Smash Pictures was one of the start-up companies that began to proliferate in the adult video industry soon after the second millennium. Smash got going in 2002 and unlike some others, it’s not only still here, it’s thriving.
Owned by East Coast retailer Dan Quinn, it is under the management of Vice-President Stuart Wall, who’s in charge of production and sales. Previously head of sales at Elegant Angel, Wall has been with Smash for 18 months.
Quinn’s Horizon Media, the parent company, owns a chain of dance clubs (Cahoots) and 12 stores, including the In the Mood chain. Its flagship emporium is the $3 million Penthouse Boutique in Milford, Conn. (see related story in Retail News).
According to Wall, Quinn likes to call himself — in his New England accent — “the idea-r man. He has all these thoughts and ideas of what to bring to the market that hasn’t been done yet, or to improve on.”
One of his best ideas was to start a production company that would supply product directly to his stores, as well as to national distributors.
The first release from Smash Pictures was Legal Skin 2 —not 1, but 2. Quinn reasoned, correctly, that people who bought Vol. 2 would have to have Vol. 1 as well. That quirky logic put Legal Skin on the map, and it’s now Smash’s signature line. Director Jordan Heart shoots it in Hungary, where Vol. 17 goes into production this month.
Equally successful is Stocking Secrets —a fetish line, featuring glamour models who don’t do hardcore. It takes them as far as masturbation with toys. Vol. 9, with Andrew Blake star Justine, has just been shot. It’s a niche that Smash has pretty much to itself, but the company has proved adept at filling more conventional ones.
White Wife, Black Cock, with Vol. 4 shooting at press time, covers interracial sex. Cameltoe Perversions (two volumes) satisfies tight-panties fans. 2 Anal 4 U and Shitty Shitty Bang Bang are the work of anal ace Skeeter Kerkove. In Europe, Frank Thring and Zora Banks are turning out new volumes of the oral-themed Down Your Throat and Killer Grip, a handjob line. Planting Seeds, a new internal pop line, debuted in November.
For fans of exotica, there’s Mark Anthony’s long-running International Booty line, with the African-American actor-director shooting native beauties in locales from the Philippines to Rio.
And it’s not all gonzo. Smash’s North American distribution deal with International Film Group of Barcelona, sealed last summer, is bringing high-end Spanish pornography to the U.S. Two IFG titles — the DVDs with multiple language tracks — ship each month. Smash’s first IFG release was the multiple award-winning Hot Rats. November releases were Gothix and the first volume of a gonzo line, Serial Fucker.
Coming on Dec. 16 is Crazy Bullets, winner of the Ninfa Award at this year’s International Erotic Film Festival, from Hot Rats director Narcis Bosch, featuring an all-star international porn cast.
Another Smash coup was signing an exclusive deal with Get It On Entertainment for distribution of Bishop’s Blind Sex Dates, a reality porn series. Bishop is the longtime cameraman-editor for Seymore Butts and has been frequently featured on Showtime’s popular Family Business.
Smash entered the interactive DVD field with My Playtoy. Vol. 3, featuring Lauren Phoenix and Selena Silver, was released in October. Its InstaSwitch function allows the viewer to switch between the two girls at the touch of a button.
Wall is enthusiastic about Easy Prey, directed by Dan Silver, released in October. It’s a young girl line with a switch: horny teens preying on older men. Another new director, Yani Z, is doing a cum-swapping series, Cum Catchers, each scene featuring two girls on one guy. Release date is Dec. 9.
“We feel Smash has crossed the bridge to becoming a name studio for gonzos,” Wall says. “Cal Vista, which handles our foreign sales, has put us in the same market as Red Light. Our foreign sales have been going through the roof.”
Smash’s publicity is handled by Jeff Mullen of All Media Play, with whom they recently co-sponsored some high-profile Hollywood porn parties.
For more on Smash Pictures, go to smashpictures.com. For sales, call Stuart Wall at 866.772.7219, x104.
