I emailed Eric about the new Legs McNeil book and the new documentary
and he replied:
I was cut out of both projects after being interviewed about 90 minutes
for each. Not that I'm one to believe in cause and effect or anything,
and not that I'm inordinately conspiracy theory conscious, but, as
far as IDT goes, the archivist for the project called me up not long
after my interview, requesting to see my Linda Lovelace archive (which
is vast). I offered him the same deal that I gave the Museum of Sex
in New York City, when they borrowed some for an exhibit: Come to
my apartment, take a look at it and list what they're interested in,
and then we'd talk about it. No pictures of the stuff and nothing
leaves my apartment.
He said he'd like me to send him everything -- books, original magazines,
many hours of video, etc. -- so they could get a look at it. They
also wanted phone numbers, contacts, etc. I countered with what I
thought was a fair offer: either hire me on as a research assitant
(which had been suggested to them by several of my friends whom they
interviewed) or pay me X amount of dollars for archive rental (I knew
they were working with a $2 million budget, because a friend who has
done documentary work for HBO knew their funding).
Archivist countered with A). that i was shilling for his job (making
his reluctance understandable) and B). no money in the budget, which
was of course bulls---. So i stopped returning the next few phone
calls he made. Months go by and around Christmas (sort of the Christian
Hannukah) I get a letter from them saying thanks to the "embarrassment
of riches" they encountered interviewing so many wonderful people,
I was being cut out but might resurface as a DVD extra. But at least
they wished me a happy holiday. They didn't invite me to the New York
City premiere or have me on the panel discussion afterwards, which
included Judith Regan, who's never even seen Deep Throat, and Catharine
Mackinnon, who Linda told me in interviews twice was among the group
of feminists who used and abandoned her, just like the pornographers
had ten years earlier. Yeah, I guess with all my access to Linda and
my history with her, I was a pretty poor choice to be interviewed...
As far as Legs' book goes, he did have the good sense to pay me for
use of my archive (not as much as he had promised and it took about
a year to get it out of him, but at least he gave me something). He
also interviewed me for about 90 minutes. Then many months later I
run into him in a local bar, where he buys me a beer (Heineken) and
tells me that the thrust of the book has changed, and I was no longer
included. That didn't surprise me, knowing Legs, who had also cut
me out of the Court TV series he did a few years back as well. But
he also assured me that there would be a "great mention" of my book,
The Complete Linda Lovelace which, all humility aside, frankly jumpstarted
this whole Linda retro thing, and everyone knows it.
Okay, I think to myself; great mention in a book loads of people
will read? Heineken in my hand? The end of my relationship with Legs
in sight? Cool. So I get the galley... No great mention. Fine. It
should be in the finished product (the galley was uncorrected and
such). I get a copy of the finished book... no great mention aside
from a few copyright notices (some for stuff that wasn't even mine).
In fact, the title of my book, which is The Complete Linda Lovelace,
by the way, wasn't mentioned that I could find.
So I basically help all these people out, whether they know it or
want to admit it, and I get a couple of thank yous (and there's only
one, from Leggsie's co-author, Jennifer Osbourne, that i consider
sincere, because she's a really, really sweet girl).
If I didn't know better, I'd think the people in this business were
scumbags.