Jan Novak's history is a movie unto itself: After studying for a career in the hotel industry, he decided to become an assistant at an antiques shop, becoming a famous dealer at age 19. Then the Velvet Revolution came, as the Communist government of Czechoslovakia was overthrown in 1989 - ushering in a new era that presented Novak with opportunities he never thought possible.
While shooting with his camera as a hobby, he befriended William Higgins in the early '90s. Novak soon opened a gay club in Prague, followed by a gay sex shop and mail order business - and then he began publishing his first gay erotic magazines in the Czech Republic. "I was just buying material from other producers...I didn't think I could produce my own."
Soon, a friend convinced him to create his own photo production company, and Lukas Studios was born to give Novak's photography an outlet. His work caught the eye of Higgins' friend, George Mavety - owner of Mavety Media Group. Novak quickly saw his pictures in the pages of Playguy, Honcho, Torso, Mandate, and Inches. "I was shocked. I never thought my work could be published in worldwide magazines."
He initially resisted offers to produce videos...until the day he got a fax from Studio 2000 producers John Travis and Scott Masters, who asked him to come to the United States. "It was a trip that changed my life," Novak notes. "They were so friendly and good teachers...they brought me to the highest level of gay porn and gave me a chance to produce on my own. It was just destiny...I did what I enjoyed, and gay audiences liked it."
He was quickly nominated for a GAYVN Award and won a Grabby (Winning Ways took the 2001 award for Best International Video), and he continued working with Studio 2000 for two years to develop its international line with smash titles like Good and Bad, Strokes to Seduction, Criminal Intent, and The Back Room. Novak's photography experience helped him compose films - and had instilled in him an attention to all of the details. "Photography helps me to fantasize and change fantasy into reality on video."
During this time he met Bel Ami founder George Duroy and was hired as managing director of its Prague office when his Studio 2000 stint was up. "After three years...I was starting to miss doing my own production, my own directing...I felt it was time to go my own way."
So in the spring of 2004, Novak - a self-professed lover of nice asses - left Bel Ami and established Bubble B Entertainment, with hit Alluring Cumback its first release. "My style is romantic, vanilla sex," Novak notes, adding he would like to branch into slightly rougher projects in the future. "If there is chemistry between people having sex, then any part of sex is hot, even foreplay. Actually, somebody told me that I am a foreplay man. In my videos, I always have foreplay, and it is not just kissing."
The success has continued, with recent release Night Eyes getting strong notice. In addition to the main Bubble B titles, the company has the new Excellence Collection label, another high-budget line with the upcoming two-part Journey to Spain; the Boyhunt solo series; CzechGuys (directed by Novak's former actor Ruslan Peterko), with less story and a wider range of models; and Icaro, filmed in Brazil with local talent (directed by Brazilian director Cristian Ferrero).
Novak notes that the U.S. market is more stable, and that U.S. customers are more loyal and know what they want, as opposed to a fractured European market where each country presents different tastes and mentalities. "I would like to move our production beyond Czech borders.... My dream is to direct a movie with excellent U.S. models in the United States. I know how professional they are."
Coming up is all-sex film Side Dish and two new Icaro releases. In 2008, Novak plans to release four Bubble B titles (two from the Excellence Collection), and three each from the other lines. The company also plans to launch a membership area of its website and will also continue to produce exclusive gay and bisexual content for its Internet partners.
"I don't want to work with just Eastern European models. I want to mix models around the world, which we already did in Journey to Spain. I love variety in my life, and this is what I would like to see in my videos," Novak says, recalling his hit Meltdown for Studio 2000, in which he cast star Rafael Carreras for the first time, resulting in a hot Cuban/Czech pair of scenes. "That is what I like: variety, mixing something that people think is not possible. Great cocktails always include strange ingredients."
CONTACT INFO: BubbleB.com ; [email protected].
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