NL-Vivid is in the mainstream news AGAIN. Interesting story on how it’s Celeb line is creating a new biz model. Good stuff. I"m also very curious as to who YOU guys would like to see in a celeb sex tape… (Salma Hayek and the Olsen Twins are the first to come to my horny mind)
Vivid: A new business model for porn
How adult-entertainment firm stole a page from Hollywood
By Georg Szalai from The Hollywood Reporter
NEW YORK — If the new "Date Night" DVD had sold only 25,000 copies, there would have been hell to pay for studio executives. But for Steven Hirsch — or anyone else in the adult entertainment business, for that matter — that figure represents a blockbuster.
The founder of Vivid Entertainment, the leading purveyor of pornographic videos, has built a business estimated to pull in as much as a $100 million slice of an industry that has been estimated to bring in as much as $13 billion a year (compared to mainstream box office of $10.6 billion). The key to thriving even as free online porn services eat away at the DVD market is being nimble enough to adapt principles familiar to the rest of the showbiz world: celebrity scandal and superhero tentpoles. Laurence Fishburne’s daughter Montana’s sex tape and "Batman XXX: A Porn Parody" — both from Vivid — are vying with each other for top-selling adult DVD of the year.
"We have done celebrities for many years but have more recently acquired more than ever before as public appetite has increased," Hirsch told The Hollywood Reporter. "The days of generic adult films are gone because there are many, many websites for stuff like that."
Vivid was founded in 1984 and got a big kick from the Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee honeymoon tape "Pam & Tommy Lee: Hardcore & Uncensored," which was first released in 1998 and became not just an icon of celebrity exposure but also is believed to have sold more copies than any other celebrity sex release with the possible exception of Paris Hilton’s. It also made Vivid the one to beat.
"It’s the one adult brand — besides Hustler maybe — that is most entrenched in people’s minds," said Paul Fishbein, president of Adult Video News Media Network, which publishes industry trade AVN.
Since then, Vivid has aggressively positioned itself to acquire celebrity fare — and the reputation has made it a magnet for celebrities shopping tapes themselves.
While industry sales and financials don’t get tracked like box office or DVD sales in Hollywood do, Vivid gets more adult video shelf space than any of its peers and routinely sweeps the annual AVN Awards, the Oscars of the adult industry. Hirsch has been a leader in the mainstreaming of porn, emphasizing quality by shooting on film rather than video; introducing more tasteful packaging; and expanding the brand by stamping Vivid on makeup, intimate accessories, nightclubs and other products.
Hirsch’s business instincts continue to pay off. The man Forbes once dubbed "The Porn King" in May acquired and released "Kendra Exposed" a sex tape featuring Kendra Wilkinson of "The Girls Next Door" and "Kendra" reality TV fame that wasn’t originally shot for public consumption but is on track to become one of the best-selling adult DVDs of the year. And in August, Vivid topped things off by making a TMZ-fueled splash — the celebrity site is one of Hirsch’s favorite digital buzz engines — with its release of the "Montana Fishburne" DVD. It has reached the top of the AVN sales chart, sold out of its first pressing of 25,000 DVDs at about $45 a pop — requiring a second pressing of the same number — and also could become the year’s best-seller, according to industry watchers.
"With Montana, we felt she had a famous last name and is a beautiful girl," Hirsch said. "And it could launch her career."
Not every celebrity tape is of interest. When you listen to Hirsch, he uses words like "quality," "tasteful" and "looking good" in describing what he looks for. As Vivid "greenlights" acquisitions or productions of celebrity content, key filters in mind include good looks, a recognizable name and production values.
That is why Hirsch has in recent days publicly emphasized, again via TMZ, that he wants to see footage of "The Hills" star Spencer Pratt’s tape with Heidi Montag to vet how interesting it would be for Vivid.
There’s a lot more to this story, check it out here http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/
Call me when CHRISTINA HENDRICKS is starring in a Vivid celeb special release.(ideally with me)
Alternatively…ZOE SALDANA would be perfect for Hustler’s Barely Legal line.(again…ideally with me)
Papa Smurf’s best hope is that he can get some B listers on hard times to make one for the publicity, like Shauna Sand or Mindy McCready. Kelli Mccarty doesnt count cause she really wasnt that well known and it was a full on purposely main feature, wish she would make some more, she did it right in being in shape.
I don’t understand the obsession with celebrity sex tapes; it never made any fucking sense to me. Why would people want to watch dark, grainy, shaky clips of lazy, talentless attention whores giving bad, lousy blow jobs while they’re intoxicated and can’t even keep their goddamn heads up? Who in the right mind would enjoy shit like that? Is it anything other than satisfying some morbid curiosity, a junk food craving? Watching a celebrity sex tape is similar to stopping by in the middle of the road to observe a horrible car crash and watching how bloody, smashed bodies are being pulled out of the rubble; or like ordering shit burger at McDonald’s drive through at 2 AM. In either case, you’re satisfying a mindless, nasty, primitive carving, and the chances are you will hate yourself immediately after the carving is satisfied.
Speaking of McDonald’s, I just watched The American starring George Clooney, and all I can say is what a pile of fucking shit. This is so far one of the worst movies of the 21st century, and I don’t know what the hell George Clooney is doing in this boring, pretentious, shallow excuse for a cinematic work. Interestingly, when I first heard a movie titled The American was in the making, my initial thought was this: The American, hmmm, this movie must be about a fat slob feeding his bloated face at McDonald’s. Too bad it turned out to be a crappy student project starring Mr. ER.
Don’t waste your time and money, do not see The American, Uncle Colonel says.
Why Colonel? Because they’re “celebrities”. But your point is duly noted; if you want to watch porn leave it to us professionals. Now, Montana doing a Vivid movie is mainstream mating with porn on a professional level, without the “caught on tape” kind of drunken mess.
What’s funny is Amy Fisher’s “caught on tape” movie, as it was titled. It was definitely professionally done, which is what makes the title “caught on tape” utterly ubsurd. It was obviously very well prepared. lol.
Right you are, Jeremy.
This whole celebrity porn tape is a load of shit. These tapes are not caught accidentally and randomly. They are planned and produced with the knowledge and full participation of the so called celebrities; otherwise they would not be released in the first place. Caught on tape is just a shtick to fool people, a generation of obsessed idiots who grew up on reality TV and Twitter. The worst thing is that they intentionally make these tapes dark and grainy in order to emphasize on how *real* they are. To that, I’ll say: Paris Hilton sex tape is as *real* as the alien autopsy tape. The difference is that the alien autopsy tape is more entertaining, and that alien dummy looks better than Paris Hilton.
The first two big celeb tapes, Pam and Tommy and then Vince and Janine were awful pieces of shit. Tom Sizemore’s was like planned career suicide, though few people noticed. If celebs want to make sex tapes do it right, you might as well do it right. As for the American, Clooney used Anton Corjbin who used to make music videos…like 25 years ago. Clooney reminds me a bit of David Chase, the creator and destroyer of The Sopranos in that he’s watched too many foreign films and decides he’s Fellini or Godard or Eisenstein or Michael Powell and of course, he’s not. Lots of American directors are infected with this inferiority complex creatively when it comes to film makers of the rest of the world. John Ford and Orson Welles even caught this “fever”, Ford woke from it, Welles never did. Just make a damn movie and not replicate another one. One thing that has been bugging the shit out of me is that how can Leno and/or Letterman get the hint and maybe go raid the writing staffs of The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Family Guy et al and make their shows better. Leno is too scared and cheap and Letterman keeps the same hacks around him from 20 years ago, Conan did the same which is why his show bit so bad. One example of just making a damn movie was Sergio Leone, he really didnt know how to make a Western, but he did it and did it well.
I’m pretty sure I saw Paris Hilton with another chick at the Hollywood Renaissance hotel last week walk past and smile at me… a couple days before her Vegas arrest.
Larry Horse says:
‘Clooney reminds me a bit of David Chase, the creator and destroyer of The Sopranos in that he’s watched too many foreign films and decides he’s Fellini or Godard or Eisenstein or Michael Powell and of course, he’s not.’
You’re spot on, my friend. I’m sure George Clooney desperately wanted to make a 1960’s French style film noir for years, so when The American, the story of a hit man living in exile in Europe, was suggested to him, he saw it as an opportunity and jumped aboard. Unfortunately the result is far from bad, it’s disastrous. This movie makes every wrong move and commits every cinematic crime from the opening scene to the end titles. Here are a few examples:
In the opening sequence of The American, George Clooney is in the middle of a hookup in Sweden when he bumps off the two men who’ve been hired to kill him and shoots the woman who is supposedly his girlfriend. She’s innocent, but he can leave no witnesses. Apparently the purpose of this scene is to suggest that Clooney is a cold hearted sociopathic hit man who must be taken seriously; but it just doesn’t work. Instead, it causes you to hate this character from the beginning, and therefore you cannot care for him and sympathize with him which is the worst thing that can happen to the lead character in a story.
Later on, Clooney meets an Italian prostitute in a brothel with whom he falls in love with. The scene is a painful worn out cliché with typical whore house red lights flashing in the background, emotional distance, and the rest of artsy-fartsy crap that we have seen thousand times before.
However, nothing is more absurd, laughable and ridiculous than the ending: We learn that Clooney himself is the target of the female assassin who purchased a sniper rifle from him. Then Clooney’s boss who ordered the hit on Clooney jumps in the action and shoots the female assassin that he himself ordered to kill Clooney right before she shoots Clooney just so he can confront Clooney himself just so they can kill each other just so the movie has an abrupt ending in the tradition of the 1960’s French film noirs. Nothing is explained nor developed, no actions, no motives, no emotions, no relationships, nothing. This movie does not play out like a cinematic work, it plays out like a bad student project. What a horrible waste of time and money.
Only reason Pam and Tommy lee did so well is who it was. Plus no one could believe the size of Tommy’s dick. She was in her prime or very close and so was he.
Good take Colonel. Just thought of a far better movie with a great cast from almost 40 years ago, Scorpio. Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, JD Cannon, Alain Delon and John Colicos. As I think of it one of the scenes from the last James Bond film is a direct rip off of a great action scene in this movie. Too bad Scofield loved the stage, England and his wife more than making more movies, he was one of those “voice of god” type actors.
Yes Larry, Scorpio is an excellent movie which hits every right note and is still relevant: The story of an international hit man (Alain Delon) who is ordered to kill his colleague and mentor, an aging CIA agent (Burt Lancaster). Paul Scofield is great as a KGB agent who despite their different ideologies helps Burt Lancaster. Daniel Craig, the recent James Bond, has a striking resemblance to Alain Delon.
Currently there’s too much talk about how the future of James Bond franchise is uncertain due to MGM’s debts and possible bankruptcy. The latest news indicates that Spy Glass Entertainment might buy MGM and the rights to all its franchises, including James Bond. In any case, I’m sure Bond movies will continue to be made; this franchise is too profitable to be abandoned. You can bet on that message at the end of every Bond movie:
‘James Bond Will Return.’