The porn biz is riddled with mysteries. Whatever happened to Debbie Does Dallas star Bambi Woods? What was John Holmes’ true role in the Wonderland murders? How could anyone in this industry have voted for Bush?
But one of the biggest mysteries of 21st Century porn is the true identity of one Robert Hill.
“Robert Hill is the true pornographer,” said Robert Hill Releasing (RHR) President Lynton Appleson. “He can fuck she-males. He can fuck guys with pussies. You can put anything in front of this guy, and he can create art.”
Each RHR title begins with the enigmatic voice of Hill laughing, proclaiming to be a “dirty bastard” and inviting viewers to send their information to Hill so they, too, can be dirty bastards just like him. Various images of Hill grace each box cover and print ad — bound and tied, for instance, on the cover of female domination title Pile Driver or serving up margaritas to promote Hill’s newest line, a BBW series from venerable director Wild Bill, called Big Boob Ranch.
But as public as Hill’s persona is, he’s not an easy man to track down.
“Roberto’s out there in Thailand,” Appleson proudly proclaimed, “out there searching for more, interesting human beings.”
Interesting human beings, indeed. The Robert Hill Releasing library of niche DVDs swells with a menagerie of interesting human beings that would make PT Barnum jealous: she-males, bisexuals, BBWs, squirters, contortionists, mother/daughter teams, midgets, hermaphrodites and female-to-male transsexual Buck Angel.
“We’re used to transsexuals,” Appleson explained, “but a transsexual man born a female? Instead of having the tit job, they get their tits taken away, shoot testosterone and they start growing beards. The voice starts to change. It’s unbelievable.”
Robert Hill first discovered Angel via the Internet and immediately brought him to the office for an interview. At first Angel was hesitant. He was afraid of being made out to be a freak. From the waist up, Angel looks like a man — muscular, hairy. But below the waist, he’s all woman.
“To Robert Hill, in this world there are no freaks,” Appleson explained. “So we brought him in, and Robert Hill banged out Buck’s Beaver straight away.” Although the gay men hired to bang Buck showed tepid interest in his female parts, the title was a Best Transsexual Release nominee at the 2006 AVN Awards Show.
“I don’t care what beautiful she-male was out there,” Appleson said with tongue-in-cheek, “it had never been done before. It was the first time ever, in our world, that somebody wanted to go on film and say, ‘Here I am. I’m a girl. I’ve changed into a guy.’ On that alone, Robert Hill is very upset.”
In the year-and-a-half since Buck’s Beaver, RHR has released More Bang for Your Buck and Buck’s Fever — and it seems the company has opened the door for female-to-male transsexuals. Van Diesel is Hill’s latest such discovery, and the first Van Diesel title, tentatively titled Van Deisel, is due out in September.
Robert Hill Releasing began roughly six years ago. “The company got started by Robert Hill shooting his own movies,” said Appleson. “And like most geniuses, he can only do one thing. He knows how to find these people, how to shoot it and how to be a true pornographer. But he just couldn’t distribute it. He couldn’t collect the money. He didn’t want to look at the bills.”
So in 2003, the enigmatic Hill approached Appleson with a library of 43 niche titles. And Appleson, an Englishman who isn’t afraid to pepper his dialogue with four-letter words, saw these various tranny and niche titles as a veritable goldmine.
“When you’ve got a beautiful 18-year-old chick that we all want to fuck, but there are 60 different companies releasing product with her all in the same week,” said Appleson, “we’re not going to feel that squeeze.” And in the 3-1/2 years that Appleson has been pushing Robert Hill product, the company has become synonymous with the niche market.
But a good deal of the company’s success relies in the marketing of the product as much as the product itself.
“Every company tries to bring out a she-male title,” Appleson explained, “but I think quality prevails in the end.” Appleson pointed out the expensive holographic foil used on the DVD box covers.
“When you walk into a store and see the lighting on this kind of foil, you’re walking up to it,” Appleson said. “That’s job number one — to get the customer to look at it. You can see we don’t fuck around with product. But of course, it’s business, and you can only spend so much on a movie. Otherwise you are never going to pull your money out. We spend as much as possible to give our customers what they deserve. There is a lot of money spent, for instance, when you have 30 she-males.”
Appleson was referring to the 30 she-males in Gangbanged by Transsexuals, one of RHR’s best-selling lines. Most of RHR’s transsexual titles are shot in Brazil, where AIDS is an enormous issue. But according to Appleson, great care is taken — at great expense — to make sure the performers are clean.
“Robert Hill stands in line with the she-males, gets AIDS tests, guards them and doesn’t let them out of his sight until he shoots them,” said Appleson.
“There are all sorts of quirky little things in the movies that give them an edge,” Appleson continued. “We’ve got a scene, for instance, where there’s a transsexual walking through a park and somebody runs out of the bushes, throws a big mattress on the ground, grabs the she-male and fucks the shit out of her. I mean it’s funny — a guy sneaking through a park carrying a mattress on his back.
“Robert Hill is funny, I’m telling you. The guy’s got a sense of humor.” Which is why, Appleson contended, his customers keep coming back. “They might check out this company or that company, but I believe Roberto’s doing the right thing.”
And apparently he has done the right thing, because marketing these niche products is not an easy business.
“The true gem of marketing is word of mouth,” Appleson explained. “The problem with our genre is that if you like a she-male movie, you’re probably not going to go up to your friend and say, ‘Dude, watch this fucking movie.’ Right?”
But that sometimes works in RHR’s favor. “I hear from stores that they sell a lot of the same titles because their customers throw them away,” said Appleson. “They don’t want the DVD hanging around. It’s not like a collection of beautiful chick movies. So they will go in and re-buy the same movie.” Which reinforces Appleson’s contention that quality is top-notch. “If you’re bringing out crap, which a lot of people do, they might move one or two titles,” he noted. “But as a consumer, I would never buy it again, not with the flood of product out there.”
One such retailer who is a big fan of RHR product is Mark Franks, president and CEO of the Tempe, Ariz.-based Castle Megastore chain.
“Robert Hill delivers. And as a result, my customers keep coming back for more of their titles,” Franks said, adding that he considers RHR titles “must stock items.”
In order to maintain the image of high-quality product, Appleson insisted that he never drops his price. “We don’t have any catalog titles,” he said. “There are no $2-3 Robert Hill titles. Everything is held at a price, and none of the footage is made into compilations. We could bring out some beautiful comps, but no. All of our DVDs are original. We don’t want to cheat our customers.”
As of late, RHR has been attracting quality directors on the straight side, too. Skeeter Kerkove recently got on board with titles like Big Tit Ass Stretchers, The Contortionista and I Eat Cum From My Ass. And Axel Braun has released the first two volumes of his Lord of the Squirt line through RHR.
“We don’t do many straight titles unless there’s a quirk to it,” said Appleson. “That’s what Robert Hill is all about.”
But while Robert Hill the man remains a complete mystery, out there roaming the streets of Thailand somewhere, Appleson mused on the future of the medium. He has four truckloads worth of VHS product that will no longer move in this rapidly changing marketplace.
“They’re bringing out a new format, blu-ray or HD,” Appleson said. “I think that’s the end of the DVD.” But Appleson already foresees the end of next-gen discs.
“I can pick my phone, walk into the bathroom and jack off,” Appleson said. “We used to think, ‘Who wants to fucking watch porn on a tiny little screen?’ We want 60- to 70-inch big screens! But that’s not our market. We all want to be studs, but when the wife is going to come back or somebody’s going to walk in, we jack off in two minutes. Our job’s done.”
Although the Robert Hill Releasing warehouse is filled with titles that would likely make the average American uncomfortable, Appleson sees it all from a very interesting perspective.
“Our company is definitely an educational company,” he said. “It brings sexuality to a new forefront. You cannot in any way, shape or form discriminate against anybody. Just love them for what they are. We try and find out what different ways people have sex because we simply love to fuck. That’s what our company is all about.”
Before the interview is done, Robert Hill phones in from Thailand. “He says he’s found some English studs over there that love to fuck she-males!” Appleson exclaimed. “And put some money aside in case he gets arrested.”
For more information, contact Robert Hill Releasing, 9741 Canoga Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311. 818.709.8200, 818.709.7739 (fax), roberthillreleasing.com.
