Gene got an interesting phone call the other day from a woman who would not identify herself but had a few things to say about Hanco Entertainment, an Internet company and their business partner, Extreme Associates. She said she was a performer and was calling at the advice of Bill Margold and Dave Cummings. "Dave Cummings and I have been friends for quite a few years," she said. "I live in San Diego. I'm contracted to an Internet company [Hanco]. I was going up once a month, sometimes three times a month [to LA] to pay my bills. I'm trying to get out of the business. I was scheduled to shoot and found out that Extreme Associates was going to be on the set. I don't really care to be affiliated with that company for personal reasons. I've come to find out that the guy I was supposed to be shooting with was in the business for several years and has made a good name for himself, he backed out as well. Bottom line is, when I started to quiz the company a little bit more, they had merged with Extreme Associates a month and a half ago."
Mystery woman: "Hanco has actually treated me very well. I will give them that. They treated me extremely well. They were very pleasant to work with. I had guaranteed work once a month. They offered me 20% of net sales which I think is a little hard to offer unless I have my nose completely in their business to know what they're selling. They're very patient with me in that I live down here and have a 10 year-old girl and have to make arrangements to get up there. But once I found out that Extreme was involved I didn't want to be affiliated with that."
G. Ross: "You don't have a problem with Hanco?"
MW: "No I don't. But the thing of it is, I think that they have lied to people by not informing me a month and a half ago that they merged with Extreme. What they were doing was photo layouts and shooting video. At this point, if Extreme has merged with them, they can do whatever they want to with the videos that have been shot and the stills."
G. Ross: "This is not unusual. Web companies are merging with video companies but it's not always announced on a daily basis."
MW: "That's fine. I know the cost of working with Extreme from what they have done to Tiffany Mynx, Van Damage. I understand in this business your live is pretty much an open book, but my point being is that Hanco is not informing people that they've merged. People can go work for this company and not realize they're working for Extreme and I feel that's very dishonest."
G. Ross: "You didn't say who you were."
MW: "I really don't want my name to be affiliated with it."
G. Ross: "I have to attach some kind of credibility to this story."
MW: "You have to understand that I'm afraid I'm going to get huge, bad press out of this that they're going to do something with my footage. I have a little girl that I have to think about. She does know what I do to a point but there's no way I can afford to do that. I will tell you my name."
G. Ross: "You have worked in the business?"
MW: "I've worked in the business off and on for four, almost five years now. And I have worked with Tom Byron before. I have no ill feelings for Tom. My only concern is that the next young starlet is going to work and not realize they're working for Extreme or that somebody who is bigger in the business will do photo layouts for this company and not realize that they're affiliated with Extreme."
G. Ross: "So what is your personal gripe with Extreme that this sets you off."
MW: "This company [Hanco] is paying us a lower rate than what Extreme would pay talent. They're offering $500 for the girls and $350 for the guys - for a photo shoot. Which is fine. But they're also shooting video while we're shooting stills, and we're told that this video is used to do digital photos. I have to get a hold of my contract."
G. Ross: "Is this hardcore?"
MW: "The shoot that I did was."
G. Ross: "Why would you do a hardcore shoot for less than what you would normally shoot it for?"
MW: "I was contracted to these people and I trusted them."
G. Ross: "Forget who you're working for, you still charge a certain amount of money, isn't that correct?"
MW: "Yes. That's irrelevant to me. My point is this, they're not telling people that Extreme is a part of their company. Basically, if somebody doesn't want to work for Extreme, they're going to end up working for them, like I did, without my knowledge. That's why I'm upset. I will not work for that company, period."
G. Ross: "It sounds like there's bad blood between you and Extreme."
MW: "There's no bad blood between me and them. I have no ill feelings towards Tom Byron. I don't know Rob Black. All I know is what you guys put in the AVN about the stuff they said about Tiffany Mynx, Van Damage, the videos they've put out. I don't want to be affiliated with a company like that."
G. Ross: "You have worked for Extreme?"
MW: "No, I never worked for Extreme. I worked for Tom when he was at Elegant Angel before all the controversy started. To be really honest, Bill Margold's the one who told me to call you and I called Dave Cummings before that. I mainly work behind the scenes, now. I'm trying to get out of the business. My concern, again, is that somebody will go and work for this company and not realize they're shooting for Extreme. My concern is, if I tell you what my stage name is, all of a sudden something happens to me. I'm trying to back out of the business when my kid hits junior high."
G. Ross: "How long have you been working for Hanco?"
MW: "Ever since they started, three months ago. I shot at least three times each month. They treated me very well, I just feel that they're very secretive by not informing me that they went into business with Extreme. I think that's something that people should be let on to know and have that option if they want to work for that company or not. I feel really bad. I know that this comes off as hearsay, but I don't know what else to do."
Rob Black was grilled about the mysterious cabal that is Hanco and Extreme Associates.
"Within a year we're going to be bigger than Babenet," Black predicted. These guys [Hanco] are for real. They're going to rule the Internet as far as content, live sex feeds, shopping carts, shit like that. Pretty soon you're going to be able to talk to Tom Byron or Ashlyn Gere live or go on a set with Rob Black. We'll have live wrestling shows. Hanco knows what they want to do and how to go about doing it. They're renegade outlaws like us, and they're breaking everybody's balls." Black said Extreme will be at Hanco's booth for the IA2000 show. So much for secrecy.
Asked why he's been keeping, at least for him, a particularly low profile as of late, Black said, "I'm more worried about making my company bigger. I can't let all this bullshit disrupt my flow. We've wasted a year on frivolous bullshit and we could have had so much more accomplished by now. We're doing so much stuff these days, and I've become very boring by not doing dope and spilling off at the mouth. But these people who keep coming up with all these bullshit stories about Extreme, are they putting money in my pocket? I don't think so."
Black says once his wrestling tape distribution deal is set in place, he may be looking at 30,000 pieces of an item moving through chain stores like Target, Tower and Suncoast Video. "That sure beats 3,000 pieces of a buttfuck tape," he says.
Black says his ultimate goal is to own a sports franchise. "Buying into a football team - that's the pinnacle," he says. "The wrestling thing will be off and running, but this is my goal. It's like the WWF wanting to own a Canadian football team."
