THE PIPELINE: DECEMBER 2003
We have come to the end of another year my friends and this is the final Pipeline of 2003. It has been an eventful twelve months in Porn Valley. We have seen new companies spring up and become forces while others have undergone great changes. Contract girls came and went through a revolving door that never slows down. The US Government came down hard for the first time major prosecution in years and the porn world took notice. We will recap these and other 2003 stories as we go along, but there is plenty of new news to cover so let’s get to it.
Though it is still very early, the 2003 Rog Reviews Fan Faves polls are shaping up to be perhaps the closest ever. Last year’s Best Female winner, Bisexual Britni, pulled her name out of consideration, opening the field this year. Through the first two rounds, Aurora Snow, Belladonna, Taylor Rain and Monica Sweetheart are leading the way for Best Female. Lexington Steele, Erik Everhard and Rocco Siffredi are easily outpacing the competition for Best Male. The always interesting Best Newbie race is shaping up as a potential two-way race between Amee Donoavan and Selena Silver. Winners of the fan faves as well as the critic’s choice awards will be included in the January edition of the Pipeline.
After Red Light District took porn by storm in 2002, other companies followed suit this year. Jewel De’Nyle, Michael Stefano and others started up Platinum X Pictures. Brandon Iron, Steve Holmes and Manuel Ferrara gave PXP a solid foundation and their sales soared. Former Elegant Angel and Metro GM Greg Alves formed Zero Tolerance and got his wife, Wendi Knight to shoot movies for the new label. Tom Byron made a split from Extreme where he had been for 4 years to form Evolution Erotica. 2003 also gave us Cherry Boxxx, Digital G and the rise of Sin City offshoot Mayhem.
Speaking of Jewel and Michael, the end of their personal relationship has left a bit of a power vacuum at PXP. Questions have been raised about the future of the company, but for now Jewel is moving ahead with her productions. The split also leaves open the title of porn’s “power couple.” Wicked contract starlet Stormy and performer/director Pat Myne are top contenders for slot thanks to their recent marriage. That sure happened fast. Last I heard Pat was with Brintey Foster.
AVN has released their list of nominees for next month’s AVN Awards. With nearly a hundred categories, almost every company is assured a handful of nominations. This year they have added an award for Best Transsexual Performer and have split the Best Ethnic awards into Black, Latin and Asian subgroups. With separate awards for foreign performers, the list of male contenders is basically down to a two-man race. Three time winner Lexington Steele and Erik Everhard (Somehow not listed as a foreign performer even though he’s Canadian.) are the clear favorites. Among the nominated performers vying for the coveted Female Performer of the Year, past winners Aurora Snow and Jewel De’Nyle figure to be slugging it out with odds-on favorite Belladonna. Handicapping the Starlet of the Year category is a little tougher, though contract girls Stormy and Cindy Crawford would seem to be the most likely contenders to take home the hardware. (Of course they left off some really worthy women like Sabrine Maui, Melanie Jagger and Loni.) As always, we get the joy of playing Monday morning quarter back their selections. Thank you AVN.
Reigning Male Performer of the year Lexington Steele was part of two of the major power shifts in porn during 2003. First he split from Anabolic/Diabolic to join Red Light District. Following Lex, Erik Everhard and Mike John also made the switch to RLD. At the same time, Jon Dough left Anabolic and landed at Devil’s Films. Losing the top two male performers and three of the best directors in the business to their chief rival slowed Anabolic/Diabolic, but by year’s end the ship has been righted somewhat. While Everhard and John are doing well at RLD, Lex has made another move, severing ties with Red Light just a few months after signing with them. It is unclear at this point where he may end up, but whoever lands Lex will certainly make headlines as we move into 2004.
Private is expanding into the “mid=priced DVD/VHS market” with their Private X-Treme line. To anchor this gonzo oriented branch of the Private family, they have nabbed the self-proclaimed ‘King of Sodom’ Skeeter Kerkove as their primary director. The non-exclusive deal allows Kerkove to keep up his work with Metro and leaves him open to continue working with Mayhem as well.
Speaking of Mayhem, they may have stockpiled enough talent to keep going even is Skeeter flies the coop. With Aurora Snow already under contract to direct, Mayhem added three more names to their roster this past month. First came the twin-signing of long time male performers Alex Sanders and Jay Ashley. Sanders will shoot “Double Reamed & Creamed” this week. Ashley will helm “Crude Measures” in early December. The press release announcing his signing also hinted that Ashley may have reunited with Snow, making them once again one of porn’s premier power couples. Last in the month, Mayhem signed Mr. Marcus to a 12-picture, non-exclusive deal. With all this new meat, we can expect Mayhem to ramp up their release schedule and flood the market with all-sex tapes in the new year.
Perhaps the biggest story of 2003 as far as Porn Valley is concerned is the Extreme obscenity case. After years of flipping the bird to the Feds and poking his stick into the lion’s cage, Rob Black finally got the fight he has been begging for. On trail for three of his more ‘extreme’ titles, Black is going to bat for the industry and everyone is waiting to see how this one will turn out. A victory for the Feds could mean clamping down on more adult material, especially the sort of stuff on trail in this case. (Extreme pedo-fantasy, messy enema/water sports and brutal rape scenes.) On the other hand, if Black escapes jail, then the likelihood of more prosecutions would seem quite unlikely. If anything is going to be found obscene, this is it.
Elegant Angel announced late last month that Roxanne Hall would be back to star and direct for the company. The six-month deal is a non-exclusive contract and will have Hall starring in the next Slutwoman movie to be directed by Patrick Collins. Roxanne will also shoot her own POV gonzo line and is slated to star in movies directed by both William H. and Thomas Zupko. “I love Patrick and Elegant Angel.” Hall says, “The first movie I ever made was Sodomania 8 and the last one I did before I left the business for four years was the original Slutwoman. When I returned, my first movie back was Sodomania 38. It’s kind of come around full circle.” This is Hall’s second go-round with Elegant. She starred as Slutwoman in the original release and hopes to top her earlier performances this time around. “Slutwoman’s Revenge” is due out on January 20th of next year.
It has been an eventful year and I would like to take a few moments to wish happy holidays to everyone who has made it fun, entertaining and in fact, possible. To all of the companies who have so graciously provided screener materials, news and access to stars/directors, I say thanks. At the risk of leaving someone out, special thanks and best wishes to Tina Tyler (Sin City), Tricia Devereaux (Evil Angel), Constance Le (DVSX), Calli Cox (Shane’s World) Robert Lombard (Digital G) and Adella (Digital Playground). More thanks o the performers and directors themselves for their contributions to news stories and for providing pictures for our viewing pleasure. Again, with apologies to anyone I may miss, thank you Jules Jordan, Aurora Snow, Ton Byron, Thomas Zupko, Layla Jade, Lexington Steele, Erik Everhard, Dion Giarusso, Chris Alexander, Cal, Jenna Haze, Ashton Moore and hundreds more.
Of course my most sincere thank yous go out to each and every one of you who read this column and my site. Without you none of this would be possible and I humbly thank you all. Best wishes during this holiday season and I look forward to bringing you all the “haps” from the world of porn in 2004.
That puts a wrap on things for 2003 my friends. It is never boring around here and I am sure that 200 will be every bit as eventful as 03. The stories are already lining up. Somewhere in the Midwest, a restless housewife who used to be known by another name is getting ready to throw her garter back into the ring. Who is she? Hell if I know, but if we stick around long enough, we are bound to find out.
