CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Five adult stars—Vanessa Veracruz, Bree Daniels, Shyla Jennings, Karlie Montana and Kenna James—have joined forces with veteran industry photographer/producer Rick Shameless to launch LVLZ, a progressive web platform designed to maximize interactive opportunities with fans.
The performers jointly announced they are giving their fanbases a chance to help crowd-fund the project beginning today at LVLZ.com.
“We’re offering the custom videos, the one-on-one shows, the ability for tipping and the pay-per-download,” Shameless told AVN. “It’s a little bit of a different user interaction and the girls technically run their own site.”
The LVLZ sites do not offer monthly memberships, “so it really allows the girls to shoot when they have time from anywhere," he added.
“Three of our five girls we are launching with live on the East Coast, so not locking them into a contract where they are forced to be in L.A. to shoot updates really makes LVLZ a great option for a lot of talent,” Shameless said. “There are no minimum requirements for content updates and no affiliate program or payouts.”
For the girls, the LVLZ platform will function similar to Facebook, allowing them to update their site “without worrying they are going to do anything detrimental.”
“From changing main images to uploading content, everything is taken care of by the user—much like webcam sites and clip stores,” Shameless noted. “That’s why we can offer such a great percentage split.”
The concept for LVLZ began to crystalize following the overwhelming response to the launch of VanessaVeracruz.com in October. The popular girl/girl performer worked closely with Shameless to create the site, which debuted with the same interactive features that are the foundation of LVLZ.
“We decided to crowd-fund through Vanessa’s site after being shut down on GoFundMe in less than 12 hours,” he continued. “We also looked at Indiegogo which doesn’t seem to frown on adult projects but does their payouts through PayPal, which is not adult friendly on mainstream platforms.
“It would be horrible to launch a successful campaign and not receive your money because of a hiccup in payment.”
The girls are hoping to raise a minimum $10,000 during the campaign that starts today and will continue until after the first of the year.
“After successfully launching my website I know how hard the process can be so I decided to launch LVLZ.com,” Veracruz, a 2016 nominee for AVN All-Girl Performer of the Year, told AVN. “LVLZ gives girls the ability to take control of their websites, be their own bosses and take the leap from ‘performer’ to ‘brand.’”
Bree Daniels, who stars in the 2016 AVN Best Feature contender “A Thing of Beauty” from producer/director Dana Vespoli and Evil Angel, told AVN, “Building a site with LVLZ is the newest and possibly the greatest endeavor of my career. Every one of these girls are amazing individuals who love to connect with their fans. I’m so happy to be a part of this with them!”
Shyla Jennings, the 2014 AVN All-Girl Performer of the Year who is nominated again for the 2016 ceremony, agreed.
"Having an online store of my very own is something I have dreamt about for a very long time,” Jennings told AVN. “Now that it's all happening I couldn't be more elated! This is more then just a typical model site. It's a one-stop shop for everything Shyla Jennings!”
Popular model Karlie Montana, who co-hosted the 2015 AVN Awards Red-Carpet show with Dana DeArmond, said the interactivity that is the hallmark of LVLZ piqued her interest.
“I’m so happy to finally have a platform to sell all of my products and clips as well as connect with my fans directly,” Montana told AVN. “No longer needing to worry about getting deleted from PayPal is a beautiful thing! If you want to order something from me...There's only one place.”
Kenna James, the February 2015 Penthouse Pet and 2016 AVN nominee for All-Girl Performer of the Year, added, “I’m so excited to be a part of LVLZ.com and launch my first official website.”
Shameless said LVLZ allows talent to monetize their social media by directly connecting with their fans.
“The last thing we want to do is take the girls off their social media and put them on a private app. That really defeats our business model. How much longer are companies going to expect girls to keep tweeting out links to promote scenes and websites for free? At some point someone has to take off the skipping record," he reasoned.
“LVLZ offers branded sites with your own URL, clips store, custom videos and live, one- on-one chat, tipping and blog.”
The girls have set up an assortment of reward incentives for their crowd-funding backers that can be accessed at LVLZ.com.
“After helping Vanessa Veracruz launch her official site VanessaVeracruz.com and the great response it received I knew this would be the next step,” Shameless said. “Having Shyla Jennings express interest in wanting exactly what Vanessa had only cemented it.
“It really was a no-brainer and just snowballed form there. We're launching with five standalone sites powered by the LVLZ platform with an amazing roster.”
