It's early August, and Cousin Stevie, the 64-year-old Brooklyn-bred impresario of nearly two dozen Pussy Parties, is corralling the eight women who will spend the next 12 or so hours getting to know each other.
An assistant asks Stevie if towels should cover a bed upon which Sindee Jennings and Miss Kitty will be coupling.
"Why would we?" Stevie replies, devilish. "We rented the place."
There are a number of differences between a "Pussy Party" day and other porn shoots. Unlike any of the hundred or so adult scenes lensed on a given day in the San Fernando Valley, a "Pussy Party" is a day-long commitment; while people show up late (it is porn, after all), the cast, crew and visitors know they are there for the duration. No one expects to shoot another scene, no one is anxious to leave.
This allows everyone to become familiar with each other. That, and the "Pussy Party" format encourages team-building.
This is because the eight performers first pair up, then join foursomes, and finally get together for a sweaty octet at the end of the day, in addition to providing a solo scene for fans of that niche.
"The challenge is getting eight girls who work well with each other," Cousin Stevie said. Stevie is cousin to Adam Glasser, aka Seymore Butts, who a decade ago asked Stevie, then the California sales representative for a New York-based computer firm, to help him with his family business.
"I'm East Coast," Stevie said, "and family's family. I respect loyalty. Plus, Adam pioneered a lot of the big money niches in this business."
I asked Stevie if, had it been the other way — if his cousin worked in the computer business and requested Stevie to leave porn — if he would have jumped so fast.
"In a minute," Stevie said. "Family's family."
The gruff and comically surly Stevie became the star of the Showtime reality series about Glasser's relatives in the porn world, "Family Business," and it became clear that it would be a good idea to capitalize on Stevie's celebrity.
"Well, Adam had the ass," Stevie observed, "so I took a crack at the pussy." Thus the "Pussy Party" born, now in its 23rd installment.
Over the past three years, the "Pussy Party" format has been tweaked but has essentially remained the same. The solo masturbation scenes that once began the day's activities now close the show.
"That way I'm hoping they really want it," Stevie said.
And he also has used the natural competitiveness of the performers to their own and the movie's advantage.
"With each movie we add more incentives," Stevie said. "We have cash prizes for the performer who brings the most to the shoot — the Most Valuable Player — and we have other prizes that might be money or a sex toy or something from a sponsor in addition to each girl's day rate."
Sponsors like adult novelty companies or herbal supplement firms can get product placement in a "Pussy Party," which Stevie finances and Pure Play Media distributes.
A number of companies have all-girl gangbang titles, but none but "Cousin Stevie's Pussy Party" offers prizes, and this heightens the experience for the performers.
"I never win these things," said "Pussy Party" regular Amber Peach, a personal favorite of Stevie's.
Another Amber, this time the very focused Amber Rayne, is thwarted in her pursuit of the day's top prize but does get the biggest laugh of the day when she said to Peach in their scene together: "Well you're awful creamy, aren't you, bitch?"
But a "Pussy Party" is never a day without drama. Stevie has sent women home who detracted from the ensemble spirit. In one memorable case two years ago, two women got into a fight that resulted in each throwing craft service burritos at each other.
"I sent them home," he said. "And the rest of the cast wanted to come back and finish the movie, but I just got a whole new cast."
But just as a sour personality might taint the production, so does each performer's own style incite, challenge and electrify the rest of the cast.
The latest installment of "Pussy Party," which Stevie has subtitled "Eight Little Hoes" ("They're all little, all-natural women," Stevie said. "Guys like girls they think they have a chance with," but the themes of each Party rarely matter, as each woman brings something different), also had its share of personality issues.
One actress had been overheard declaring — and then denying — that she was getting over a yeast infection and that she didn't want to be there. Some of the performers brought their concern to Stevie, who dispatched the visiting Nicki Hunter, herself a three-time "Pussy Party" winner and, at 27, a de facto elder stateswoman of porn, to talk with the performer to find out if what she had been heard saying was true.
The performer, embarrassed, emerged from seclusion several times to vilify her accusers. She threatened to call a lawyer, she paced outside, and she came back into the house several times to interrupt scenes.
For whatever reason, the performer had lied about a yeast infection, but when confronted with her remarks, she wanted to stay. The rest of the performers reluctantly agreed and the performer finished the day.
"But she didn't win Most Valuable Player," Stevie said.
Cousin's Respect
Stevie is respected among his crew and talent. He gets impatient, but he does not yell. He is not a prima donna. He looks at the process as a job that he happens to like.
"It's when directors start thinking this is art, or that they can fool around with the girls, then it becomes a problem," Stevie said. "If you lose sight of the fact that this is a business, you're sunk. But no one said business couldn't be fun."
Stevie credits his wife of 30 years, Aimee, with supporting him and "not putting up with [my] bullshit." "She knows that none of this is real," he said, gesturing to naked 19-year-olds flouncing around the set. "She trusts me enough that I would not be one of those directors."
He added, "And there's a lot less fooling around in this business than there was in the computer business."
The Most Valuable Player award on this specific day went to Sindee Jennings, who seemed to have a bottomless reservoir of fluid into which she'd tap for numerous squirting episodes. The amount, frequency and trajectory of the fluid astonished everyone but Stevie.
"I don't think that's real either," he said, "but it sure is entertaining."
"Cousin Stevie's Pussy Party: Eight Little Hoes" will be released this fall.
