Here are a few tidbits I picked up in San Francisco during awards weekend.
First of all, I got a chance to talk to a big bunch of fans of the porn world, and I asked them who they were most excited about seeing. Sure, the answers depended on which party I attended, and which type of guy the fan was attracted to, but the overall winners were (ironically) Michael Lucas and Brent Corrigan. I say "ironic" because those two were mentioned a lot even before their very public battle that lasted during and after the awards show!
The director that seemed to get the most love from the people I talked to was Hot House's Steven Scarborough. Both on and off the record, porn stars and support staff told me stories of how Steven helped them out with personal problems, kept their spirits up and treated them well when other companies were not as nice. And, not surprisingly, many of the guys referred to Scarborough as their "daddy."
Another director getting a lot of props was Chris Ward, who was part of the trio directing the weekend's big winner, To the Last Man, and he told me about his next project: It's a film noir epic that's going to take place in San Francisco.
I thought I might have a cool exclusive, but when Ward took the stage for the final time on awards night, he told the audience about his plans to out-do himself. I told him later that night, "Now you're committed to it, and everyone is going to expect it."
How far along are they? Well, Ben Leon told me that there's no script, so right now they're talking it out and they're watching some old movies.
One other tidbit I got from Ward was that multiple award-winning editor (and sometimes porn star) Andrew Rosen is going to be Raging Stallion's exclusive editor and is planning to move to San Francisco from Los Angeles. Rosen has seen his steady work in L.A. dry up for a while, and he was considering seeking employment outside the industry when this offer came along.
Ward said, "I kept watching him win for best editing every year, and so I finally met with him and asked him to join our team."
Ward, of course, knows how to put a good team together. Notably absent at the awards was J.D. Slater (who won Best Music with Nekked for Last Man).
And, of course, most notably absent was Chi Chi LaRue, who had a previous engagement in Australia at an adult convention there, and was being honored with a special award. But luckily there was a pre-recorded "live" feed that allowed some of Chi Chi's spirit to permeate the weekend.
Some other notes from the weekend:
* Dustin Lance Black, who won the Best Screenplay Academy Award for Milk was in the VIP room at the after-party and didn't get recognized by too many people. But I knew him! He told me he was at a gay fundraiser in another part of town, but wanted to make the after-party of our show. Lance has me in a cameo in his first film, On the Bus, with porn pup Dean O'Connor.
* Hall of Famer Dean Phoenix caused nostalgic tears for director Drew Warner when the superstar named him in his speech and talked about being discovered while working as a bartender.
* Drama started early for Michael Lucas on the night of the awards show. As he was heading down in the elevator, his suit lining ripped out. The hotel quickly got on it and sewed it up for him, as he stood jacket-less in the lobby waiting to go to the show.
* Bookings at the host hotel, the Westin, were up more than 10 times versus the year before, according to David Arias of GayPress.org, which helped book the great rates. More than 300 rooms (more than half the hotel) were booked by people coming for the GAYVN Awards!
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