Source: Adult Industry News
By: Rich Moreland
People Always Want to See Sex, by Rich Moreland, AINews columnist.
With Adult Video News founder Paul Fishbein as moderator, a panel of industry execs is bound to draw interest. On Thursday morning of last week, January 17, Fishbein probed five major players in the adult world for their thoughts on the state of the industry today.
Present were Christian Mann of Evil Angel, Michael Klein of Hustler, Girlfriends Films’ Dan O’Connell, Wicked’s founder Steve Orenstein, and Adam and Eve president, Bob Christian.
Two issues stood out during the discussion. The first was Measure B. Bob Christian reminded the audience that, “It’s a bad law coming from a bad place.” Despite the emotions the ordinance generates, Dan O’Connell suggested there may be a silver lining. “Hopefully it will be an issue that will pull our industry together,” he said.
Unity on any level of singular thinking in adult film is like herding cats because porn people are independent thinkers. Yet the one thing everybody respects is making money. Measure B is a powerful call to action. The industry cannot sit and do nothing.
In his comments, Michael Klein brought up the most befuddling part of the law: The extent to which it will be applied. He reminded the attendees that “how you shoot your movies” is now a major concern. How much precaution must be taken to comply with the law is troubling because no one knows how it will be enforced.
The bandied about solution to Measure B’s passage is relocation. For many studios, that’s daunting. “A lot of studios can’t afford to move,” Steve Orenstein said. Picking up on the relocation theme, Christian Mann introduced the most telling possibility, expansion of the law.
The industry can live with the restrictions in L.a. County, Mann said. The real concern is “The domino effect” that might push the law “statewide, then state by state,” he added.
“In that regard, it’s very dangerous,” Mann pointed out.
The second issue discussed was the biggest threat facing the industry today beyond Measure B, piracy. However, panelist views were not uniform on that subject.
Dan O’Connell sees piracy as stimulating new ways of thinking. We will “constantly have to come up with new marketing ideas, new promotions,” he said. Bob Christian supported O’Connell’s thoughts. “The biggest threat is doing nothing,” he said. “Change is always happening, refusing to change and grow” is the problem. Christian’s words serve as a wake-up to rethink the way business is done today.
Tube sites brought discussion. Michael Klein believes that there will always be people “who go there and never pay to visit elsewhere.” That’s an annoyance rather than a problem because the industry is never going to benefit from them anyway.
Christian Mann sees tube sites as a “double-edged sword.” “The internet may be piracy,” he said, “But it’s expanded our markets.” In his view, it offers opportunity.
Bob Christian agreed. The tubes are “great branding for all of us.” He later suggested that adult businesses should take a lesson from the music industry and “charge for small bits of content.”
But panic over technology should not be paralyzing. In his usual thoughtful way, Christian Mann put a reality spin on the situation.
Tube sites might threaten a particular business model, he pointed out, but not “The industry as a whole.”
At the close of the seminar, Mann reminded the audience that there is “more than one approach to a problem.” The industry’s biggest ally is human desire, so a demand for the product will always exist.
“People always want to see sex,” he said.
In fact, pornography has always been on the cutting edge of technology. The old saying goes something like this: As soon as the first film was invented, there was a girl ready to take off her clothes.
We should all remember that long lost moment and move forward with new ideas to sell an ancient product.
