A number of performers and a photographer claim they have not been paid for their part in a production shot a few weeks ago by the newly formed Lucky Pictures.
The company allegedly scheduled several adult performers for a shoot at a penthouse apartment on Franklin Avenue through Rudy, a man who was at the time working at Jill Kelly Productions, but was moonlighting with Lucky Pictures as a director.
Rudy was recently fired from JKP, techinically for opposing the company's no moonlighting policy, but leveraging the Jill Kelly name to work with talent, then failing to pay performers - many of whom had began to show up at the JKP offices demanding payment - weighed heavily in the decision to let him go.
“He was doing his own stuff on the side and we do have a policy against that. He was a good guy and his partner didn’t come through with the cash,” JKP publicist Scott Hoover told AVN.com. “They knew he worked for Jill Kelly and they automatically assumed that it was a Jill Kelly production. Some of them started showing up at our offices to get paid. That was a problem that we couldn’t afford. Its not the type of image a publicly traded company wants to have.”
Rudy had been at JKP only for a few months following a stint working for Lexington Steele.
Hoover reports that Rudy’s cell phone is no longer working and that he has left the country.
Rudy was directing and shooting Nikita’s Penthouse, reportedly set in the Franklin Avenue penthouse. According to Tod Tod, the stills photographer who was not paid for the one day he worked, performers that were cast in the video were: Jezebelle Bond, Alaura Eden, Dick Delaware, Tallon, Kurt Lockwood, Monica Sweetheart and Vicky Yvette.
The video was reportedly shot over four days. Performers and the photographer were told that they would be paid their fees in cash on the following Monday.
According to Tod Tod on Monday, people started calling Rudy asking for their fees. Rudy then established a pattern of dodging the people that were owed money. After telling various performers that the money had not arrived on that Monday, he said that they would be paid on Tuesday. On Tuesday, he said that payment would come on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Rudy went to Las Vegas and did not return until Friday.
“He never once called me. I had to track him down every time,” said Tod Tod. “Then on Friday he told me that he would have the money on Saturday.”
On Saturday, Tod Tod was once again not paid.
The following Monday, Rudy was let go from Jill Kelly Productions and has not been seen since. Calls to the Lucky Pictures offices by performers were not returned. Tod Tod reports that once someone answered the phone, but when the foreign-accented voice, possibly Israeli, on the other end was told about the lack of payment for performers they disassociated themselves with the company and claimed the company belonged to a friend then hung up.
While a few of performers managed to collect from Rudy, reportedly out of his own money, most still have not been paid.
“Obviously, we’d like to get paid. That’s what we want. But in lieu of that, at least everyone else knows not to work with him,” Tod Tod said.
Jezebelle Bond is the only talent that has confirmed that she has not been paid. Her story mirrors Tod Tod’s.
It is unclear if Rudy just an employee of Lucky Pictures, a contracted freelancer, or a partner. A local music promoter, Paul DeRosa was also involved in the company and Rudy himself frequently referred to a man named “Paul” as the owner.
Promotional flyers for Club Naked and/or XXX Ball, two events that were produced by DeRosa, were seen scattered around the penthouse where Nikita’s Penthouse was being shot.
DeRosa worked with a number of people in the adult industry on a limited basis through monthly XXX Ball event that he promoted at the Key Club. JKP was featured at that event one night.
“Rudy put that together. This is something that he gave the go ahead to without consulting anyone. Everyone was kind of surprised when it was found out that the event was happening and they were part of it,” Hoover said.
The Lucky Pictures Website is registered to Paul DeRosa. The number listed on the site’s registration has a message referring to Club Naked.
Repeated calls to DeRosa have been ignored, as have calls to the number for Lucky Pictures.
