LOS ANGELES – In controversies involving two or more parties telling very different stories about the same events, the truth is often to be found somewhere in between the polar ends of the narrative. As I read the claims and counterclaims unfolding between the producers of Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On and the adult performers who feel done wrong by them, I can’t help but wonder if this is another of those circumstances.
In one corner, we have several performers claiming they were deceived, or at least not fully informed, by the HGW producers, or who say the producers used their likenesses without their permission by way of including in the documentary portions of Periscope videos previously posted by the performers.
In the other corner, we have the HGW producers pleading they are the victims of a mix of misunderstanding, willful misrepresentation and paranoia.
“The narrative has kind of become hijacked, that we exposed sex workers and that we put them in danger by telling the world that they were sex workers, when in fact we never ever did that,” said HGW creator Ronna Gradus.
“Nobody was coerced,” she added. “The bottom line is that everyone in the series was completely aware that this was a Hot Girls Wanted offshoot and that we were involved. All of those allegations are false.”
As for the Periscope videos in question, HGW‘s response to the performers’ concerns, while possibly legally correct, leaves more than a bit to be desired in the public relations department. The official Twitter account for HGW offered to put performer Autumn Kayy in touch with the producers of the show “so they can explain fair use.”
Just as an aside here, anytime someone casually throws out the term “fair use” as though it’s an entirely cut-and-dried thing and there is no controversy about the proper parameters of the concept, there’s a good chance the person who did throwing out has no idea what he or she is talking about.
Fair use is an affirmative defense to an accusation of copyright violation, not an automatic, blanket, free pass to use any content shared on the internet. It’s one thing to claim use was fair, but in court, it’s up to the person making the claim to demonstrate fairness within the confines of law. Like any other multi-prong legal test, “fair use” probably should be explained by an attorney, not the producer of a documentary.
Even if the HGW team’s use of the Periscope videos does represent fair use, if you’re actively defending yourself against allegations of exploitation or unfair dealing in what’s shaping up to be a public relations war, getting snarky and condescending with the people who feel you’ve wronged them is probably not the best approach.
As noted by Reason’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown, the question of whether HGW followed the law is secondary here. The real point is whether the documentarians dealt fairly and honestly with their subjects, both human and thematic.
If you’re a documentarian professing to show the porn industry in a true and accurate light but those who granted you behind-the-scenes access perceive weaseling and lying in the finished product, it might be just as hard for the viewing public to trust your product as it is for them to trust anything they hear from the porn industry’s more hysterical critics.
HGW’s producers aren’t entirely oblivious to this possibility. In fact, Gradus seems to think the porn industry’s general lack of trust for media figures who report on the industry is a big part of why HGW is getting so much heat from the industry right now.
“The industry is very defensive about people coming in and shining a light on the industry and doing stories about it,” Gradus said. “The allegations that have come out are probably the result of pressure they are feeling to stand in solidarity with the industry.”
Ah, I see: These people aren’t really speaking freely. They’re only criticizing because of pressure from within the vicious, evil, controlling porn industry.
Do you have any evidence to support your claim, Ms. Gradus? Or is this just one of those commonsense conclusions, like the clear and obvious fair use concept you have generously offered to explain to one of your accusers?
Regardless how all this plays out in the days ahead (my prediction is it will very soon be forgotten inside and outside the porn industry by anyone not directly involved), I have a hard time believing this is the sort of conversation about porn producer Rashida Jones was hoping HGW would start.
