Bonnie Kail, one of the top sales professionals in adult entertainment, told AVN.com Tuesday she is leaving her position at Heatwave Entertainment for a similar role at the newly launched Platinum X Pictures.
Kail handled all the domestic sales for Heatwave for the past five years. She will make the move to Platinum X, which is co-owned by Michael Stefano, Jewel De'Nyle, Manuel Ferrara, Brandon Iron and Steve Holmes, on March 10.
"The role will be basically handling all the sales and marketing, beyond that, I don't know. Whatever they need me to do, I'll be doing. It's the ground floor. I feel good about it. Mike has a great reputation," Kail said.
"... It's always difficult to leave any place. You become like family. I already told (Heatwave) I'll do whatever it takes to make the transition work for both of us. I adore them. But I'm very excited to be starting something from the ground up. This is very good for me professionally."
Kail's career in adult has spanned nearly 20 years. She got her start with Caballero Video selling films to mom & pop stores before she took an opportunity at Las Vegas Video and remained there for the next 10 years.
One of the people she met along the way was Red Light District co-owner Dion Giarrusso, who is a consultant for Platinum X and helped make the connection happen.
"I'm acting as a consultant to Platinum X Pictures and part of my job is getting the right people to do sales and shipping and other stuff," Giarrusso told AVN.com. "A lot of people don't know the value of treating this like a business and it is a business. You could have the greatest directors and the greatest talent and boxes, but if you don't have the right person selling, I don't think you can make it.
"She has relationships. It's a saturated market. ... They need someone who can get you in the door."
Giarrusso added, "Michael Stefano is a good friend and Brandon: I like him, having worked with him over here. I'm going to do whatever I can to help them."
Kail said she was "flattered" that Giarrusso considered her in that regard.
"I was grateful that he thought enough of me to put us together. I have a lot of respect for Dion," she said. "How many people in the course of a year can build up something that fast?"
Stefano told AVN.com Tuesday that his company will release its first title, I Love It Rough, on April 1, followed by Teens Revealed on April 15. And starting in May, Platinum will hit the streets with one title a week.
"I hear nothing but great things about Bonnie Kail," Stefano said. "I hear she's the best in the business and the best in the business deserves to be with other bests in the business."
Meanwhile, Kail's journey has just taken another interesting turn.
"It's been a pretty good trip. I met a lot of people along the way. Not very many people can say they go to work and talk to their friends all day," she said.
