FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Howard Andrew is a man of conviction. Very little in the adult entertainment industry escapes his notice or opinion. For that matter, very little outside the rarified atmosphere of adult is safe from Andrew's assessment, either.
Ask him about politics, for example. He'll lead with an immediate, "Oh, I try not to get too involved in that," and then follow up with "But wasn't Michelle Obama's speech inspiring?"
He thinks there are too many unknowns about Barack Obama to make the man an ideal presidential candidate, but would he vote for John McCain?
"Oh, hell, no," Andrew said.
He's equally decisive in business.
"Bareback content ought to outlawed, period," he said.
Toward that end, Howard is doing his part: He does not allow any of the models represented by his six-year-old talent-management agency, FabScout Entertainment, to participate in bareback shoots. He also forbids oral cum-shots as well as watersports and bottoming unless those activities are agreed to in advance.
That doesn't mean Andrew is didactic and inflexible with his young clients. In fact, just the opposite is true. He said the term "FabScout family" means exactly what it implies: Andrew serves as a surrogate father to his "boys."
"These guys know that when they have a problem or an issue, they can call me and I'll listen," he told GAYVN.com. "I had to get an extra car, apartment and cell phone here so the boys would have them to use when they're in town."
Andrew's role in the lives of his clients goes beyond finding them jobs and negotiating contracts. He said he advises them about everything from hairstyles to family issues to vacations and everything in between. None of that means Andrew is a pushover, however.
"I'm a firm believer in tough love," he said. "You have to have tough love."
That policy, he said, has helped some models put their lives in order and go on to become big names in gay porn. Andrew discovered Damien Crosse outside a Ft. Lauderdale bar and gave the young looker a makeover before negotiating for him an exclusive contract with Titan Media, and then with Raging Stallion. RJ Danvers, another FabScout discovery and Raging Stallion exclusive, walked into Andrew's office "a pudgy 18-year-old kid," but three months later, after Andrew told him what he needed to do to become porn-worthy, "he was gorgeous," Andrew said. Bobby Clark and Clark's younger brother, Seth Clark - both of whom recently signed exclusive contracts with CockyBoys - also were diamonds in the rough when Andrew encountered them, he said.
"They have to be gorgeous and sexy," Andrew posited, "but that's not all there is to stardom. They have to have that ‘it' factor."
To make sure his clients gain and maintain "it-hood," Andrew keeps a close eye on industry trends. He's noticed some changes lately.
"Hair is back big time," he said. "Even twinks need to have armpit hair and pubes. Tats are out. The industry is looking for natural guys who are in-shape with nice abs. Abs are huge. You don't need a six pack, but you have to show some abs."
And physical beauty alone simply won't cut the mustard in the porn world any longer, either. The most popular models must have a genuineness to their personalities, as well.
"Beauty outside does not always equate to beauty inside," Andrew averred. "That's why porn stars have two names: their real name and their porn name. They can never forget their real name. When they become their character, that's when the trouble starts."
The divergence between reality and appearance is part of the reason Andrew said he sometimes worries about the young men who approach him and say they want to become porn stars.
"I worry about them connecting with sleazy producers," he said, adding that he runs interference for all his clients in order to prevent anyone from taking advantage of them. Even on a shoot FabScout has arranged, if a model feels uncomfortable with anything he's asked to do, Andrew said "all of them know they're to call me and let me handle it. I get those calls a couple of times a week. Sometimes the studios will change a scene, and the producers and directors all know my policy so well, they'll pick up the phone themselves, dial my number and hand it to the model."
In a nutshell, Andrew said, his business tenets are simple. He learned them under the expert tutelage of his adult-industry mentor, Dirk Yates: "Don't say ‘no' to the ugly guy because his friend might be really hot, don't do the couch-test thing, don't drink or do drugs, and always remember what it's like sitting on the other side of the desk."
Admittedly, some of those guidelines are difficult to adhere to sometimes, especially when someone offers him megabucks to be fixed up with an escort. Andrew said he always has had "a strong policy against escorting," so he doesn't represent that side of the business. Instead, FabScout models who are interested in escorting work through RentBoy.
The escort business was one of the adjustments with which Andrew had to deal when FabScout acquired David Forest's Los Angeles-based ForestMen agency in June. Forest's "Meet the Stars" program represented a significant portion of the agency's revenue, but Andrew discontinued it immediately. He plans to resurrect the name in the future for the live-appearances division of FabScout and has hired retired performer Eric Hanson to head the effort.
The live-appearances aspect of adult entertainment is especially important to FabScout right now, Andrew said, because both porn and nightclubs are experiencing an unprecedented financial downturn. Andrew said if the two groups can work together, however, they'll buoy each other through the hard times.
"The days of porn stars going into clubs and getting thousands of dollars are over," he said. In order to make it through the current rough spots, "stars are significantly reducing their rates, taking cheaper flights and staying at more budget-conscious hotels - not Motel 6, but not the Hyatt, either. Studios are providing significant giveaways. We all have to work together in this."
As for the rest of the ForestMen enterprise, Andrew said he was motivated to pursue the acquisition by a desire to prevent the agency's clients from being set adrift after Forest's retirement. In addition, he was eager to establish a more pronounced West Coast presence and to cement relationships with the nightclub contacts he didn't already have. Andrew now spends at least one week a month in Los Angeles.
His life is hectic, he said, but he wouldn't change a thing.
"There are days I would give it all up tomorrow, and there are some really, really rewarding days," Andrew said. "I've made some of the best friends I've ever had in my life, and I've made some of the worst enemies. This industry can turn on a dime, but there are a lot of rewards in this business.
"I'm not here to force anybody into anything," he said. "I'm just here to help. I have a poster on the wall across from my desk that says it all: ‘Models don't work for agents. Agents work for models.'"
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