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Attorney Michael Fattorosi Of AdultBizLaw.com (I've seen his booths at shows for the past three years.) We have lunch at Il Fornaio in Beverly Hills Nov. 28, 2006. Even though Michael drives a sports car, he's 20 minutes late because he went to the wrong place. I order a margharita pizza and a lemonade. Michael gets a salad. He's running for the board of the Free Speech Coalition. "I see this industry changing in the next five years," he says. "I'd compare the situation to Hollywood in the 1950s where the studio was the star and then the director and talent. Now we have Vivid and Evil Angel movies. But a lot of the buying public looks for directors first. It's a matter of time until the industry takes a Hollywood approach where it's the director and star before studios. "The DVD market will change dramatically. In five years, the only porn you will see on DVD will be features. When did you last go to a store and buy software?" Luke: "A couple of years ago." Michael: "Exactly. Most people download it off the internet. People will download a gonzo scene and do what you need to do. Now gonzos are 85% of the DVD porn market. "The start-up costs for a DVD company are dramatically higher than for a web company. For a DVD company, you need $500,000 to start and you shouldn't expect any income for many months." "Who are the two biggest porn stars?" "Jenna Jameson and Tera Patrick?" "No. Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton. They've sold more porn DVDs than anybody." "Remember when you were 18 and trying to get a girl to watch a porn movie with you? It was nearly impossible. Now it isn't. Girls Gone Wild is socially acceptable. But girls don't want to see gonzo and gaping holes... They want a story." "Porn is still made, not for the consumes, but for the directors. They make what they want to see. I don't see companies being responsive to what their customers want." "If you shoot fetish and transsexuals, that will sell all day long." "I was a criminal defense lawyer. If I was willing to represent people who killed somebody, raped somebody, I don't have a problem representing someone who does porn and makes a profit." Michael's dated a few porn stars. His longest relationship (nine months) of this kind was with Tiffany DiGivanni (more). She calls. Michael laughs. "I was just talking about you." Luke: "Ask her if she regrets it [porn]." Michael: "She said no." "She has a two year old child. She had a custody battle. We went to court together. Her ex's lawyers brought up porn. The judge said, 'Unless you can show that her adult work makes her a bad mother, I don't want you to mention 'porn' or 'pornography' in my courtroom.' "She had to leave California to share custody of her child and to be with her family." "What 2257 does is economically weed people out of the industry [through cumbersome record-keeping requirements]." Michael is the attorney for Gold Star Models. He advises them not to represent foreign talent who don't have greencards and the legal right to work in the U.S. (because of 2257). Luke: "How does LA Direct Models get foreign talent work?" Michael: "Derek has resources that other agents don't have." Luke: "What do you tell Americans who want to shoot porn overseas?" Michael: "To contract with a local company to do it and then license the material." |