John Bone scheduled
three shoots this week and talent (Blondie Anderson, Michael, Allison
Chains...) flaked on all of them: "Where are the agents on this? Don't
they have a responsibility to tell you whether the talent is reliable?
"David Storey had a shoot scheduled today with Allison Chains," John
told me over the phone. "She did not show up. So David called Jim South
and Jim told him, 'well, you know she's really flakey, don't you?' No,
we didn't know. And we didn't know because her agent, who did know,
didn't tell us.
"Next year Allison Chains will be a checkout girl at an A&P, and
we'll still be booking girls," said Bone. "So, if the agent looks out
for anybody, it should be his clients who pay him, not these stupid
whores who come and go and f--- people over. Everyone is so concerned
for the talent. All they are is a bunch of f---ing irresponsible whores...
Nobody cares that I've lost hundreds of dollars this week because of
these flakes.
"You will go after anybody who is f---ing the talent over... But help
us here. Tell us who are the flakes. I beg you to expose the irresponsible
people who piss our money away.
"There is one agent with integrity - Damien Michaels. I looked at his
book today and pulled one girl out and he said, 'No John, she's a flake.'
He's got my respect."
Earlier this week, Kimi Ji flaked from an important Bukkake scene on David Clark's shoot. Please Email Luke F-rd about talent who don't show up to shoots.
Director James DiGiorgio replies: "I've hired Kimi Ji 5 or 6 times. Not only has she NEVER flaked... She's NEVER even been late and she's ALWAYS been a pleasure to have on the set...very cooperative....with a ditzy sense of humor that truly helps pass the time enjoyably by.
"Here are some reasons why girls flake (probably in order of magnitude):
"1. They ARE flakes.
"2. They get booked. They then find out that a certain producer or director just burnt a whole bunch of people with bad checks..and they say "f--- it."
"3. They have legitimate reasons for being absent, just like all of you do when you don't make it to work.
"4. They double-book themselves, and the first booking runs overtime and I guess they forget where they put their cell phones.
"5. They get booked..then someone else books them for MORE money...and I guess they forget how to use the phone. (or they ask their agent to relay the info..to make some lame excuse..and he, of course, neglects to do do).
"6. They realize on the day of the shoot that their aids test is out-of-date, and since they dont have the money to get another, or it will take too long to get it, they opt for a no-show sans phone call.
"Damien Michaels is
not the only agent with integrity
(and that would be a porno-version of integrity..which is different
then the rest of society, except maybe for politicians and TV evangelists).
"An observation: if Jim South told someone that so-and-so was a flake, he'd be slandering that person, and Lord knows no one in the jiz biz would ever slander or libel another human being.
"A note to David Storey, whoever you are: once you've shot enough flicks, and know enough people, you'll know who is generally reliable and who is not, and you won't need people with vested interests (like agents) to tell you who they are.
"If all I lost was a couple of hundred dollars--spread out over a couple of shoots--because of the unreliability, incompetence, or generic greed of a few people in this biz, I'd be quite thankful.
"Lawyers are rarely used to settle differences. Lawyers are used for things like dealing with law enforcement, defending against obscenity prosecutions, those sorts of things. I've heard a lot of threats regarding the use of lawyers, but have seen very little of it. unless, of course, you count things like Kylie Ireland and Sin City settling their contract differences on Judge Judy. Of course, on Judge Judy, there's no attorney fees, and the winner's award is paid by the Judge Judy people--so there's no downside for either of the parties.
"Bookings for shoots are almost always made verbally. "Are you available on this date? How much? Ok...Your call time is....Here's the directions to the location." I suppose there might be some sort of legal (and possibly binding) contract agreed to with those words, but I've never heard of anyone trying to prove that with lawyers and judges and, well, you get the idea.
"This quaint little community known as the jiz-biz generally operates without much help from the local bar. I've had companies give me hundreds of thousands of dollars (over the course of time) for productions, and never once was a laywer consulted. I've signed papers that basically said I agreed to deliver this and that for that money, but the papers were seemingly written by people who might think the California bar is a local watering hole. I've also received large amounts of production money from companies without any paperwork at all... Monies were simply given to me or wired into my production accounts. In one case, I'd never even met the people... They reside thousands of miles away, and they wired me a large production fund simply on the basis of one phone call, and an agreed-upon deal.
"That doesn't mean that some other phone calls weren't made. Phone calls that basically 'referenced' or 'vouched' for me. This biz operates in a very informal, relationship-oriented way: if so and so has never f---ed me, and he says this guy I don't know won't f--- me, then I guess I'm not going to get f---ed.
"I'm not saying that things aren't done on a daily basis that would send most people scurrying to their attorney, but in this business, business is taken care of in different ways: sometimes unusual ways, sometimes passive ways, sometimes aggressive ways, and sometimes nerve shattering ways, but almost always it seems--one way or another--quite effective ways.
"I think many people in this business truly believe--as I do--the adage: what goes around, comes around... And it usually does."
AntiLuke writes on RAME: "David Storey has been around a long time as a still photog and layout photog known for screwing over talent. By saying he has lost hundreds as opposed to thousands, you know what type of movie he shoots and thus the type of talent he wishes (can afford) to employ. He has been in Jim South's and various agents offices many times and knows who is who. For him to make a blanket statement [it was John Bone] that all talent are f---ing whores is amazing. If agents looked out solely for the talent, David would have been gone a long time ago."
JT Video: "Tia, Cumisha + CJ Bennett are #1 in my dependability rating. I do weed out flakes but I usually give them a 2nd chance before I do. The problem sometimes is that a girl can be very dependable for a while and then turn into a flake! The most recent incident was with KIM KUMMINGS. Even you hired her once! She always showed up. Then one day she didnt show for one of my MAKE YOUR OWN PORNO tapings. She called later with some lame excuse + I gave her another chance. She stood me up again just one week later! This case was really bad because the client flew in from Pittsburgh to do the private video! To add insult to injury, she even called and said she was on her way and still never showed up! So you just can't predict these girls and there is not much anybody can do about it."
David Turner writes
on RAME: "There are quite a few companies that I've found in 9+ years
as an adult retailer which
are notorious...including:
"ANYTHING from Leisure Time: no surprise here.....we've seen mass dupes come in with no sound, or blank alltogether......we probably have a defective rate of 15 per 100 on these out of the case.
Sin City: Not so much in the last 2 or so years.....but for quite awhile it seemed that every other one was untrackable.
Pleasure Productions: especially the 2-hour feature/comps...in the 10-12 per 100 range defective
Vivid 4-hour: No real
problems with other Vivid products (well...unless ya count how amazingly
boring they are) but the 4 hour titles are notorious for being the wrong
film mislabeled.
A source: "Every retailer I have spoken with in the last two days (about
30) is pissed, they are pissed at Seymore for including vaginal and
anal fisting in this video. All are returning the videos to their distributors.
"The reason they are pissed is because it puts them in MAJOR jeopardy with local law enforcement. In the Atlanta area alone more than 200 copies have been returned. In a city like Atlanta where porn has only become legal in the last couple of years this material is a one way ticket to jail for the store owners."
Bart Myne got an emergency phone call Thursday from Julian St. Joix who was supposedly being arrested by the police at the time and having his car impounded.
VCA's Jane Hamilton shoots Marilyn Chambers return to porn Monday, 12/7.
"Stop, My Ass Is On Fire!" is not just the title of Mike Quasarman's new video for Metro but an apt summary of Luke F-rd's spanking on Mike's set Thursday.
A six scene gonzo shoot scheduled for 9:30 AM, the Metro production began two hours late, largely because talent couldn't find the shoot location in Sun Valley and because the make-up artist got sick after ingesting too many birth control pills.
Luke wandered in shortly
after noon to find Shelby Myne's tattooed husband Bart sodomizing petite
tattooed Azlea, a dainty industry newcomer annoyed with his clumsy anal
thrusting. Bart Myne performed Wednesday two sex scenes on camera and
one privately with his wife, so he was drained today (11/19) and had
to frequently stop thrusting to prevent himself from ejaculating early.
Thursday's biggest reaming came Luke's way when various female talent
on the shoot discovered that the unassuming newcomer was the industry
scourge ruining the lives of their friends by printing damaging gossip
and real names. The brunette and blonde beauties, helped by hulking
boyfriend-managers, conspired with Mike the director and Mark the production
manager to keep Luke at bay.
Earlier this week, Mike AKA Quasarman got cornered on another Metro
shoot (Sexually Haunted) by Entertainment Tonight (it's sweeps month)
who're investigating women behind the scenes on porn shoots. Asked if
there are more such women today, Mike replied "not really."
Mike said that Melanie Stone and her husband Hunter were on Jerry Springer a few months ago, and Hunter played amazed that his honey was a porn star.
Colin Malone, who hosts the cable TV show on porn Colin's Sleazy Friends, grabbed me for a quick confrontational interview (videotaped by mainstreamer Joe Ritter who wrote the low-budget comedy The Toxic Avenger). Malone then brought in Marc Davis (fresh home from a New York movie premiere) who said that he's never looked at Luke's site as he and his wife Kobe Tai do not bring their work home with them.
Marc: "Unless it's really
derogatory and can hurt me personally, I don't worry about it [what
Luke may write on his site]."
Colin: "Marc is such a great star Luke, that you can't hurt him."
Luke: "With some people I feel a greater latitude to make fun of them."
Colin: "If I told you that Kobe Tai was a man, would you print that?"
Luke: "Sure..."
Marc: "But that's so over the top...[it does not matter]."
Colin has made a living off his cable TV show for the last three years.
For the last two years he's played on the Exxtassy cable channel. Malone
appears briefly in mainstream productions. He had brief roles on the
Seinfeld TV show.
Davis tells Colin that he's been all-condom since May. Marc agrees that
condoms take away from the heat of a scene but "I'm looking after my
health and my wife's health."
I return inside to snap a few photos. "Please try to obscure me on camera,"
says Mike. "There's a slim chance that my life might still amount to
something."
Not only does Luke accommodate Quasarman's request, he also accommodates
such requests as one star's pleading that he not write on her (unless
she stays in the biz another six months), one porn couple that he not
reveal their relationship so that her fans can believe she is single,
and various talent and crew's request that he not take pictures of them.
Davis has recently signed an exclusive contract with Metro who now require
the use of condoms for all scenes of male-female intercourse (but like
Zane, they still shoot facial cum shots).
"I'm a documentary cameraman," Colin's partner Joe Ritter tells me.
"I've done operating rooms, war zones, FBI... This is more exciting
and more fun."
At 2PM, Marc goes to work on blonde Mikki Taylor and brunette Wendy
Knights, eventually sodomizing each before ejaculating on their faces.
A witty literate Canadian, Quasarman (a shooter exclusively contracted
to Metro) wrote hundreds of porno scripts (under the pseudonym of Gale
Wynand, a character in the Ayn Rand novel The Fountainhead) and a few
pieces that've appeared on this web site.
As the shoot falls behind
schedule, Mike becomes manic. "The longer I do this [porn]," he rants
at one point, "the more bitter and angry I become. I better get out
soon. For my own sake and for the safety of those around me."
Mike's Italian-American friend Francis, dressed in black, holds the
C-Light for most of the day. It's his first time on a porno set and
he loves his work.
The drama builds as the sun sets. Mike wants to get in a lesbian scene before the sun sets. He doesn't.
Mike pleads over the phone: "Talk to Greg Alves [Metro manager]. Get me fired. Luke, when this day comes to an end, please put a positive spin on things."
Mark Spiegler serves as production manager. Mike alternately calls him "Shylock" or "Jewlock." Previously Mike and Mark made for Metro The American Anal Association which received an AAAA rating from AVN.
To help the crew, Mark
hires Missy late in the afternoon, a teenage friend of porn star Temptress.
Nakita Kash, who's managed by Sin City production manager and porn webmaster
Kevin Korey [ www.nakitakash.com
], entered porn through Sin City shooter Michael Raven and his wife
Sydney Steele. Kash has stripped in clubs since 1995, and has worked
the last three years as a feature dancer. Kash (who only works on camera
with girls) and a brunette beauty perform an outdoor lesbian scene between
5-6 PM, just the third of the day.
Kevin and Nakita (5'7", 120 pounds and 34B-25-36) met in Indiana in July, 1997 at the Ponderosa Sun Club for the Miss Nude Galaxy contest MC'd by Ron Jeremy and Janine. Kash, an "International Pole Champ," was competing and Korey served as a choreographer (a rare straight white choreographer). Nakita won the title of Miss Nude Petite Galaxy. They had sex in Janine's trailer a day and a half after meeting.
Tiny busty blonde Charlie
(two year veteran) shows up with her boyfriend to do a scene but they
have to reschedule because he does not have an HIV test. Charlie and
virtually all the talent on the shoot come from Jim South's World Modeling.
Food on the set is limited to a loaf of white bread, a few bottles of
soda, chips and, at 7PM, three pizzas.
Nakita's manager prepares a mixture of mouse and alcohol, lathers it on her butt, and sets it alight several times. "I've got a shoot tomorrow," warns Kash. "I don't want burn marks on my ass."
She had a long Hustler shoot Wednesday.
Angela D'Angelo, whose appeared in ten features [best scene - anal with black Mark Anthony], begins her scene with Dave Hardman shortly after 7 PM. She shows off her six tattoos. None of them were on purpose. Instead, she "got drunk and got inked." The Italian-American longs to do a gangbang. "Feed me grapes and then f--- me."
A source: "Stephanie Swift's husband, who filed for divorce, runs a production company which produces the Dr. Fellatio series. They gave Sean Michaels a $7,000 budget to shoot some porn. Sean allegedly rang up $14,000 in bills and provided the company with old scenes that had Randy West in them. In addition Sean had hair in these scenes, and he is currently bald or vice-versa. The company is apparently very upset with Sean."
Rebecca Bardoux writes to Luke: "What a site! I like that you say it like it is. It's about time someone held these people to their reactive words. They are afraid of you because they don't have the balls to stand behind what they say. I also like that you talk the truth about the talent and how some of them behave. Being real is what longevity is all about. If you're a fake, sooner or later it will crumble. Then what?"
Editor S. Andrew Roberts wrote on RAME: "...Years ago on a.s.m. [alt.sex.movies newsgroup] I was constantly involved in sharing whatever information I knew about the industry. Of course, back then, most questions concerned the production process. Today, most questions concern Luke's latest allegations."
Dithering: "Since I have no affiliation with the adult-film industry, the posts by Scoop Luke are "breaking news" as far as I am concerned. I am unaware if his comments are inaccurate or misleading unless someone else posts rebuttals or corrections. Sadly, several of the transcripts Scoop posted depicted some exceedingly unpleasant people with rotten values and despicable personal qualities."
Roberts: "While his [Luke] interviews with Spallone and Reb and Russ and other industry types are interesting, his earlier posts, filled with inaccuracies and untruths, sparked a rage in me that seems to have carried over to most of my postings."
Dith: "I tend to look at the world as a series of opportunities. As I read threads in this newsgroup, I try to evaluate whether there are generic themes being expressed that are helpful to decision-makers. That is why I am generally umimpressed by these industry insiders saying they don't have time or interest in this newsgroup. Successful organizations make time to study consumers. The people at Sun, Apple and Netscape (to name a few) sure monitor the computer-oriented newsgroups.
"Porn films have become undifferientated commodities with falling price-points and heavy fixed-cost outlays. Why people in your industry seem indifferent to a consumer forum baffles me.
"I realize there is a degree of buffoonery in this newsgroup that may alienate your associates. Whereas Scoop Luke's inaccurate posts enrage you, I am unbothered by Scoop. Instead, I get enraged by the fawning lap-dogs grateful to read a post by a porn actress, the Jerry Springer "thinkers," and the disagreeable clods like LCPofUSA. So I guess we all struggle sometimes to remain civil. It seems the only person in this newsgroup who consistently remains cheerful is Voyager. And even Voyager gets snippy when people unfairly bash Rocking-Rodney Moore or when a new cutie gets rock-hard bowling balls implanted in her chest.
"Human females have three circulating hormones; estrogen, progesterone, and tiny amounts of testosterone. The pituitary gland influences the changing monthly levels of estrogen and progesterone in their bloodstream, and these flucuating hormone levels are the reasons women are sometimes more impatient and irritable than usual. And all because of the pituitary gland's chemical signals. Now, seemingly, Adult Video News affects Torris's pituitary gland, and its' monthly publication causes chemical messages to be secreted that make him irritable and impatient. So it seems we have a predictable chain of events: (1) AVN gets published, (2) Torris's pituitary gland twitches and he feels compelled to read it, (3) Torris gets mad and submits a profane post to RAME about the dunderheads at AVN, (4) You get mad at Torris and respond and the cycle repeats itself. Wasn't there a Star Trek episode where Picard and crew got trapped in a endless space loop until they finally broke the chain of events?
"I have never seen or read Adult Video News. As an infrequent viewer of adult films, my interest in the industry and the personalities therein does not rise to a level where reading that publication is a constructive use of my time. Thus, my only knowledge of AVN comes from seeing comments in this newsgroup. I confess I am baffled that the flagship industry publication wastes editorial time and energy excoriating this newsgroup and its more vocal participants. That strikes me as the ultimate in small-time, bush-league behavior, not to mention unprofessional and just plain dumb.
"Shouldn't the industry's flagship publication devote its editorial space to discussing issues of strategic importance to the industry? Like whether the blazing speed of cable modems or ADSL will impact renting or buying of tapes as content becomes available over the Internet, and how companies should respond to these technologies? Or whether this all-anal-all-the-time mindset unnecessarily jeopordizes the health of actresses? Doesn't AVN have more important issues to write about instead of whining about a Usenet newsgroup?
"I fully understand why you take umbrage at attacks on your profession and on people you consider friends. So would I. But I seriously doubt you can out-argue Torris. Torris is inexhaustible. Torris cannot read AVN without getting miffed, just like Voyager cannot see a cute women without wondering the size of her "sparkplug." Each time you slam Torris for his anti-AVN theories, you unintentionally fall in the "us versus them" trap several posters to this newsgroup have written about.
"One final comment on the Torris matter and the bush-league logic behind AVN spending any time whatsoever discussing this newsgroup. Torris, the RAME poster; is a non-corporeal, cyberspace entity, existing only on Usenet. Stepping outside Usenet into the physical world, Torris has a combined purchasing power of ONE. Not millions, just one. So, given his purchasing power as a single individual, why is so much angst hurled in his direction by industry insiders? Remember that punkish, studid-ass post from Roger "I didn't see a condom in that all-condom tape" Pipe where he bragged how he and Van Damage ragged on Torris? Is that stupid or what? Now, I can't decide who is a bigger fool, Pipe or Van Damage.
"For Roger Pipe to spend
time discussing this one person is stupid.
Equally stupid is for a director to insert some footage regarding this
unseen cyberperson into a film. Don't consumers already have to
fast-forward enough already?
"During my student years,
we were taught using the case method with professors using adversarial
Socratic methods to force students to present and defend well-reasoned
arguments. Several section mates were labeled "tire biters" for consistently
fighting with professors who were bona-fide experts on the subjects
they taught. Yet certain "tire biter" section mates could not stop themselves
from jumping into a fray, often bringing grief upon themselves. "Tire
biters" are those relentless dogs that always chase cars, snapping at
tires until they are eventually run over. Yet they insist on biting
moving tires. Since Torris is constantly biting tires, won't your blood
pressure decline if you look for the humor in his posts rather than
comments that irritate you? Or just ignore him when AVN causes his pituitary
gland to kick into overdrive?"