Interviews | American Porn

FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE's extended interviews with porn producers and businessmen, prosecutors and porn critics, and lawyers and analysts of the adult entertainment industry.

[Editor's Note: All of the pornography producers interviewed for this FRONTLINE program say that they would never be involved in child pornography.]

porn producers and businessmen


		She is founder and CEO of Danni's Hard Drive, regarded as one of the most popular porn sites on the Internet. Her site offers only softcore pornography and does not feature any female-male sex. Here, Ashe discusses her audience, what she offers them, and how she is planning for even further growth in her business, which she expected to make $8 million last year. This interview was conducted in May 2001.



		He is president of Vivid Entertainment Group, an adult-video production company. Vivid, which produced 80 new films in 2001, spends up to $100,000 on its features. Its films are distributed via cable and satellite pay-per-view channels, on VHS and DVD, and online. Here, Asher discusses Vivid's customers, the company's biggest future growth area, its interest in going public -- and whether Wall Street is ready to jump on board. He also talks about the potential impact on the adult industry if the Bush administration cracks down on pornography. This interview was conducted in July 2001.



		"Rob Black" is the name that Robert Zicari uses in the porn business. Together with his wife, Janet Romano (who is known as "Lizzy Borden" in the industry), Zicari owns Extreme Associates, which produces low-budget sex videos that are considered extreme in their depictions of sex and violence. Zicari says his company tries to produce two films a week. Here, he talks about his vision for his company's future and how his movies differ from mainstream adult films. He also criticizes the mainstream industry's adoption of the so-called "Cambria List" (created by Paul Cambria, an attorney for the porn industry), which specified various sex acts that should not be depicted if porn producers want to stay out of trouble with the U.S. Department of Justice. This interview was conducted in May 2001. As of February 2004, Zicari and Romano are awaiting trial on federal obscenity charges.



		"Lizzy Borden" is the name that Janet Romano uses in the porn industry. She is a producer/director at Extreme Associates, which she co-owns with her husband, Robert Zicari, known as "Rob Black" in the business. Here, Romano discusses why she makes her sex movies and what makes them so controversial. Defending what she directs women to do in her films, she says her films merely depict what happens in real life. This interview was conducted in May 2001. As of February 2004, Romano and Zicari are awaiting trial on federal obscenity charges.



		An actor and producer of adult films who goes by the pseudonym "Seymore Butts," Glasser was scheduled to go to trial in Los Angeles in February 2002 charged with two counts of obscenity for his video "Tampa Tushy Fest, Part 1." It was the first obscenity trial in Los Angeles since 1993. But before a jury got to see his video, Glasser pled "No Contest" to a misdemeanor. In this interview, Glasser talks about the "mainstreaming" of sex in American culture and explains why he pushes the line in his movies. This interview was conducted in July 2001.

prosecutors and porn critics


		He is co-chairman of the Religious Alliance Against Pornography (RAAP), an interfaith coalition of religious leaders that has protested AT&T's distribution of hardcore pornography through its satellite and cable divisions. Keeler discusses the campaign and the meeting he had with AT&T Chairman C. Michael Armstrong. He also discusses RAAP's meeting with Attorney General John Ashcroft. This interview was conducted in August 2001.



		She is the deputy city attorney in Los Angeles prosecuting the Adam Glasser case. Here, she discusses the offensive elements in Glasser's film and how she arrives at a definition of what is prosecutable under obscenity law. She also talks about whether the Los Angeles community supports the decision to prosecute Glasser and whether she thinks she can win. This interview was conducted in July 2001.



		A federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice from 1989 to 1994, Taylor has been involved in more than 700 obscenity cases throughout his career. In the spring of 2001, he and others were invited to talk with Attorney General John Ashcroft about the prosecution of pornography. Taylor's interview here offers an historical overview of hardcore pornography in the U.S., including the cases that have been prosecuted since 1973, Americans' shifting attitudes on porn, and what happened to obscenity prosecutions during the Clinton era. Taylor also offers his views on what kind of pornography should be prosecuted by the Bush administration if it decides to move forward. He is currently president and chief counsel of the National Law Center for Children and Families. This interview was conducted in June 2001.

lawyers and analysts of the porn industry


		An attorney, Diamond is representing porn producer Adam Glasser at the first obscenity trial in Los Angeles since 1993, which is set to begin in February 2002. (Glasser is charged with two counts of obscenity for his video "Tampa Tushy Fest, Part 1.") Here, Diamond talks about Glasser's video, why his client chooses to fight the charges, and what's at stake for both his client and the adult entertainment industry if Glasser is found guilty. This interview was conducted in July 2001.



		Currently an analyst at Auerbach, Pollak and Richardson, an investment banking and brokerage firm, McAlpine has covered the entertainment industry for nearly two decades. In this interview, he offers an overview of the economics and business of the adult industry, including estimates of the revenue that AT&T Broadband generates from distributing adult programming through its cable operations. McAlpine also discusses the impact of video-on-demand for the adult industry and how adult video fueled the Internet's growth. This interview was conducted in August 2001.