In a statement issued Monday, Grooby.com CEO Steven Grooby detailed the effects of the recent production hold on his company’s production plans, but also emphasized the point that however much the week’s events impacted those plans, the impact on the broader adult industry could have been much worse.
“As many of our models are aware, we had the largest production week planned in the 22-year-old history of our company this past week in Vegas,” Grooby said in the statement. “Producers were flown in from Asia, and Los Angeles, I was in from the UK and we had models coming from Chicago, Alabama, Texas, and Oregon as well as local talent. With 15 VR shoots planned, and a large number of hardcore and solo scenes, we had $40,000 worth of model fees that were earmarked for Grooby and JustVR performers.”
Grooby added that his company was notified of the moratorium immediately following the first day of shooting in Las Vegas and cancelled all the remaining shoots while considering what to do about the “hotels, flights, makeup, PA’s and other expenses” the company had already committed to.
“I’d like to thank all the performers who were already scheduled and traveling in their understanding of the situation and although their expenses were still covered, as we could only do solo scenes, their expected paychecks were vastly reduced,” Grooby said. “I’d also like to thank all the trans performers in Las Vegas for coming through at last minute and working with us on solo scenes, salvaging some of the budget.”
Grooby also noted that while the events of the past week “have been costly to us, they are minor in comparison to what could have happened to our industry, if not for the fast response of the FSC” and that his company “support the FSC in their call for a moratorium.”
“We fully support and appreciate the work FSC has done this past week to keep our industry safe,” Grooby said in the statement. “We would also like to call for more discussion about on-set and off-set safety, and how to mitigate any further issues of performers bringing health issues into the tested performer pool. We’d also like to further discussion on trade shoots and educating those performers.”
Grooby’s statement can be read in full on the Grooby website.
