LAS VEGAS – Nevada’s notorious Sin City may become even more sinful, based on the scuttlebutt circulating during the annual Adult Entertainment Expo hosted by AVN Media Network over the weekend. With the State of California seemingly determined to impose additional regulations, restrictions and fees on an industry already suffering rising costs and declining profits, some stars and studios have found the desert more welcoming than San Francisco or Los Angeles’ Porn Valley.
Relocating to Las Vegas isn’t exactly a new concept. Arrow Productions — owner of adult classics including Deep Throat, as well as more recent fare — has existed in the gambling mecca for more than two decades, mostly in peace. Newer studios, including Brazzers, Corbin Fisher, VCX and Bluebird, have established presences in the city within the past few years. Most recently, Lee Roy Myers established his WoodRocket studio complex in a formerly vacant warehouse space just blocks from the glitter and glitz of the Strip. Evil Angel may make the move soon, according to owner John Stagliano.
LA Direct Models owner Derek Hay, who opened a branch office in Vegas last year, told the Associated Press he predicts about 20 percent of Porn Valley’s studios will have moved to Sin City by the end of 2014.
And why not? Nevada’s tax laws and incorporation rules are much less onerous than those in the industry’s traditional California digs. For the most part, property prices are lower. So are fees for permits, health tests and other ancillary necessities. About the only drawback to pulling up stakes and stepping across the state line is that postproduction services and some behind-the-scenes talent are more easily located in California, thanks to Hollywood’s mainstream movie industry, but even that is becoming less of an obstacle.
For its part, Vegas and Clark County seem eager to accept an industry frowned upon or about to regulated out of existence almost everywhere else.
“It’s a legalized industry and properly regulated, so I don’t see it as a problem,” Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani told the AP. “I think the city and the county will benefit from any expansion of the film industry. It’s economic diversification.”
At the heart of the matter for many adult content producers is a continuing effort — mostly funded by a national AIDS charity — to force condom usage on all adult film sets in California. According to producers, the industry’s informal policy of requiring health tests at least every 14 days for talent participating in sexually explicit scenes is a much more appropriate measure for preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections. Condoms promote a false sense of security, many performers fear. Studio chiefs worry the public won’t buy porn in which the fantasy is interrupted by condoms.
The much-maligned condom rule is not even on the political radar in Nevada … yet. Myers indicated he’s not sure it ever will be.
“Las Vegas is a fresh town, and it’s where people need the business,” he told the AP, adding that overt sexuality is part of Las Vegas’ mystique. “They’re used to [sex] here, because they already kind of have it.”
