Sean Carney, the former Hustler magazine research director, has assumed the responsibilities of Marketing Director for Hustler Video at its Porn Valley headquarters.
Carney will act as liason to the general press and industry trade publications, as well as coordinate video, online and retail promotions. He will report to the Hustler's Director of Video Sales, Craig Jelin.
Carney comes to Hustler after 18 months on the staff of Hustler magazine where he recruited amateur models for the publication's notorious Beaver Hunt section.
"I've moved from one dream job to another," Carney said.
The long-time resident of Cleveland, Ohio, relocated to Los Angeles in the fall of 2002 after nearly 10 years with publications like Midwestern underground rock newspaper U.S. Rocker and legal trade journal Ohio Lawyers Weekly.
"I'm a veteran of some pretty diverse publications, rock publications, a publication for lawyers, and then I worked at Hustler magazine. I'm still a features writer for Hustler," he said.
He told AVN.com he was working on a story on "the most beautiful women of broadcast news."
"I actually had to go and get cable," Carney said.
Carney also recently wrote features for Hustler on AVN Hall of Fame photographer Suze Randall, pirate radio, the FCC and controversial hardcore photo spreads of the 1970s.
As Hustler Research Director, he spent much of his time scouting for Beaver Hunt girls.
"I'd get their photos, evaluate their photos, talk to girls all over the world, especially girls from small town USA, rural areas, like a girl from Gunbarrel, Texas calling me up asking if her photo's OK, if you can see her razor burn," Carney joked.
Somebody had to do it.
"It was me, for about 10 months. I had a good 10-month run," he said.
Carney moved to LA without a job in October 2002, and by Dec. 9 he had landed at Hustler after responding to an ad in the Los Angeles Times for an editorial assistant.
"The reason I was so excited about working at Hustler is I've always tried to work at media outlets that are unusual or that are there to fight the power. This is a corporation that fights the power. It is one of those venues that appeals to my outlaw sensibilities," Carney said.
Carney, who accepted an academic scholarship to Case Western Reserve University, studied to be an art conservationist for three years.
But he said, "I couldn't hack the chemistry part of being an art conservationist." Carney says that Hustler Video is "a real underdog in some ways" that still has a lot to prove.
"We are about to release some of our best movies and it's exciting to be a part of that," he added.
Carney said that Hustler's June 29 release of Centerfolds 1 is "the best video we've ever done."
"It's really different. It's the ultimate photo shoot," Carney said. "… He's re-imagined the photo shoot as an almost theatrical happening. You feel the excitement."
