CHATSWORTH, Calif. - Tom Byron is a happy man. The SD (standard digital) version of his Seasoned Players 6 has finally hit the street, more than two weeks after the Blu-ray went out through Evolution Distribution.
There were some authoring glitches that had to be corrected in the SD discs, and since this is Tom Byron Pictures' top-selling line, the veteran actor-director wanted everything to be perfect, even going so far as to recall copies that had already been shipped.
"It's my strongest series," Byron told AVN. "Good sales. The hit of the company. I don't want to say that it redefines the MILF genre, but I've definitely given it a different direction, just by doing interviews... just the conversation. People like my dad, they love the talking. They want to hear what's in a girl's head."
He points to Seasoned Players 6's all-star lineup: Shayla LaVeaux in her first scene in several years; Brittany O'Connell in the first anal scene of her own comeback; Julia Ann, her first time with Byron even though they're old friends; Stephanie Swift and Rachel Love. "To be honest, that's not a cheap cast."
Still thinking about the re-replication needed for the movie's SD discs, he shakes his head. "When you put that kind of stuff together-and it comes together just the way you want it, even better..."Then he adds, "But the Blu-ray is phenomenal."
It was Byron's first release on Blu-ray, and he says of the format, "it's gonna take a while for people to get used to it. I don't think at this point that we're ready to do simultaneous with everything we release, but [sales are] pretty strong."
His bestselling edition of Seasoned Players, still being re-ordered, is Vol. 2, which featured his first anal sex scene with eternal fan favorite Nina Hartley, preceded by a long, intimate chat. Hartley also appears-"eatin' ass"-in Vol. 17 of Byron's Ass Eaters Unanimous, the only series anywhere devoted to that particular genre.
Also on TBP's production schedule is Lord of Asses-he just finished Vol. 13 with Sasha Grey. "There's not that many A-list nice girls that do anal. A lot of girls are just doing vag, which is great, but I can't put it in a series called Lord of Asses. "
He just came up with a new, non-anal series as a counterpart/companion piece: King of Coochie. He shoots the first scene, with Shayne Ryder, this week. And he has wrapped production on House of Ass 10, with only one anal scene (with Mina Leigh), "just because I want to shoot some of these girls that don't do anal."
For his anal scenes, he says, he needs "a certain type, kind of Girl Next Door, who look too pretty to take it up the butt-like Sasha. Girls like her just come along every once in a while."
Byron recently acted in Gray's upcoming Vivid vehicle, Throat: A Cautionary Tale, the long-awaited Deep Throat remake. "Me and Penny Flame play cops. We did Layout and Throat, you know, as a team." They also appeared in the Paul Thomas-directed scene in the on-again off-again omnibus salute to late director Henri Pachard. Shot in a bathroom, it was a follow-up to their AVN award-winning sex scene in Layout. He laughs. "We're becoming the Tracy and Hepburn of porn."
At 47, Byron says, he's doing exactly what he wants to do, which is "have girls come to my house and fuck ‘em. I edit it. I can actually make money that way. And they [Evolution Distribution] make money cuz it's selling.
"It's kind of a risky thing, running a company where you're the only male talent. But it works. My stuff is shot well, edited well, the girls are pretty, but really, what do I have that separates it from the pack? And that's me as a performer. That's why I got into the business-to perform-and it just works.
"It is very encouraging to know that in this economy I can make something that people will respond to and actually buy."
For sales of Tom Byron Pictures, call Adam Hasner at (609) 426-1777, ext. 228, or email [email protected].
