In the Jada Stevens thread Mass Facialties brought up an interesting question:So what do you all think? And what are the underpinning business pressures that might make a gonzo studio pursue exclusive contracts? Is this somehow symptomatic of the troubles the industry has been having?
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Mass Facialties Deactivated User
"Facialized Vol. 7" 2021 AVN Awards Winner: Best Oral Movie 9308 Posts 9/13
Posted - Oct 28 2014 : 4:48AM
Thanks for sparing me the task of creating this thread myself, Mister Fahrenheit. Hopefully, those "in the know" at ArchAngel and HardX, like MimeFreak and Mason, can somewhat explain to us the reasoning behind these exclusive contracts.
Yes we have signed Jada Stevens to an exclusive contract via Arch Angel. Our goals are very exclusive with Jada. We came up with this idea as a plan for Jada mainly. We have her best interest at heart and we wanted to do something unique with her. Unfortunately we are unable to share everything with you all but there's going to be plenty of Jada Stevens content to go around. Arch Angel is a different brand of company and in the near future you will see something different coming from this studio. Jada gives us a chance to cater to a particular starlet who we feel isn't being pushed to her full capacity. There's been a lot of things she's been wanting to do and things I've wanted to see her do. I hope that I've answered some of your questions...If not you can always go to the MimeFreak Appreciation thread to ask questions.
I'm very intrigued by this. Jada is my absolute favorite performer going right now, so you already had my business locked up. But seeing Jada doing something new... you've got my curiosity.
Not yet , it's a new brand founded by Mimefreak and few others Tori Black should debut as a director with a lesbian movie if I got it right , they have lots of plans and new ways to see and do things , we had a taste in Mimefreak's old productions at Elegant Angel (I can't believe I said "old") if you want an Idea just take a look at Phoenix Marie scene with Lex in Up That White Ass #4 (which is a must see movie) Jada Stevens also features in this movie. Anyway actually it was Evil Angel the first, they contracted Amy Anderssen for a short while and Brazzers does this for male talents
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round... 592 Posts 7/13
Posted - Oct 28 2014 : 8:59PM
Seeing as how the biz don't provide as many work opportunities as it did before the market crash (Yeah, I know, that's probably the umpteenth time you see me referring to that dismal event, but I personally think its impact is still felt in this industry to a great degree..), I've come to witness a phenomenon that in my estimations has become increasingly palpable for the last one or two years. Up until fairly recently, both web based studios as well as those primarily releasing new material through DVDs and such had this tendency to alternate between more well established chicks and newcomers in their respective output. But for reasons I'm sure I don't have any fair or satisfying explanations for, the more renowned studios have as of late become increasingly reliant on a comparatively small pool of women that are put into heavy rotation among them, whilst newcomers seemingly have to make a splash almost immediately if they are to last more than mere months before they get drowned by the deluge of other girls who struggle to get noticed among producers/directors. Now, if this observation is in any way related to the trend perceived by Mister Fahrenheit and Mass Facialties I cannot say with any certainty. I wouldn't be surprised if it was, though. Now, if what I described above is (at least in part) symptoms of an increasingly risk averse industry I don't find it that far-fetched to assume that studios would be very interested in getting exclusive rights to the most sought-after performers. Thus the studio in question hopefully can capitalize on a given performer's popularity, while the performer has secured work opportunities and a steady income for the forseeable future. However, this is all conjecture and speculation on my behalf. I'm certain there are aspects to all these phenomenons I haven't taken into account, but this is still a relatively new thread and more perspectives that may reinforce as well as contradict my musings may well be put forth. Thoughts? Edited by - JC_Denton on 10/28/2014 9:00:41 PM
Theres one big advantage of the deal: Only one membership is needed to have full access to all of Jada Stevens scenes :-) Im looking forward to her feature movie. Jada Stevens is Buttwoman is one hell of a movie and hopefully Mimefreak can create something similar in terms of quality. @ Mimefreak: Will the content be shot in HD and distributed on Bluray? Let's see whos getting the second contract girl.
I don't expect this to be become the norm since contract stars tend to be a more expensive to studios than just hiring the performers as needed and studios are exactly floating in cash these days. I tend to think that this is more a marketing gimmick than anything else. I would like to point out that Jada's career is significantly more impressive than Mia. Jada has done pretty much everything in porn for the last 6 years and has 232 titles to her name at IAFD and countless internet appearances as well while Mia has only been in the biz for 2 years and has 93 titles to her name. I've enjoyed really enjoyed Jada but I'm not really expecting to see anything new from her so the contract thing sort of baffles me while hopefully we will get to see a lot more from Mia now that she has a contract.
So now Jules Jordan Video has gotten in on the contract craze, signing Jesse up for a two year deal. And before that Remy was signed up as ArchAngel's second big contract girl. Anyone have any further thoughts on this trend and what is motivating it?
I always feel a certain apprehension to an in demand star being exclusive to any given entity. It is summed up in the word variety. Each studio in general and director in particular have individual style. These styles, paired with series concept, paired with the star adds up to an incredible amount of variety. I fear being burned out on any one director's vision for a particular star, and miss the possibility this star might be included in an anticipated title by a director not in that studios stable. That's just me as the consumer. I'm sure the arrangements will lead to lots of great content, but it diminishes that type of opportunity and anticipation I really enjoy with adult productions. I gather it is a big coup for the starlet financially, which is important to me as odd as that sounds. These girls give us a huge amount of enjoyment over the years, and it is nice if we know they are being rewarded for superior work.
So some of these contracts have fizzled out since the last update. Remy Lacroix has parted ways with ArchAngel and apparently Mia Malkova has done the same with HardX. Shawna Lenee had an exclusive deal with Brazzers but they didn't shoot her enough so she left them. What do you think these recent events say about the merits of gonzo contracts? And how do contract payments work typically? I imagine performers get a monthly salary or something to that effect? Who gets the short end of the stick when these contract deals fall through? Is the amount that ArchAngel payed out to Remy more than the amount they would have paid if they had just hired her on a per scene basis? Or did Remy end up getting less for the amount of content she produced for them?
^ From what I've heard, the girls still get paid on a per scene basis, they just get paid more per scene to make it worth not shooting with anyone else. Which is why Remy would have been pissed if she thought they weren't going to shoot her for the amount of scenes they agreed upon (which I think is the supposed reason for her being upset). You're willing to pay more per scene, as a company, because you think the exclusivity will make the scenes worth more to you. What I'm thinking happened with HardX/EroticaX and Mia (and probably what happened with Brazzers/Mindgeek and Shawna) is that the company just decided it wasn't worth it to pay extra for the exclusivity. Mia can still shoot the same amount of scene for them, they just don't need to be the only scenes she's shooting to make them stand out. Edited by - whatsatelephonebill on 4/30/2015 7:47:15 PM
That is exactly what happened in my situation- in regards to your first paragraph. Brazzers didn't hold up their part of the deal. But it's okay, it was a rough 2 months not having income I thought I was going to have but I had savings and made it through it. I'm so happy not being in contract anymore. I learned that in this industry, a contract actually doesn't mean a thing. :) XoxoxoEdited by - Shawna_Lenee on 5/2/2015 9:55:59 AM
I currently have a years subscription to HardX and love it, Mason is phenomenal!! I also have have a subscription to Digital Playground that is about to lapse and I have no intention of re-subscribing there. Is ElegantAngel worth it for their old stuff from Mason as apparently they have went downhill big time.
So add Jesse's contract with Jules Jordan to the list of gonzo contracts that fizzled out. Jada Stevens saw her contract with ArchAngel through to the end, yet that one also didn't work out quite as advertised and I think her profile in the industry was lowered as a result. So I'm trying to come up with an example where one of these recent long-term gonzo contracts has been a net-positive for a performer's career? It seems limited-time exclusivity deals are the way to go, like Lansky has done with several performers on his sites and HardX did with Kristina Rose.
Kendra Lust maybe? Though with her its more for promoting her sub brand and agency than just performing. So its somewhat different. ----Dread's Twitter----
I might argue that while they may not be a net positive to their career, they can be a net positive to the performer. To use Jesse as an example, she's the type of performer that I don't see wanting to get into the grind of being a free agent and, for lack of a better term, hustling to book scenes. IIRC, she lives well outside of California, and has a family that she spends time with. So finding someone else to be under contract with where she gets to spend time with her family and can still plan on going to California and shooting a few scenes every couple months was probably a good thing for her. I also might argue that Jada stayed through to the end of her contract (while Remy left in the middle of hers) specifically because of the ability to go back and live in Georgia and not have to worry about being in California and having to network and everything to book scenes. I actually think that most of the time, there's a better question to be asked in whether or not it's worth it to the company that signs the agreement than it is to ask whether or not it's worth it for the performer (as another example, even though Mia Malkova ended her contract with Mason on good terms, I don't think we ever got that showcase movie we were expecting out of it).
^ Ah, but we did get that Mia Malkova showcase. But unlike a lot of Mason releases in the past it didn't feel like much of an event when it was released, so maybe that's why it didn't stick in your mind? Usually HardX is pretty effective at building hype but all of the scenes for that one just slowly trickled out on the website and then it was kind of like... "Hey, this is a showcase." Your question about how companies are faring with these deals seems on point. Edited by - Mister Fahrenheit on 9/29/2016 1:56:13 AM
^ Another example to bring up is all the performers who have signed exclusive contracts with Axel Braun (Aiden Ashley, Riley Steele, Carter Cruise), even though I guess he doesn't fit the thread as well since he doesn't really produce gonzo. I don't think any of those have gone particularly well for those performers. Most people don't even remember that Aiden does b/g. Almost no one talks about Riley since she signed hers. And Carter is actively upset and it looks like she's waiting out the days until her contract is up.
I've insinuated before (specifically about Archangel) that a lot of these latter-day contract signings look pretty cargo cultish to me, as in companies thinking "hey, this stuff worked well for some heavy hitters in the porn industry, it's got to be good!" and simply aping the concept, with little understanding of why it worked for those other companies in the past, and no appreciation for the fact that the industry landscape has changed. A lot of the time it almost seems like it's all about grabbing a quick headline now, and the issue of how to utilize their contracted star afterwards is secondary. Not because they intentionally make it a secondary matter, but simply because they don't bother to think about it at all beforehand. Whatever one may think about the Vivid/Wicked/DP contracting heydays, at least it was always clear that the marketing and the production arms were on the same page. Ironically, today's contract star studios are much smaller and should find it easier to achieve that, not harder. Edited by - shalalin on 9/29/2016 9:41:30 PM
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Mass Facialties Deactivated User
"Facialized Vol. 7" 2021 AVN Awards Winner: Best Oral Movie 9308 Posts 9/13
Posted - Oct 1 2016 : 3:07AM
In regards to Carter Cruise's dispute with Axel Braun, I have to admit that it's surprising to hear that one of the industry's most celebrated directors (at least when you watch the AVN Awards shows in recent years) would be pulling shady shit like that. As for a contract situation that has seemed to work out pretty well...I would point to AJ Applegate and her "Booty Queen" contract with ArchAngel. Unlike Jada and Remy, she did not have to give up her ability to work for other studios. She got plenty of work with ArchAngel, including two showcases (Booty Queen Vol. 2 and AJ's Angels), and she was still able to put out a bunch of scenes for studios like HardX and Evil Angel. In fact, Evil Angel just put out their own showcase for her, Squirtqueen. From what I understand, her contract is just about up and she has to choose a "Booty Queen" successor now.
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Mass Facialties Deactivated User
"Facialized Vol. 7" 2021 AVN Awards Winner: Best Oral Movie 9308 Posts 9/13
Posted - Mar 3 2017 : 2:11PM
[bump] I bump this thread to bring up a recent post in Mason's thread by hardxj:
^ If the non-compete clauses are even a real thing (hardxj only said he "heard" about them), it's possible they wouldn't be legal in California. According to wikipedia non-compete clauses are only honored under special circumstances in California. None of those circumstance would seemingly apply to the business relationship between a porn performer and porn company.
as far as the gonzo world(because I'm still hoping for the day Asa is not 100% Wicked), contracts did not bother me because most of the time they contract to great studios and shoot a variety of scenes and the contracts are relatively short However, when contracts are too long - that is a problem. A girl stuck under one company for more than a year is too much, especially if she is trying to spread her name through the industry and fan community When contracts dont mandate that girls expand their filming variety, what is the point? Like Jesse Jane And now, if girls are not allowed to shoot with competitors; thats foul and needs to stop. Similar to college sports where if a coach allows a top player to leave to better his career, said player can only transfer to bummy schools playing in small farm towns that never get on tv
Posted - Oct 28 2014 : 3:41AM
