Shocker: Some Pornorazzi hated

“They stand there. They get in the way. They gawk. You can hear them breathing.”

As Santa Ana winds and a tightening ring of fire drive adult casts, crews, and the media personnel that cover them closer together, both sides are chafing at the intrusion of new-school pornorazzi – people with disposables and camera phones itching to get close to their idols at porn parties and sets.

A veteran director told me that he used to demand closed sets, but the rise of viral media as well as increased competition between adult publications has forced him to consent to his company’s wishes to invite press on set.

“But you’re all right, Gram,” he said. “I’d invite you anyway.” (This is because I picked up and hid his old-tymey coke spoon when he had carelessly left it out in front of a TMZ crew recently.)

And among the handful of writers and photographers who have covered porn events for years is a genuine anger at the lack of decorum practiced by the interlopers. The appearance of guys with Mini DV cameras nosing in on their turf sparks cries of indignation similar to those uttered by “Golden Age” porn directors angry about being usurped by people who can find the Record button.

“They think that all they need is a camera and suddenly they’re media,” said Dominic X, owner of the EMM Agency, a standby in the porn world for high quality still images that is branching into mainstream red carpet events. “Did you see that guy in the wheelchair?”

Dominic and I worked an event recently that was especially lousy with cameras. A man in a wheelchair rolled back and forth and was often underfoot. That was fine, except:

“And I have video of him groping the girls,” Dominic said.

I have heard of two sets of people within the adult industry agitating for a media guild, in which members would have to be invited and might even get laminated press cards for their scrapbooks.

“That way the girls are protected and we don’t have to keep shoving people out of the shot,” Dominic said.

Adella O’Neal and Tim Williams, who handle various aspects of the AVN Convention and Awards press experience for different companies, both are overwhelmed by the number of people from dubious media outlets attempting to get into the events for free.

“I see the same people show up year after year,” Williams said, “and I have never seen any of their coverage in what you might call a legitimate publication.”

What I might call a legitimate publication changes every year as a business model that was based on pay-for-use photo services has blown up into viral images and videos taken without permission and posted on the cheap. For the performers who want it, it’s free publicity. For the media, it is a problem that gets worse at each event.

O’Neal said she regularly rejects at least 20 percent of the submissions, whether they are walk-ups or attempted pre-registers.

“A lot of them are just fans,” she said.

Certain fandom engenders a proprietary urge toward performers who are already vulnerable for having appeared so clinically naked in dozens of videos.

And, according to some performers, individual members of the media sometimes mask their insecurity by printing hateful things.

“They’re just jealous,” said performer Jack Lawrence.

For perspective, I found an interview I conducted with Harvey Levin, the developer and host of TMZ, a Hollywood gossip blog and basic cable show.

“We’re vultures,” he said in 2007. “But these people want us to catch them. That’s what they signed on for when they became famous.”

However much Levin believes his employees have the right to prey on celebrities, adult entertainment “news” culture is actually much more considerate of the talent, mostly keeping a respectful distance.

And, as Kayden Kross told me recently, “I like it when people take pictures” and she dresses, or doesn’t dress, accordingly.

Still, there seems to be a general consensus within the Porno-American community of driving The Other away. This might be difficult because some studios are getting addicted to viral press, even if it doesn’t lead to sales.

One of the factions hoping to put together a media guild even suggests telling companies they will receive no coverage from guild members if non-guild members are allowed on set.

Such an embargo is unlikely to be beneficial to anyone, but it does boil down to politeness.

I talked with Richard Montfort, studio photographer and porn director. He acknowledged that the growing pornorazzi issue concerned him.

“They eat all our craft services,” he said.

Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Vicky Vette: when boobs are not enough; Columbia Journalism Review addresses porn megaconglomerates; Twilight of the Hustler studio

About Gram the Man 4399 Articles
Gram Ponante is America's Beloved Porn Journalist

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