PORNDUCER

Sex
A porn convention?

By A. C. Passiour

As in any other industry, the erotic sector has its own trade shows, its greatest certainly being the one held annually in "Sin City" - Las Vegas! Imagine a place where most businesses and studios open their booths and lure customers with enticing flyers, half-dressed stars, and cocktail parties. Although mostly heterosexual (95%), this trade show still made room for the lucrative gay business and its dozens of production companies. The Internet has also expanded and now has its own program.

First off, the Internext-Expo.com (for all businesses offering their products on the web), January 5-7, then the AVN convention (Adult Video News) with its award ceremony similar to the Oscars but geared towards the porn industry, January 8-10, at the chic Venetian Hotel, invites both amateurs and fans of these many stars to attend, have their picture taken, collect autographs, etc. Studios and sponsors (Falcon, Colt, Channel 1, etc.) organize rival cocktails and performances - all you need is an invitation…

The less publicized Internext-Expo seems mostly geared towards people in the same industry, a real "trade show", where producers and companies selling these products on the web assemble. We find sites with such evocative names as boysgonebad.com, czechboys.com, nakedsword.com, citiboyz.com, bigmuscle.com, hotdesertknights.com, hisfirsthugecock.com, badpuppy.com, etc. Let's not forget Cybersocket, a gay Internet magazine and major sponsor of the event. From general to specialized, we find all kinds of sites offering a wide variety of web services (films, photo galleries, secure transaction firms, companies guaranteeing e-mail anonymity, etc.), as well as a multitude of porn star web sites offering pictures, chats, performances, and trailers.

"This is a time to socialize, to prove we exist, to show we are active in the industry, and to establish personalized contacts with people we usually only talk to by e-mail or telephone and who we would never meet otherwise" explains director André Tardif who has travelled to Las Vegas for the past two years.

As in many other industrial or commercial sectors, contracts are not usually signed on the convention floor, but "if we are there, it sends a message to other companies: it proves the business or the director is serious, such as myself, that we persevere. We can meet with industry leaders in an informal manner, and start negotiating over a fancy seafood dinner, for example" adds Mr. Tardif jokingly.

Chi Chi LaRue, John Rutherford and other filmmakers/producers make themselves even more available to the numerous fans attending the AVN convention, allowing them to rub shoulders with famous directors and provocative porn stars. This is a great opportunity for fans to get an eyeful!

André concludes, "Of course, there are many other trade shows in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Berlin, Amsterdam, or Spain but the one in Las Vegas is the most important show in North America. Therefore, it is imperative to go and strengthen the ties, network, and gain exposure. This city really lends itself to that."

After its auto and home shows, will Montreal ever have a real porn convention such as the ones we see on the television show "Sex Shop" (with Anne-Marie Losique) ?