egafd.com

You'd be a fool if you didn't go with this format as you will be left behind. HD is here and that's that.

I shoot small-time stuff on mini DVD, I own one Panasonic Dvx100 SD Cam and one Sony HVR-A1 HD cam.

After using the sony and viewing the footage on a large HD screen I gave up on the Pan SD cam, it's up for sale.

I am now looking forward to this new format as prices drop and it becomes affordable. I shoot everything in HD and down convert to SD, so if later you want the footage to be in HD it can be in HD.

But I have the same opinion as most, HD anit going to make your badly shot film look good!

Agree 100%...I used to distribute R18 videos, did alright and got out as soon as I realised that R18 mail order would not be following in the wake of 'proper' R18 in stores. I could see exactly where the market was going to go, and lo and behold it has.

The fact that R18 has no legal sales outlet other than face-to-face in store sales means that independent producers and distributors have no viable alternative and thus no leverage in negotiating price with the stores. If you want ?5 a disc and the shop wants to pay ?3, you've got two options: Take the pittance they're offering or be left with the product. You can't stick to your guns on price and hope to shift it via internet/mail order, because that is illegal (unless you go via the foreign affiliate route, which may not be affordable or practical for smaller producers). Thus you have Hobson's Choice...and don't forget that most of the larger store chains here in the UK already license and distribute foreign material as R18's, which is a clear conflict of interest given that a few big players control the majority of the market, i.e. the stores. So they really don't have any reason to buy anyone else's stuff.

What can be done? Well, firstly I think UK producers should start affixing an RRP to their titles of ?19.95-?24.95 to nip in the bud the ?60-?80 a throw merchants who have the only licensed shop for miles around. At ?5 (for example) a disc, that offers a very generous 300-400% mark-up for the retailer.

Might I also suggest that certain 'leading lights' amongst the UK production community (say, those who frequent the mysterious Freemasons-like locked forum over at ukadultproducers) get their heads together and determine a pricing structure that they won't dip below. Once they get one of you to go down to tuppence ha'penny, then they'll expect the same from everybody else. I know that sounds anti-competitive, but I believe it's what the current marketplace dictates...

Also, how about an approved retailer scheme? 'Shop X supports British Porn' on a certificate or somesuch, so as to reward those stores that are happy to pay a fair price, and mark out those that won't....sort of like a 'Fairtrade' for porn, if you will. This is probably something AITA should be doing, but I think their previous actions make it pretty clear which side their bread is metaphorically buttered. Basically, UK Porn could really do with marketing, packaging and representing itself a little better in all areas

Having said all that, UK Producers need to get their fingers out and start making better quality porn too. Gonzo can have production values too, you know...just look at Jules Jordan. I've yet to see too many folk really try and pick up the gauntlet on that one as of yet...there's still far too much poorly lit/shot/made-up amateurish stuff coming out.

This applies to all aspects of the business as far as I can see. Any performer that no-shows a shoot without good reason should be forgotten about, yet too often they are tolerated. And I know everyone likes to carp on about Walpole being the best agency, but compare their website to LA Direct or any other US adult agency site...small photos, few in number, which don't illustrate the model well or any tattoos/scars she might have. Now look at an LA Direct page...loads of clearly lit photos which show the prospective client exactly what they need to know and see. I know people think Derek Hay is a wanker personally, but he's loved by producers over there, and it's not difficult to see why.

A change in the law is the only real solution, but I believe there are plenty of things producers can do in the meantime to make a bad situation a little (or lot) better, and give added value to their products...I've got plenty of ideas if anyone's interested!

Now we're talking.....


Maybe some Film Producers should join A.I.T.A. and get to express their opinions better too... this is where we need to be. DanG you sound like someone who has a clue on here....

At the end of the day.... quaility sells !! And that's what's needed..... If it's British or not. And new girls too...... In the Valley, Girls are turning up every day... and the producers have their pick. It's much harder here.... to acquire new talent... But then again how do we attaract more faces to the industry ? Pay better ?.... so we're back to the chicken and egg......

..understand that we know they're not perfect and that their pornstar persona is a very much constructed and performed identity. We know that, and we suspend disbelief. If pimples are visible who's problem is it .. our or theirs ? I think you'll find that the consumer is a lot less concerned about this than the performers, and the customer is King, right ?

Yes, and it's common knowledge that quite a few of them are retired too...but let's not get distracted.

I think the whole thing is very much a question of the chicken and the egg, but it's clear what needs to be done...performers' rates, budgets, etc. can't go up until producers can make more money. If Joe Blow spends ?3,000 on a movie, and you spend ?30, 000 the shops are still going to offer you the same price for it, meaning you've got to shift ten times as many copies as Joe but in the exact same limited marketplace, plus he can afford to undercut you because he doesn't need to make as much to break even. Thus the cycle of cheap amateur stuff is perpetuated.

Of course, it doesn't help much either when someone is pirating your stuff as well...some cunt on QXL looks like he's got the entire Red Light District back catalogue available for ?2.50 a throw. Why isn't AITA or somebody doing something about this?

I tried to email Anjali about this a while ago, because someone was punting out Killergram stuff, but my mail kept bouncing back? Here's a copy of it:

Hi Anjali,

Just spotted this on QXL.com:

LINK NO LONGER VALID

If the link doesn't work, just search for 'British Ethnic DVDs' (you'll need to register with QXL before you can see the adult section though).

Someone is punting out 5 Killergram DVD's for a tenner, with 100 lots on offer, and that would suggest to me that it's a pirate.

Hope you can get it nipped in the bud, as if he reaches a full sale he will have done you out of 500 units worth!

Best,

Daniel

I've no idea what Will and Anjali's wholesale price is, but at a retail price of ?20-25, this bloke will have done them out of ?10,000 to ?12,500. It beggars belief that no-one is putting the boot into QXL or the individuals responsible...again, perhaps this is something AITA needs to look into, because I know from experience that F.A.C.T. are only interested in protecting the major mainstream studios (who fund them).

Just type a few keywords into QXL (you'll need to be registered for the adult stuff), and it's piracy city.

Example:



This guy is punting Desi-Liscious out at ?1.50 a throw, with 10 available (for this auction, anyway...it's not like he's going to run out of stock, is it?). That's including postage too...so he's going to make under ?15, yet cost the producer ?200-250 retail. Two words for you folks: REVENUE PROTECTION!

If wanton piracy is allowed to proliferate like this, then your product will soon be worthless. People won't buy it, and thus stores won't buy it...it only takes five minutes to do a search on your product and fire off an email to QXL, but is anyone actually doing it?

Perhaps if a few producers chipped in to a legal fund, they could make an example out of one of these guys and put the frighteners on a lot of others, or at the very least get them to move on to pirating something else. They need to send out a loud and clear message...fuck with UK producers and their product, and we're gonna fuck right back. If that guy in my previous example is incurring a retail loss for Pornostatic of between ?10,000 and ?12,500 a time, and I would imagine he's done it more than once, then he's looking at a house price sized fine or time inside, either of which would put the message out quite succinctly in my opinion.

Just an idea....

DanG wrote:


>
> Might I also suggest that certain 'leading lights' amongst the
> UK production community (say, those who frequent the mysterious
> Freemasons-like locked forum over at ukadultproducers) get
> their heads together and determine a pricing structure that
> they won't dip below.


That would be a cartel and thus illegal under UK law.

It would be illegal if it could be proved, of course...but I'm thinking more of a loose coalition than a written agreement.

If we're honest, only one person is capable of 'fixing' the prices of R18, and it's not the producer or the customer, it's the stores. The current system gives the larger chains a de facto monopoly, which is why I refuse to put money into it.

Just had a look at some info on our cartel laws...

Elements of the cartel offence
Under s188 EA 2002:

'An individual is guilty of an offence if he dishonestly agrees with one or more other persons to make or implement, or to cause to be made or implemented, arrangements of the following kind relating to at least two undertakings?'

The type of activity that is sought to be prohibited is price-fixing, limiting production or supply, market-sharing and bid-rigging.

The Competition Act 1998, which also prohibits cartel behaviour, has sanctions for the following behaviour:

'? agreements, decisions or practices which -
(a) directly or indirectly fix purchase or selling prices or any other trading conditions;
(b) limit or control production, markets, technical development or investment;
(c) share markets or sources of supply?'
(Chapter 41, s2(2))


Don't the R18 laws fall foul of this? I'm looking specifically at the Competition Act, points a) and b). The market is certainly limited, and the trading conditions are certainly fixed...