We're not in Las Vegas, that's for sure. The street names are all familiar from the Monopoly® board, and the deserted sidewalk between the hotel and the Atlantic City Convention Center is studded with sea-air-tarnished brass plaques commemorating every Miss America since Margaret Gorman won the crown in 1921, no doubt serenaded by Bert Parks. Every morning, buses bring in loads of senior citizen New Yorkers, looking sad-eyed and beaten when they walk into the casinos. \n AVN Publisher Paul Fishbein... well, never mind what he said, but suffice it to say he doesn't like the place much either. \n On the mainstream side of the East Coast Video Show, held at the Convention Center here October 6-8, surprisingly modest booths from big powerhouses like Fox, Paramount and Buena Vista Home Entertainment (embracing Hollywood Pictures, Touchstone, and Miramax, as well as Disney) stand side by side with the small companies hawking children's videos and educational videos, plus toys, candies, popcorn, tanning beds, plastic bags, computer inventory systems, Website hosting, and other peripherals that help keep a video store running. \n In the adult section, another change from Las Vegas: The familiar Vivid booth (large, white, Formica) and Wicked booth (modular, varnished wood and steel) are nowhere to be seen. Instead, the high profile booths are run by distributors: Wicked contract player Serenity is one of a mob of 30 performers at the General Video of America booth, signing boxes and slicks behind a high table right next to Fallen Angel's Alexandra Silk and around the corner from Randy West, representing John Stagliano's Evil Empire. Across the room, at the International Video Distributors booth, Stacy Valentine signs for VCA, Midori signs for Video Team, and flashbulb pyrotechnics illuminate Jenna Jameson as she signs Wicked boxes for stores and poses for pictures with fans. Just inside the adult area entrance, Charlie and Shayla LaVeaux are signing at the ADI booth, surrounded by walls of sex toys. \n In another part of the room, production company/distribution company Metro Home Video is firing on all cylinders: There are TV monitors showing hardcore images from Metro videos, performers Melanie Stone, Houston and Wendi Knight are signing slicks, and one wall of the booth is filled with sex toys. Metro General Manager Greg Alves says that sales are good to other distributors, "and we're doing okay with stores too. This is primarily a PR thing, being here, but we're making sales as well." \n A large number of the attendees - estimates range from 60 to 80 percent - were from stores, so the fan-relations part of the business at ECVS is often the store-relations part of the business, with sweet middle-aged ladies walking up to Jill Kelly and asking her, "Please sign five of these slicks: We give 'em to our best customers." \n IVD sales manager Kim Gallagher said that ECVS was good for her company. \n "We're doing a lot of business. More stores, better quality, and the people do buy. Most of these people are in my backyard. I know them better here [than at other shows]. I'm a mile from here. People can come by the office." \n At GVA, Russ Katz echoed Gallagher's sentiments. \n "We're doing a lot of business. Thirty people signing gives us an opportunity to talk to people, and anybody who buys a tape is somebody I want to talk to. The more the merrier. \n "But we're not here to sell. This is not a store, although some of the girls are selling some of their tapes to people who come by. We want to get people to become customers. We're brand-building." \n Westridge Laboratories owner Gregg Haskell said he was doing the same for his I-D Lube brands. \n "We're just sending people to our distributors. People in video stores, the video business is getting into adult, and they need lube. They're right here." \n The video producers were happy, too. \n Wicked Pictures honcho Steve Orenstein, watching Jenna Jameson signing at the IVD booth, said, "It's good to see the consumers, and get feedback from the people." \n Dion Giarrusso of Elegant Angel felt the same way: "We meet a lot of people here at these shows. It's good PR." \n "We're doing a lot of sales to both distributors and stores," reported John Canter of Sunny Day Productions, who had one of his "Coeds" signing at his booth. "We did VSDA, but it's tough. You can't buy and sell over the counter like you can here. The nice thing is that we can sell videos; that's a buck in the pocket and we don't have to take them back to Ohio." Canter drove from his Ohio home base to the Atlantic City show. \n "We did better here than at the 1997 VSDA. It's rough at CES: You can't sell. We'd just be yelling at each other." \n And the retailers? \n "It's good for us," said Lee Reading, owner of Mauch Chunk Video in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. "It's our fifth year here. It's always informative, the seminars on legal issues. We have about 30 percent adult material; we don't have any legal problems, but it's nice to keep up." \n Cynthia Welshans, of W2 Entertainment, was also pleased with the show. "We've been to ECVS about four times. We're picking up B titles for our distribution network. We rackjob convenience stores throughout the mid-Atlantic area; each store has about 300 titles, and we rotate stock every four to six weeks. \n "There's more respect for rackjobbers now, here at the show. And hardcore is increasing the video trade." \n Greg Giannini, of Video Villa, a seven-store chain in Illinois, was disappointed that "there aren't as many mainstream producers this year." Video Villa is doing well with adult, but he is feeling some impact from competition from DSS dish offerings: "They impact the lighter stuff." \n Between the signings, the buying and the selling, and the parties (the Sands was reportedly Action Central during the show, seeing as the Ipanema Bar was inconveniently 2223 miles west) ECVS was time well spent.
All models were at least 18 years old at the time of their performance. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement.
