By: Demetri Ravanos

Who is Steven Hirsch? A pervert? A porn king?

No. Steven Hirsch is a sharp business man that is leading Vivid Entertainment as the company finds new ways to compete and thrive in a market place flooded with competitors giving away content for free. Think paying for porn is a thing of the past?

Steven would like you to talk to any of the more than 2 million people that viewed MTV star Farrah Abraham's sex tape in its first 48 hours of release. He'd like to talk to you about how Vivid's super hero parodies have done the unthinkable - found people who weren't already watching porn.

Vivid founder and co-chairman Steven Hirsch is a smart guy that doesn't shy away from his business. Why should he? Thanks to him, porn is as accepted in the mainstream now as it has been at any point in history.

How did you start in the celebrity sex tape business?

AndersonWell the first one was Pam [Anderson] and Tommy [Lee], and that's really the first tape that set off the whole sex tape craze. It was at the beginning of the internet, so it was an internet phenomenon more than anything else, although the majority of those sales did come from DVD and VHS sales at that time. We were approached by somebody that had the rights and we did a marketing venture with them where we took over the marketing and distribution of the tape and it just was out of control. It was amazing the interest. And so it sort of dawned on us that you know this was something people were really interested in. And then when the internet started to grow and people became so involved in celebrity's lives whether they follow them on Facebook or they just followed them on all the sites - all the celebrity news sites - there was just this massive amount of interest. So, as time went on whenever we were able to approach or somehow get a hold of one we put it right out.

And certainly now if a celebrity is looking to sell their tape Vivid is the name they go to first, or at the very least it is the first name they know they can call. But in the very beginning how did you market that fact and say "hey, if you have this, we are interested"?

Well, I really think it was Pam and Tommy and the fact that people knew that Vivid had that tape. So there were millions of people that saw that and saw the Vivid name attached to it. So, I think that that really helped. Obviously after Kim [Kardashian], you know, I'm not saying we're the only option, but we're the option that makes the most amount of sense. We know how to do these things. We know how to market them properly and people have the confidence to know that they'll be paid.

KimSo, the reports in the media was that the dollar figure you gave Farrah Abraham for her tape was close to a million. I'm not going to ask you for the specific figure, but with all of the celebrity tapes in your roster - whether it's Pam and Tommy or Kim Kardashian or Kendra Wilkinson - what was it about Farrah's tape that made you think it was the one worth that kind of investment? You had to know it was going to have the huge payoff it already has.

Sometimes you never really do know. Sometimes you just have to take a chance and take a leap of faith. There hadn't been a good celebrity sex tape out for a long time. At least a couple of years. I think the market was primed and ready for a good celebrity sex tape. So I think that played into it. And then there's the fact that she's young. She's new. She's fresh. She's not overexposed. And although she was on two MTV shows our demo and your demo for that matter didn't know who she was.

Right

We thought she had a great look and we could market the fact that she was a Teen Mom and she was on MTV and we could use that to our advantage. Then when we ultimately saw the footage and it's so over the top. I don't know if you've seen the footage, but it's just unbelievable. We thought that this is absolutely something we'd like to distribute.

FarrahIn the event that my wife ever gets a hold of these recording I'm going to say no for the sake of self-preservation.

[Laughs] Okay. Perfect. But there you go. That's part of it. Ultimately guys want to see cute girls having really great sex.

You hit the nail on the head. Farrah's definitely a cute girl.

She's a knockout.

So the negotiations with Farrah had to be probably some of the weirder ones you've ever been a part of. I don't know that I remember a family being as involved with a sex tape negotiation as hers.

Well you know, I think she happened to be in town with them and she brought them here. I mean, you know, she brought her father here. That's fine. I will say that I was surprised when she brought her daughter here. I made very sure that when we got down to it I didn't want her in the room. Not that we were talking about sex or anything like that. We were talking about money, but I just didn't think it was appropriate.

Yeah

Yeah. It was one, um, of the odder negotiations. That's true. But ultimately it worked out great.

Is more being made of that than probably should be? I'm guessing [Farrah's] daughter was playing somewhere while you guys were talking money.

She was. She was in the lobby actually. I think she was coloring.

Farah3[Laughs]

Does the media make more of it? Well, you know we live in a world where people like to read about the gossip stuff. It's a good story. I mean, the truth is it was sort of odd and it was sort of strange, but you know if you were to walk into our office you would see nothing. There's nothing going on. It looks just like any other office. It's not like there was an orgy going on in the lobby or that sort of thing.

[Laughs] That's what people always ask me about working at Mr. Skin. "Are there just sticky tissues lying everywhere?" No, I mean it is a workplace after all.

[Laughs] Yeah. It's just a bunch of people working. That's what an office is.

We may have more fun at work than you do, but it is just work.

That's true.

So tell me a little bit about the strategy for Vivid these days. I mean, celebrity sex tapes are obviously a huge part of it. You guys are very active in what are sometimes called the "porn parodies" of mainstream blockbusters. In a landscape where you have the internet and a competitor like YouPorn giving so much away for free is that where you saw the chance to differentiate yourselves?

Partially. Now there's two parts to it. There's the content we produce and distribute, and then there's our distribution method. We've relaunched Vivid TV. You know, we were in the TV business several years ago and then sold our business to Playboy. And now we've re-entered the TV business with Vivid TV. Our channel is up in over 30 million homes. We'll have full distribution in six months, so Vivid TV is one way we're promoting and running our business. We're getting close to launching Vivid Radio which is another way to talk about all of the things that we're doing and all the things we're involved in. Soon you'll see the Vivid name in clubs. We'll have a Vivid Club opening in Manhattan by the end of the year, one in LA and one in Charlotte and we're working on several others. We're involved in licensing the brand.

When it comes to production, the celebrity sex tapes are great, but unfortunately they just don't come around that often. When they do we'll take advantage of that, but we're producing our Superhero Parodies, which work extremely well. They appeal to a whole different demo. That's younger guys, who definitely love comic books and may or may not watch adult films, but they definitely want to check these out.

Right.

It was interesting to me not only when I saw the traffic on the internet, but also the DVD, how interested people were in these huge, huge tent pole Hollywood movies. So that's part of what we're producing that's different. We have a Vivid Educational series that does very well. We have a Brand New Faces series that does well, and you know we have over 2000 movies that we've produced over the last 30 years that we can pull from to pick and choose programming.

Farrah4So going forward, let's say the next time a celebrity sex tape comes - actually, I guess it doesn't just have to be the next celebrity tape. The next time any performer is negotiating a deal is this multiplatform strategy part of the pitch? Maybe the deal isn't just a movie but also an appearance at a Vivid Club?

Absolutely. You know, it's similar to what we're seeing happen in the music business.

Right. I get that.

Before these record companies would pay you to make your record and they'd give you an advance. Now, because that business has been, you know, just decimated they get involved with touring and every aspect that goes along with it. So we want to be full service distribution. When you work with us, yeah you'll make TV appearances and club appearances and things like that, but it also helps promote you and promote your brand, right?

Yeah.

Vertical integration is ultimately the way to go.

Farrah2The women that have made their brand through adult entertainment, I would have to imagine there is at least a part of them that is jealous or wonders how they have dedicated their whole career to this business and then someone like Farrah Abraham comes right out of the box with 2 million page views for her tape. This has to be a way for you to market to them right? The vertical intergration strategy shows that Vivid moving forward is going to be about more than just celebrity sex tapes and there is a place for you here.

Yeah, I think it's helpful, but also keep in mind that we've been around for a looong time.

Right.

We've been doing this for a long time, so I think the reputation is there and I think the girls know. They just have to ask around and see what it's like to do business with us. I think that that's obviously helpful.

Like you've said you've been doing this for a long time and certainly you've benefited from that. I'm wondering though, is there still a reaction to you? Like say you go to a Lakers game. Your money is as green as anyone else's sitting courtside and you probably have more of it than a few of those people, but when you walk in is there still a pause and people whisper "oh, that's the porno guy"?

[Pause]

Yeah. I mean that happens. You know, obviously that will happen, but that's okay. I don't shy away from it at all.

Sure.

And you know I'm proud of what we've accomplished. I really think we've had a hand in the mainstreaming of the adult industry and the mainstreaming of explicit content out there. So, you know, I'm comfortable with it.

Yeah and to your point about the mainstreaming of the industry, things like Vivid TV, and all of the big Hollywood parodies you've done and the fact that celebrity sex tapes are now an industry onto themselves are proof that it's easy to access this kind of stuff and this culture certainly than when you started and probably easier than ever before, right?

Oh, absolutely. Look, when I started in the business it was all about going to adult theaters and that was old guys with overcoats on, and things have obviously come a long way since then. It started with VHS. People would go to their local video store and rent an adult movie at the same time they'd rent a movie for their kids or a Hollywood movie and then obviously once adult films were available on TV that made it all more widely available. And then the internet came along. Now you can watch adult content 24 hours a day and you have thousands and thousands of choices. People are more comfortable with porn than ever before. There's no doubt about it.

And women seem to be more comfortable being a part of it. I mean, you look at someone like [Lawrence Fishburne's daughter] Montana Fishburne, who modeled what she wanted to do after what happened to Kim Kardashian when her sex tape came out.

Right. Yeah. That happens. I think it was Jenna Jameson that was partially responsible for that. Her acceptance outside of the adult industry made girls think "you know, maybe I'm interested in doing this and then doing it as a career." It's not like the girls in the business are all the way at the bottom and this is their last stand. They say "okay, I can make a living here and I'm comfortable with my body and I'm comfortable with who I am. I'm comfortable sexually. I'll give it a try."

That's it Steven. I think that was my last question.

Thanks so much man. It was a lot of fun.



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