LOS ANGELES - The 2008 F.A.M.E. Awards are coming up fast, and adult stars are heating up the campaign trail in the competition to win fan votes. AVN spoke to some of this year's top contenders about what the consumer-based awards mean to them and how they are steering fans to the online polls.
"It is very special to win an award chosen by the fans, because these people buy your movies and make you who you are," said Digital Playground superstar Jesse Jane, who will co-host the awards show June 7 at Erotica LA. "If it wasn't for your fans you wouldn't be anybody."
The F.A.M.E. voting process begins with pre-nominees in categories such as Favorite Female Rookie, Favorite Oral Starlet, and Dirtiest Girl In Porn. The top vote-getters in each category become the finalists, and the slate is then wiped clean and the voting begins again to determine the winner.
"As great as it is to be honored by your peers in award shows like AVN, XRCO, and others, the true test of who is hot and who is not is the fans," said Tera Patrick. "I just love my fans and I thank them for their support. I will never turn my back on this industry, as it has made me who I am today, and helped me to have an amazing life. I know that I have won awards that I feel someone else may have been better suited to win, and definitely been passed over on lots of awards that I feel I deserved to win. The fans have their own opinions, and I guess the F.A.M.E. Awards can be looked at as the world's sexiest popularity contest. When hundreds of thousands of people vote, you can't mess with that!"
Stormy Daniels won for Favorite Breasts in 2007 and 2006. This year she is up for three awards, including Favorite Director and her Wicked comedy epic, Operation Desert Stormy, is up for Favorite Feature Movie. She sees the F.A.M.E. Awards a true barometer of her success as an adult actress.
"Fan voting is truly based on what the consumer likes most and wants to see," said Stormy. "Winning a fan favorite award is the highest compliment."
One need to look no further than the websites and other Internet forums to see just how seriously adult stars take these nominations.
Courtney Cummz took the 2007 award for Best Anal Starlet and placed as a finalist in the same category this year. In an attempt to win back-to-back backdoor honors, Cummz has changed the name of her MySpace page to 'Courtney Cummz Vote For Me In The Fame Awards.' She also posted a video on YouTube.com urging her fans to visit the F.A.M.E. website and show their appreciation for her anal prowess.
Digital Playground created their own group on MySpace and Yahoo dedicated to getting votes for their eight nominations for DP contract stars and movies. They're even doing a contest where the winner can get a phone call from one of their stars. Tommy Gunn's page opens to a photo of Mr. Gun beneath the F.A.M.E. logo as he asks for your vote in the Favorite Male Star category. You can't log on to a social networking site this time of the year without seeing bulletins, blogs or user names of stars where they are stumping for votes.
The Internet is a tool that Tera Patrick finds invaluable in her quest to take home the prize on June 7th. "I tell everyone wherever I go to vote for me at the F.A.M.E. Awards. Between my website, Terapatrick.com, and my social networking pages, press and PR teams, as well as our strategic partnerships, we reach a lot of people."
Belladonna, who also received multiple nominations, has her own approach to promotion.
"If anybody knows me, they know that I care about my fans," she said. "I would rather receive an award from people who actually buy my product over a panel of people who get paid to watch my movies any day. It's very important for me to be a finalist because getting awards shows appreciation and it makes me feel grateful for all of the hard work I put into my productions. The only thing I do to help get my fans motivated to vote is to let them know about the voting. And I tell them to do what they think is deserved. I don't tell them to vote for me in every category, I tell them to vote for the girl they really believe deserves that award."
Jenna Haze encourages fans to vote for her in her MySpace blog and her Yahoo! fan group. "The fans are what make us stars," she said. "I wouldn't be here without my amazing fans! So the fan awards are special in that way. Being a finalist in the FAME awards is important to me..I have three awards ceremonies that I am all about-F.A.M.E. for the fans, the XRCO awards (critics), and of course, the AVN awards (critics/fans/friends/industry)."
Aside from campaigning to win votes, adult stars know the best way to win over the fans is to continue making hot and nasty movies. And with keeping their fans satisfied at the top of all these star's priority lists, we can all look forward to lots of great movies for years to come.
Fans still have time to vote at thefameawards.com.
