So I was a little disturbed to see that the industry has only just cottoned on
to the benefits of outsourcing. According to XBiz.com, an adult entertainment
industry news site, South America is now El Dorado for the porn barons.
Like Wal-Mart, IBM and a legion of other American corporate icons, Porn Inc has
found it can save a fortune by sourcing its products from outside America.
"I'm saving about 40% by shooting in South America," the improbably named
Lexington Steele, owner of Mercenary Pictures, tells XBiz. Apparently his
company and its subdivisions, including one called Black Viking, are "mining
the Brazilian talent pool in both the heterosexual and transsexual genres".
"We're paying in US dollars, so in Brazil we're able to pay the performers
about 50% of what it would cost in the United States.
"If a standard boy-girl costs $1,000 (£788) in the US, it would cost me $500 in
Brazil. But to the performer in Brazil, that $500 may be worth $1,000 down
there.
"Right now the strength of the American dollar against the euro is diminishing,
so in Hungary or Prague the performers get about the same as you'd have to pay
in the US. You used to pay a Czech girl $600, but now - because she has to
change those American dollars into euros - she needs $1,000," Steele told XBiz.
I can't tell you how well informed that quote made me feel.
Of course it's not all plain sailing south of the border. The legitimate end of
the adult entertainment industry lives its life under enormous scrutiny from
law enforcers and self-appointed moral guardians who would love to prosecute.
It's a big business, worth $12.6 billion in 2005, according to Adult Video
News.
The scrutiny and the sums at stake have made the business a lot cleaner, in
some respects, than some other more legitimate enterprises. When was the last
time you heard of a porn mogul going to jail for fiddling the books?
Compare what's happening to online gambling companies in America - where the
FBI is cracking heads and executives are going to jail - and online porn.
The industry faces some very serious issues, especially over child pornography,
but the mainstream players, while tainted by association, remain largely
unaffected.
When scandals do hit the porn industry, it tends to be the punters not the
purveyors who take the rap. But they do things differently in South America.
In some countries, prostitution is legal, but anything that might be construed
as pimping will land a man, or madame, in jail. Age identification is easier
because in many countries laws demand citizens carry ID cards. But medical
testing is less common than in the US and production companies end up paying
big fines if stars catch anything.
Then there is security. In Los Angeles it's hardly unusual to see middle-aged
men hanging around with a load of naked and semi-naked women and a small
fortune in camera equipment. In fact it's positively de rigueur. But in
Colombia a similar scene is likely to attract all sorts of unwanted attention.
Such are the problems of outsourcing. You can't expect Hollywood values at
Bollywood prices. But as long as the euro remains strong, it seems certain that
the Czech Republic's loss will be Colombia's gain.
