Porn Industry Thinking of Leaving L.A.

[3113]

From here:

Los Angeles has been a fighting a tide of runaway production of big-budget movies and television dramas. Now it may face an emigration of another homegrown industry – adult entertainment. That's the specter raised by some of the hundreds of porn producers in L.A. after voters approved Measure B, which requires performers to wear condoms and establishes a new permitting system for adult entertainment shoots.

The law was advocated by AIDS activists who argued it would protect performers from disease outbreaks. But the measure has been widely panned in the porn industry, which has argued that mandatory actor testing for HIV was already effective, and that the law’s real agenda is to put them out of business.

While it remains unclear exactly how the new permit system will work, county officials have estimated it will cost nearly $300,000 in the first year to be enforced. Industry executives and producers contend that will saddle them with high permit fees and force them to create entertainment for which there is no demand.

“People who enjoy adult films do not want to watch actors using condoms – period. So there’s no market for it,’’ said adult entertainment veteran Larry Flynt, whose Hustler publishing and adult video empire is based in Beverly Hills. “We won’t be doing anything in Los Angeles.” Flynt said he’s already making contingency plans to shift more production to Mexico, Arizona and Hawaii. Smaller companies may follow.

“The bill will make it too complicated and too expensive to shoot in L.A.,’’ said director-producer Glenn King, owner of Encino-based MeanBitch Productions. “We’re a small business just like anyone else. If we can’t exist under this new law, we’ll have to look at other options.”

It's the end of an era....

[sr71plt]

I don't think that will make much of a dent in the porn industry. They don't need no lousy permit or a Los Angeles location to do the natural.

[lovecraft68]

They'll all go down to Florida. Anything goes down there.

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Originally Posted by lovecraft68

They'll all go down to Florida. Anything goes down there.

No. Not at all. We got our share of control freaks here. It just takes time to control everything.

[Cruel2BKind]

Besides. The internet killed porn. Now it's just clips and comeshots. No story or depth.

Make any jokes about bad acting that you want to, but I still (in a tiny corner of my blacks shriveled heart) hope that there will one day be pornography with hollywood-level cinematography, acting, and standards.

[jake34]

I heard about this. They need to bring in Mr. Butts to help. Uncle Seymore would not put up with such stiff shit.

And if they start to cover up the cocks, can someone please find something to cover up Ron Jeremy's back? That damn dude makes Bigfoot look like Mr. Clean.

Originally Posted by 3113

From here:

It's the end of an era....

[TxRad]

A friend of mine has a small film equipment and lighting rental company and also does editing and cutting.

From what he says, ten years ago he was still getting 90% of his work from SoCal. Now, most of it comes in from Arizona, New Mexico, South Texas, and south Florida.

As for Mexico, he says some companies have moved to the Pacific coast down there put almost as soon as they started trying to ship film back to the states the border patrol cracked down along with the mail service. He said it was almost easier to get cocaine across the border than licensed porn.

[lovecraft68]

Originally Posted by Cruel2BKind

Besides. The internet killed porn. Now it's just clips and comeshots. No story or depth.

Make any jokes about bad acting that you want to, but I still (in a tiny corner of my blacks shriveled heart) hope that there will one day be pornography with hollywood-level cinematography, acting, and standards.

Check out some sites like Viv Thomas or x-art- they're a cut above, straight out porn.

[Stella_Omega]

Originally Posted by Cruel2BKind

Besides. The internet killed porn. Now it's just clips and comeshots. No story or depth.

Make any jokes about bad acting that you want to, but I still (in a tiny corner of my blacks shriveled heart) hope that there will one day be pornography with hollywood-level cinematography, acting, and standards.

That can only happen on the day that hollywood-level actors can be positive that their x-rated movie work won't kill their careers dead. It's not that good actors don't want to do porn. It's not that porn makers don't care about acting. It's that the mainstream penalises sexual content in an actor's past.

[SevenSquared]

Originally Posted by TxRad

A friend of mine has a small film equipment and lighting rental company and also does editing and cutting.

From what he says, ten years ago he was still getting 90% of his work from SoCal. Now, most of it comes in from Arizona, New Mexico, South Texas, and south Florida.

As for Mexico, he says some companies have moved to the Pacific coast down there put almost as soon as they started trying to ship film back to the states the border patrol cracked down along with the mail service. He said it was almost easier to get cocaine across the border than licensed porn.

'Ship film'? This isn't the 1970s, why not just send it back electronically?

[topace]

Originally Posted by SevenSquared

'Ship film'? This isn't the 1970s, why not just send it back electronically?

Maybe they are afraid of someone stealing it that way!

[TxRad]

Originally Posted by SevenSquared

'Ship film'? This isn't the 1970s, why not just send it back electronically?

I had to check with him on that.

It seems some of the small companies and even some of larger ones still use film cameras. He said it was a cost thing as the digital stuff is more expensive to rent and the small cameras you can buy just don't have the definition and stability they need or want.

[TE999]

Originally Posted by lovecraft68

Check out some sites like Viv Thomas or x-art- they're a cut above, straight out porn.

Not to mention Sweet Sinner, Girlfriends Films and Sweetheart Video.

[RjThoughts]

Upstate New York is very film friendly. Look at the list of recent movies shot or had scenes shot in and around the Capital District alone:

Salt
The Other Guys
Time Machine
The Place Beyond the Pines

And...
The state DOES give tax breaks to movie production units, making it actually cheaper to film in the state than in California.

[Trinique_Fire]

Originally Posted by Cruel2BKind

Besides. The internet killed porn. Now it's just clips and comeshots. No story or depth.

Make any jokes about bad acting that you want to, but I still (in a tiny corner of my blacks shriveled heart) hope that there will one day be pornography with hollywood-level cinematography, acting, and standards.

Nicki Hunter actually HAS the ability to act.

[R. Richard]

The porn industry is already very tightly controlled. The actors must have real picture IDs and current health testing. LA is set up to do that, many other places are not.
The picture ID thing concern was caused by the Traci Lords fiasco, where sevral porn operations were bankrupted because Traci was a minor, with a fake ID, when she made some of her films. Once burned, twice shy.
The health thing is a bit more complicated. Thre's an operation in LA that does almost all of the porn health testing. The operation is set up to do it and they know exactly what needs to be tested, not all labs do.
A lot of porn stars go to foreign location to shoot some films and health standards in those locations is usually very bad or non-existant. There have been problems, most of which are caught by testing in the LA lab. South Florida seems to have many of the same problems.