The Biz

Ricky Sinz -- just hearing his name makes us hard as hell -- is looking to help some lucky SOB into the world of porn. Tired of wannabes whining about getting into the industry, he has put out a challenge to find some well-hung unknown to work with him and his company.

"We are currently holding auditions for tattooed bad boys who want to literally fuck the world one hole at a time," Ricky wrote on his blog. "You want fame, fortune, and your dreams to come true? Here is your chance to make it happen."

You'll need to do some work first, though. Individuals have to submit 20 to 50 pictures and a 20 minute jerk-off video. If Ricky likes it, he'll post it and that could lead to a paid shoot in his next video.

"We'll work with your limits. We will fly you in to Chicago or Philly for the hardcore shoot or we can even come to you and line up a female to shoot with ... what ever is easiest," he added.

Ewwww, boobies! Seems the site Ricky is working on, holeandaheartbeat.com, is dedicated to straight tattooed men (though we're sure one or two of you could easily hold your own on the site).

Still interested? You can contact Ricky at rickysinzxxx@yahoo.com to let him know. But remember, breasts and vajayjays may be involved.

Joseph Kerekes pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering Cobra Video owner Bryan Kocis almost two years ago. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors say Kerekes and co-defendant Harlow Cuadra killed Kocis inside his  home, then set the house on fire to try to cover up the crime. The motive: Kocis was blocking a modeling deal with porn star Brent Corrigan.

Kerekes' plea spares him a potential death sentence. As he was leaving the courthouse, he said he “absolutely will not"  testify  against Cuadra,  who is scheduled to go on trial on Jan. 5. 

Despite Kerekes loyalty, he did tell attorneys during plea negotiations that he was aware Cuadra intended to kill Kocis, and that Kerekes stayed at a motel while Cuadra went to Kocis' house. When Cuadra returned, he said he had killed Kocis and set the home ablaze, according to Kerekes.

Things are not looking good for Harlow Cuadra, come January ...

Pitbull Productions is now $2.85 million richer after a federal district judge in Miami found in the company's favor in a recent copyright infringement case.

U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan ordered defendants The Urban Netmedia Group Inc., to pay for 37 copyright violations and to hand over the file-sharing website that facilitated the piracy, WhatsTea.com, to Pitbull.

Jordan ruled that WhatsTea "enabled and encouraged" surfers to share content they did not own; the more content they provided, the more content they could in turn download.

Jalin Fuentes of Pitbull stated, "online newsgroups, file-sharing sites, blogs and magazine sites, among others, cannot hide while they willfully allow others to illegally infringe on our hard work, copyrights and trademarks ... Webmasters, registrants and domain owners must take active measures to ensure that a company's intellectual property is not being abused, illegally posted, shared and prostituted on the Internet."

As to the fate of the WhatsTea.com domain, Pitbull is now  providing users "the opportunity to legally view gay adult content without breaking the law."  In other words, they've turned it into a pay-per-view theater.

Pirating videos is certainly getting expensive!

JC Adams over at Gay Porn Times reported yesterday that even the sex trade is feeling the pinch of a flagging economy (the very worst kind of shrinkage).

He pointed to an e-mail that was being sent out to various performers being managed by FabScout Entertainment which warned, "…There have been a lot of changes in the porn world this year. With the economy at its lowest since the Great Depression, and knowing that several studios and websites have completely shut down and closed, and some lowering their scene rates to embarrassingly low prices ...

"Many of the large studios have had their employees pay cut by up to 30% so we know they are feeling it as well… The good news is yes, there are many companies that are still filming; it’s just a little slower at the moment. The turnaround is coming…"

Actors are being told to improve their glamour shots and look at all possible income streams (beyond just films) to keep themselves afloat. Scary stuff.

Since the porn industry can't look to the federal government for a bailout it depends entirely on consumers willing to pay for their porn. Think of it as stimulating the economy and  yourself at the same time.

Three months ago David Forest retired. He sold his Forestmen porn star management agency to Fabscout Entertainment. He said he was getting too old for the porn game and it was time for a change.

What he didn't mention was that his decision was based more on self-preservation than anything else. Instead of a trip to someplace sunny and warm, he moved into a rehab center. And after a (fingers crossed) successful stint taking care of certain addictions, Forest wants to get back to work in adult entertainment.

"I was a manager, not an agent," he said. "A manager guides and counsels his clients; he doesn't just find them jobs. From day one, I tried to bring mainstream ethics and techniques to the smut biz. I managed my stars the old-fashioned way."

And he was good at it. For example, he helped Billy Harrington negotiate  $25,000 to appear in All Worlds Video's "Conquered." And he assisted Tony Capucci in scoring $3,000 for each of six scenes for Falcon. 

So now what? [more]

CorbinFisher.com knows how to take care of its own. The studio announced that it will be providing exclusive models full health benefits, 401(k) plans and tuition reimbursement. Performers will also be paid more for their work.

“The contributions our models make to the success of our company have always been tremendous,” CorbinFisher VP of Operations Brian Dunlap said. “We’ve long recognized that fact with high pay rates and substantial income-earning opportunities for our performers.

“In this particular election year, there has been a great deal of attention paid to health care and how difficult it can be for employees to get it,” Dunlap told XBIZ. “That is what originally brought this plan to mind, and made us think of what a valuable offering it could be to our models. Many would not otherwise have health insurance were it not for our providing it.”

With many of the models between the ages of 18 and 23 tuition reimbursement just made sense. The aim is to “reward models already enrolled in school, and encourage those that are not to pursue graduate and post-graduate educations, while motivating all of them to perform well academically.”

Impressive! Oh, and if it helps, we'll tutor any of the models free of charge.

Things have gone from bad to worse for embattled gay media company PlanetOut, the corporate parent of online personals and news site  gay.com. On August 11, following news of a $100 million accumulated deficit (including a 2007 loss of  over $50 million), the company announced that its stock on the NASDAQ exchange  faces possible delisting.

PlanetOut has been selling off some of its  properties over the past year. Last December it off-loaded its money-losing RSVP Vacations unit to Atlantis Events Inc.  This April it sold its magazine and book publishing business, including "Out," "The Advocate," "Men," "Freshmen" and "Unzipped," to GLBT cable channel here! for a mere $6 million. (It paid over $30 million for the magazines in 2005.)

According to PlanetOut chief executive officer Karen Magee. "...  we believe that the divestiture of our publishing businesses will enable PlanetOut Inc. to devote all of our attention and resources to our core online businesses, Gay.com and PlanetOut.com."

Which is what they should have been doing all along as nimble competitors have multiplied, eating away at gay.com's market share in online personals.

Magee added. "This will ensure that all of our powerful brands have a better chance to grow and prosper, and will ultimately produce greater value for our shareholders."

But is it too little too late?  [more]

The 25 percent excise tax on adult products and productions in California has died in committee, meaning state residents will not be paying a hefty increase on their sexually explicit movies, books and (believe it or not) websites.

The tax was proposed by Democratic Assemblyman Charles Calderon as an effort to address the "numerous health, safety and societal problems, including reducing property values in affected neighborhoods and encouraging unsafe sex and aggressive attitudes toward women."

Diane Duke, Executive Director of Free Speech Coalition, was appalled by the hearings surrounding Calderon's initiative. "[They] were telling lies about the industry; that people were committing suicide and that drugs were rampant on the set," Duke said. "Of course, we had people from the set there to testify that [those things] are not happening."

Calderon denied he was attacking the industry per se arguing his efforts were "not intended as a prohibition of legally protected forms of expression," but was more about the "negative financial impacts" of adult entertainment. (And of course had nothing to do with the estimated $260 million the tax would raise annually!)

Why can't politicians just leave us to jack-off in peace?

Lucas Entertainment plans to launch a fetish line under Lucas Raunch this fall. And they don't plan on sticking with safe kinks like watersports and whips. Expect spit, enemas, and (gulp!) farts!

Michael Lucas says he is responding to customer demand, with fans asking for edgier content.

“I read every email from customers that come to me, so I know what I am talking about. Lucas Entertainment is not about my personal preferences. This is about what my audience wants,” Lucas told XBIZ.

“As for what to expect," he added, "we're doing everything from extensive watersports to farts — yes, you read it right. There will also be a lot of spitting, spanking, enemas, medical examinations and lots of hole-stretching/ass play."

And unlike fetish films from years gone by, don`t expect any leather. “I'm not planning on doing leather at this point, since there are many studios that have specialized in it for many years.”

But farts? That just stinks.

Porn agent, manager and producer David Forest is retiring.

He announced yesterday at a press conference that he was selling David Forest Entertainment to FabScout Entertainment. FabScout will take over all the film, print, Internet and live representation that Forest currently handles.

FabScout's Howard Andrew said, " Acquiring and adding David Forest's talent roster and contacts to our already formidable pool of talent gives FabScout Entertainment unparalleled access to the biggest names and hottest talent in the U.S."

Forrest pointed out that he "had a wild ride in the XXX business and it's now time to get on the speedway and begin to enjoy life a lot more. I'm going to take the next several months for some much-needed time off. I wish Howard the absolute best. He's the only person I'd hand over my business to. He is a very hard-working guy and I'm sure he'll do an excellent job for my stars."

Forest has managed the careers of such stars as Ryan Idol, Ken Ryker, Tom Katt, Jeff Palmer, and Billy Brandt. That's a pretty impressive list.

At the end of the news conference, Andrew said, "Everyone has someone they look up to in their career. And I looked up to David Forest. And now I'm sitting here. We'll make it happen, we'll keep it consistent. David's not leaving. He'll always be around in one form or another." Then he added, "As all you guys know, it's hard to kill the devil."

Falcon Studios has reconsidered their decision to allow performers to cum in each other's mouth on camera.

"It wasn't right for us and it wasn't right for our brand," Troy Prickett admitted to The Sword.

This is one of the biggest changes since the sudden resignation of Falcon president Todd Montgomery, who some think was flirting a little too closely with higher-risk porn. It remains to be seen if the studio will pull back on other Montgomery initiatives, including the re-branding of pre-condom videos as "Falcon Bareback." 

President and chief executive officer Todd Montgomery has left Falcon Entertainment, according to GAYVN.com. He had been with the company since 2003 before taking control of it with partners Terry Mahaffey and Steve Johnson in 2004. When Mahaffey died of cancer in October 2005, Montgomery took over as president.

Johnson is now sole owner, according to the source.

"Todd and Steve agreed to disagree on some key issues and decided to part ways," Director of Promotions & Production Troy Prickett told Gay Porn Times. "We wish him well. Otherwise, it’s just business as usual here at Falcon."

Neither Montgomery nor Johnson have spoken publicly about this recent development. Let's hope that Falcon will continue to bring us hot videos and awesome models.