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Articles by Erik Jay

Lubrications for All Occasions

As a mainstream-friendly intimate product, lube serves a wide range of users, and its manufacturers continue to raise the bar when it comes to innovating formulations to cater to their varying desires.

Erik Jay ·
profile

Director’s Chair: From Manila With Love

Bobby Manila, one of the only Filipino-American porn directors in town, grew up in the Valley and is now working (a lot) in the business that made the region either famous or notorious, depending on your outlook. Bobby’s outlook, truth be told, is one of irrepressible glee – this guy loves what he does and brings that attitude to his work every day.

Erik Jay ·
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Alec Knight: Skills That Pay the Bills

It is not uncommon for porn directors to act, too, or for actors to become directors (including great ones). Some industry pros also work in multiple behindthe-scenes roles, such as marketing and sales. Alec Knight, however, has a skill set that is unique, in that he is an art school graduate with both traditional 2D and computer design skills. With the tough economic times, his breadth and depth in two very different areas has kept him working as others abandon the industry for cosmetician training, cell phone sales positions or whatever jobs are available.

Erik Jay ·
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Girlfriends Films Does Hungary

Girlfriends Films is among the premier purveyors of lesbian porn, and a true Third Millennium success story. The Internet Adult Film Database shows “Dressing Room Lingerie 1 & 2” coming out in 2001, then a gradual increase in annual releases through mid-decade. After that comes a veritable explosion. GFF has passed 230 titles and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, GFF is flying high — literally. A GFF film crew flew to Hungary this past July and put enough new scenes in the can to make three Budapest titles.

Erik Jay ·
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Bob Christian: Mad Hatter of Adam & Eve

Adam & Eve, the flagship firm of PHE, Inc., which was founded in 1970 by Phil Harvey, is among the well-known companies in the adult industry. In addition to operating retail stores, Adam & Eve produces videos with original titles and contract stars, including such high-profile ones as Teagan Presley and Alexis Ford, and before them Bree Olson, Kayden Kross and Carmen Luvana. The company’s high-quality movies — “The 8th Day” and “Rawhide” and the co-production “Pirates” with Digital Playground, among many others — have brought it more than its share of industry awards.

Erik Jay ·
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Director's Chair: David Lord

Born in the Inland Empire, David Lord moved with his family to the San Fernando Valley when he was 12. From then until he was 18, it was life in the Valley but quite unlike like “That 70s Show.” There were, well, issues – broken home, divorced parents, teen angst fueled by playing in rock bands. Today, however, Lord’s father and stepmother are great friends with his mother. “They hang out together,” Lord says, “which I find very cool. I’d say it’s an unusual family, sure, but they’re mine and I love ‘em.” That settles that.

Erik Jay ·
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Director's Chair: Sam Hain - Born to Porn

Afew decades’ worth of bad horror movies has convinced many Americans that the Celts were an ancient race of robed warlocks. It’s not true, of course, but it doesn’t help that one of their festivals eventually morphed into Halloween. Dividing the year into two seasons, the Celts called the light season starting May 1 — “Beltane,” and the dark season starting on November 1 — “Samhain,” (pronounced sa-win) or summer’s end.

Erik Jay ·
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Director’s Chair: Jax of All Trades

Jax (yup, that’s his name) could be a poster boy for the U.S. Army’s “Be All You Can Be” campaign. Well, except for the fact he’s a porn director, and he’s beyond enlistment age, and you can’t have a soul patch in the Army, and — okay, forget the Army poster.

Erik Jay ·
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BlueBird’s Still Red Hot

Bluebird Films. Weren’t they the “hot thing” last year? Just how long can a company remain a “newcomer” and a “chart climber with a bullet?”

Erik Jay ·
trends

They Give Us Fever

We’re always asking what's hot” and “what's not.” Magazine articles typically follow sales figures and focus on the most popular performers and sites as measured by dollars, cents and mouse clicks. But this special focus takes the pulse of adult and looks at the fresh attitudes, new ideas and emerging trends bubbling to the surface of this creative cauldron we call adult entertainment so you, the decision maker, can take your own temperature.

Erik Jay ·
opinion

Sexy Sizzle - Burn your Brand In Their Brain

With so much free porn available nowadays, it takes a unique idea and something out of the ordinary to get people to slap down a credit card. Sage advice from industry director James Avalon, a veteran who’s seen the industry change first-hand over the years.

Erik Jay ·
profile

Cohen: Not a Happy Little Conformist

He released “Assraelis” a couple of years ago under his TightFit Productions imprint, delivering a boatload of Jewish and Middle Eastern babes with an impressive disregard for the censorious attitudes of the perpetually offended.

Erik Jay ·
profile

Will Ryder - The Prince of Parodies

Only three short years ago Will Ryder was being touted as a “rising star” despite a couple of movies he admits were less than notable. His first movie was so bad (in Ryder’s own estimation) that he didn’t try another for five years. But the creation of the “Britney Rears” franchise put Ryder on track and also established a milestone. Hustler Video’s creative director Drew Rosenfeld says that “Britney Rears 3” was the “very last Hustler movie on VHS.”

Erik Jay ·
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Fast Times With Brett Brando

This column started out in early 2006 with the name Gear & Gadgets, and was focused much more on the cameras, lights, tools and techniques that went into a porn production.

Erik Jay ·
trends

Trend Forecast: 2010

According to a 10-year-old New York Times article from October 2000, some 20 percent of AT&T broadband customers were paying considerable amounts of money to watch real live sex online. With speeds now considered glacially slow, cable and DSL service cost upwards of $60, and viewing a short film could set you back $10.

Erik Jay ·
profile

The Lucky World of LT

The monogrammed LT has a lot to say in this Director's Chair column, including some powerful insights into the "professional porn watchers" who, of course, pay a big chunk of all the salaries in the adult industry.

Erik Jay ·
profile

The Journey of Nica Noelle

Nica Noelle, like many of the directors you meet in this column, is a fascinating and multidimensional figure. Growing up in Manhattan, she fell in love with Times Square, the bustle and the burlesque, and the whole sexy, alluring world she first found there.

Erik Jay ·
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The Rocco Way is Here to Stay

Rocco Siffredi is arguably the biggest straight male porn star working today, and one of the biggest ever in more ways than one. Rocco, the once and future king, was also one of the first subjects of this column, back in early 2006 when it was still called “Gear & Gadgets.” No one is more qualified, or deserving, of a second Director’s Chair appearance than the original Italian stallion.

Erik Jay ·

Devil's in the Details

On April 28, 2009, Arrow Productions filed suit against VCX and its owner David Sutton for selling DVD copies of “Deep Throat,” the most famous porn movie of all time. In a multicount complaint Arrow alleged that VCX committed copyright infringement and counterfeiting, among other things, by marketing the iconic 1972 film starring the late Linda Lovelace.

Erik Jay ·
profile

In the Director's Chair: Zander

In a directing career measured in decades, Zander has used numerous names, constantly reinventing himself and keeping things fresh.

Erik Jay ·
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