LOS ANGELES—Last month, a new adult industry talent agency announced its arrival by signing its first contract with a performer, Clarissa Cox. But the name behind the Starxxx agency, Todd Supro, was an unfamiliar one on the professional porn scene.
In an interview with AVN, he introduced himself as “an East Coast guy,” originally from New Jersey. But Supro, who is married with two children, has resided in Los Angeles for 17 years. He has been an attorney, and “businessman for a multi-million dollar family-run self-storage business with sites in SoCal and Colorado.”
How does a lawyer make the transition from the self-storage business to the adult industry? As it turns out, storage was, in fact, Supro’s ticket into the business.
“I have a family friend who works for Devil's Film and we were approached about five years ago by Devil's and Jim Powers to shoot a self-storage parody movie which became Storage Whores Orgy, which was nominated for an AVN Award in the parody category,” he told AVN. Following that production, “I stayed in close contact with Jim. I decided I wanted to start my own business and always thought I would make an excellent agent due to my communication and networking skills.”
He started the Calabasas-based TAG Talent—which does business under the name Starxxx—in January.
“I opened STARxxx to help develop and promote new talent and assist them with creating their brand and image in the industry,” he says. “I've always been fascinated by the industry. Like most men, I grew up watching porn from my adolescence into adulthood. I was drawn by the freedom and exhibitionism of the performers. It always intrigued me that a new starlet could enter the biz and work her way up to become a brand name and a contender in the industry.”
Supro says that he plans to emphasize a “personal approach” to guiding the careers of his clients. To that end, he is looking to build a roster of no more than 25 “or so” performers, giving him “the ability to personally attend to each clients needs and goals in a tailored approach that meets their needs.”
But even though the size of his roster will be limited, Supro plans for his client list to be “diverse.”
“I am looking to sign a wide array of talent to appeal to a wide audience base. For a female performer, it's important to have the ‘girl next door’ types like Clarissa Cox as well as others like the archetypal MILF performers,” he explained in his comments to AVN. “So I am looking to sign women of different ages, backgrounds, etc. I want to have a diverse agency—different hair-colored performers, different bodies, different looks, etc. For my male signings, I am also looking for diversity. And of course hard cocks are always a plus.”
In addition to the “personal approach,” Supro emphasized that “high ethical standards” is also one of his guiding principles.
“By high ethical standards, (I mean that) STARxxx will operate with integrity and ethics in mind,” he says. “My clients will be prompt to their shoots, dependable, stay out of legal troubles, etc. Unfortunately, there has been a stain to the talent agency business in the past due to scandals, etc. Here at STARxxx, we're operating in an upright and honest fashion.”
