You know it’s funny.

After we went off the air Friday, we saw a story posted on XBIZ.com. It was a Q&A with Derek Hay of LA Direct Models. Coincidentally or not, we had done a story earlier that day on AdultFYI.com about how the adult industry was not leaving California because of AB 1576. www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=60397 Just because a couple of low level content shooters like PUBA have set up shop there doesn’t mean the entire adult business is pulling up stakes and heading for Sin City. We talked about how if even some shooting does happen in Vegas, the hub of the adult industry has and will always be Southern California.

You have a company, say New Sensations. New Sensations’ boss Scott Taylor calls up his old buddy Lee Roy Myers in Vegas and says he needs a teen movie shot. Lee Roy shoots the movie with some local talent as well as California girls who either fly or drive up. Lee Roy ships the edited movie back to Scott Taylor in Los Angeles to be replicated and shipped. The California girls who come in are paid at the end of the shoot or pick up their check at the New Sensations offices in Chatsworth. Either way they spend that money in California. The only thing that takes place in Vegas is production. Everything else associated with it happens in California. California doesn’t lose one dime in tax revenue. The threat of the entire adult industry leaving California and moving to Vegas and taking their billions of taxable income with them is an empty threat.

So at the end of the day, do you know what Las Vegas, Arizona, Florida, etc. have become? Very long location drives or short airplane flights. That’s it. That’s all Las Vegas is now. No different than it was back in the 80’s before the Freeman decision of 88 made porn legal to shoot in California. Back then, you had to meet early in the morning at a coffee shop and the cast and crew had to drive hours away to a remote location to avoid the long arm of the LA Vice department, often changing course and/or cars several times during the journey to shake off any potential tails. As much time as it took to drive to a secure location back in the 80’s is about as much time as it takes to drive to Las Vegas. A girl or a guy can get up early in the morning, drive to Vegas and do a shoot and drive back that night.

The idea that everybody is gonna move to Vegas to avoid using condoms is completely fictional. Just like the idea of film permits being down because of the condom law. With very few exceptions like Wicked, Vivid and Hustler and maybe New Sensations, nobody was pulling permits before. Jules Jordan wasn’t, neither was Evil Angel or most of the gonzo companies. When I worked at Exquisite, I think we pulled a permit four times because we had to for a downtown location. Nobody pulls a permit unless they have no choice. When permit applications went down, it was because shooting slowed down, not because of any condom law. Just Vivid alone not shooting brought the permit ratio down 40%.

Las Vegas becoming this bastion of shooting and people moving there is a myth. People are gonna shoot underground here in LA or commute to Vegas. When I say underground I don’t mean underground like Nick Cage and Machine in 8MM. I mean underground like with the filming permits. The same process of saying “I hope the cops don’t come. We don’t have a permit.” is the same thing as “I hope the health department doesn’t show up. We aren’t wearing condoms.” If you’re not shooting in a location that can be identified by any landmarks, no one is any wiser as to where you shot the film. If it’s a bedroom, no one can tell if it’s a Los Angeles or Las Vegas bedroom.

If the condom police do show up, you know what’s gonna happen? The guys are gonna grab a condom real quick and roll it on their dicks. “Look, we got rubbers!” It’s very simple. If our industry had done this from day one, instead of taking a fighting stance with the government and the health department and forcing their hand, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. It we had attempted to cooperate with Cal/OSHA, instead of Eli Cross yelling at them and said we’ll agree to whatever and then did what we wanted, we wouldn’t have them now making laws to force us to comply. We’re doing it now. We’re saying we’re gonna do what we want to do, except now we’re on the radar. If we would’ve said yeah, we’ll wear rubbers, whatever, and then just did our thing quietly, we wouldn’t be going through this now. The legislators even said that there were not enough resources for enforcement for this law that they were gonna pass.

Cal/OSHA doesn’t investigate unless there are complaints. That tells you right there that if we had pretended to play ball and been nice to them, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Just like the city could really bust our balls on permits if they wanted to. When you make too much noise and you have cars blocking driveways and naked girls running around, that’s when you get popped. Shoot quietly where no one knows you’re there and you don’t have problems. The permit police don’t have the resources to investigate every shoot that’s going on, just like Cal/OSHA doesn’t. But when you make noise and go “Nyah! Nyah! Nyah! Fuck you! We do what we want!” that’s when they find the resources, because you give them no choice. Then when you get politicians involved, forget about it. You’re done.

So you stay quiet and you don’t threaten to move to Vegas and you do your business. Then you’ve got guys like Derek Hay who crows about opening a big talent operation in Las Vegas. Derek got thrown out of the Vivid building and was excommunicated to Vegas. He talks about this bastion of shooting in Vegas. It ain’t happening. Nobody is moving to Vegas. If anything, Vegas will just become a long drive to a shooting location.

Anyway, here’s the XBIZ article if you want a good chuckle:

“L.A. Direct Models Owner Derek Hay Talks Vegas Expansion”

“Derek Hay told XBIZ that he opened a Las Vegas office for L.A. Direct Models because Sin City is “more active than ever” with shoots.”



““I can only see that increasing I think over the course of the remainder of 2014,” Hay said, noting his Vegas office has been operational since September. “I suppose the passage of AB 1576, which now one imagines to be near certain, will only stimulate even more studios to decide to come to Vegas.””

“AB 1576, a bill that would mandate condom use on all adult productions shot statewide, passed the full California Assembly on May 27 and next will move to the State Senate for further action.”

“Hay said during the past one to two years there has been a noticeable increase in porn studios booking shoots in Vegas. Still though, the Vegas market only accounts for about 10 percent of L.A. Direct’s bookings, Hay noted, adding that he now works out of both locations.

“We have staff that remains in L.A. and staff in Vegas, and yes I go back and forth. I’ve become with very familiar with highway 15,” he said.”

“Hay said the advantages of establishing a second office in Vegas include “having local knowledge of where people are shooting, knowledge of distances involved from the airport to the locations and the recruitment of local talent.””

““And also to be able to on occasion meet in person with the producers, directors and studios that hire our actors,” he added.”

“L.A. Direct, which celebrated its 14-year anniversary in April, currently represents about 90 female models and about a dozen guys.”

““The guys are a challenge,” Hay said. “It hasn’t gotten any easier to keep a guy busy. The market for guys is as competitive as it ever was.””

“And while the current climate offers many more opportunities for girls, it’s certainly no easy task building a bona fide female star in today’s porn industry either.”

““In recent years it’s become more difficult to bring a girl through and create a bigger name. To create a true star is more difficult these days,” Hay said. “It’s more difficult because there are so many less of what you might call banner-type feature films for them to appear in.””

“The proliferation of Internet only scenes is a significant factor. Prominent roles in buzzworthy parodies or high-profile features give fans something with which to associate their favorite performer, Hay said.”

““It can elevate their status,” he added. “It’s more difficult now to get a girl to the top of the ladder.””

“But two L.A. Direct girls in particular are continuing to create a buzz in Porn Valley and beyond, according to Hay.” 

“He said one prominent producer has referred to Adriana Chechik as “the No. 1 girl in porn right now” on more than one occasion.”

““She’s an absolutely outstanding performer,” Hay said. “Mason recently shot her in a scene, and suffice it to say she was absolutely thrilled with the scene that I think will be much-talked about in January. She has extraordinary ability sexually speaking and an appetite that matches. She’s very much on the road to becoming a big star.””

“Then there is Miami-based Veronica Rodriguez “who arguably is already a star and her career trajectory continues upwards very nicely,” Hay said.”



““She continues to do everything right,” he said, adding that he was “blown away” by some of the footage he’s seen from her burgeoning studio, Veronica Rodriguez Productions.”

There ya go. Super Pimp Derek Hay making noise in Vegas. It’s gonna be fun seeing who shuts his mouth.

Follow Rob Black on Twitter @RealRobBlack Email: [email protected]