David Stanley Signs Exclusive Deal with Wicked

Director David Stanley, winner of this year’s AVN Awards for Best Director-Video and Best Screenplay for his Vivid feature Pretty Girl, has left Vivid after 10 years and is now contracted to write and direct exclusively for Wicked Pictures for the next year.

He is slated to direct 12 features for the company during that time.

Of his decision, Stanley told AVN.com, “I felt like I had a lot of ambition and I had gotten to the place where I really wanted to move forward with a company that already had everything they needed from the other directors there and I really didn’t have, with all due respect, all of the opportunities to move forward so I made the decision to take the risk and make the move so I could live up to the potential of what I can do. I wanted to find a company that would take me to the next level and I couldn’t think of a better company than Wicked Pictures because they are so in line with what I want which is to make movies that are about sex that were movies first.”

Vivid Entertainment Group co-founder Steven Hirsch spoke simply of Stanley’s departure, saying, “We wish him all of the best. We think he is a terrific director, Wicked’s a great company and I am sure they will do great things together.”

Wicked Pictures co-founder Steve Orenstein expressed his pleasure to have Stanley join his company, saying in a statement, “It's great to see how passionate David is about movie making. He has done some great work already and I am sure his best work is still to come. He is a great addition to our company and I'm very happy to have him.”

Of Wicked’s contract performers, Stanley was enthused, saying, “They are such hard-working, conscientious actors who care deeply about the kind of projects that they are in. They show up on time, they know their lines, they have thought through their characters and they bring a lot to the table…When I am directing, I am less interested in what my vision is more than I am in what I might be able to get out of everyone on the team.”

Stanley expressed more admiration for Orenstein and for the group of other Wicked contract directors that he has joined the ranks off — Brad Armstrong, Jonathan Morgan and Michael Raven.

“Steve Orenstein has such great taste and he’s a really nice guy,” Stanley said. “He’s incredibly smart and takes pride in the fact that he wants to make good movies and a lot of other companies seem to have a different agenda. It’s hard for me to line up with anyone who doesn’t put the movies first. I think all of the directors at Wicked are amazing. Jonathan says they have a sort of healthy competition over there to make better and better movies so there you have to be on your game. You can’t just repeat the same old thing over and over again. You have to try to do as well as those guys do and that’s a really tall order. All I am thinking about right now is the first movie I am going to be doing for Wicked and I want to impress the other guys and I want to feel like I am part of the team. I want to give them something they haven’t seen before. I want to make heartbreakingly beautiful movies and create my own little niche there. What Wicked has been doing has been the best work in the business and their work inspires me. Wicked directors bust their asses and I am honored to be amongst such talented people.”

Stanley will begin directing his first Wicked Pictures production in early April.