"Experience" and "vision" are the keywords of New York-based Pitbull Productions' 26-year-old owner and CEO Jalin Fuentes (self-described as "a barefoot Puerto Rican boy").
"In 2001 I was stopped on the street and asked to model by a Midwest company that did videos strictly for websites. I said 'I don't think so,' but took a job scouting for them for three years. I had degrees in computer graphics and filmmaking, and picked up so much practical knowledge working for them that I was more-or-less running the company.
"I hadn't paid attention to porn since my early adolescence. Most of the black-Latino porn I now saw seemed not hip and not professional. By 2004 I had a vision of urban porn reflecting the hip-hop culture that is sweeping the world. I approached a businesswise family member with my concept (and the numbers) and got backing.
"I incorporated as Pitbull Productions because that's the characteristic pet of the kind of stylish, edgy thugs I personally wanted to see onscreen. I bought two video cameras and shot my first three releases more or less simultaneously, using talent discoveries a webwise friend made — plus established personalities Tiger Tyson and T-Malone for insurance. Product in hand, I researched distributors and signed with Marina Pacific."
The future? "Tiger Tyson's Take 'em Down is our bestseller. We'll have series on stars we've developed, Supreme and Camron. Some of our stars will cross over into our upcoming straight line, Smoked Out Films, and a bisexual line, Project Born Entertainment, which will also be more diversified racially. At the beginning, I and a couple of friends did everything. Now I have a staff of twelve and growing. I still write, direct, and shoot everything, but I'm hoping talent in those areas will develop out of the company, and I'm negotiating with experienced executive talent to take over some duties and leave me creatively free. I have an eye toward taking the company public in the next two to four years. I am building an international brand which will include, websites, merchandise (DVDs), distribution, a satellite channel, pay-per-view in hotels, and video-on-demand for cell phones. I'm looking forward to making HDTV movies that will make the viewer feel right there in bed with the models. I no longer make VHS's and I feel the still photo market is dead, but I'm not afraid of streaming video replacing the DVD market. People want something they can take home, and they don't want to live at their computers."
Ordering info: 800-999-5530 (wholesale);877-848-4767 (retail).
