CANOGA PARK, Calif.—The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) is proud to announce Girlfriends Films as the recipient of its 2010 FSC Leadership Award.
“We’ve won awards for movies but nothing can be more satisfying than this one,” Girlfriends Films President Dan O’Connell said. “There’s no higher honor than being so prominently recognized as being the leader in the kind of exemplary work and innovation that the award stands for. This is a big industry and to be the company that receives this year’s award is just the best. I couldn’t be happier or more proud!”
The FSC Leadership Award goes to an adult company that exemplifies excellence and innovation in business practices. Girlfriend Films, which was founded in 2002, has a long history of fair businesses practices and philanthropy.
“We’ve made every effort to be a good neighbor to our business partners, models and fans,” O’Connell said. “As a company, Girlfriends Films has always made an effort to put a positive foot forward when it comes to our marketing, products, customer service and business dealings. In short, we’ve made a continuous effort to treat everyone with appreciation, consideration and respect.”
Girlfriends Films instituted its own anti-piracy efforts in response to distributors’ concerns over declining sales, and in the past nine months has taken down more than 20,000 URLs infringing on the company’s content. The company also has earmarked a portion of annual revenues to donate to various charities, as well as hosted fundraising events for several charities.
“Over the last several years, Girlfriends Films has not only created movies that are popular with consumers, but has also incorporated better practices and ethics in the way they do business,” said FSC Membership Director Joanne Cachapero, who added that the company has hosted many fundraisers for various charities over the years and continues to be a great role model for the adult community.
Aside from a strong anti-piracy stance, O’Connell and the company also are staunch supporters of protecting the rights of adults to enjoy adult entertainment.
“Though the adult industry’s mission is to make people happy and satisfy their private desires, there are always other people and groups who want to deny anyone’s access to our products, even though they are most often used in privacy. With attitudes held over from the dark ages, these folks have appointed themselves as Taliban-style ‘thought police’ and are never content to leave the rest of us alone. The Free Speech Coalition is the one group that is front and center in fighting for the rights of our industry and fans, and all of us should be actively supporting them,” he said.
“Girlfriends Films thanks the FSC for this award as well as what they’ve done for this industry,” O’Connell added. “Surely, this industry would have been outlawed out of existence without the FSC’s educational, lobbying and judicial efforts. It’s important that any of us who make or use adult products give them our support.”
The 2010 FSC Leadership Award will be presented to Girlfriends Films at the XBIZ Awards, to be held on Feb 10, at the Avalon Hollywood.
For more information on the FSC, please contact [email protected] or (818) 348-9373.
