We’re huge, we’re hip and we’re on the brink of taking entertainment into a whole new era.
That was the message at this morning’s Presidential Summit on Adult Entertainment, the inaugural seminar to what the introductory speaker called the largest convention in the history of the adult industry.
Moderated by Larry Mantle, host of Air Talk on Los Angeles’ KPCC, the summit brought together the lively and erudite think tank of Pure Play Media CEO Richard Arnold, Adam & Eve vice president Bob Christian, Club Jenna president Jay Grdina and Evil Angel president John Stagliano. The four volleyed back and forth for approximately an hour and a half on topics from 2257 regulation issues to Jenna Jameson’s image in the eyes of young girls. The conversation was engrossing and invigorating throughout, and aptly reflected what a vibrant and sophisticated age the adult business has entered.
A common theme of the discussion was that the key to success for adult studios lies in having consistently good product. That, of course, is a nebulous goal to have, given the infinitely broad spectrum of what might be considered “good” — as Stagliano so summarily put it, “Understanding what sells and why is a difficult task.”
And yet, all four of the panelists have achieved that nebulous goal, albeit with different approaches. Pure Play and Adam & Eve both serve up a wide variety of content, while Club Jenna and Evil Angel stick to pretty specific niches, Club Jenna producing high-end feature-type titles, and Evil staking their fortune on the gonzo genre.
Why do they succeed? A combination of deep care for every aspect of their productions, a drive for continual freshness and pure luck, essentially.
Explained Stagliano, “I took a chance with The Adventures of Buttman, and I thought it was just a little throwaway movie, and it turned into this thing that everybody imitated. I had no idea that would happen.”
That said, another important component to take into account is the inherent presence of the director or performer’s personality in their product, the panelists agreed.
“Your personality’s going to come through in your company no matter what,” noted Grdina. Expounded Stagliano, “The good product emphasizes personality. If people have charisma, that’s what makes them a star. That’s why Sean Connery is a star, that’s why Jenna Jameson is a star.”
Speaking of which, a lot was conversed about The Jenna’s unparalleled level of fame and power in the business. Can somebody else ever match what she’s achieved? Pointed out Stagliano, “How many porn stars can go on The O’Reilly Factor and put him in his place?”
Grdina (Jameson’s husband) said the possibility exists that another girl could come along who might have the same level of success, but also forwarded the belief that Jenna has transcended porn stardom. “You see 14, 15-year-old girls saying, ‘We want to be Jenna,’” he commented, “and we’re like, ‘What do you mean? You want to be a porn star?’ No, they say she’s not a porn star to them at all. She’s had a hard life, and she’s done amazing things with herself to conquer that, and that’s made her a hero for them.”
Another side of the personality element being discussed was that a lot of what’s produced these days is outlandishly hard-edged and rough, raising the question as to whether that’s representative of the mentalities behind the cameras, or it’s what consumers really want to see.
“The problem with [hard-edged material],” stated Stagliano, “is it represents a psychotic component of someone’s psyche. But extreme stuff sells. People want to see boundaries tested, that’s what’s interesting. I’ve seen somebody give me something where it looked like the whole point was that the girl was being coerced into doing something she didn’t want to be a part of. I don’t like that, but the government coming in and trying to regulate that I think will lead to bad things.”
Said point addresses one of the most hotly debated topics of the past year, the federal government’s attempts to tighten the restrictions of the 2257 record-keeping law. To that end, the panelists surprisingly had not-so-negative things to say. In the eyes of Bob Christian, the 2257 battle has had no effect on the types of movies companies make, and in fact, Richard Arnold piled on the opinion that it may have had a positive impact.
“I think it sort of gave us a kick in the butt, and made us get our act together a little more,” Arnold stated. “A lot of companies weren’t following it too stringently, and it’s been kind of a wake-up call.”
Meanwhile, the other big topic of the summit was the emerging trend toward mobile porn, which all said they’ve jumped on, but don’t know quite where it’s headed. Said Christian, “We have a task force in charge of finding new ways of delivering content. We are not on the front edge, we’re waiting to see where it goes. Our main concern is seeing if the physical unit will disappear. If [digital downloading] becomes the dominant form of delivery, then we have a paradigm shift, a whole new business. But it’s something that’s happening incrementally, so we can handle it.”
Stagliano argued that such a shift isn’t likely, remarking, “I think you’re missing the point — one of the things people will always seek is the best way to deliver the product, and something handheld [i.e. iPod, PSP and mobile phone porn] isn’t going to compete with a 40-inch plasma screen. It’s just going to stratify the market.”
Still, Grdina had this to say: “Look at the Internet. When Internet porn first appeared, I asked, ‘Who’s going to jack off at their computer? Are they going to take their computer into the bathroom and jack off?’ I thought it was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard of, and look how it’s evolved.”
However the market metamorphoses, the one thing that’s undeniable is that it will do so, and soon. Which is what makes the atmosphere around here so exciting right now. Bob Christian summed it up best by saying, “It’s a neat time to be alive. It’s a neat time to be in the industry.”
