Here's what they had to say:
We [stand out by] sticking to the basics: Being real with clients, having the newest girls in the movies, being consistent and not missing release dates, distributing it well. And basically the customer is always right, and we accommodate them any way we can. That's what we do – relationships, keeping them strong.
— David Joseph, President, Red Light District
I pay extreme attention to quality. I use the best cameras and spend money securing the best lighting, wardrobe and talent. My concepts are original; the set ups are horny. I pay attention to what the consumers are asking for, their desires and demands. Sincere and consistent effort creates loyal return customers. My goal is to create a long term, loyal fan base. This can only be done by paying attention to the production value details and your customer.
— Robby D, director, Digital Playground
The first rule is: beautiful girls only. The second rule: new, beautiful girls only. And the third rule: perfect lightning. To standout you have to really think outside of the box, and thinking outside of the box would entail putting everything inside of the box. The way I think of it is, quite literally, you've got to put everything inside the DVD box; every niche you can think of. I try to hit every niche, every fetish that I can, except for I don't do misogynist porn, so I don't slap girls around or do all that stupid crap; all that's doing is drawing attention to us from the DOJ and the Attorney General.
And Asian [content] is like a niche in itself. It's an ethnic niche. If you go to any porn store, you'll see, if they know what they're doing, they'll have an Asian section. I get emails from people that only buy Asian porn. That's it. The absolute only thing that they'll buy is something with an Asian girl. No ifs, ands or butts.
— Don "Asianman" Fernando, director, Swank Digital and Hundies
Most important to me is a consistency of production and the overall quality of every release. If the consumer watches only one Mercenary scene, it's important that scene represents the whole of Mercenary's catalog. I believe every movie is built one scene at a time and a company's reputation is built one movie at a time. We're still building, so every nuance is very important. The distinction Mercenary brings is consistent quality and the continual pursuit of excellence.
— Lexington Steele, director and owner, Mercenary Pictures