March 11, 2007
I was fairly amused to learn, as I perused adultFYI this morning, there’s a criminal investigation of some sort going on in the wake of the Lockwood/Ponante rumble. Nothing like bad news for one person making for some useable PR for others to spin!
As I sipped my coffee and read through the article, I chuckled at a statement adultFYI’s Gene Ross attributes to director Jennifer James. James is quoted as saying, “I think his (Ponante’s) political agenda is to write whatever he wants with impunity.”
Here’s some 411 for all pornographers: The very same 1rst Amendment that allows you to pursue your dreams of being porn moguls also allows journalists like Gram Ponante to have a “political agenda” where they can “write with impunity.” In fact, believe it or not, the 1rst Amendment was created for the protection of all kinds of people, like journalists and religious freaks and others, without a thought given to pornographers! We just happen to live and work on its coat-tails.
Sorry, but that’s how it works. If any of you want to change that and, assuming (however unlikely) you’re successful at doing so, many of you might consider dusting off your resumes and begin filling out employment applications at your nearest fast-food restaurants.
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March 10, 2007
Over on adultFYI.com, two stories in as many days recount visits to Mika Tan’s home by LAPD Vice officers. Each time, it’s reported, the cops entered Mika’s home, without a warrant or obvious probable cause and while a shoot was taking place, looking for underage performers.
I doubt this is a case of the LAPD singling out Mika Tan and conspiring to make her life miserable. Besides, LAPD Vice knows enough about how the mainstream, brick-n-mortar porn biz works to know the odds of anyone in the valley’s porn biz intentionally shooting underage performers approaches nil. (Maybe they should share this tidbit with federal investigators?)
I think there’s two, obvious, possibilities for Vice’s presence: 1) They’re responding to an unhappy neighbor’s complaints, or 2) Someone in the adult biz — someone with issues with Mika or the companies shooting at her location home — is giving false, annonymous, tips to Vice.
I’ll bet the latter is the case. If there were an unhappy neighbor calling in false tips to the cops, these acts would, most likely, be commited after some escalation of hostilities towards Ms. Tan. I haven’t read anything coming from Mika that indicates she has had neighbor problems.
Porners ratting out porners is nothing new. The old permit scam was a perfect example. But this is something different as their doesn’t seem to be an obvious financial incentive. If I were Mika, I’d be trying to ferret out the rat. And if she does ferret said rat out, she ought to share her findings with the LAPD. I’m not saying LAPD will do jack about it, but at least Mika’s report will be on record and might help with any defense she might need to mount.
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March 5, 2007
Recieved the following email this morning:
Hello, My name is Brian Scott and I am with Egoist Entertainment and I wanted to respond regarding the Kurt Lockwood situation.
My first responsibility to Egoist is to produce a quality product, while safely maintaining control of the set, crew, cast and invited guests.
Any issues between Kurt Lockwood and Gram Ponante had nothing to do with Egoist. Any altercations between Kurt and Gram took place outside before they entered the set.
Not sure if you have ever produced a movie, but it is very difficult to replace someone on short notice that you wrote a part for, so we had no choice but to do whatever we could to make the shoot happen.
I read on adultdvdtalk someone said they think Kurt could potentially threatening the Long-Term viability of Egoist, which obviously came from and uneducated source, as the production of “eXXXtra eXXXtra” was never in jeopardy and we have a long term distribution deal with Hustler.
Trust me, I would love to have both talent and the reporting that helps me sell product. I can tell you that once the media left the shoot we ended better than expected with no issues.
Thank you,
Brian Scott
jimmyD sez: Thanks for clarifying Egoist’s position, Brian. I should mention, just to validate my porn-cred, that I’ve shot, edited, produced, and directed hundreds of movies over my nearly 14 years in this biz. So, it is possible that I might know something of which I speak… I mean write.
When I wrote that Lockwood put your production in jeopardy, I was referring to it’s efficient operation, not it’s overall success. I did not mean to infer that the actions of a single meatpuppet would jeopardize your entire movie nor do I agree with the AdultDVDTalk contributor that Lockwood will have any impact on your company’s long-term and future viability. BTW, I’ve personally been confronted with replacing talent on short notice — many times, in fact — and haven’t usually found it to be that difficult of a task.
Best of luck with Egoist’s current and future productions!
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March 2, 2007
Rob Ragan, sales guy at White Tiger Releasing, emails me:
“I have attended all 3 Expo-Marks and if I never did another AEE show again I’d (be) very o-so content with that. I’ve been doing sales in this biz on and off since 86′ man and absolutely dread the January show. It kinda sucks that most of the deals get done at the center bar.The Expo Mark has refueled my want to do trade shows. Not only do you get 20 solid minutes with each buyer but you also get to hang out with them after show hours. When your having a drink at the bar….it’s just that, a simple drink. Whereas at the AEE you HAVE to disturb your buyers social time just to make enough sales to justify the ridiculous fuckin’ cost of Vegas. That’s my 2 cents on the matter. Feel free to post this if you want. I think the feeling about the Expo Mark is the same all around.if your not in it…..you’d better find a way! Rob Ragan, White Tiger Releasing”
JimmyD sez: Apparently, I misidentified Expo Mark by referring to is as Expo Mart in my previous post. It probably won’t be the last time, here on the blog, I fuck something like that up. My apologies to the folks who produce Expo Mark.
Regarding a completely different matter, here’s my take on the Kurt Lockwood/Gram Ponante altercation.
First off, Lockwood, it’s reported, was an hour late for his call time, plus he had an out-time! (Hat tip to RL for a reminder on the “out-time” point.) He then, it’s also reported, proceeded to piss off the studio location’s owner and was asked to leave the premises. It’s still further reported that he (Lockwood) assaulted Gram Ponante–an invited journalist there to cover Egoist Entertainment’s shoot–over some alleged cyber-gossip-reporting by America’s beloved porn journalist, Mr. G. Ponante.
As a result, the producers asked Gram to leave.
Justice aside, let’s look at it from a purely business point-of-view:
1. Lockwood put Egoist’s production in jeopardy on a number of counts.
2. How many pieces will Lockwood’s participation in the production sell? None, maybe? How many pieces will Ponante’s reporting, assuming it’s favorable, sell? More than none, maybe?
3. How difficult is it to replace a cast member in a porn production? Easy enough. After all, it’s done almost every freakin’ day. How easy is it to replace favorable reporting, setting one production apart from the many that take place everyday? Not as easy as replacing a meatpuppet.
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