Speaking of Serenity, the friendly Wicked contact star proudly displayed samples from Las Vegas Novelties, the adult novelty company she started last summer, at CES 2000, saying the company's success and growth are coming along in steady steam. "Our technical startup was (last) June," says Serenity, "but we went to the AVN adult show and had a presence there, then started shipping our products in late September and early October." And she says the company has had "great response" since then. "People love the colors of our products, the different things we've done," she continues, pointing to a wall of what you might call neon gelled dildos on display at CES 2000. There are five different ones in different colors, chosen by each of five adult film stars, Serenity herself and four others who have contracted to endorse and help design the devices: Jewel deNile, Angel Vail, Heather Bankx, and Jaklin Lick with a fetish line. "Each girl got to pick out their favorite color," Serenity says, pointing to her own Kiwi Mint green dildo on display. "We've had great response from the industry, and we have great response to our Web site (www.lvni.com), where you can find more information…like where to find our products, that's the newest thing we're doing." Was it difficult for Serenity to branch out from adult talent to businesswoman and designer? "Well, (it wasn't difficult) necessarily starting my own business," she says, swaying as she does when enthused, "because being talent you are a product, and so, thus, you are a business. Meaning, you have the same type of paperwork and guidelines." But being talent also means selling oneself, whereas this is selling a product other than oneself. "That's true," she continues, "but this is a product that I make, I manufacture this, I package this, I'm very proud of it. So, actually, it's a lot easier to sell because…I don't have to be modest about it." And she laughs. What gave her the idea? "The other toy companies were either giving really bad deals for endorsements, or, you know, it was either 'here's your penny' or 'here's good publicity'. And I didn't like that. I wanted to be really involved in the development of the product, and not give some kind of endorsement to a product I wouldn't even use myself." She ran into Mark Goodman, who wanted likewise, and the pair became partners in Las Vegas Novelties. "It wasn't too bad, wasn't too expensive to start," she says. "It's easy when you're being efficient, and I had a background, actually, in production efficiency and quality control, I had worked in production lines before in a plastics and paint coating field, so I kind of had an idea of what I was getting myself into, anyway." But aren't there those who might consider adult film itself a kind of production line business, given so much product brought forth each month, if not year, and quality control therefore being critical, in more ways than one? "Well, production line is more of a thing where different steps are taken care of by different people along the line, for the same product," Serenity says. "I guess you can compare it to (adult film), but it's not truly a production line until you get into duplication, and boxing, and that sort of thing." Serenity isn't worried that Las Vegas Novelties will detract too much from her film career - and neither should her fans, she says. She now has the freedom from heavy touring that she says she needs in order to concentrate on projects that she prefers to do, as well as mainstream opportunities she says are beginning to look more promising this year. "We're looking at some bigger projects coming up this year," she says of her Wicked deal. "Including a project with Michael Zinn which I'm very excited about. I'll just keep plugging along. More good stuff."
All models were at least 18 years old at the time of their performance. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement.
