SAN FRANCISCO—A trio of adult industry veterans have produced a short documentary on the birth of hardcore pornography in the late 1960s and early 1970s in San Francisco and have tapped into a fundraising site in order to raise enough capital to complete the project.
While researching a project on Falcon Studios founder and philanthropist Chuck Holmes, Michael Stabile, Ben Leon and Jack Shamama came across a 1971 New York Times article on the city and then-Supervisor Dianne Feinstein’s attempt to clean it up. The trio believed a short documentary on the beginning of the commercialization of porn would make for intriguing subject matter. Thus, Smut Capital was born.
The filmmakers spoke to many of the participants from that era of porn from adult theater operators to models and filmmakers to show how porn grew from stag films to the porno chic era. Now they are seeking additional financing to secure the rights to old news footage from the era.
In the 16-minute short, the filmmakers have used approximately five minutes of archived footage, which can cost up to $200 per second. Also, much of the footage was shot on old 16mm reels that need to be reconstituted and digitized.
“We’re using this archived footage to illustrate the city and the issues of the time,” director Michael Stabile told AVN. “We’ve used street scenes in San Francisco to news reports from Supreme Court cases that were going on; sometimes its footage from the films themselves. It’s very hard to find, it’s very expensive.”
The filmmakers are using Kickstarter.com, a social networking fundraising site that allows those seeking funding for projects, to solicit donations to their cause. The site is an all-or-nothing platform meaning that if the target funding goal isn’t reached, the money is returned to the benefactors.
To date, Smut Capital has secured 34 backers who pledged a total of $3,510. The filmmakers are seeking to secure a total of $5,000 by Nov. 4.
“We’re not doing this to get rich,” Stabile said. “We’re doing this to tell the story before it’s lost.”
While times are tough, the trio is hoping to meet its goal by offering advance copies, invitations to screenings and producer credits.
“Few people know the incredible story of the perverts who took the risks to create this industry,” says Stabile, “and I think most of us take it for granted. I’m just happy to give something back.”
Visit the Smut Capital site at SFSmut.com. To contribute towards the finishing of the film, visit the Kickstarter.com page where you also can view a clip for the documentary.
