"told Lux that he would pay for her airfare, provide lodgings for her during her stay, and secure her work as an adult actress that would make her a "substantial amount of money," according to the complaint filed" "The actress soon discovered her trip to Florida was not "free" as it had been advertised, but to be deducted from the money she made from shoots. Lux also learned she was responsible for paying $40 per day in order to reside in ... "model houses," alongside several other girls. She was required to undergo regular STD screening through a company called Talent Testing Services and had to reimburse ... the $155 fee. Lux had to pay for travel to and from her gigs, including airfare and lodging for a work trip to California. On top of that, she often bankrolled her own hair, makeup and clothing. The fees might not have seemed so unreasonable, Kolb told The Daily Beast, if the agency had booked her enough jobs to offset the costs. But Lux claims .. arranged no more than nine shoots for her over the course of several months, each paying between $600 and $1100. According to invoices submitted as evidence, Lux never saw a dime from four of these shoots" https://www.thedailybeast.com/floridas-porn-king-accused-of-sexually-exploiting-women?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning [mod edit: added specifics to thread title] Topic Moved by - killbillvol69 on Oct 2 2018
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Oct 2 2018 : 1:01PM
Basically Pimp Economics 101. That's what she fell for, and not just her, but literally every other girl he's ever represented. I wonder, over the years, how many girls has this guy brought into the industry that have managed to have a sustained period of success? I assume not very many. I know he represented Ava Taylor since she was in the documentary, and she had an okay run, but she left the industry completely burned out and probably with less than two nickels to her name. The women that do well in this industry are the ones with a decent head on their shoulders and a plan, or at least some savvy about the world. These young girls that answer ads, it's just a recipe for disaster in most cases.
My brain can't help but draw parallels between this case and the LA Direct case. edit to add: this story has been picked up by NY Post and Rolling Stone as well as others. Edited by - killbillvol69 on 10/2/2018 7:05:04 PM
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Cocaine Gravytrain Deactivated User
125 Posts 8/11
Posted - Oct 3 2018 : 12:30AM
These scammers are almost pathological in their sickness and greed. They have an easy job with clients who trust them and they can easily make enough money to make ends meet up front if they're just honest. This guy wants to fuck his models, which a lot of agents do; so he set up a site for that(in addition to whatever he probably makes them do off-camera) and having your own site as an agent/director is FINE. No one would bat an eye if he was just honest and paid his girls. Money isn't what it used to be in the industry, but there's no excuse for scamming like this. You can be pretty creepy in this industry as long as you're above board. He's going to miss what he had once he gets the boot for good. He's going to get sued into the stone age.
Of course people promising young performers they will be stars and make bucketloads of money if they just do as they say, is as old as the hills. (And I see it all the time on that disgusting show 'The Voice'.) But actually then charging those youngsters for travel, accommodation, additional costs, while getting them almost no work, and then preventing them from working elsewhere, is surely criminal.
The thing about stories like this and all the others I read or hear is that in almost all cases it seems like if the agent/management would just do things above board and not spend so much effort into trying fuck over the talent for as much they possibly can they'd actually make more money in the long run. In most cases like this it seems like the agent would rather make as much as they can from their cash cow as quickly as possible to the point of chasing them away and bringing on all sorts of grief for everyone involved. It's just short sighted stupidness.
^ I'm not sure, but I guess squeezing out talent, overpricing them with bullshit items to pay/work off (contractual obligations, model house, transportation, ...) and constantly getting new talent must be more lucrative than sticking with the talent you have and 'developing' it, i.e. actively seeking work for them instead of relying on the production companies to select from the catalog, which basically reduces the agency work to maintaining a website...
^ & ^^ At least for the Florida-based porn industry there's also the issue that there just aren't that many producers to shoot for. So yeah, burning through lots of talent quickly and frequently replacing them with new girls might well be the more lucrative option there, compared to slow-burning it with a smaller number of performers. That aside, "agents" like the one under discussion here probably don't have the skills or the business contacts to do the latter anyway... Edited by - shalalin on 10/7/2018 7:55:41 PM
^^^ "if the agent/management would just do things above board and not spend so much effort into trying fuck over the talent for as much they possibly can they'd actually make more money in the long run". I think in entertainment indutries, many business models are actually based on feeding talent lies and screwing them over. But you make an interesting general comment about such people: With scam artists, is it just about making money, or do they actually gain a perverse pleasure in manipulating people and ruining people's lives?
