Jacco

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A very few spend more: Bjorn once stated that his costs were on the order of $85K per title but his videos contain more money shots per minute than most of the other studios combined and his production values are among the very best in the business. Bjorn, and a few others, Titan Media, Bel Ami, Lucas Kazan, for example, justify their prices with significantly above average product.

However, most studios are hacks, turning out two or three videos from material shot simultaneously over a 3-or-4-day weekend featuring disinterested gay-for-pay tops who want as little interaction as they can get by with and over-used bottoms whose only talent is acting the part of a corpse while doing an imitation of the Chunnel. There is no excuse for their high price tags. Their charging $50 for such crap should be criminal fraud. And were it not for the socially imposed stigma of being gay in combination with society's disdain for admitted acceptance of pornography, it would be.

~ GaySatyr (ABB)

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And even a few under $20:
Job Wanted (Private Man)
Gambler's Delight (Private Man)
Sword Master (Private Man)

All PAL titles AFAIK.
(after we pay ADT their referal fee, we won't make much on this, but it is all for a good cause )

I don't know if these are any good, but I'll try to get a special discount for the ADT-ers on our regular priced items.

Jacco

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Private Man (aka ManSize) titles are average to decent (although I think they have stagnated at this point -- no new titles in ages after the initial 6 PMs and 2 MSs, both of which I like). Private offers the 6 PM titles in a 6DVD set at a significant discount if you happen to want all 6.

I know nothing about the other two you mention.

~ GaySatyr (ABB)

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they'd get allot more business if they lowered their prices to match what the straight dvds go for. I want to support the studios, so that they can continue to put out films for the gay community because it's what we want, but i'm not rich and i'm not going broke in the process.

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~ GaySatyr (ABB)

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Remember, in straight porn, women are paid significant amounts of money (because they're who people are paying to see) while the men are paid next to nothing.

In gay porn, people are paying to see both the tops and the bottoms, so you have twice as many people you need to pay real money to in each scene...

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~ GaySatyr (ABB)

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Oh yeah, and you're getting gouged too. I think that the internet has yet to drive gay video prices down- many straight videos have similarly high list prices but, unlike gay videos, are aggressively discounted, in my experience.

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Also, at least in my area (which is actually pretty close to Boys Town Chicago) most of the stores carry few gay titles. They hardly ever sell any of them. I'll see people checking them out, flip the box over, see the price, and put it back. I know the studios are trying to make money, but I'm noticing that they are starting to shoot themselves in the foot at the same time.

Edited by - RubyRed on 2/26/2005 5:52:02 PM

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Case in point. Consulting with the owner of an independent gay studio on pricing, he was advised by a distributor to set his retail price at $50. Why? So that his videos can stand beside those of the larger studios and not be seen as "cheap." Though he would like to think the market for his videos goes beyond just gay men, (women, couples) nothing in the way his own websites are done, or the way distributors or retailers present products facilitates this.
The reality of the economics. Let's say he charges $20 wholesale for small lots to retailers, and $15 for larger lots to distributors. IF he is able to sell all 1500 of his first run DVDs at an average price of $17.50, he barely makes budget on a $25,000 production.

What needs to be done is drop the wholesale price to $12.50 or less, and retail at $25.00. Some creative marketing is needed to boost sales beyond 3000 units in order to be profitable.

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I've cut way back. I've nearly 700 porn DVDs now (about 90%gay), but I've only purchased 8 in the past 14 months. I simply can't justify their prices.

~ GaySatyr (ABB)

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*Note - I'm biased about Arena because I love Tom who works there. Tom has supported us from the beginning and never gave us crap about x store selling x title for too little. As if we have any control over pricing...

That said bargain hunting can be done - see our recommended bargains - these are titles rated above average by reviewers that are at below average prices. Since every title on the page has a review you know what you're getting.

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If only you were working at one of these companies (Titan, etc.) you could make a difference. It's like the big companes are out to get rich at our expense. If it were priced adequately then I'm all for it, this is a capitalist society. What is the state of gay porn in your opinion?? Do you see prices climbing higher and higher?? There are some gays that are willing to shell out the money that most studios are asking for adult films. I wonder how well these studios actually are doing, I mean if the majority of us on this site feel that they are too high, how can they be turning a profit?? I'm so naieve to the business side of things (smile).

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At its best, porn is a boutique product sold to a special interest market. Add shame, and the trade is barely distinguishable from moonshine – an inferior product sold to a thirsty market at an inflated price. The only thing you can do is vote with your dollars, and a lot of people do – they don't buy porn. Of course this only serves to make the market smaller, driving the quality down and the price up.

I see a glimmer of hope in the premium sex toy market. Producers of high-quality sex toys have shown that people will pay a premium price for a premium product, one that doesn't treat them as dispicable masturbators, but as joyously sexual human beings.

Can porn somehow follow this path? It's hard to say. It's going to take a clever combination of sexual heat, production values, and humanity to produce a good stroke video that the average person won't be ashamed to own.

-T.C.

Comstock Films: Films For People Who Like Sex

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Jacco

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OK, they won't sell 50mill copies of a movie but them again they don't cost $50mill to make. I bet the Private (and other big producers) series is selling close to 1mill or more per title, worldwide.

Sex movies (gay or straight) are like any other adult product: overpriced, beacuse they are a direct appeal to our emotional desires and we'll pay over the top for satisfaction. Also, they are a restriced product so producers, retailers can keep prices artificially high.

The prices will plummet when porn is available from Wal-Mart (and the equator freezes over).

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What happened? They swallowed the excellent margin we gave them, and basically quadrupled the price that we sold it to them for.

The crazy thing is, the titles still sold extrememly well. But I still wonder if the sales wouldn't have been double if the price had been where they'd originally promised us it would be.

The other thing is, a smaller studio isn't necessarily looking at the potential market for sales that a larger studio has. So even though the production cost may be lower, a studio might have to sell 1000 or 2000 units just to break even, and in a competitive marketplace, if the title is just mediocre, it may not sell more than 1500-3000 units over its lifetime, vs hundreds of thousands of copies of a mainstream hollywood release. So the producer needs to try and set his prices so that he make a decent profit and continue to produce new titles.

I agree that studios setting wholesale prices at $30 or more are basically missing out on the market segment that would be there if they experimented with lower pricing... but as I stated above, even offering value pricing to a dealer or distributor doesn't guarantee that the end-user purchaser will see that pricing.

Chip
Cuteboyvideos.com

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Bait Bus was sleazy and way to staged, and none of the guys were good looking. Boys Casting was more twink oriented, and even then it was pretty blah. Plus the guy who hosted Boys Casting is far from eye candy.

There are a few other sites that have the gay gonzo type stuff. I think there is a Blind Dating one... and Boys First Time (although the guys tend to recycle on that one). Still this is all online.

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studio sells to wholesaler
wholesaler sell to distributor
distributor sells to retailer
retail sells to consumer

There has been a little breakdown to this in the last few years, with wholesalers selling directly to stores and consumers. But there is fairly good solidarity among businesses in the gay sector. It does appear that there is a change, with Studios doing more and more retail directly to customers anyways.

I know of some places in the US where retailers are getting $120 for high end gay (Bel Ami, Kristen Bjorn, Falcon, Titan, etc). Makes $50-$60 sound like a bargain, huh?

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On the straight side, did you know Max Hardcore's European versions sell for $60? And the have maybe 3 or 4 scenes. But it's because of the content.

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Jacco (Your Choice BV)

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