a feature film based on the ideas that we presented to Zero Tolerance. We had total creative control. They were huge fans of the site and came right out and said, we think you can make a great film. I had several conversations with Greg Alves (the owner) that as we had never shot a film before, it might not be the best idea. However, he gave us the green light and we’ve always wanted to so we went for it. We agreed on a business relationship that (at the time) would be mutually beneficial to both sides, shot the film and now we seem to have a misunderstanding.

It’s clear that they really love what we did which is great to hear. At the time of my original press release, my understanding was that they didn’t think there was enough content for the film. However, after AVN broke the story, it seems that they love the film but it’s professionalism and compensation that seems to be at the root of the matter. Money is always the issue, isn’t it?

According to news stories there is now an argument going on as to whether or not a movie can be made out of what was shot. Would you care to tell us about each scene, the stars involved and how much footage was shot?

—As I mentioned above, it seems now that the content is not the issue. I think I can make sense of it a little for you. After completion of the film, I spoke with Greg Alves at ZT explaining that the film was done and that I believed that, even with the hassles on set and the issues we had, we had an amazing film. After watching some of the rough footage I thought it best to renegotiate our deal as the film was no longer just a basic gonzo release but something much more and our original deal didn’t seem fair. It seems now that that is the root issue, that we are asking "too much".

Why would the footage not be usable? 

—It appears that is no longer the issue on their end.

What happens if Zero Tolerance doesn’t make a movie out of what you shot?

—At this moment, I don’t know. We have legal options, but I’d really hate to go that route. All I want to do is come up with a good reward for the film we made. Look, hundreds of films come out a week and nothing looks like this film. I don’t see why we shouldn’t be rewarded for our efforts. We entered a deal PRIOR to making the movie. How can we know the value of that movie until we see it?

Well, we’ve seen it and it’s worth more than our original deal.

What deal do you have for distribution of the movie? 

—Zero Tolerance has complete rights to its distribution.

Do you have a lot riding on the movie coming out and selling well? 

—Absolutely, we’re a porn blog for god’s sake, we don’t have a bank roll or money flooding in the door. This movie has to sell well for us to continue what we are doing and that’s why it’s important for me now to make ZT understand that what we made is gold and we deserve better compensation.

What is your share of the back end?

—That’s one of our issues. While I’m not at liberty to discuss specifics, I will say that given the quality of what we’ve shot we are asking for more money and them to cover our airfare, hotel and all other expenses. We should not, as the creative engine behind this release, be responsible for these costs. We all the work, cast the movie, came up with the concept…all they needed to do was book the locations, rent the equipment and release the film. A monkey could do that!

Is there any kind of a set up or wrap around to make the movie about something, or a veil of a plot? Or is it just some gonzo scenes? Do you have a working title?

—We had a working title of POPPORN.com’s GUIDE TO MAKING FUCK but as of right now that’s in limbo.

What was your budget for the movie? How much of the money has been spent already? 

—Our original budget was $30K, we went over budget slightly by $20K but again, when you see this film, it’s understandable why that had to happen. They make plenty of money to cover it, so why is it an issue?

What is the best end result you can hope for?

—The best result is for them to realize the worth that we have as new and original director’s…this movie, as I said, is unlike anything out there and we deserve to be compensated for it.

The worst end result?

—Legal action.