FRONTLINE: AMERICAN PORN (TV)
Summary
One in this documentary series. This program documents the modern state of the pornography industry and issues surrounding it.
Clive McClean, head of the pornographic video series “Barely Legal” produced by Hustler magazine, shoots screen tests of young women auditioning for him. These videos are produced very cheaply but sell extremely well, turning a profit of ten million dollars. A month later, Clive rents a house in Los Angeles in order to shoot the sixteenth video in the series, casting one of them women in a “girl-girl” scenario. Clive shoots multiple versions of the scenes, one explicit version with a “hot camera,” and one less explicit with a “cold camera” for softcore cable channels. The “Barely Legal” series is only one of a number of such revenue-generating enterprises controlled by Larry Flynt and his corporation, Flynt Publications. The “porn conglomerate” is valued at over 400 million dollars, and Flynt’s latest enterprise is a store on Hollywood Boulevard which also proves to be quite profitable, run by his daughter Teresa. She remarks that they hope to defy stereotypes about sex being “dirty.” While pornographers used to operate largely in secret in the film industry, pornography’s massive profits have made their presence more noticeable, and the people behind adult films are highly-educated and business savvy. One example is Bill Asher, president of Vivid Video, who has an MBA from the University of Southern California. His company produces “high-end” pornography and takes advantage of high-tech advances to help put outs its 80 films per year, distributed on home video internationally.
Technological advances have allowed pornography to become more “mainstream.” At the DirecTV headquarters buyrates are measured for purchased pornographic films; Vivid films were purchased in 40 million homes. Vivid steadily has seen offers from distributors to add its content to their own, increasing their visibility and prestige in the industry. Major corporations like AT&T receive massive chunks of the profits from these pay TV video sales, although AT&T’s business reports do not reveal how much revenue they make on these sales. Wall Street investors are well aware of the massive profits generated, particularly because of pornography’s now-ubiquitous presence in hotel chain television services. Hotel televisions receive pornographic content largely through one of two major distribution services: Lodgenet or OnCommand, and it is rumored that pornography earns more for hotel chains than alcohol; the hotels often do not install these services themselves and thus rake in “pure profit.”
The advent of the internet has created a new, unprecedentedly massive outlet for pornography. The search engine Yahoo! made massive profits by categorizing pornographic sites and selling advertisements on them. Danni Ashe became the CEO of Danni’s Hard Drive, one of the earliest porn advertisers on the internet, noting that she recognized the potential of online pornographic services and taught herself computer programming in order to realize her vision. In addition to being CEO, she is also a nude model herself, holding a world record for “the most downloaded woman on the web.” There are over 200,000 other pornographic websites on the internet. It was not long ago, however, that pornographers were ruthlessly pursued by the law, none more so than Flynt.
In the 1970’s, pornography was almost universally thought of as “sleazy,” and it was conducted in a mostly covert and unpalatable way. The Supreme Court case Miller vs. The State of California resulted in the creation of the “Miller Test,” a set of standards used to identify material deemed objectionable via its sexual content in accordance with “community standards.” Thus in the 1970’s it was quite a simple matter to obtain an obscenity conviction in a court trial. Early “hardcore” films such as “Behind the Green Door” and “Debbie Does Dallas” were shown to juries, who had never before seen such material. The advent of the VCR allowed the first home video releases of pornography, increasing its visibility to the public eye. As a response to this, the 1980’s saw the Justice Department start to enforce obscenity laws more vigorously, and convictions of pornographers became commonplace. As the “porn kingpins” pled guilty one by one, more extreme pornographic videos began to disappear from video stores. In the early 1990’s, when Janet Reno took over as United States Attorney General, the convictions lessened considerably as the office decided to focus on other priorities.
This allowed pornography companies to reestablish themselves to the public, opening the market to many new faces. One is Mark Cromer, a journalist who became involved with Flynt by producing a pornographic video series called “Jail Babes,” filming sex scenes involving actual ex-convicts. Another is Adam Glasser, president of Seymore, Inc. who felt that the Hollywood film system is much less efficient than pornographic moviemaking. He now runs his company and employs his mother Lyla as the treasurer. These individuals, along with pornographers such as Rob Black, co-owner of Extreme Associates, make a great deal of money in California producing pornographic films. He and his wife produce low-budget pornographic films, such as one about the rape of a woman in the street, emphasizing visceral reactions over “lovey-dovey” pornography. The internet has provided the ability for pornographers to cater to all manner of fetishes and niche markets of sex shoppers. Because of the uncertain definition of “community” with regards to the internet, many websites cannot be prosecuted under obscenity legislation.
The Los Angeles Convention Center hosts “Erotica LA,” a premiere convention of people in the pornography industry. Attendance is at an all-time high, offering credence to the idea that pornography is a “demand-driven” business. Many are optimistic about the future of pornography, but Flynt foresees a threat in the form of the Republican administration of George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Ashcroft in particular had numerous meetings with anti-pornography advocates, preparing for a major investigation into the pornography industry. The onset of the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks deterred the Attorney General’s attention, although several pornography-related Supreme Court cases have brought issues about obscenity and community standards back into discussion. Flynt points out that modern television is just as explicit as Hustler magazine was in 1974, and others point to content on cable channels such as HBO as proof. This trend of mainstream sexual content has spurred some pornographers to push the envelope as to the extremity of their material, such as Extreme Associates; their latest film depicts rape, torture, murder, and mutilation.
Attention is given to the “human cost” of pornography; Cromer notes that many women go into pornography because it is a way to make money in a short span of time. He also explains that they often “parcel out” what sexual acts they are willing to perform in order to increase consumer demand and create higher pay incentives. Some consider it to be “just a business” in spite of its sexual basis. Flynt decries more hardcore pornographers such as Extreme Associates for making “indefensible” content which he believes is detrimental to the industry. A recent religious indictment from several major faiths is directed at AT&T for their association with pornographers. Cardinal William Keeler is concerned that AT&T’s actions have had the effect of legitimizing pornography. AT&T claims that “competitive pressures” from other major companies associated with pornography necessitate that it keep pursuing it as a revenue source. AT&T’s upcoming merger with Comcast stands to make it the nation’s largest cable provider and the largest provider of pornography as well. Yahoo! is also brought under fire for hosting an “online sex shop,” prompting massive public outcry. In response to this, Yahoo! starts to make access more difficult for pornography websites. Paul Cambria, attorney for the pornography industry, advises pornographers to exercise caution and creates the “Cambria List,” a list of sex acts which are to be avoided to evade questioning from the Justice Department.
Despite these measures, pornographers face new difficulties. The first obscenity case since 1993 is to be tried in Los Angeles, scheduled for February 2002. The defendants are Glasser and his mother, defending for the inclusion of a “fisting” scene in one of their films. It remains to be seen whether his films, consisting mainly of anal sex, are considered acceptable by modern community standards in accordance with the Miller test. The film will be shown to a jury in a Los Angeles courtroom for them to decide, by extension creating a guideline as to how the industry will be perceived going forward.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: February 7, 2002 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:52:27
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:74694
- GENRE: Public affairs/documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/documentaries
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1983-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Michael Sullivan … Executive Producer
- David Fanning … Executive Producer
- Sharon Tiller … Senior Producer
- Michael Kirk … Producer, Director, Writer
- Jim Gilmore … Co-Producer
- Corey Ford … Associate Producer
- Peter J. Boyer … Writer
- Mason Daring … Music by
- Martin Brody … Music by
- Peter J. Boyer … Reporter
- Clive McClean … Interviewee
- Larry Flynt … Interviewee
- Paul Cambria … Interviewee
- Teresa Flynt … Interviewee
- Bill Asher … Interviewee
- Dennis McAlpine … Interviewee
- Mark Grossman … Interviewee
- Samuel Agboola … Interviewee
- Danni Ashe … Interviewee
- Bruce Taylor … Interviewee
- Patrick Trueman … Interviewee
- Janet Reno … Interviewee
- Mark Cromer … Interviewee
- Adam Glasser … Interviewee
- Lyla Glasser … Interviewee
- Rob Black … Interviewee
- Deborah Sanchez … Interviewee
- Veronica Caine … Interviewee
- William Keeler … Interviewee
- John Ashcroft
- George W. Bush
- Shauna O'Brien