If you could set aside your judgment of porn’s morality or put in perspective what it means to be exploited in minimum-wage late-stage capitalism, then you’d have the right attitude to work in the adult industry and to learn what everyone here already knows: Mark Spiegler is a mensch.
“Mark Spiegler: Patron of the Tarts” follows the veteran porn agent and owner of the Spiegler Girls adult talent agency from the floor of the 2019 Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas to his home office in the San Fernando Valley immediately thereafter. Director Dino Roscigno filmed dozens of interviews with Spiegler Girls past and present—including Katja Kassin, Angela White, Asa Akira, Abella Danger, and Dana DeArmond, as well as industry luminaries like Kayden Kross, Manuel Ferrara, John Stagliano, AVN founder Paul Fishbein, Jim Powers, and Rob Spallone.
(“I used Rob as a kind of foil for Mark,” Roscigno says, “because I wanted to show the other side of the business, too.”)
Woven through the documentary’s depiction of Spiegler’s day-to-day life (Spiegler and his right-hand man, George Jiries, are never without their phones—even in the shower—and require the same of their clients) is an unfolding panorama of Porn Valley as it appears today (pandemic notwithstanding) and the hot-button items the adult industry faces, including mental health issues, drug abuse, and the pitfalls of the particular type of fame porn stardom provides, even touching on August Ames’s suicide.
As such, “Patron of the Tarts” would probably not get a high grade in a Documentary 101 class, even though it is the most comprehensive picture of the L.A. porn scene, probably ever. This is because Roscigno has been a friend of Spiegler’s for 20 years and, much as he tried, he was unable to get anyone to say anything negative about his subject.
“Believe me—I searched for people to be critical of something about Mark,” Roscigno says from his home in New York. “But everyone loves him.”
Roscigno, whose former sister in-law’s stepsister was once married to Spallone, visited his almost-relative in L.A. in 2000, hoping to make it big in Hollywood. Spallone, a muscly paisan who made movies like “My Big Fat Gangbang” and the lucrative series “The Sopornos,” introduced Roscigno to Spiegler, who was then nicknamed Shylock because he financed a lot of porn projects.
“We became friendly immediately,” Roscigno says. “Mark is incredibly well-read and knows a lot about everything. He appreciates education. One of the first things he tells you about is how many degrees (a particular Spiegler Girl) has.”
But education isn’t everything. Spiegler’s rules are simple but unbending, according to the doc:
1. Show up on time, 2. Always answer your phone, 3. Don’t make me look bad, and 4. Don’t give me anything to worry about.
(And the rules are also consistent: I wrote about them ten years ago.)
Abella Danger, who is charming in this documentary, testifies to how strict Spiegler is about his commandments.
“I showed up late once and he ripped me a new asshole,” she says. “I have three assholes now.”
While his documentary is heavy on testimonials, Roscigno just as often defines his subject by who Spiegler isn’t, or lets other people shine a light on the darker side of the business.
“I will never, ever, have sex with you,” says Mark Schechter, owner of ATMLA, a rival agency, repeating the promise he gives to prospective models. He tells Roscigno that Spiegler has sometimes referred people to ATMLA that Spiegler Girls wouldn’t take.
Similarly, Dave Rock of Motley Models (who denied allegations of a non-consensual, transactional relationship with a model last year) says that Spiegler doesn’t recruit talent where other agents must.
Indeed, in one scene of the documentary, Spiegler scrolls through hundreds of emails from women reaching out to him for representation.
He is highly selective but his requirements, aside from adherence to the rules, are vague. He prefers all-natural, “not too many” tattoos, and “preferably they do anal.”
“A lot of the other agents are scumbags,” says Casey Calvert.
(Derek Hay of LA Direct Models politely declined to be interviewed for the documentary.)
It is clear from the praise heaped on Spiegler by models, directors, producers, and other performers the esteem in which he is held. What isn’t so clear is Spiegler’s motivation. Why is this man, whom Fishbein says “looks like a porn talent agent but doesn’t act like one” in the adult business at all?
There is no consensus other than a suggestion that Spiegler feels paternal. Dana DeArmond, who says that Spiegler “actually tried to talk me out of getting in the business,” says in the doc that she’s closer to him than her own parents (DeArmond and Spiegler Girls have since parted ways). This sentiment is echoed by other models.
Throughout the film, Spiegler’s default position is recumbent and his default dress is Smoking Area Casual (though he doesn’t smoke). Suffering for years from a bad back, Spiegler conducts a lot of business (and the brunt of the movie) lying on a couch with his shoes off. He’ll dress up while in Vegas, but his preferred ensemble and surroundings look remarkably like a realization of the fantasy worlds of the people who watch the movies Spiegler Girls make: Apartment, fast food, big TV, and lots of very attractive women stopping by just to hang.
“You can’t just talk about Mark Spiegler,” says Gianna Dior. “You have to be in his presence to understand.”
“Patron of the Tarts” makes clear that Spiegler’s appeal to models is that he is trustworthy and is somehow impervious to the temptations presented by proximate porn stars (PPS). Even for professionals who thrive on attention, that must be a relief.
“Mark is absolutely immune to the thing everyone else wants,” Angela White tells me.
Like Ron Howard’s “Inside Deep Throat” told the story of the Porno Chic era through one movie, “Patron of the Tarts” is a solid but wide-ranging snapshot of left-coast porn in the post-video age. Roscigno’s movie is seemingly about Spiegler, but touches a lot more, which makes it a valuable document.
“Patron of the Tarts” debuted on Amazon Prime in February, a month after Mark Spiegler was hospitalized for COVID, then caught pneumonia, and then suffered a minor heart attack. He is still in the hospital, but Jiries—who is running the company in Spiegler’s absence in addition to having three toddlers at home (“I haven’t slept in two months,” he says) reports that a recent angiogram indicates a good prognosis for “Spieg.”
Despite the plaudits of his admirers, Spiegler himself downplays his importance in the business. He says there might be one day of mourning if he dies, with models saying, “I’m too sad to go on—can I do the anal on Friday?”
I remind Jiries of his statement in the documentary, that he probably could take over the business but doesn’t want to, and he sighs heavily.
“No one wants a world without Mark,” he says. “He’d fucking better get better.”
“Patron of the Tarts” also features hilarious interviews with Kristina Rose and Markus Dupree, Kira Noir, Aiden Starr, Brad Armstrong, and Chanel Preston.
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Last Call at the Hard Rock—An AVN 2020 Gallery; Snakes, Porn, And Compersion with Angela White; You Can’t Put A Laugh Track on Genius—”The Facts of Life XXX”
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