Bryn Pryor

7/25/98

AVN managing editor Mark Logan aka Bryn Pryor (enmity4u@aol.com) writes on RAME:

As I said once before (and I think this is important, just to keep my personal RAME involvement in perspective), I read the postings in this group about once every three-to-six months, mainly because I simply don't have the time. I also usually don't find it that interesting. On the rare occasions when I do check in, I tend to find the exact playground mentality that Tina Tyler cited in her recent post about the Ed Powers radio show. Often, the lion's share of posts are by the same 8 people, pissing back and forth on each other. Many of you seem pre-occupied with wasting a lot of bandwidth explain to each other how full of s--- we are at AVN. I have a simple solution: stop reading the magazine. If you truly believe that our rag is old, tired, and filled with puff pieces designed to kiss the ass of the major video companies, why torture yourself? You never need to crack the cover. If the news isn't worth reading, you won't miss it, will you?

Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that anything I post here will be given any weight, being that I am the editor of the Great Satan AVN, but I was always the kind of kid who couldn't back down from a playground fight, either. Will anyone pay attention to this? No. Will I be following the thread (if any) that results from this post? Certainly not. But I will be able to check in, six months down the road or so, and know that I said my peace.

Once upon a time, I was every bit as sure as you all seem to be that every word in AVN was fixed. I knew that it was all rigged, from the reviews right down to the awards. Deep down I'm an anarchist-nihilist who sees conspiracies in everything. Believe it or not, then, when I tell you (and I know, for many of you, believing this would just take some of the fun out of life) that this just ain't the way it works 'round here, kids. In a way, it's flattering that you believe we're that organized. I wish we were... it would mean I wouldn't be at the office until ten quite so often. Imagine if we could just say, "hey, here comes Vivid's new movie... great... write up a 10." God, life would be so easy.

Problem is (swallow that bile, mister) most of us here care very deeply about what we do, and even though we make a lot of mistakes - I freely admit that - we do try, as hard as we possibly can, to get the story right. And for those of you who think we're in the hip pockets of Metro, or Vivid, or Wicked, or VCA, I invite you to pick any average business day, and hang around to listen to the complaints pile in... not because we got something wrong, but, more often, because we got something right..

In the July issue, I published a long piece about the next generation of porn consumers, and named the people I believe are producing work/product that is ahead of its time. No one ever suggested that I add names to, or subtract them from, that list. The people and companies listed are there entirely at my discretion. When the piece was published, I expected to field a ton of complaints from all the companies who weren't listed. To date, none have complained. What I wasn't ready for were the four calls I got from people who WERE included, complaining about pieces which I though were universally positive. The fact is that there's simply no winning. Anything we write is bound to be scrutinized with an eye towards finding an excuse to be insulted. I accept it as part of the job, but thought the anecdote might be illuminating.

Believe me, when Metro complains that Vivid got the company profile in our first DVD supplement instead of them, despite the fact that Metro had released ONE DVD at the time the supplement was written, as opposed to Vivid's 50+, or when Vivid complains because "Mobster's Wife," a mediocre movie, gets a 6, it becomes pretty f---in' obvious that the people who are SUPPOSED to have us in their pockets obviously don't think they do.

I'll be the first to admit that we report a lot of lightweight stuff. If someone calls to tell us they've signed a new contract girl, we report it. Is it Earth-shattering? No, but we attempt to be the magazine of record for the adult industry, so we have to report that stuff. No one else seems to want the job, and believe me, it matters to the company that signed the girl. Every mass-distributed printed publication in the world operates exactly the same way, from Time magazine to Mother Jones. Look hard enough, and you'll find the news that's printed to fit. It's a boring job, but someone has to do it.

For those who think we gloss over ugly stories, I wonder if perhaps you're mistaking corollary journalism for gloss. We don't call people f---ing assholes, but if someone else does, we'll print it. Then we'll call the f---ing asshole to allow him to comment. Then we call the first asshole to let him comment on what the f---ing asshole said, then we let the f---ing asshole comment on the comment. We even do it for our gossip. That's what journalism is all about. Sometimes it makes for less fiery reading, but in an industry like this, ANYONE who accepts one side of ANY STORY (this post included) is being massively naive.

Which brings me to Luke F-rd. Let me start off by saying that I can't speak for Mark & Gene's performance on Ed Powers' show. A: I didn't hear it. B: They're both big boys with their own opinions, and if they want to defend themselves, they can. I can only say that I don't know Luke, have never met him, and the only time I see his stuff is when it drifts through my transom via someone else, or on my sporadic jaunts to this newsgroup. I absolutely support and defend Luke's right to write whatever the hell he wants, here, or anyplace else. Personally, I don't share Mark & Gene's assessment that Luke is dangerous. What he IS is sloppy.

In my mind, a journalist's job is to check the veracity of a story to the best of his or her ability before disseminating that information to the public, and then to report the story in a factual manner without being needlessly destructive. From what I've seen and read, Luke is truly an abysmal journalist.

He simply vomits whatever information is given to him as if it were the gospel without doing any research whatsoever. In this regard, I find Luke both despicable and laughable in equal parts. Gene Ross' editorial about Luke was his personal project. I almost pulled it - I personally prefer to ignore people like Luke whenever possible - but then reconsidered. After all, it was Gene's editorial (i.e., his opinion, yes?), and I wasn't about to censor him.

What strikes me as funny is that apparently, most of you hold the same opinion.

I guess agreeing with Gene & Mark about something was just too big a pill to swallow. Once the wake of Ed's show has subsided, I assume most of you will return to bashing Mr. Ford over the head with his own ridiculous innuendo.

Until then, let me leave you with a few thoughts:

-- I applaud Luke for getting Brooke Ashley to open up. We reported what she said to us. I can only assume he reported faithfully what she said to him (though there seems to be some question about this). I assure you, had Brooke been that forthcoming with us, you would have read the same comments here.

-- Luke is currently reporting that Rocco is HIV+, an unfathomable deductive leap made because it's rumored that Rocco hasn't performed in the last month (could it be that he's busy doing post on "Rocco Never Dies," the biggest movie of Siffredi's career?), and because rumors have long been flying that Rocco was HIV+. There are only two problems with this assertion: 1-The girl who reports that Rocco isn't performing, also reports that he was pissing in Kelly's mouth... sounds like part of a scene to me. 2-If we're assuming Rocco has been HIV+ for quite some time, obviously, he has no compunction against performing.

[LF responds: I've never said Rocco was HIV +. I've simply reported that there have been numerous unsubstantiated rumors to that effect.]

Why stop then?

-- Will you see any of this reported in AVN? Hell no. Why? Because it all consists of rumors and vague innuendo. If the rumor is substantiated at some point, we damn sure will report it. Until then, we'll leave all groundless gossip right where it belongs... with Luke F-rd.

.....

Mark Logan aka Bryn Pryor writes the editorial in the 10/98 AVN:

Recently, one of the Internet gossip mongers reported that our own Gene Ross was part-owner of Cream Entertainment. What a strange thing to claim. As I examine it, I begin to wonder, who is this particular tidbit aimed at? I know it's not true. Paul knows it's not true. Gene and John T. Bone certainly know it's not true. I even suspect taht the writer himself knows it isn't true (and if he doesn't, he's a good deal less intelligent than I give him credit for being).

Obviously, this rumor is aimed at those who don't know the truth, with the equally obvious intention of damaging the reputations of Gene, John, AVN, or all three. Luckily, those who don't know can't be bothered to examine the facts. If Gene is T. Bone's partner, he's done a lousy job of promoting the company. Since the beginning of the year Cream has gotten two magazine covers and one Editor's Choice. Of course, so has Arrow; so maybe GEne owns part of that company as well, not to mention the chunk he must own of VCA.

12/08/98

On Monday, I asked Paul Fishbein a series of tough questions about his managing editor Byrn Pryor aka Mark Logan, that had been sent to me. I held off running Paul’s response, and the questions, until I talked to Pryor, which I did at 6PM, Tuesday.

Bryn has worked at AVN fulltime for a year.

On Monday, I asked Paul:

Your managing editor Bryn Pryor aka Mark Logan, a friend of Chloe’s, has a well documented history with Wicked Pictures. In fact Pryor had a fallback deal with them to direct videos in case his AVN situation didn’t pan out. Pryor is also cozy with Joy King. They belong to the same swingers’ group and Pryor has often invited King to nude orgies which he runs. Doesn’t that kind of behavior disqualify him from being the editor of the magazine much less being a fair and impartial judge of Wicked product?

Paul: "I don’t know anything about what he does in his private life and I never heard anything about a Wicked Deal. What guys do in their private life…"

Pryor has been described by people in the industry as a hothead and a powder keg ready to blow. Is that the kind of person you want running your operation?

Paul: "I can only judge somebody by the way they act here on the job. He’s doing a great job. He does have a bit of a temper but so far good."

Does Pryor have a financial interest in Seymore Butts? He reviews all their product and gives Seymore astounding ratings and editors’ choices.

Paul: "No, he likes the stuff… I don’t know what to tell you."

Pryor is an unemployed actor. Before he came to AVN, Pryor’s only experience in adult was editing stroke books for Elliot Segal…

Paul: "He had a lot of retail experience. That appealed to me. Our magazine goes out to retailers. That is the crux of what we do."

Bryn said he wished that he did have a financial interest in Seymore Butts and noted that he’d given them a couple of negative reviews of late.

"I also edited stroke books for Max Cohen (Champ Distributors which became Champ Periodicals). And I ran adult stores in Arizona for two years. I’ve worked in adult about seven years."

Luke: "Bryn, are you a hothead and powder keg ready to blow?"

Bryn: "Absolutely."

Luke: "Are you an actor?"

Bryn: "I’ve been acting professionally since age nine and made a living at it in Arizona doing theater… Almost every movie that came through I got a piece of… Just as I was getting to the point where stage producers in Arizona would call to offer me roles instead of having to audition, I abandoned my small pond to become a nobody (in 1991)."

Luke: "Did you have a fallback deal with Wicked Pictures to direct?"

Bryn: "If that were true, I’d be there. Absolutely. If Stevie were to hire me, I’d give Paul notice…"

Luke: "Pryor is also cozy with Joy King. They belong to the same swingers’ group and Pryor has often invited King to nude orgies which he runs. Doesn’t that kind of behavior disqualify him from being the editor of the magazine much less being a fair and impartial judge of Wicked product?"

Bryn: "I’ve invited Joy and unfortunately she has never attended. ‘Member of the same swingers club,’ that confuses me."

Luke: "Are you a big swinger?"

Bryn: "Not so much anymore. Just because they don’t have good organizations in California. The only groups that they have in CA is a group called After Midnight [popular with porners]… I haven’t been in ages though I’m considering going to their New Year’s Eve party.

"I love the people at Wicked. They are dear friends of mine. Joy is one of my closest friends. I think highly of Wicked but often feel that they fail to live up to their potential. And I’ve told them that.

"I sat down to lunch one day with Steve and Joy and told them my opinion of their product. I think these are the flaws of your product and this is how you could do better. And this is nothing that we don’t do with anyone who asks. It wouldn’t matter. I offered that in the editorial when I first got in the magazine.

I’ve done the same thing with Ray Pistol of Arrow. Ray came in one day and said, ‘you keep giving us bad reviews. Show me what’s wrong with our product.’ And we sat down, and I said, ‘watch this. See that. See that.’

"I think that Joy and Steve are where this business needs to go. They are smart and they’re classy and they pay attention to their product and they care, which I feel that a lot of people in this business do not do. The people at Wicked do not have the ‘f--- it, it’s just porn’ mentality. That attitude is why people in the business say that I am a hothead. It doesn’t make any difference what people think of me. I could care less.

"I think Wicked product is often tragically flawed and I’ve told them that. I don’t review a lot of Wicked movies, and when I do I have given them just as many lackluster reviews, more in fact, than good reviews. I’ve written three Editor’s Choices for Wicked… And I’ve given them several AAA ratings…because frequently their product doesn’t live up to the packaging. I supported not giving several of their big movies the ratings they thought they should’ve gotten. Pornogothic didn’t get the rating they thought it should’ve. And I explained to them why. It could’ve been great, but bad editing, bad music and bad acting.

"So, if it’s criminal that I have friends in the business, great. Show me someone who doesn’t. And if it’s criminal to try to help those friends make better product, sure… I don’t skew reviews for anybody, I don’t care who it is. It’s not worth it. If they’re my friend, they’ll understand… I can tell them.

"I think one of the best videos they’ve done all year is Exile, which caught them by surprise. It was a quick little William Shakespeare remake that Brad Armstrong directed. Maybe even because it wasn’t so focused on, and it wasn’t done by committee, which I think, to a certain extent, some Wicked product is… It was more pure and more clear. It worked on lots of levels.

"It’s the opposite with a lot of their videos. Pandora’s Box leaps immediately to mind. What a foul video that was. It was really bad."

Luke: "Here’s another Email. Tessio writes: "And Fishbein’s flunky Gene Ross had better watch his ass too. Managing editor Bryn Pryor [Mark Logan] has been out to get him, trying to make him look bad. Ask Pryor how he pimps girls for Fishbein. Ask about Chloe. Isn’t f---ing a porn star a conflict of interest for a managing editor? Fishbein said it is."

Bryn: "I wish I were [f---ing Chloe]. If she offered, I sure would [as would Luke]. If I got fired, it would be worth it. I would love to know who I pimped for Paul. I’m so fascinated by this industry gossip. I once heard that I had been struck by a car and killed.

"Chloe’s a friend of mine but the offer hasn’t arisen. She’s in love with her boyfriend, a musician from Philadelphia."

Luke: "Gene Ross told me on the record that he’d slept with about 600 women in his life. And you?"

Bryn: "I wish I were in triple digits. I am in the mid ‘30s [with Luke]. I’m more selective than many people in the business.

"No, I am not out to get Gene. I don’t know what I would stand to gain by making Gene look bad."

Luke: "You could become the vice-president of Editorial Operations?"

Bryn: "Why would I want to be that? I love that few people know about me. Gene and Paul get the complaints. Great. The less people who know about me, the fewer calls I get. Now Paul shuffles a lot of calls to me. Let Gene take the flack. I’m happy laboring in the background."

Luke: "Would it be a conflict of interest for you to buff a bunch of porn chicks?"

Bryn: "Tough question. I’ve got a libido that won’t quit. If it was someone I was really interested in, I don’t know that I’d be able to say no. I work the other way round [discriminating against his friends]. I would be more likely to give them the short end of the stick. I’d overcompensate.

"I was such a conspiracy theorist about AVN before I got in here. I was so sure that everything was rigged. Then I got in here and discovered that it wasn’t even close to that. I was so astonished that I’ve done everything I can to make sure that nothing I do is biased. There are people I dislike in the industry and I intentionally write good things about them, trying to overcompensate."

Luke: "Do porn girls throw themselves at you hoping to get good press?"

Bryn: "Not nearly as much as I wish they would. No. Most of them have no idea who I am. I can say the magic words AVN and their eyes light up a little bit… Plus, I’m a funny looking guy anyway.

"People are going to believe what they want to believe. Nothing that anyone inside this office says is going to change anyone’s mind. And I understand that. Especially for producers in the industry. By believing that the awards and reviews aren’t rigged means that they might have to accept the fact that their product might not be as good as someone else. No one will say, ‘Stagliano’s videos are better than mine. Tom Byron’s videos might be better than mine.’ They won’t say that. Even though they haven’t seen them. Even though half the time they haven’t seen their own product. So I understand why it is easier to believe that it is all bought and sold."

12/14/98

AVN managing editor Mark Logan aka Bryn Pryor writes:

1: I did fire Rich C. Leather. Without going into detail, we ran into a situation where one of Rich's checks hadn't shown up due to an accounting error. Rich chose to hold his reviews for the January issue hostage until he was paid. Having been with the magazine for several years, Rich should have realized that this was obviously an isolated incident. Regardless, this was simply not an acceptable
means of negotiation. I can't have a writer working for me who chooses to hold up production whenever he's unhappy. So, I cut Rich loose.

2: Nope. Never slept with Mocha, either. (Again, if the offer were presented, the answer would be different) When Mocha was a very new-to-the-business contract girl for Video Team, I did her first interview. After that, Chris Mann asked me to keep an eye on her during VSDA, which was Mocha's first trade show. He wanted someone to make sure everything went smoothly for her, so she & I hung around a lot in Vegas. Mostly, we ate dinner a few times, and I watched her riding the most freakish stroke of blind luck at blackjack I've ever witnessed. But, unfortunately, that is the entire extent of our relations.

Now, in all fairness, I can certainly see how someone might make the assumption she and I were bangin' around in Vegas... I'm extremely flirtatious by nature, and Mocha is as well. In public, we were certainly acting like a couple having too much sex on a business trip when the boss ain't lookin', but sadly, that wasn't (and isn't) the case.

Y'know, this gossip thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. If things keep going at this pace, someday I'm going to look back on my life and wish that I had gotten HALF the tail people believe I got. What a depressing notion. If I'm going to be given credit for something "nefarious," I'd at least like to have the pleasure of DOING IT. *sigh*

August 9, 1999

Transcript courtesy of GeneRoss.com:

A call from Bryn Prior, managing editor of AVN, prompted the following exchange:

Bryn: "Hey, Luke, it's Bryn."
Ford: "Hey buddy."
Conway: "A friend of yours, Luke?"
Bryn: "I wouldn't go so far as to say friend. We work in the same industry."
Ford: "You're a writer, right, for AVN?"
Bryn: "Yeah. I'm the managing editor of the trade magazine for the industry."
Ford: "Right, Bryn's been in the industry for about six years. He used to do magazines for Western Visuals..now he's at Adult Video News. The porn industry has one trade magazine. It's Adult Video News. It's very, very influential. It's referred to as the bible of the industry, and Bryn is the managing editor and has been for about two years."
Steckler: "This is as good a time as any. Bryn, can I please have some free porn videos?"
Bryn: "Well, if you guys had taken the job I offered to you as reviewers, you would have gotten some."
Conway: "Why didn't we take that job?"
Bryn: "Because you never called me back. Because you're a bunch of lazy bastards."
Conway: "Did it pay anything?"
Bryn: "Yeah. A whopping $15 a review."
Conway: "I knew there's a reason we didn't take it. Imagine sitting around watching porno and review it? That takes the fun out of it."
Bryn: "And you have to watch it. That's the worst part....I just wanted to throw out there, Luke, take a minute and tell these guys how well respected you are by the industry."
Ford: "I'm absolutely hated by the industry. Considering that I'm usually called the most hated person in the industry, my competition is people like Marc Wallice who's widely regarding as giving HIV to up to five or six actresses. The industry absolutely hates me. They loathe me. They wish I was dead."
Bryn: "Now is there any reason why."
Ford: "Yes, because I'm very critical of the industry. I bring out things that the industry does not like to face..."
Bryn: "You don't think it also might have something to do with the fact that you frequently have many of your facts wrong which you yourself will freely admit.."
Ford: "Yes. I will freely admit. When you hate someone, you will usually come up with something which may or may not be the truth. Even if I'd been 100% perfect, the industry would still hate me. I've made mistakes. At times I'm obnoxious. I'm a flawed human being. I have psychological faults and flaws."
Conway: "You were depressed for a long time, weren't you?"
Ford: "I had chronic fatigue syndrome for years. There are many people in the industry who know far more than I do. The real underlying reason is that I provide a perspective on the industry which the industry resents. We have very two different perspectives on the industry, and they loathe mine."
Conway: "Bryn, you probably have to agree with us, though, that even though the business may not love this Luke F-rd, ultimately it's probably good for this business because he does point out the interesting facts behind the business that generates more business for porno."
Bryn: "The only problem that I personally have with Luke, I think his stuff is entertaining when I get a chance to read it. I don't read it as regularly as a lot of people including some people in my office do. There are people who can't stand Luke, who can't wait to read his site everyday."
Conway: "That actually generates more interest for the business."
Bryn: "Sure, and I think his stuff is very entertaining, and I think for what it is, that's fine. What worries me is when people start considering Luke to be a legitimate source of hard news. He himself will admit, when pressed, that he's very bad at that. He's a very bad journalist. As dumb as that sounds, at the magazine I work at, that is our job. We're the only people who treat it like a real industry and real news. That's the only thing that bothers me. For entertainment purposes, or if it's just to sit around and BS and have fun, I think Luke's stuff is great. I don't have a problem with him personally."

11/23/00

Renee Johnson brought a sexual harassment suit against the former AVN managing editor Bryn Pryor. And to stave her off, Bryn had to attend anger management classes. Renee received a cushy job at AVN along with a company car.

Is Bryn Pryor still employed at AVN? That's the weird thing which prompted the announcement of Ken Wood as managing editor because Bryn was going to take a hiatus to produce the mainstream movie for Paul Fishbein, "The Money Shot." But one financial deal after another fell through. Fishbein could never get the financial backing for it.

Right now they plan to air a bunch of vignettes on their internet site AVNlive.com. Bryn will direct.

Because he's not full time making a movie (written by Rebecca Grey), Bryn needs work at AVN. So Paul placed him in charge of DVDs.

Then when Stacy Boyd left the online magazine, Bryn was going to take charge of that. But now I hear that Rebecca Grey will operate AVNOnLine.

Bryn Pryor and Ken Wood hated each other. But the new man on the AVN block, Mikey Ramone, fits right in with Bryn. He's a Bryn Pryor crony.

Ramone, like Pryor, is deeply steeped in the bondage underworld.

Ramone worked manfully in both the Houston and Jasmin St. Claire gangbangs.

Ken Michaels Rebutts Gossip

AVNOnline Technical Editor (of the magazine, not the website) Ken Michaels writes:

Renee and Bryn got into an argument a couple of years back over I don't remember what, and yes, Renee was very upset, but she didn't file a sexual harassment suit -- there was nothing sexual about their argument; in fact, she never filed a suit of any kind (I don't know about the anger management classes). Also, Renee was already coordinating special events and promotions at that time. When AVN bought ia2000, she was the logical choice to run the show. As for the car -- whether AVN or TCI pays for it, or she pays for it out of her salary, the money all comes from the same place, so what's the difference?

"...and a member of the Arizona Mafia."

I guess. "Arizona Mafia" is a clever in-joke coined by Tod Hunter and adopted by some of the staffers here at the offices (and, as Bryn himself has said, not an entirely inaccurate description of our clique -- but no, there are no ties to organized crime -- do you think I'd be driving a 13-year-old car with 145,000 miles on it if I were a made man? Oooohh, wait -- it's the perfect cover! God I love conspiracy theories. No, I MEAN it.)

Anyway, "Arizona Mafia" refers to a handful of employees at AVN (including me) who moved out here from Arizona, and some friends of ours who have work(ed) at the magazines. Whatever machinations may or may not have occurred regarding the "Arizona Mafia" and Ken Wood's departure from AVN, I wasn't privy to them -- I saw the ugliness on both sides of the issue (and there ARE two sides to the whole story, but I won't get in to specifics because, like I said, I only know what I observed). I told some of the parties involved (Ken included) what I thought about the situation, and I tried to give Ken some advice during the whole thing. He and I were on speaking terms when he left.

"Bryn Pryor and Ken Wood hated each other."

I can't speak for either man, but recently, through a mutual friend, Ken had relayed to Bryn and some others here that he had long ago "moved on" with his life. He had been angry, but had gotten past it, and wished the best for everyone. Now, who knows. Sure doesn't sound like he's moving on.

AVN's Bryn Pryor Takes His Show On The Road

Ken Wood writes Gene Ross: "Was on my way to work this morning and passed a Cal Tran crew on the side of the road. Made me think of Bryn [Pryor] and my respect for Bryn's commitments to freeway beautification. Tell Luke F-rd I'll be glad to speak to him but all in due time."

Luke interprets: I think Ken is hinting that Bryn Pryor (former AVN managing editor) has been serving time by picking up trash along the freeway. Serving time for what?

Porn Insider writes Gene Ross: "Just got done reading your interview with former AVN managing editor Ken Wood. That is some good stuff. I'm hoping there's lots more. After reading that I can see how Ken really got f---ed over. I'd like to see more of your thoughts. You're pretty much staying on the outside, but you were asking Ken all the right questions though I wanted to hear your views on the subject. You must know, you've got to know why Paul leaves Bryn there. I've had discussions with Paul with him saying, 'You're right, I need to get rid of him [Pryor], but I can't do it right now I've got to get rid of other people.' And a week later, Ken was gone." I wish I understood this f---in' power Bryn has. It's very frustrating. Why bother calling AVN to bitch, Paul just ignores it. And what's this Arizona Mafia? Was that a legit thing?"

Ken Wood told Gene that in February, 2000: "Bryn Pryor was preparing to direct a mainstream movie called Money Shot basically based on AVN. He thought they were going to start shooting the next month, March. It turns out there were delays and that didn't happen."

Luke says: As I hear it, the delays relate to Pryor's conviction for trafficking in stolen computers.

Ken Wood told Gene: "It was basically the circle of people around Bryn Pryor, his clique, if you will. They never really accepted me or accepted me as an authority figure - the Arizona Mafia which was a term used by several people at the magazine. That's always confused me because their leader, Bryn Pryor, appointed me. I always thought that I had been set up for failure by this group..."

Wood: "It was at some point about two months into my tenure that I figured out that Bryn was still effectively calling the shots. Rebecca Gray was the technical editor at the time and when she didn't necessarily agree with something that I was doing, I found out that she was going behind my back to complain to Bryn. Since Bryn was not officially part of the chain of command, this struck me as odd. She would go behind my back to Bryn and Bryn would go to Paul Fishbein and it seemed like everybody was involved in decision making except me. In my mind, I was the one person who was trying to do what was best for the magazine and was being met with resistance every step along the way up to Paul's office.

"I always had a grudging respect for Bryn because he seemed to get things done in Paul's office. If anybody had a problem or wanted something to get done, they knew who they could go to. They knew that Bryn could get the job done. People from different departments in the magazine would come to him to get things done because as soon as he held the wielded the saber, things got done." (Gene Ross)

Luke says: I hear that Bryn Pryor (Mark Logan) bought a bunch of stolen computers for Adult Video News. That's getting things done.

I hear that Paul Fishbein proclaimed that he did not know they were stolen. Byrn Pryor took the fall for it. He subsequently served time in jail, spending many of his weekends there. He served one day a week (usually a Wednesday or a Thursday) on CalTrans, picking up trash beside the highway.

AVN's Technical Editor of the time, Rebecca Grey, wrote numerous letters on Bryn's behalf, pleading for clemency.

John says: "Paul Fishbein can lie straight to your face without flinching. He's very good at it. He'll do something, then start calling people and giving them totally different stories. He's a pro at playing people off against each other."

In December of 1998, AVN critics told me: "Paul’s the cause of his own problems. He doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut. Now it’s coming back to haunt him. What makes this whole mess really funny is that he is getting sucker punched by Darren Roberts. It’s the whole Yoram thing all over again. Roberts is setting himself up for the takeover. Roberts is a slick little s--- and by the time he is through with Fishbein, Fishbein will be begging for Yoram to f--- him in the ass again. Fishbein will never know what hit him... Managing editor Bryn Pryor [Mark Logan] has been out to get him, trying to make him look bad. Ask about [Pryor's relationship with] Chloe. Isn’t f---ing a porn star a conflict of interest for a managing editor? Fishbein said it is."

Pryor denied having an intimate relationship with Chloe. Read the full story here.

11/28/00

Former AVN journalist Randy Kaplan aka Rich C. Leather writes Luke: "I consider most everyone I knew at AVN to be my friends. The major exceptions are Yoram Dahan and Bryn Pryor. Dahan's unethical actions at AVN are a matter of public knowledge. I would not make a blanket statement that any enemy of Paul Fishbein's is an enemy of mine, but my emotions are certainly inclined that way, and in the case of Dahan, it is accurate. Bryn Pryor I simply do not like and do not trust. Pryor fired me from AVN, but that is not the source of my dislike, because Dahan, Scott Stein, and Mark Kulkis also attempted to fire me."

11/29/00

Ron Miller, founder of Erotica LA, appeared on the Tera Patrick Show last night but he would not say anything nasty about AVN.

Adult Video News has hated Miller in the past and there was no love lost between them. But a few weeks ago Miller sold Erotica LA To AVN.

Darren Roberts and Bryn Pryor hated Miller and tried (in the fall of 1999) to get Gene Ross to do a hatchet job on him. This was after AVN dropped from sponsoring the Erotica LA Halloween Ball because of a financial dispute. For months afterwards at AVN, whenever you heard the name "Ron Miller," you'd always hear the word "thief" used in the same sentence.

Gene Ross sez: "Somebody then better advise Mr. Miller that both Bryn Pryor and Darren Roberts approached me last year about doing an editorial "hatchet job" on Miller with Roberts calling Miller "a thief". For the record, I never did the piece even though Pryor insisted I "was the guy who could do it." Hey, it's a good thing they didn't do the hatchet job in light of present circumstances."

Franky, a source with firsthand knowledge of AVN, tells Luke: "You asked yesterday what is it that Bryn Pryor could have on Paul Fishbein. After all, it appears that Pryor took the fall for bringing stolen computers into AVN. Pryor spent jail time. Why would Fishbein keep him on the payroll unless there was some secret deal?

"Bryn and Paul are good buddies. Bryn introduced Chloe to Paul. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some videotape of this whole thing.

"Bryn Pryor however is doing pretty well (about $60,000 annually). He walked into the managing editor's job, handed to him by Gene Ross. Mark Kulkis had quit out of the blue. Pryor negotiated well. He had Fishbein over a barrel.

"So there are two points of job security for Pryor - Chloe and computers."

I asked former AVN managing editor Ken Wood: How did Bryn Pryor treat Paul Fishbein like s---?

Ken: "Verbal abuse, mainly. Telling him how he should run his company. Actually, in retrospect, Bryn was right 90% of the time. It was just his style that I found tasteless."

12/6/00

AVN Staffer Rebecca Gray Wrote Vivid Movie Seven Deadly Sins

AVN journalist Rebecca Gray, the woman behind the removal of former AVN managing editor Ken Wood, wrote the award winning Vivid movie "The Seven Deadly Sins."

The film, directed by Ren Savant, cleaned up at the January 1999 AVN Awards. Get the full scoop on this from Gene Ross.

Clemenza writes Gene Ross: "The fact that Bryn Pryor originally reviewed the movie [giving it a 10 out of 10 rating and Editor's Choice] isn't surprising, considering the fact, his little gal pal Rebecca Gray wrote the script under the name Eugenie Brown. About two years ago, Gray wrote an article for Fetish that wasn't used. She signed her name to that as Eugenie Brown. Fast forward to the 2000 AVN Awards. Seven Deadly Sins won for script and the cowriter's name was Eugenie Brown. Coincidence? I don't think so. Talk about your fixes."

Here are the awards "won" by Seven Deadly Sins: Best All-Girl Sex Scene, Film; Best Art Direction, Film; Best Screenplay, Film [Gray]; Best Film Editing; Best Supporting Actor, Film; Best Supporting Actress, Film; Best Director, Film and Best Film. Here are the awards "won" by Seven Deadly Sins: Best All-Girl Sex Scene, Film; Best Art Direction, Film; Best Screenplay, Film [Gray]; Best Film Editing; Best Supporting Actor, Film; Best Supporting Actress, Film; Best Director, Film and Best Film.

XXX says: "Bryn Pryor and Ren Savant are good friends. Bryn Pryor spearheaded the effort to push Seven Deadly Sins. Ren Savant edited Bryn Pryor's mainstream movie. Bryn returned the favor here."

12/12/00

Gene Ross writes:

1. When it comes to Wicked Pictures, Tod Hunter is a major practitioner of artful obsequiousness, so his attempts to curry favor would be thoroughly understandable

2. Bryn Pryor and Joy King of Wicked are oooooooooh so tight and thus the pipeline for Gray to Wicked has already been established; wouldn't be surprising if Pryor's already directed some features for them on-the-sly.

3. Gray's participation in The Kissing Game [a big AVN award winner supposedly written by Rebecca Gray] was big talk of the AVN office.

12/13/00

Hairmaster writes Luke: That's right. That was the last straw for little Gene, and that's why he has such a hard-on for Bryn Pryor is that Paul hired Pryor to replace Gene. Ross kept his title, but didn't have anything to do with running the magazine, and everybody in the industry knows it. Until they put up geneross.com to compete with you, Fishbein didn't know what to do with Gene. Ross had no idea what was going on at AVN. He just wrote his little gossip column and kept to himself. Hell, Rebecca Grey's been gone from the magazine since October, and Ross didn't even know until someone told him last week. That's how in touch he was.

Bryn Pryor was a f--- up too, in that everyone who dealt with the magazine hated him. He used to tell company owners to f--- off on the phone, and he got in a fist-fight with Matt Zane at the XRCO Awards. No one really knows why Fishbein kept Pryor around. I've heard he got Paul pussy, but that seems stupid. It was probably the stolen computers deal, or maybe the movie they were supposed to be working on that Ross now claims was stolen from him. Fishbein finally kicked Pryor out of the job when Jeff Steward called Paul's partner, Stewart Franks, and threatened to pull all of Legend's ads unless they got rid of Pryor. Pryor also asked to take over Gene's column when he left, but they wouldn't let him do it, afraid that he would be too abrasive.

11/12/06

Bryn Pryor's Corruption Party

Bryn aka director Eli Cross (he writes a good blog as far as porn blogs go) said that if I showed up to his Nov. 11 party, he would make a big scene and leave. That it was either him or me. That if I was allowed to come, he would not show. That if I showed, he would throw me out.

Well, I showed up, snuck around, took a few pictures, and then when Bryn arrived with his girlfriend Kylie Ireland, I hung around for a few minutes and then left. The old Luke would've taken their picture and looked forward to a confrontation but the new Luke is a peacemaker.

I didn't realize that I had unfinished business with Bryn.

I guess Bryn, like me, likes to nurse his grievances over years and let them grow monsterously huge, but keep them in check until just the right moment to let them explode.

Bryn has a huge temper and uses it to get what he wants in life.

Each of us is struggling in life. It's ridiculous to argue which one of us is more successful. We're both in the porn sewer. There are no meaningful gradations in the sewer.

Do you think that if Warner Brothers offered Bryn a $50 million movie to direct, he'd turn it down so he could concentrate on shooting porn? Of course not. If I was offered something good in mainstream, I'd hang-up my porn gossiping immediately.

Bryn and I would prefer to work in Hollywood than in porn. So what's the big deal with either of us claiming to be better than the other? We're shleppers. If we were any good, we wouldn't be working in porn.

So Bryn's made some good porn films and I've broken some good porn stories. Big deal.

Director Eli Cross Objects To Luke

He blogs:

I object to his abject lack of talent; his bland, uninteresting prose, his artless photography, his patently absurd -- and now abandoned -- claims to some form of journalistic integrity. I object to his arrogant and ridiculous posturing as the sole occupant of some moral high-ground. I object to his constant whining and public wallowing in manufactured self-pity to engender the false support of others. But most of all I object to his self-appointment as arbiter of the ethical constraints under which he feels the adult industry should be forced to exist. I object to the laughable charade of this self-hating Jew who externalizes his self-loathing as scorn, derision and disapproval of the entire adult industry, all the while making his living from it.

AVN's Mark Kernes posts:

Not enough people take the time to call out this asshole for what he really is: A gossipmonger who, while indulging his pseudo-religious beliefs, gets some perverse thrill from attending industry events, hanging out with industry people and even interviewing them, then going home and posting s--- about them as if he's never heard of the concept that "nobody's perfect." It's perverse enough that he claims to be religious while frequently leveling insults at people who he deems to be insufficiently "saved" -- good thing he's "jewish" rather than "christian," so "cast the first stone" doesn't apply -- but he's also a poon hound who has no trouble putting the moves on various industry women (and apparently occasionally scoring) while spending pages and pages putting down their profession, their friends, their employers, etc., as if it makes no difference ... as long as he gets what HE's after! However, what's most saddening is that as many times as he's admitted that he hates porn, some people who should know better refuse to believe that he means it.

Eli Cross Wants A Crowbar For Christmas

Joe posts:

Dude, why don't you and Albo just get a couple of crowbars and beat Luke to death and get it over with?

Then you can remember you've got a smokin' hot girlfriend, and you're one of the evil rich who's taking advantage of Bush's tax cuts. Oh yeah, then you'll go hunt down everyone who voted Republican....ever.

When Kylie asks what you need for Christmas, tell her "a life."

Eli Cross responds:

Well, actually, "I-Only-Joined-MySpace-to-Reply-to-This-Post" Joe, I think EVERYONE who votes is a total sap, and if Luke wants to appear on my doorstep and hold still for a few minutes, I'd be glad to oblige him.

Now, when Kylie asks me what I want for Christmas, I can say, "A crowbar."