For many years Porn Valley’s highest honor was a contract with one of the established studios. Vivid, Wicked, Digital Playground, and Hustler all maintained a program in which women could be reasonably assured of a steady paycheck and a built-in publicity machine.
I met Nikki Nine, who eased Hustler’s decision to abandon its contract star program, in 2006.
Now only Wicked and Digital Playground keep a roster of exclusive talent, and even those lineups are smaller than they were. The economy has refocused priorities: is it a cost-effective marketing tool to put a public face on a company, and can porn studios trust that that 19-year-old face won’t shoot under a different name for Naughty America on the side?
Nikki Nine turned 18, they say, in June of 2006, and by October she had joined Memphis Monroe and Mya Luanna at Hustler. Nine was escorted to a series of interviews, including Adam Carolla’s old radio show. She looks more poised and in control than most 18-year-olds; perhaps it is is because she’s brunette.
But having a contract performer program is like maintaining a stable of high-strung horsies; there must be dedicated marketers, a contract girl wrangler, and a production schedule that will allow those contract girls to have something to do at regular intervals. Many companies learned the hard way that the status symbol of contract girls was too much trouble.
So when it was discovered that Nikki Nine had been shooting for another company while under exclusive contract with Hustler, Hustler cut its losses.
I myself sign several contract performers a year. I have no idea where they are.
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: A Bitchin’ ‘gine saves Nine
Gram Ponante is America's Beloved Porn Journalist
