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The Adams Report |
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Column #525 - June 23, 2005 |
Venerable kink studio Bound & Gagged is closing up shop. Company president Bob Wingate announced the closure this week on its Web site and attributes the decision to pending revisions in the Federal Labeling & Recordkeeping Law, known in shorthand around the biz as "2257 regulations" (U.S.C. Title 18, Section 2257). They go into effect June 23, and you can thank our fanatically conservative political leaders for it. The new regulations, per Mr. Wingate, "will impose record-keeping and inspection requirements for adult photographs that will be virtually impossible for us to comply with ... Thanks very much for all the pleasure you've given me over the years. May happier times come soon." The final issue of Bound & Gagged magazine shipped June 15, refunds are being offered to online subscribers, and the studio is blowing out its entire inventory. The industry is going haywire over these pending changes, on both the straight and gay sides. Some larger companies are sanguine about it, while smaller studios are sweating it out. Bound & Gagged may well be the first casualty. (See below for details on how another small studio, All Boys Video, is responding to the climate change.) "Every picture we have on [its Web sites] needs to meet the compliance guidelines," says performer Michael Brandon, who also serves as casting and promotions director for Raging Stallion Studios and his own Monster Bang Video. "Stiff fines and possible imprisonment have been threatened for companies that fail to adhere. The Free Speech Coalition [FSC] is trying to get an injunction" to stop the new guidelines from taking effect. "Cross your fingers." On its Web site, the FSC notes it will "initiate litigation to seek an injunction against the law generally, as well as specific parts of the regulatory scheme. While we are confident that we should receive injunctive relief of some sort and are hopeful that such an injunction will be broadly based, there are no guarantees. We do not and cannot promise that an injunction will issue, and if it does, what components of the law and regulations will be covered." One large straight company has simply made all of the records to its entire catalog available online, via a password-protected Web site. Smaller companies don't usually have the resources for that kind of thing, thus the copiers at Kinko's all across Southern California are humming 24/7 these days. They essentially have to make model releases and identification available to anyone who publishes the photo anywhere, in print or online. One major complication is that a lot more people may now have access to the actual names, birthdates and other personal information of any performer. And it's not clear how this kind of recordkeeping affects foreign-born performers with passports and identification cards issued by their home countries rather than the United States. The revised guidelines "make it almost impossible to make porn as [we] have done in the past," says Mr. Brandon. "For example, we are not allowed to work with international models unless they have a [U.S.-issued] work visa or green card. It's created quite a challenge. I was in full-on casting for Chris Ward's big movie for next year, Arabesque. It will feature models that have a Middle Eastern look about them. I already cast several international studs for this shoot [from] Paris, Hungary, Spain, Germany and Australia. [Those plans] have been abruptly aborted. It's a real shame. Chris and I had been looking forward to this shoot very much. Months of planning had gone into Arabesque." The pending regulation changes cover much more than recordingkeeping. The definition of "producer" is one such alteration, and another is whether older productions might be grandfathered into the proposed changes. Per the FSC Web site, "(b)eginning with the impropriety and unfairness of a retroactive effective date for the proposed rules ... these new policies are unjustly burdensome on protected expression and on members of the FSC who produce it." The FSC notes that "one of the key issues as these regulations apply to the Internet is the definition of a 'producer' of content and the requirement that 'secondary producers' also keep original records ... On a constitutional note ... the volume and complexity of those records will very likely chill the willingness of many to republish material, thus limiting the reach of constitutionally protected expression." Whew, and it only gets more confusing from there, folks. As the Bushies drop in the polls, we'll be seeing a lot more of this kind of crap. GAY PRIDE & PORN Porn publicist and bon vivant Jason Sechrest of Jasoncurious.com was set to appear in the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade June 12, accompanied by Caesar and Rod Barry. Rentboy.com sponsored the "float" (actually a snazzy convertible). As this column was being edited, eagle-eyed "Adams Report" staffers spotted Messrs. Sechrest and Caesar, who was flexing and posing for the cheering crowd, but Mr. Barry was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Falcon Studios is all over the San Francisco Gay Pride festivities as it promotes Heaven to Hell and drapes its exclusives all over Falcon's traditionally lavish float. D&E DUMPS BAREBACK D&E Productions, via its All Boys Video line, has announced iy will no longer produce bareback titles. "Due to the recent changes in our government policy towards the adult industry, we have decided to discontinue the filming and distribution of all our bareback videos and video titles," announced David Hartman, coowner of D&E Productions, in a press announcement. He continues, "(a)lthough we have our 2257 in order, what we are concerned about is the obscenity part of the [regulation changes] ... we are no longer producing and reordering any titles that contain unprotected sex." He explains that although its 2003 title Barebackin' Brothers is it top-seller, it will no longer offer it for sale. "As for our other barebacking titles, we will continue selling them until we run out of stock." Mr. Hartman also notes that "future barebacking projects ... are on hold until further notice." He closes out the press release with a plea to "any company that distributes, sells or markets its barebacking titles within the United States to please be advised that the risk is not worth the penalty involved. We will not be responsible for any repercussions that this may cause." Among the new titles on DVD from All Boys Video are Shane's Addiction and Got Milked. Go to DandEvideos.com for details. BARRESI AND BRANDO Last week I wrote about director (and former performer) Paul Barresi's alleged involvement in an alleged plot of an anonymous gay porn star nicknamed "Big Red" to allegedly out a major movie star. Mr. Barresi allegedly put Big Red together with a private detective, then allegedly informed the notoriously combative lawyer of said movie star, who put a stop to the whole thing. Allegedly. Anyway, now Mr. Barresi's name is turning up in another unusual way. In his Friday, June 10, column, Fox News gossip wag Roger Friedman noted that the late Marlon Brando's personal effects will soon be sold to the highest bidder at Sotheby's auction house. He writes, "But private investigator Paul Barresi recently uncovered a piece of Brando memorabilia that the Sotheby's bidders would kill to own. The item in question is a recording of a telephone message left by Brando on Quincy Jones' answering machine in October 1992 ... I can tell you that the rambling [nine-minute] monologue is pure Brando and should be a hit on the collector's market should Barresi decide to put it up for auction." Mr. Friedman does not take note of how Mr. Barresi acquired this telephone message. You can't make this stuff up, kids! Porn Star Birthdays for June 23 through June 29: Chad Conners, Ty Lattimore, Griff Thorson (June 23); Sal Correlli, Brice Ebson, Patrick Ray, Hagen Stone (July 24); Jim Andrews, Robert Balint, Simon Cox, Brad Hunt, Scott Tandy (June 25); Marcelo Cabral, Gareth Christopher, Joe Landon, Eric Masterson, Casey Morgan, Todd Stevens (June 26); Derek Cameron, Ninja, Nick Romano, Mark Vlady (June 27; Dany Brown, Sean Decker, Richie Fine, Thomas Lloyd, Task, Edwyn Wolf, Justin Woods (June 28); Aaron Klein, Jack Sanders, Tony Scalia (June 29). |
- J.C. Adams |
| J.C. Adams has covered the gay adult video industry since 1995 and has served as the editor of Inside Porn Magazine and Unzipped Monthly. In addition to the "Adams Report" weekly gossip and news column, his work has appeared in Adult Video News, Gay Chicago Magazine, Genre, HX and many other print and online publications. You can reach him at: JCAdamsXXX@aol.com. |