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He's the king of satellite TV, working in that industry since 1979. He owns Cable Entertainment Distributors (CED). We speak at noon Thursday (2/2/06) by phone. Luke: "How did you get into the Adult industry?" Marc: "Blackmail. "I was born [and raised in Sherman Oaks]. I served in Vietnam from 1969-71. I got my BA in Psychology from Cal-State Northridge. I got my MBA from Pepperdine. I worked as a probation officer from 1974-79, when I quit. I went to work for Columbia-Tri Star (run by Ray Stark, they worked on Skatetown, USA). Then I went to work for Oak Industries aka On TV. It owned Playgirl magazine and a bunch of other publications. It ran the first pay-per-view system. I was the CEO. After Laker games, we aired infomercials, making no money. "I went to the San Fernando Valley in 1979 and showed all the guys that I needed all these Adult movies cut so that there are no genitals, no insertions, no climax scenes. If it is soft enough, I can play it on pay-per-view. In those time, you had to call up your channel and they'd descramble your channel, you'd decide what you wanted to watch, and send you a separate bill. "On TV was sold to Time/Warner in 1984 (which became Adelphia). I created Bruder Releasing, Inc (BRI, for general releasing as well as CED for Adult). I continued to convert MSOs (Multiple System Operator) and stand-alone cable systems in this country. We were establishing separate pay-per-view Adult soft channels with Comcast, TCI, Time/Warner, Cablevision. "I gave them three-quarter-inch decks and then sent them the masters of the movies on three-quarter and they did their own separate local-origination channel of their own Adult soft service. "Years later, analogue goes away, digital comes in. We're one of the largest suppliers to Playboy/Spice. We're exclusive to most of the channels in Latin America. We have output deals all around the world through all kinds of broadcasts, IPTV, cellular." Luke: "Who's your biggest competition?" Marc: "There is no competition for what CED does. We rep almost 80% of the broadcast rights of the Adult industry. Outside the United States, we're bringing Red Light District, One Night in Paris, Deep Throat, Wicked, all the major brands, into Direct TV, Sky Latin America, Globus... In this country, we have In Demand, all the hotels. "With the new technologies out there, I'm like a born-again program supplier. It's exciting every day. I couldn't tell you ten years ago that somebody in Japan would be watching a five-minute clip of one of the movies we represent on his cell phone." Luke: "Do you have trouble keeping up with all the technological changes?" Marc: "Yes. We have a savvy staff [of eight] here that goes to all the conventions. I sit here like a student getting educated every day. We're content suppliers so it is our job to be up on the newest delivery technology." Luke: "What is IPTV?" Marc: "Internet Protocol Television. You can access any movie through proprietary software and download it off the internet. The software enables you to store terabytes, not megabytes, 17,000 hours of programming. It transfers to your television." Luke: "There's a news story that describes you as the president of Arrow Productions?" Marc: "I asked Ray Pistol if that would be OK and he didn't give a s---. As long as I keep sending him money, I can be his president. No. It's Raymond's company. CED is just his exclusive broadcast representative. "We have two companies -- CED for the adult side, and 4BRI.net for the non-adult. We represent the (1979) animated classic The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I probably spend 80% of my time with CED and 20% of my time with BRI." Luke: "What do you love and hate about your work?" Marc: "Oh man. Nobody has ever asked me these silly questions. These are great. I love my staff. They're like family. It took a long time to develop a crew here that cares, is knowledgeable, is well-respected... "I work in an industry where you don't have to chase money. I'm dealing with SEC (Security & Exchange Commission)-controlled companies -- HBO, Playboy, Showtime. It's not like Johnny's Video Shack on the corner. You sold him 20 DVDs and you can't find him next week to pay. "There are some other distributors that are not as ethical. When you meet a producer, it often takes ten minutes to explain to them that you are a total due-diligence company. They see the same checks you see, the same buy-rates and reports. You have to explain to them that you're not going to steal from them. "I used to work at Columbia-TriStar [for Ray Stark in 1979]. I was a producer. We got screwed by everybody. I promised myself that if I ever became a distributor, I'd show them everything. I'd make them sign deal memos. When you get a check in and take a percentage for distribution, you show them the check you got in. We started doing that 25-years ago and revolutionized the distributor-producer relationship business." Luke: "What kind of crowd did you hang out with in highschool?" Marc: "Football guys. I was a defensive end and a center. I went both ways, though in this industry I shouldn't say that. It wasn't till I got back from Vietnam that I decided to develop my brain more than my brawn." Marc says he served in Vietnam with a special forces SEAL team. "It made me appreciate getting up every morning. I don't think I should be here. I'm living on borrowed time." Luke: "Did you volunteer?" Marc: "I was drafted. I didn't want to go into the Army. They had a special unit that had great training for four months. I thought that after that, the war would be over. They transferred me to a MUWE (Mobile Undershore Warfare Surveillance) team, a counter-insurgency team attached to SEAL teams. "I served on SWIFT boats for about two years." Luke: "Did you do a lot of drugs and bang a lot of hookers?" Marc: "You did your fair share of both trying to escape reality. I would go on leave for a week. I would know that when I went back, I'd have about 11-minutes to live." Luke: "How many friends died?" Marc: "A lot of them. I was close with two guys. The three of us were going to go back to the Philippines and open up an American bar at the end of the war. One guy was decapitated from a mortar shell. I saw that. That ended the partnership. We decided to never go back to the Philippines again. That's tough for a 20-year old kid to see, a Jew boy born in Sherman Oaks. "My other friend became a sheriff in San Francisco. "From 1974 until the end of 1979, I was a Los Angeles County deputy probation officer." Luke: "Did that help you in dealing with people in the industry?" Marc: "Same clients, different clothing. "It's the standard line. I'm glad you stepped into it." Luke: "Did you feel like you switched sides?" Marc: "When you leave the department, no one will ever talk to you again. I've never spoken to the people I worked with. You're out of the fraternity. I've seen a couple of my case loads working around town. Some of them have straightened out. I had a great recidivism [rehabilitation] rate -- the people you counsel who don't go back to prison." Luke: "When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?" Marc: "I wanted to be a porno distributor. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be a lawyer. Even at age 14, I was reading law books. I married a lawyer. As time went by, I thought it was better to hire them than to be one. "I wanted to be a rock star. "I spent about a year touring with different bangs, playing guitar, writing songs. When you get to be 30 years old, you figure you're not going to be a rock star. "I wrote the songs. I booked the band. The guys were living in my apartment. It just wasn't getting anywhere. You played Madam Wong's and the Roxy and it just wasn't working. "I became a guitar player in Allan Meyer's tribute to Elvis band that toured North America. Allan is about 5'4". He looked just like Elvis." Luke: "Have you had any porn star girlfriends?" Marc: "Never. I've never touched a girl in this industry." Luke: "Are you able to stay awake during the AVN Awards?" Marc: "Out of respect, because our guys are getting nominated and winning. We host two tables. "It's a weird industry. The fans know more about the industry than the stars and the manufacturers." Luke: "What happened to Lisa Schmidt?" Marc: "She died and the worms ate her brains." Luke: "Didn't you discover her?" Marc: "Lucky me. She became an employee (for three-to-five years) who then tried to take my company down." Luke: "She started Intrigue Entertainment Group [distributing through satellite TV] and went broke owing people money." Marc: "I've been to court three times as a character witness for people who are suing her. "She must've not been there the day I was teaching honor and ethics. "I was so embarrassed. It took almost a year after she left to make explanations and apologies to people. Luckily, the contracts were all with CED and people understand that from time to time, there are treacherous larcenous people in our lives. That was a filthy thing. That was like a daughter. I brought her out from nowhere and gave her the shot of a lifetime. She ended up biting the hand that feeds her." Luke: "She was a blackjack dealer." Marc: "And for some reason, she can't go back to Vegas. You figure it out." Luke: "What is she doing these days?" Marc: "Probably finding someone new in the industry that she can screw. She's a terrible human being. Talk about karma? That was quick. "How long have you been in this?" Luke: "Ten years." Marc: "Your questions are probing. I've been interviewed before. 'What do you like about the industry?' OK. "If you want to distinguish between the Adult industry and the mainstream industry, these Adult guys are more ethical." Luke: "Has anyone put a gun to your head?" Marc: "I'm going to have no comment on that." Luke: "Damn." Marc: "I'll tell you a story. When a first got into it, this guy sold me Deep Throat, Devil in Miss Jones, Behind the Green Door. I had an output deal with Spectravision, a giant hotel supplier. I licensed the movies. "I got a call from Butchie Peraino. They owned Arrow. He said, 'You stole from me. I'm gong to kill you.' "I said, 'Don't do that. I'm driving over to your office right now.' I ended up representing him, paying him, showing him everything. I did not have the right to sell that movie [Deep Throat]. Somebody scammed me. Somebody delivered me the master and I got paid for it. He found out. These guys were connected. "Butchie became a friend." Luke: "How often has your life been threatened?" Marc: "In Vietnam, every day. In the probation department, every other day. In this, nobody. The friends I have, how can I say this, I have very responsible friends who I've been representing for a long time and I'm very responsible to their cash flow and income stream. I don't think they'd want me to be hurt. "That's a strange question. There isn't a lot of that. I don't come across that at all. It's just straight-up business. There's no threatening. I'd kill 'em if they did that." Luke: "Thank you for your time." Marc: "That was fun. Every egotistical distributor loves talking about himself." |