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"Ford exposes drug use, mob connections and murder plots..." Evan Wright, Rolling Stone

"There's a kind of low-key genius..." Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood-Elsewhere.com

"Serious history of the dirty-movie business." Booklist

 



Kudos to the 4/99 AVN for forthright coverage on page 134 of a sensitive story about Allison Roberts, the wife of AVN Vice President Darren Roberts. www.geneross.com covered the story 3/5/99. A former porn star (used the name Brooke Fields) and then exec with VCA, Roberts has started her own talent agency Touch Me 2.

Jim South told AVN: "I get this screaming phone call from someone named Allison Sandoval [Roberts] about a Czech girl. I couldn't get a word in edgewise. She drowned me out. She told me about how her girls are a step or two above mine. Then she gets into how her husband is partners with Paul Fishbein on a number of different deals. Is there a 'Darrien' Roberts over there?"

[It's Darren Roberts, and Roberts says, "No comment" about the business deals. Fishbein says Roberts is partners in the IA 2000 venture.]

South: "Then she [Allison Roberts] starts blaming me for an incident supposedly involving her and Bobby Hollander years ago where Hollander was supposed to have offered her drugs. I ask her, 'you're blaming me for this?' Allison claims I repped her at the time, that she was talent."

5/26/99

Allison Roberts is in trouble again. The former porn star and then VCA employee who used to live with VCA founder Walter Gernert now runs a production company with Anita Rinaldi. A few months ago, Allison Roberts got into a verbal fight with agent Jim South. Now she’s bringing down a lawsuit on herself from Astral Ocean.

Allison is married to AVN VP Darren Roberts. AVN publisher Paul Fishbein is married to VCA cable sales head Kimberly Wilson. AVN’s site www.geneross.com is run off VCA Babenet servers. VCA spends about $200,000 a year advertising in AVN.

Astral Ocean received some tapes called "Return to Planet Sex" back from a one-stop as a defective return. Then Astral started getting orders for it. Astral realized it wasn't theirs but right on the box was their logo from our most popular series, Skin. Skin-Flicks, Allison Roberts and Anita Rinaldi's company had actually copied the same font and imagery to make it look like it was a Skin movie. They've also ripped off the X-Files logo pretty good too, same box. By legal definition, there is clear intent to deceive. And it's working because Astral keeps getting orders and returns for this movie.

Allison was adamant that Astral Ocean don't have a legal case. She said she checked with Russ Hampshire who says Astral Ocean has no legal recourse. Then she gave to Astral Ocean an example of VCA wanting to use a name for their gonzo company (Extreme) and they won. If I remember correctly, Extreme was the name in question and they did NOT win. This is for the attorneys to figure out, I suppose.

When Astral spoke to Allison, she claims that she "brought the Skin series to America for Eurotique". Not true! Roberts claims she invented Eurotique. Wow, she may have been here when Skin debuted in the US, but no one but Toshi Gold (Astral Ocean owner) is responsible for any major decisions at Astral and that includes going to Europe himself and producing the Skin movies. Allison claims that she was the one who designed the Skin logo and that Astral can't copyright a font. This seems in pretty bad faith to do something like this even if it's not illegal, believes Astral Ocean. Just because you created something (which many people at Astral do not remember her doing) doesn't mean you can take it with you. This is what she's implying: I created the VCA logo. I quit VCA, go on my own, but I take my VCA logo with me. Well I designed it! Why shouldn't I take it with me! Better yet, what if I decided to name my company "Devil In Miss Jones". Allison seems to think that would be ok.

Stay tuned, the lawyers are in motion. A similar thing happened with another well-known company, this time with the name of one of Astral’s series. Know what they did? Said they were unaware, apologized profusely and never used the name again. Astral believed them completely, and thought it was classy.