The GAYVN Expo opened for business Thursday morning with a last-minute flurry of construction as finishing touches were put on many booths. "We were here till midnight last night," said Channel 1 Releasing's Rob Novinger of the GAYVN Expo's most elaborate booth, a wrap-around wall of giant photos of Rascal Video exclusives. "Who would've thought getting Johnny Hazzard up would have been so difficult?" he laughed.
John Rutherford and Tom Settle of COLT were also putting final touches on their booth whose corner spot resembles their "COLT Corner" product displays in many Virgin Megastores.
By the time customers started arriving, everyone was pretty much up and running and ready to do business. This third GAYVN Expo is the largest ever - in fact, all the exhibit space was sold out in the weeks before the event's opening day.
Returning exhibitors include AVI, whose new movie, Exercising Peter, is earning some bucks for owner Bob Spencer who disclosed a way to ship DVDs that prevents scratching if the disc slides around in the snapcase: He now ships all DVDs in single-disc envelopes inside the snapcase. "It costs a little more," said Spencer, "but it's worth it for customer satisfaction."
1 Distribution is back - and bigger. "We tripled our space over last year," said Kevin Zwernickow, president. 1 has also dropped lube and other products from its lines and is now concentrating only on distributing DVDs.
Factory Video also increased its exhibition space over last year. "I really wanted to show support for the new GAYVN Magazine," said co-owner Scott Morris who also provided space for his distributor AVNS and is bringing models to sign autographs and pose for photos with fans.
Steven Scarborough and Brent Smith of Hot House are once again on hand to rep their DVDs, plus calendars and a brand new hardcover photobook, appropriately titled Hot, of Hot House models published by Bruno Gmuender.
Oh Man! Studios, an AEE exhibitor of many years, returns for a first-time booth in the GAYVN Expo. Male Media One's booth is a little more elaborate this year with posters of its latest movies. TLA, which also has a larger booth in the straight section, is located in the GAYVN Lounge, a relaxed meeting area for companies to chat and do business. The StraightCollegeMen.com booth is once again attracting a lot of attention, thanks to its contingent of rowdy straight models.
Other returnees include novelty distributors Prerogatives, who carry the Michael Brandon Dildo (Michael will be at their booth Thursday to autograph and pose for photos), and the remarkable Dieux du Stade calendars and DVDs; On Top Productions, whose new distributor is Antigua; GAYVN sponsors Unzipped Video, and Cybersocket; and ManLine, the year-old, gay-themed bondage paraphernalia line by Sportsheets.
Though Titan Media has been a presence at GAYVN Expo for two years, this is the first year they have taken booth space. They are one of the companies that will have models autographing photos and chatting with fans. Helix Video, debuts this year with its Twink and Spanking DVDs, as does year-old Adonis, whose latest movie is Mike Donner's Star Crossed.
Among other new exhibitors are Fandaco, a Colorado-based twinkvid distributor that is rapidly making a name for itself with its new British imports and the Extreme Boyz line of twink BDSM; Double D, a two-month-old rubberwear, rim chair, and powertool dildos manufacturing company; and Whittall and Shon, a gay clothing company whose erotic sheer T's, jocks and undies will be modeled by very attractive Franco for the asking.
Friday will bring the first "fan's day," in which the relative quiet of the "trade only" opening day will be shattered. Be there!
