Industry veteran Harry Weiss is a man of many trades.
Entering the adult industry 14 years ago, Weiss, a New Jersey native, originally got his feet wet in the sales and production department for East Coast-based Pleasure Productions. Weiss was with Pleasure for three years before he relocated to Porn Valley, and has been out here ever since.
“I first got a job with Russ Hampshire at VCA,” Weiss told AVN.com. “We started VCA Xplicit, which was the new gonzo arm of VCA…up until then, they had just done features.”
Weiss was with VCA for a little over a year before moving to Metro, where he initially worked in sales for the company, primarily selling the interactive lines. “Greg Alves, who was with Metro at the time, told me that I should go into P.R., and so they started a P.R. department and I stayed there for about two years.”
It was at Metro that Weiss would start his long career in public relations and management. “I worked with people like Ron Jeremy and Houston, and I loved it,” he said.
After his time at Metro, Weiss started Weiss & Associates, a publicity and management firm that worked with clients in the adult industry. Whether it was giving what Weiss called a “P.R. push” or guiding an entire career, he said was up for the challenge. “I’ve never recruited anyone…clients have always come to me.
“I won an AVN award for marketing, so I must be doing something right.”
Weiss fostered several long-term professional relationships with clients, including Sean Michaels and Scott Styles. He also helped get certain companies off the ground, like Billy Glide Productions. “Billy Glide launched very quickly,” Weiss recalled. “We also changed up the marketing campaign for Brett Rockman and Rockman Entertainment, implementing things like the ‘Rock Tour.’”
At the same time, Weiss, always a diversifier, was also trying his hand at producing and directing, as well as throwing in a few non-sex appearances as the character, Suitcase Jones. “I was doing some P.R. work for Lurid Entertainment…advising them on production and helping add some perversion to their titles…and now I do some directing for the company.”
Apparently a quick study, the first feature that Weiss both directed and wrote, The Doctor Is In…You, released last year through Lurid and received an AVN nomination for Best Comedy. Weiss is also ready with his latest project, HDTV Kribs, a sexual parody of the popular MTV show, “Cribs.” “The performers really got into their parts for that one,” explained Weiss.
Over the last year, Weiss also became the sole owner of ASS (Adult Staffing Services) Inc., but has since merged his client list with that of Dick Nasty’s Nasty Modeling to form Absolute Modeling (www.absolutemodeling.com). Weiss and Absolute Modeling have a long list of clients, including Cytherea, Jasmine Byrne, Monica Mayhem, Daphne Rosen, Dick Delaware and Eric Masterson.
“One of the reasons that people like working with me is that I’ll never lie to them. I’m not going to make any promises that I can’t keep.”
Weiss said there is room for more clients at Absolute Modeling as well as publicity clientele, and that he is also available to direct. “Hopefully people will see my titles and be impressed.”
Those interested can contact Weiss directly at [email protected] or [email protected].
