Andrew T. knows it sounds strange, but he was originally an electrician technician...a real one, not just a fake gay porn one. That was followed by university studies in economics before his career took a turn at Valley-Pro Video Distributors.
"Originally I was hired to work at Valley-Pro as an IT tech. Working here firsthand I was able to screen our titles, plus come up with some suggestions about post-production, knowing better guys should be put on the covers. Once the company listened to me, the titles began to sell much better," notes the director of productions. "Later on I worked with the graphic designer to give him some ideas - and hard times! - and concepts that work better to sell our product. Once I got to know the various individual producers and began talking with them, more ideas surfaced for developing new titles and themes."
Valley-Pro started as a straight product company in 1990 (just selling to stores) before starting exclusive distribution and manufacturing in 1995 and entering the gay realm. "I enjoy casting models, developing storylines, plus creating themes," Andrew says. "My focus is also on market analyzing, so I monitor and know who our customers are, what they need and what they really want to see."
Andrew notes there are currently more than 24 studios now owned by Valley-Pro Video, and all have their own niche. Elite Male has high-end movies shot in Budapest, while U.S. Male is the company's oldest gay line and also has a line of bisexual titles.
"The Body Shoppe is one of our newest lines for amateur military-style movies. We don't shoot for The Body Shoppe anymore, although they still sell very well," Andrew notes. "Elite Male is our high-quality line shot in HD, with exceptionally hot European hunks, and continues to sell like candy... We maintain an exclusive deal with LFP/Hustler Group for distribution of these titles."
U.S. Male has been on the market for 10 years and has nearly 200 films in its catalog. "We have several titles produced by famous producers like Paul Barresi, who recently started directing films for Falcon, and Ginetto di Masolo, the world-famous Steve Cadro, and a bunch of stars featured in those titles like Jan Dvorak and Jason Crew, Lucio Maverick and more. Because this is our most established and popular line, we have chosen to use the U.S. Male studio name as our official website domain."
The newest additions to the family are White Water Productions (with titles Cream Pie Orgy and Breeding Party), a bareback studio focusing on hung models; and Raptor Entertainment, which targets a unique audience: first release Cum Fucking Skinheads is about skinheads in hardcore bareback role-play action. The next release will have a medical theme.
Other studios in the Valley-Pro stable include BarrackX69, Eagle Video, GAI Studios, Man's Art, Miami Studios and TORO Video, each with a unique offering. The company also recently secured the new hardcore line from popular label Next Door Studios. Andrew notes that he is currently looking for a good bondage producer to develop a new line this year, and the company will continue its dedication to bi and transsexual product.
"We have a huge library of bisexual titles, and we have several different sub-categories," he says. "We are planning to start a bisexual membership site soon. We also have transsexual movies like Miss T Production, which is a virtual DVD line where the customer controls what they want the model to do by remote control."
The company has also seen great success with Internet store GayEmart.com (and AdultEmart.com), launched in 2006. The sites have gay, straight and novelty sections offering most other studios' and manufacturers' products, and streaming video from major studios.
"Technology continues to shift to Internet delivery, so we are prepared to deliver our own movies to the consumers in a different format starting immediately," Andrew says. "I'm maintaining my focus for the company and keeping up on all the newest technology in order to guide us through the future demands as painlessly as possible. Eventually I would love to work with big-budget feature films again once the opportunities become available."
Andrew says he expects an increase of sales by targeting different audiences with different niches, and so far he can't complain about the results. A newly designed website has also helped.
"We know that most of the industry is going through difficult times as technology and manufacturing of product continues to change from the demand for individual DVD sales to now meet the demands for Internet delivery. So it's not easy, but fortunately I can say we are standing strong on our feet. This is the most important highlight of the year."
CONTACT: USMaleInc.com; GayEMart.com; (818)-678-2960.
GayVN
- By
