Just my two cents.

The article in the LA Times is here

Op/Ed 04.11.2011

It’s tough out there. Who to trust? Who is a professional with experience in the adult industry? Who will tell you the whole truth about everything from revenue streams in adult, to how much they really charge for their services?

You found this site because you are thinking about getting into the adult entertainment industry as a producer, or investor, and you probably found a lot of sites that claim to do what Start My Porn Company does. You probably also found at least one other site that also claims the people behind it have the experience that the people who run Start My Porn Company do. Well, truth be told, Start My Porn Company is the only one out there that provides real, experienced and honest business consultation and management services to people who want to start their own adult production companies.

Whether you are only interested in investing in an existing company, or you want to own and run your own adult business, you need to work with someone who is honest and truthful with you in every aspect of how the porn industry works, what it costs to produce adult content and also what your consultant or manager is charging you.

Recently, an investor with another self-proclaimed “professional adult business manager” was charged close to $40,000 for a production that in reality was budgeted at a little over $30,000. That investor is still trying to find out exactly how much he overpaid for the production, and where that money went.

Where did the remaining money go? Well, my bet is that the people behind the “management company” that arranged that particular production are living well on the money they pocketed from that investor.

What is really tragic, is that this “management company” claims that they ‘make no money until the investor makes money.’ Well, making close to $10,000 before the movie is even shot doesn’t sound to me like those people “make no money until the investor makes money.” Does it sound like that to you?

As an investor in the adult industry, (whether it is for your own production company, or as an investor in an existing production company) you owe it to yourself to get all the facts before you lay out even one penny to anyone, for any reason.

Here are some questions you should ask anyone who is trying to sell you on using their business management and consultation services to start any adult company, even if you are only an investor:

1. What are the six revenue streams in adult and what type of content do I need to make to profit from all of them?
2. Do I have ownership of the productions that I pay for and how much ownership?
3. Can I see the production budget before I decide if I should give you my money?
4. Who is really managing my production?

Once you have those answers from the person you are thinking about working with, contact Start My Porn Company and get the truth about those same questions.

A year or two back members of ProNet attempted to train at least one of the other “adult business consultant and management” providers in how this industry works, but it must not have stuck. We try our best, but some people just choose to remain ignorant and clueless.

Now that “provider” is out there attempting to convince people they know all there is to know about the porn industry. Unfortunately, we are hearing all about how their investors are getting ripped off for more money than the production actually is budgeted for, the productions are not being started on schedule and that the fool doesn’t even remember the multiple revenue streams content can be sold through, no matter how hard we tried to teach them . . . I guess this is a case of “You can lead a whore to culture, but you can’t make her think.” LOL

Be smart – don’t listen to slick sales jobs from people who are wanna-bes (or never-beens) in this industry. Linda, Sherry and the rest of the Start My Porn Company ProNet

have more than 175 years of collective experience in this industry. We know everything there is to know about the porn industry and practically everyone in it.

Be careful out there!

Below is a short excerpt from the interview

When you aren’t doing movie production, do you have another business?

I have a graphics design business that I have run since my early twenties. You could say that I inherited it from my Mom, as she was a publisher since before I was born. I do graphics for print collaterals, publications and also websites. Right now I have four websites going for the State of California, along with video production work and handling all of their brochures, training packets and other print projects. I have also started a new business with my friend and adult business associate, Sherry Ziegelmeyer (of http://blackandbluemedia.com & http://thepresswire.com) called Start My Porn Company.

So what’s this Start My Porn Company project?

Start My Porn Company – I usually use the acronym SMPC – is a concept Sherry and I came up with after we realized how many requests we were getting from people wanting help starting an adult business through our regular adult industry positions, me as a performer and her as a publicist. We had both assumed that there was someone teaching that kind of thing, so it hadn’t occurred to us that there was a need for actual consultants or business managers for adult.

Well, we started researching and found that while there are people offering courses that supposedly teach you how to start an adult business, they either aren’t taught by people actually in the industry or they don’t teach production, or they are lacking in other basic information. So we put together a group of people we know and trust and we offer advice and information from real adult industry professionals to those that want to start their own production companies.

Everyone involved with Start My Porn Company are people who are actually out there making adult movies, or who have done so. And every one in our network has a minimum of five years experience in the industry, not a year or two, or have just been on a porn set once and think they know everything!

When you are doing mainstream movies, you can take a course at any accredited college or university, but you can’t do that for adult production. The adult industry is interesting in that you almost have to know someone in order to find out “insider” information that will help you make the right decisions for your particular company. We offer that “insider” information along with company management, production services and pretty much anything else someone might need to be successful.

What makes SMPC different than other “get into adult” courses?

We are more of a business consultation and management service than a course. You really can’t learn what you need to know to be successful in adult by having people talk at you for hours or days, and you certainly can’t learn how to shoot a good porn scene from a book or a DVD. What we provide, is a way for people to start building an adult production house, focusing on learning how to shoot quality content, by working with the professionals that we have put together in our Start My Porn Company ProNet.

Above all, we’re not here to rip people off or to lie to them. Our goal is to actually help people be successful. There has been a recent incident of someone that claims to do what we offer through Start My Porn Company, but that person has no real industry contacts and their investors that think they are starting their own companies are getting ripped off, because the people he’s choosing to work with aren’t able to do what they are claiming. And technically, it isn’t even that person’s fault, as he just doesn’t know enough about this industry, or the people in it, to know who to work with.

Another thing that I know sets us apart is total honesty. If someone approaches us with a concept that we truly believe won’t allow them to be successful, we tell them so and suggest ways to make it successful for them. We also do our part to keep people that work with us from doing anything that could get them arrested or sued. I don’t know of any other service or course that’s willing to do “tough-love” the way we do. We aren’t all about the money and letting people think they have a great idea, when they don’t. We’re about making sure that everyone that works with us starts a profitable and legal adult business. http://startmyporncompany.com/

In November 2005, I starred in the first feature film from new company SLLAB. Frank Castle’s The New Neighbors also stars Mike Horner, Nicki Hunter, Randy Spears, Tommy Gunn, Haley Paige, Tyla Wynn, Barbara Summer, Jack Venice, Steven St. Croix, August, Kyle Stone, Jerry and Kyle Moore.

SYNOPSIS: Martin and Laura Brody are your average all-American, middle-class couple with two beautiful kids, Brad 19 and Tiffany 18. They live in the quiet, family-oriented suburb of Apple Valley, California. They have lived a normal, conservative lifestyle, like their neighbors. But now, all of that is about to change. A new couple has moved into the house across the street, and there is nothing normal about them. There is something different… something arcane… something evil, and they will take the Brody family, and the entire neighborhood, into an over-the-top descent into lust, debauchery, perversion, incest, and murder. A descent into the pleasures of hell itself, courtesy of the new neighbors.

Synopsis: Explorer Cliff Hendricks rescues Janet from the African jungle where she was born. They marry and have four children Luke, Matthew, Paul and Rebecca. Cliff contracts a rare African virus which turns him into an invalid. Janet raises their offspring and cares for Cliff. Paul and Rebecca rarely leave the house, Luke is the only one to strike out on his own. No one has seen Matthew since his twenty first birthday. Luke returns home for Paul’s 21st birthday, finding that Janet has been selling tribal art on the internet. Paul is more reclusive, his only “friends” are marionettes he made as a child. Rebecca has been experimenting with her sexuality. Cliff’s health is deteriorating fast, he lives like a caged animal under the auspices of the malicious Janet. Things turn strange when objects d’art take on lifelike characteristics. Luke suspects they may be human remains from the jungle. Paul’s childhood fascination with puppets hints of a tribal-based discipline, and Rebecca’s love for Luke appears to be more than just incestuous sentiments. What happened to Matthew? An investigative reporter suspects the family of serial murders and ritual killings, she’s right, but will never uncover the real secret. What began as a happy occasion for Cliff erodes into a pit of darkness, a satanic feast of the flesh, unspeakable acts of twisted humanity, an unthinkable nightmare of carnality, and an apocalyptic journey into the realm of diseased minds. Discover a world of forbidden pleasures and moral decadence.

Cannibal Taboo is available on Blu-Ray.