Back in January, 2005, adult Websites lit up with the fact that not one but two major industry players were leaving their top-level jobs at Larry Flynt Publications, Inc.: LFP president Jim Kohls, and Mark Hamilton, executive VP in charge of LFP's video division.
"I left [LFP] really to set up my own business," Kohls explained. "I thought there was a need in the video business for a distributor that really focused on the clients, and I thought we were filling a major void that had developed in the industry."
So Kohls and Hamilton, who'd maintained tight relationships with some of the top names in adult video production while at LFP, spent the first six months of 2005 laying the groundwork for what would become Pulse Distribution (pulsedistribution.com), and on Aug. 5, dropped a double bombshell by officially opening the doors of the new company and announcing that they'd snagged the exclusive North American distribution contract for the entire line of Falcon Studios titles, including Falcon, Jocks, Mustang, Falcon International, Falcon Anthologies and Alone With, plus Falcon's novelty line.
That was then; this is now: Kohls announced that as of July 28, 2006, Pulse was moving to a new 30,000 square foot building and increasing its staff to 25 employees, in part to be able to better service its newest client, Vivid Video, which had previously been distributed by Kohls' old boss LFP.
"I wasn't involved in why Vivid and LFP parted," Kohls noted, "but I had the opportunity to take on Vivid's distribution, and of course, Howard Levine and his staff are coming on board as well. The Vivid people have always been with Vivid. When Vivid moved over to Hustler, they were with Vivid, and now that Vivid's moving, they're continuing to follow Vivid, really, and that's taking place effective August 1st."
"Howard's just a hugely respected guy in the industry," Hamilton added, "and he really is very important to keeping Vivid successful, and obviously along with Vivid, we'll also have the distribution for ClubJenna and Teravision, too, which are major brands in themselves. ClubJenna is going to be increasing their volume, and I think Playboy, with the acquisition now, is going to step up and start creating more content."
"We're at about 24 brands now," Hamilton summarized. "Having Falcon Studios as our first major brand really put us on the map, and since that's such a well-respected name in the industry, it helped establish us right away as a credible company, and because of them, a lot of studios may have felt a greater comfort level in dealing with us. I also think Jim's reputation in the industry — he was with Hustler about 20 years, and he's developed such a good reputation in the industry that I think a lot of companies felt pretty secure with that."
Beyond its two superstars (Vivid and Falcon), Pulse currently has a nearly equal mix of straight and gay companies in its portfolio, including Burning Angel Entertainment, Sineplex, ClubDVD, Swank Digital, InPulse Pictures, Lennox Films, Sinsational and its latest acquisition, VIP.
"You know how popular Bang Bros. have become?" Hamilton asked. "Our newest client, VIP, is probably in the top three in that area. They're the guys that do MILF Hunter and 8th Street Latinas and some very popular Websites. MILF Hunter is the number one MILF site; if you look at the Alexa rankings, they outrank Bangbus."
On the gay side, Pulse distributes Euro-based Blue Lights View, StraightCollegeMen.com, Devil's Door, High Octane, Massive Studio, Sinemale, and "true lesbian" producer Erocktavision.
Also, in the grand tradition of adult distribution companies, Pulse has created its own line of features for distribution, Pulse Pictures, and currently distributes Cytherea Productions and Jekyll & Hyde Productions under that banner as well as the titles Pulse produces itself.
"I would actually say that right now, since we've added Vivid, we have a perfect mix," Hamilton assessed.
Indeed, Kohls said the company isn't actively seeking any new clients.
"We've got a lot to digest with Sineplex and Vivid," he explained. "The key is bringing in the proper number of salespeople for each line, so if we take on an additional client, we make sure we have the additional staffing so that client can be treated properly."
"We definitely adjust our infrastructure to accommodate growth," Hamilton detailed. "I think a lot of companies experience major growing pains if they assume they can just pile more and more work onto their employees. Everyone has a breaking point, so we will continue to add people to help manage the growth. And as far as Vivid goes, we are not only bringing on their sales staff, but a number of other people, too."
As Hamilton and Kohls see it, service is the key to keeping their clients happy.
"All of our current salespeople have experience within the industry," Kohls noted, "but we get them familiar with the product, have them meet with the particular client, review all the products as well as what they're coming out with and what they've got in their library."
"Depending on our relationship with a studio, we represent the studio not just for DVD but also in the international market, and for broadcast and wireless rights as well," Hamilton added. "So because we offer a full service, I think we're able to become even more educated about a company than, let's say, a pure DVD distributor, and also, we get very good feedback from hospitality video providers and wireless companies as to what works for which company. We also work very hard at maintaining good communication with the studios, so we're always letting the studios know how their movies are doing."
"We operate as openly as the company can," he continued. "We know a lot of people try to protect their customer lists, but we feel that if we've developed a good relationship with a studio, and we've developed sort of a bond of trust with them, then we want them to know, even if it's a question of, are their titles doing better in the New York market versus the L.A. market? We want to be able to work with them to see how they can improve their market performance, and we're not afraid to share information with the studios; we're not paranoid about the information we have, and we want them to be as informed about how their movies are doing as we are."
Hamilton was careful to note that Pulse doesn't license rights to Europe; it sells only finished DVDs.
"I think there have been a number of companies that have not had great experiences with licensing," Hamilton explained, "and they have no control over who's replicating their product and where that product's ending up, so we work with certain distributors in Europe to make sure we can drive as many DVD sales of our clients' products as possible."
"I would say if there's one thing I would like to try to get across," Hamilton stressed, "it's that any retailer or distributor that is buying movies from us can be assured of high quality and attention to detail in every movie we represent. We've tried to cover as many niches as possible, but we're always focusing on the best studios in each niche. So if it's being distributed by Pulse, we really feel that we can stand behind the quality of the releases."
Pulse Distribution's offices are located at 9640 Owensmouth Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311. For more information, contact 818.428.6606, email [email protected] or [email protected], or visit the Website at pulsedistribution.com.
