Adult calendars featuring hot blondes with larger-than-life chests have a long history of hanging on the walls of warehouses and auto shops. But gay guys need adult calendars, too. AVN Novelty Business talked to some of the top gay adult video producers to get an inside look at what went into making their 2008 calendars.
Keith Webb, vice president of Io Group (aka Titan Media), says a lot of time and energy go into producing a TitanMan calendar.
"We have to review thousands of images from the past year to come down to the 12 to 14 best images that represent our brand," he says. "Once the final images are chosen, we do all the layout and graphics in-house and then turn over the final art files to Specialty Publications for printing and distribution."
Webb says that Titan prioritizes its exclusive models, and Brian Mills, the company's head of production, works with the art department to choose the top five images for each exclusive model.
"Brian is also our lead photographer," Webb explains. "He knows almost every single image and model, as he is the one who took the photos. We then have a slideshow presentation, given to Bruce Cam [founder and president of Titan] and myself, where we pick the exact image to represent each model."
Titan's 2007 calendar featured a centerfold spread of Jake Deckard, who was an exclusive at the time of production. However, for 2008, Webb says he added an additional month to the calendar to give it more value to the consumer.
Titan is offering two 2008 calendars, each representing one of the company's core brands.
"TitanMen is our core brand representing our legacy of masculine, beefy and hairy men," Webb says. "Our newest brand, TitanMen Fresh, represents our younger, ‘jock' types. Think of TitanMen Fresh as the 20-something smooth and muscular jock and gymnast type of collegiate guys. The market was hungry for the same high-quality Titan productions, but with a younger, fresher slant. Into our second year, TitanMen Fresh has met overwhelming success."
Raging Stallion Studios has released its 2008 "Young Bucks" and "Rough Riders" 16-month wall calendars. Each features some of the gay adult industry's hottest talent photographed by Kent Taylor, who attributes the success of the finished product to Village Lighthouse and its divisions, including Big Daddy and 10 percent productions.
"The exciting part of this project is that we worked so closely with Village Lighthouse," Taylor explains. "They have been in this business for a long time. We definitely saw the collaboration being the most successful with Village Lighthouse in the driver's seat. We feel the quality of the calendars truly represents the quality standard that Raging Stallion strives for each and every day."
Julian Hobson, director of business affairs and film acquisitions for Village Lighthouse, says the partnership formed earlier this year with Raging Stallion is strong and will only grow in the future. He says the two companies already are planning two calendars for 2009.
"Raging Stallion is an important key partner and brand for our Big Daddy division," Hobson says. "We began our partnership earlier this year, and, overall, we've been extremely pleased with the response the two calendars have received. The design and printing quality turned out beautiful, showcasing Kent's impressive photography wonderfully."
Taylor says the main difficulty in producing the calendars was narrowing down the choices from Raging Stallion's roster of studs.
"We sent down many images of the guys to choose from," he says. "Originally, it was for one calendar (‘Rough Riders'), but they were so excited about the images, they decided to add a second. From there, we discussed the fine-tuning, Chris Ward put his feedback in, and then on the second round, we gave our stamp of approval."
In addition to producing the two Raging Stallion wall calendars, Village Lighthouse offers three lines of calendars for different types of customers. 10 percent calendars offer pinup-style photographs of hot, shirtless guys, according to Dobson, who says the line can easily be sold in mainstream stores.
"Big Daddy is our adult line," he says. "It features full nudity and, often, photography from adult studios like Raging Stallion or Fratmen.com. Our Provocateur line is our fine-art brand that features sexy photography, usually nude, that's more artistic in nature."
Another gay-erotica powerhouse is COLT who is offering six themed calendars for the coming year. Kristofer Weston says calendar development is a yearlong process.
"We are constantly working on picture selection all year long," he says. "This is a tedious process for John Rutherford, as he has to pore through thousands of images, both classic and current, for an image that captures the essence of our iconic COLT man and best represents the historical image of our 40-year history."
Weston also says there is no set ratio for choosing current talent versus retired studs from COLT's catalog.
"John Rutherford and his creative team have a way of choosing the best images from both our current shoots and from our vaults to create each COLT calendar that best represents the male form as timeless," he says. "Being featured in any of the COLT calendars is truly an honor for all of our COLT Men, so we are very careful to spread the wealth as we pick these images. The best shots get the covers, and only the best COLT images get chosen."
