PRAGUE - Due to recent crackdowns and shifting legal opinions about adult content in the U.K., Sting Pictures and its parent company, STG Pictures Ltd., have relocated from London to a new studio in the Czech Republic.
"It's fairly political to [produce adult content] with new U.K. porn laws," Sting Pictures' spokesman Richard O'Shea said. "A lot of producers will be affected by the U.K. government's unnecessary meddling in adult laws."
According to O'Shea, recent amendments to the U.K.'s Criminal Justice Bill make the possession or downloading of violent images illegal. That makes producing certain BDSM videos - like the spanking videos in which Sting Pictures specializes - problematic.
"How they would police this, goodness knows," he told GAYVN.com. "The trouble is, this law is very gray in its reading and already a demonstration is going sometime this week in London regarding the bondage and SM followers with some leading figures involved. From Jan. 1, 2009, a lot of people are not going to know quite where they stand on certain BDSM issues."
U.K. laws were only part of the equation when Sting decided to relocate, though.
"We felt the desire to work in an environment that is reasonably adult-production-friendly," O'Shea said. "[In the Czech Republic] we are legitimate in what we do, and we join a whole lot of other companies who view this as a real industry and not an under-the-mat activity that the Victorian Brit establishment feel it is. Let's face it: A lot of people in very high places watch and enjoy the stuff we make, and its violence level is minimal with 100-percent consent of all parties concerned.
"Britain is alone in the European Union on this issue," he continued, sounding just a bit frustrated.
In addition, O'Shea noted, by filming in the Czech Republic Sting is immune from the requirement that its material be classified by the British government (much as American content is rated by the Motion Picture Association of America).
"That's another growing problem for adult filmmakers [in Britain]," he said. "Again the Brits are alone in this. Rather foolishly, if a British person wanted to buy a non-classified DVD all he would have to do is order it from the rest of the EU and it would be sent by post unhindered by customs. It's nonsense."
Political chicanery aside, O'Shea said the final reason for the move may be the best of all: "Another good reason to move to the Czech Republic is the models. All the guys are easy to work with and very fit. There are several good agencies here, too, who work hard to find the right guys for the job.
"All in all we are now very happy here," he said. "I just feel sad to be hounded out of my home nation. It's high time [the British] government got a life."
Now ensconced in a new facility beyond British interference, Sting Pictures has resumed producing high-end adult spanking films in the tradition the company established in the 1980s with Asian Incident and My Borstal Days. The latter, set in a British reformatory, served as inspiration for the company's upcoming DVD, Reformatory USA.
Reformatory USA's story follows a young inmate who, while cleaning the deputy warden's office, discovers an unofficial record book of inmate punishments. He surreptitiously peruses the volume until his clandestine behavior is discovered and he himself is punished.
"This is a hard-action, fast-moving spanking story featuring a real cross-section of great-looking young actors," O'Shea said. "Our main stars, Matt Mills, Brett and Tigger, feature strongly with a host of new guys mixed in with the old favorites."
Reformatory USA will be released in December through California-based Man's Hand Films.
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