According to Tim Valenti, president of online gay adult entertainment giant NakedSword.com, running a site that offers only the best in X-rated content for gay men is a way for him to fill the world with beautiful images. “I love to create and promote all kinds of entertainment and messaging for people,” he says. “Life is chock-full of gorgeous ways to enhance our experience on Earth, and I like to package them right and offer those experiences.”
Gorgeous experiences are, in fact, NakedSword’s specialty. From their extensive catalog of titles from some of gay porn’s highest-profile production companies (Raging Stallion, Titan, Hot House) to exciting new up-and-cummers (Dark Alley Media, HS Video) to original shows and industry gossip columns (The Tim and Roma Show, GayPornBlog.com), NakedSword offers its subscribers some of the hottest (and, indeed, gorgeous) content in the industry on a one-stop shopping site that has become a leader in gay adult content.
“We have been dominant in this industry for nearly a decade, not only because we are technologically adept, but also because we know our content,” Valenti boasts, adding that the folks at NakedSword also have their keen eyes trained on what’s keeping the pulse of gay porn, er, throbbing. “We know what good porn looks like—and that doesn’t apply solely to big-budget studios. In every niche, at every level, there are producers of great, hot films. Those are the films we promote and our members appreciate it because they don’t have to wade through crappy product. And our studios appreciate it, not only because we recognize how hard they work to make it, but also because it allows us to promote it in better, more innovative ways.
“Consumers hunger for more than just two guys fucking,” Valenti continues. “They want background, they want supporting content, they want an environment that does not stigmatize porn. Whether it’s our licensed streaming content from porn studios or our exclusive shows and columns, we provide consumers with the material to make informed decisions about what types of films, studios, and stars satisfy their desires. There are tens of thousands of films out there; if you’re not helping consumers wade through them, then you’re doing them – and the studios that produce the films – a great disservice.”
So how does a company go from being the new kid on the block to an industry leader in a remarkably short time—and remain there? As Valenti relays it, he was president for Cubik Media Inc., a successful boutique Web development company in San Francisco, working alongside Chief of Technology Operations Greg Lindberg. “At the time, we were building and marketing corporate enterprise sites for a variety of high-profile companies (such as Eido Interactive, the folks responsible for Tomb Raider, as well as PG&E, E*Trade, and Hitachi). We were all over the map from consumer sites to business-to-business,” Valenti says. “We were having a blast. It was an incredibly creative time for us, so there a million ideas of what we could do.”
One of those ideas was using their experience working with their gaming clients to launch an online cinema—something Valenti had had his heart set on for quite some time. “I have always wanted to own and run a cinema extraordinaire,” he confesses. “I just didn’t know it would focus on gay adult content and be on the Internet.”
Working from a single room located in the building that housed the infamous O’Farrell/Mitchell Brothers theater (they had agreed to build a website for the Mitchells in exchange for the space), Valenti and Lindberg began to court the various gay adult production companies. But, Valenti reports, convincing folks of the new venture’s profitability back in the mid-’90s – when the Internet was still an untested medium – wasn’t all that easy.
“Since we were one of the first players, we had to educate content producers on the Internet medium and why it was going to be an important distribution channel for them,” he explains. ”Not only for a new, immediate revenue stream, but as a very good way to brand themselves and to support and increase their more traditional VHS and DVD sales.”
Of course, in time, those studios started coming around. As Valenti adds, “When studios and producers started calling me instead of me begging for an appointment,” he knew that NakedSword was well on its way. Over the years, the company has grown into the Little Company That Could through increasingly cutting-edge technology and its relations with many of gay adult’s most instantly recognizable brands. But it’s not just the giants that NakedSword has built its foundation upon. “We work and promote studios of all sizes and niches,” Valenti stresses. “We take pride in knowing our content—whether it be a gleaming, professionally directed Falcon title or a raw, handheld video from an amateur producer like the Body Shoppe. A lot of sites tend to treat all their content as if it were undifferentiated. We believe that by better knowing our collection – by watching and critiquing the movies ourselves – that we can select the best content of any niche or variety and promote it to our members.”
Despite primarily been known for such licensed content, the company has shown true signs of growth in the past couple of years with the introduction of The Tim and Roma Show (in which Valenti and drag co-host Sister Roma – herself a porn insider – welcome porn personalities onto their sofa to dish all things XXX), their collaboration with Jet Set Productions on the GayVN Award-winning porn soap Wet Palms (which debuted on the NakedSword site before its subsequent DVD release), and, most recently, a behind-the-scenes project with Raging Stallion Studios. Valenti says the latter will “help shape consumption and encourage brand identification” for both companies.
“One of the things that is good about that is that they have commitment to original programming,” says Raging Stallion’s president, Chris Ward. “I think they certainly are committed to the community. They’re team players. They certainly have been instrumental in shaping the direction the industry is heading.”
Ward isn’t the only one who sings the company’s – and Valenti’s – praises. Consider these words from Sister Roma herself: “The growth and development of The Tim and Roma Show is a perfect example of what happens when Tim Valenti is involved,” she enthuses. “He’s a catalyst, a motivator, and an innovator. He makes thing happen. He doesn’t just develop projects and build websites—he develops and builds people! The end result is always a huge success, and Tim makes sure that it is a success that everyone can share.”
Of course, great content and collaboration is certainly a key to the company’s success, but Valenti’s outlook on the company’s role in adult content is equally telling. “NakedSword is an experience—not just a VoD vending machine,” he points out. “We’re a new type of company, as dedicated to the content we distribute as United Artists was to mainstream films in the ’30s and Columbia in the ’70s. Distribution is critical to appreciation.
“VoD providers don’t take the time to learn about the content they are delivering or how best to present it to the consumer,” Valenti adds. Citing the company’s deal with Falcon to debut its latest epic release Cross Country simultaneously with its DVD release, he says, “We’ve also learned that the way content is presented allows us to be a creative partner with the studios. We can make this happen because we know how to promote without cannibalizing. We know how to effectively tie new releases to old ones—how to position and frame and sell the movie. We have the technical infrastructure and the design team prowess. No other VoD company – gay or straight – can approach us on this.”
Speaking of technology and design, the site’s latest relaunch – as NakedSword 3.0 – has been an overwhelming success, despite the fact that it was launched during the recent hullabaloo surrounding the recently revised 2257 regulations. Valenti attributes this to not only NakedSword’s presence as an industry leader, but to the industry’s willingness to forge on in spite of increasingly conservative popular opinion.
“Despite all the government intrusion, it’s a very exciting time for the industry,” he says. “As the political situation has shifted and become less tolerant of sexuality, it’s become a badge of honor to work in adult. We not only see the effect of free speech—we are essentially the front lines of free speech. No one – left or right – is all that interested in defending our right to watch porn. For me, it’s a matter of pride [to do so].”
Of course, when it all boils down to it, Valenti says, NakedSword has been a tremendous success mostly due to the marriage of its content with its chosen medium. “I really do believe we’re creating a new kind of company—a company that is as dedicated to the films we show as we are to the technology,” he asserts. “Most companies don’t seem to realize that the medium shapes the message. People consume adult content differently on the Internet than they do on DVD.
“Sure, everyone’s still masturbating,” he continues with a chuckle, “but what they are looking for – whether it’s more scene-based cinema or a more diverse approach to sexuality and fetish – is being constantly shaped by the Internet. And we’re very attuned to that.”
