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If the Adult Video Association were still handing out the Joel A. Warner Good Guy Award, Fabian Thylmann would be looking for a tuxedo to wear for the occasion. Except the Adult Video Association is now the Free Speech Coalition, and I can’t remember the last time the industry had any good guys to anoint with sainthood.
But Thylmann came very close to a halo today with a press announcement that Manwin was setting up a Performer Subsidy Fund in which active performers participating in APHSS will receive a monthly subsidy to help defray the cost of STI testing.
The Fund which is costing Manwin $50,000 a month in contributions through the end of the year, is being set up through the Free Speech Coalition’s APHSS program. And even if a performer doesn’t work for a Manwin production, he/she will be entitled to a sum equal to the average price of an industry-standard performer’s test panel which is about $120.
The pilot program will be in place by Aug. 1. The first checks go out in early September. and Manwin is contributing $50,000 monthly to the program through the rest of the year. The FSC will be responsible for reimbursing the performers who test through the APHSS database. Besides that Manwin is providing separate funding of $35,000 to the FSC to cover all administration costs of the program through the end of the year.
Performers currently in the APHSS.org database system will have to submit a mailing address in advance of the first round of funding subsidies. The first dispersal of funds is scheduled to take place in early September; performers that wish to receive the September subsidy must be signed up with APHSS.org by Aug. 31. Checks will be mailed the first week of each month.
According to www.xbiz.com the fund subsidizes any test submitted to the APHSS database from any clinic, including Cutting Edge Testing, Talent Testing Services and Advanced Medical Testing Center.
There also are hopes that other adult content producers will come forward and contribute to the fund.
Whether the program continues or not into next year depends on an evaluation in mid December. The FSC plans to utilize Zoomerang to survey performers for analysis.
According to the XBiz story, the fund will have its own bank account and associated accounting database and, according to the project plan, the stakeholders would create an emergency fund from returned checks for first- and second-generation identification and testing in the case of an HIV positive result.
Communications efforts would be implemented through email and Twitter to performers, agents and providers on how to sign up for the program. And on Tuesday, the fund’s stakeholders plan on actively seeking out other producers inviting them to contribute to the fund.