A story is born every minute in the crowded aisles of the Adult Entertainment Expo. Here are some highlights and news bytes.
New Beginnings' extra-large booth in the B2B Marketplace is completely empty today except for a single sales rep holding down the fort. Seems the mega-distributor (videos and novelties) is having its annual Super Saturday Sales Spectacular in a ballroom of the Venetian Hotel. It draws hordes of retailers, not only for the deals but for brunch and dinner, too.
The Shane's World crew is drawing a steady stream fans to the booth of New Sensations (as if they needed help), the distributor of their porn goes-to-college tapes. Fan fave Calli Cox, now working only behind the camera, is signing and hugging. Co-owner Jenny Grant tells me that in College Invasion 3, shot in Buffalo, "all the [college] guys were [HIV] tested, so this is the first time they actually have sex with the [porn] girls." The girls include Ashley Blue and Cytherea. Lucky guys.
Puritan, a long way from their headquarters in Allentown, PA, has their prime pornographer, Jewel De'Nyle (Babes in Pornland), signing for them. They don't seem too upset by her announcement that she will stop shooting for them after Vol. 6 of her new line, Fresh Porn Babes, in order to devote more time to her own company, Platinum-X-Pix. They're just about to release Vol. 1 of Fresh Porn Babes, so they have enough of her product in the can to last a while. They also release Puritan Video Magazine once a month.
Ric Williams, CEO of Private U.S.A. wants to correct the erroneous impression that Avy Scott is signing for anyone but them. She was their exclusive for AEE, as was Kelly Marie. Both are featured in Cadillac Highway, Axel Braun's first feature for the company. As for their European productions, they're about to shoot a half-million-dollar movie in France set during World War II, with a new Italian director. And they've just released a double-DVD "Collector's Edition" of Cleopatra. On the gonzo front, they're pleased to have Skeeter Kerkove on the team. The first of his 12-picture deal is A Woman's Ass Is a Beautiful Thing. Jasmine Lynn, one of its stars, has been signing at the booth. After the show, Williams says, she plans to retire from the biz.
Pure Play has the glamorous Ninn Worx girls...Anais, Wanda Curtis, Angel Cassidy and Georgia Adair...and that makes their booth extra special. Agent-manager Lucky Smith, of Risque Business, tells me that Dee is coming in that afternoon to add some extra firepower. His client Anais stars in In the Garden of Shadows, a Pure Play January release. He calls it "classic Michael Ninn."
But it's the rowdy, top-heavy, not young babes from Score Videos, which Pure Play distributes, that are making crowds form on the other side of the booth. Minka, Kayla Kleavage, Pamela Peaks, Vixen LaMoore show a lack of inhibition the size of the mammoth mammaries. Lucky tells me they swig from quarts of Jack Daniels during their breaks. The fans can't seem to get enough of them.
The Scores girls are an echo of what Seymore Butts' Tushy Girls used to be like when Alisha Klass led the pack a few years ago. This year Seymore's crossover success with the Showtime series Family Business is the star. Mari Possa and Flower, both of whom appear in it, are pretty but downright demure. They share the stage with Seymore's Cousin Stevie, who's about to come out with his own self-titled hardcore gonzo line.
Pure Play has picked up North American distribution of Erotic Media, the Europorn giant from Switzerland, and it will also distribute a new line of videos from legendary sex photographer Suze Randall, along with reissues of her films from the '80s.
David Brett's Passion Pictures has a small booth but it seems to suit him just fine. He has Rebecca Love and Felicia Fox signing. His big push is for Cheeks & Thong's Up in Stroke, a comedy with a rare appearance by Asia Carrera. It's about herbal ginseng laced with Viagra, not pot.
Brett has been in business since 1998 and all of the 14 titles he's released so far have been sold to In Demand pay-per-view. "TV is my first goal on every project," he says. That's why he's never done gonzo, just features. Up coming is Kelly's Heroes, plus From Prague with Passion, shot in the Czech Republic with three anal scenes, the most ever in a Passion picture.
Platinum X Pix. Larry Schwartz is the general manager (and part-owner Jewel De'Nyle's dad). He's excited about how far the company has come in just a little over six months. "I never expected a positive cash flow in less than a year," he enthuses. He's happy that Jewel will be devoting more time to marketing, as well as shooting. Besides her, there are seven directors. Mason is the second woman. The six men are Sean Michaels, Brandon Iron, Julian, Michael Stefano, and dynamic Euros Manuel Ferrara and Steve Holmes. Stefano, soon to be named Male Performer of the Year by AVN, told me earlier that he has two new series ready to drop: Fully Loaded (internal pops in three holes) and Tease Me, Then Please Me.
Video X Pix is making its first AEE appearance. They have hit paydirt by putting classic movies on DVD. They ship five new old titles a month. Johnny Love, who runs the company with his brother, tells me that industry legend Arthur Marowitz, who owns the movies, showed up on the floor yesterday. "People were bowing to him," says Love. "He said, 'This stuff is more popular now than it was when I first released it.'" He can't get over the longevity of classic porn from the '70s and '80s. "This stuff has been mothballed and reused, mothballed and reused." From theaters to video to DVD, and the next step, he says, is Hi-Definition TV. "Since it was shot on 35mm film we actually have a shot at Hi-Def." The medium may change but the classics endure.
