LAS VEGAS, Nevada—San Francisco-based Kink.com announced today that it has leased production and office space in Las Vegas, and has already wrapped production on its first two movies. Kink founder Peter Acworth says the crew encountered no issues, and that the way is paved for the fetish entertainment company to move additional production out of its San Francisco Armory headquarters should the controversial AB1576 condom bill pass the California state Senate next month.
“Vegas is looking more and more attractive as time goes by,” said the company founder. “The cost of doing business out there is lower. The resources are slowly moving there. It’s becoming easier and easier to do business … I think that a lot of companies are doing what we’re doing. They’re setting up satellite offices and getting their feet wet with Vegas as a potential place to shoot.”
In its statement, Kink.com added that nearly a dozen companies have established a firm presence in Las Vegas, and that others, including many based in Los Angeles county, have been shooting there temporarily in the wake of 2012’s Measure B condom law.
Kink’s move comes as AB1576, a bill that would make it a crime to shoot adult film without a condom, advances in the California legislature.
“While Nevada requires condoms for prostitution, because of contact with the untested general public,” read the Kink.com statement, “it has no such requirements for adult film, where all participants are regularly tested for STIs.”
The company also affirmed that AB1576 has been vehemently opposed by adult producers and performers, who complain that the bill strips them of important health protections and will ultimately drive production underground, resulting in less safe working conditions, and that performers have repeatedly asked the bill’s proponents to meet with them to craft worker-supported legislation, but have been denied.
“We don’t want to move out of California,” said Acworth, “but we will if we have to. This bill not only denies performers' choice; it would effectively render most existing adult film production illegal.”
A video interview with Acworth about the shoot is available on BehindKink's YouTube channel.
Image: Peter Acworth in front of the San Francisco Armory.
