Earlier Tuesday Josh Hunter wrote a diatribe against Tom Zupko www.adultfyi.com/read.aspx?ID=16757. Zupko responds
Chatsworth, Ca – Although this essay on a certain level may be too personal and insignificant for some readers, I think it represents and/or symbolizes something meaningful about how this business and the people in it operate and how it strips away our kindness and morality. My apologies if it seems too self-indulgent and lenghty. So, here we go:
Even though I swore I would never say anything bad about anyone publicly again, this “newbie” wannabe director, cameraman, editor, still guy, “carpenter” Josh “Jason” Hunter, who was once my protégée and dear friend, has made me betray this promise and I will NEVER forgive him for this. This so-called “good guy” has now shown his true colors and his ugly backstabbing pathetic truth, no doubt based on his egoistic desperation.
Sad to say, in an odd way, I really feel sorry for him and I really feel bad about doing this, and crazy as it may sound, I HATE doing it, but hell, a fucking spade is a fucking spade, and a fucking Milli Vanilli is a fucking Milli Vanilli. Truth be told (and I don’t know why) I still consider Josh a friend, if only for the pleasant memories, kinship, and bond we shared in the past. His wife Nicki Hunter is a saint (she essentially gave him his self-worth and dignity–when he was considered to be no more than her towel boy–by starting Xotic Studios, as Josh was merely a carpenter by trade.) who made and created Josh, Jason, …Hunter… because of her generosity and compassion. That woman is–and I say this with the straightest face–a modern day Mother Teresea. However, in all fairness to Josh, he has come a long way from installing toilets and has become a competent director, cameraman, and editor and is getting better all the time and I am very proud of him for that, regardless of the current bullshit he has so arrogantly and ridiculously spewed.
The problem is the husbands/boyfriends of girls in this business, because of the disrespect afforded them, when they finally start gaining some pseudo-notoriety, extracted from their spouse’s sweat and blood, let this dime-store success go to their heads and then they think they are more than what they are.
You know, many in this industry look at me as a scumbag, but I am one of the most giving and honest men you will ever meet, despite my shortcomings, which are many. I am an alcoholic, a manic-depressive, a control freak, but you know what? I always give and I always get my shit done. Thirty-Three Awards, Ten Editor’s Choices, thousands and thousand of units in sales will attest to this. They said I couldn’t do gonzo but the success of BIG WET ASSES proved them all wrong: each unit over 6,000 units sold, two AVN Awards, an Adam Film Award… I don’t have much materialistically because I donate a chunk of my money to charity and always give talent who go above and beyond the call of duty for me extra cash out of my own pocket . How many others in this business can lay claim to that? Perhaps all of you should drink AND think about your fellow man and then we wouldn’t have to attack each other and instead just hold each other’s hands in support.
Now let me address Carpenter Josh’s accusations one at a time:
1) Cancellation 1: I Gave three days notice as the star of my flick, Lisa Ann, had an allergic reaction to something. The skin condition became hives and she was unable to be shot on High definition ..As SHE was the star of the film, I wasn’t going to replace her with someone else. NO ONE is going to dictate to me my movie.
2) Cancellation 2: Rebecca Linares, who I had booked three weeks in advance, was being put through the ringer by her agent, doing DP’s and anals for three weeks straight. I got a call from her agent (who also co-owns the studio) the Friday before the Sunday shoot and tells me she he can’t do anal for me because her ass was so sore (I actually heard her crying on the phone). The agent, also the co-owner, who is NOT Carpenter Josh, told me “no worries, we’ll postpone it until the following week.”
3) Cancellation 3: The following week the co-owner, again NOT Carpenter Josh, told me she still wasn’t ready and we had to push it back another week.
4) Cancellation 4: The girl I was going to shoot the next booked date, Missy Monroe, was in the hospital and couldn’t do the scene. I tried to replace her with Paris, the Extreme contract girl, but she couldn’t do it then either. I needed the right girl for the scene as it was going to be intense and extreme (no pun intended).
Lo and behold Carpenter Josh calls me up and DEMANDS a kill fee. I don’t mind paying it if it was my fault-our girls are FUCKING HUMAN BEINGS–but these were circumstances outside of my control. Not ONLY did he demand it, Carpenter Josh started making threats and busting my balls about drinking and how he was “going to post shit about me all over the internet” as I was at a Memorial Day party at Tom Byron’s house. His flunky, Jimmy, joined in the fray. Now, imagine this, Jimmy was a bartender who quit his job to get into porno. He was working for one of my former companies and was busting his ass for $100 a day. Admittedly, I’m not the easiest person to work for or deal with, but I had him come to work for me because I felt sorry for him, and I gave that kid MORE money in three months than I lived on, even let him borrow my van for three months, which, when I got it back, cost me over $2000 in repairs and my mechanic told me the mechanical problems were because of the abuse from the past three months. Now he works for Josh and Nicki, Joey Silvera, probably makes more money than me…and he laughs at me. And what thanks do I get?? Take a wild guess??? Did same for Mr. Pete and so many others… Jimmy was a nothing in the biz and I helped him fulfill his dream. Again, although I will freely admit I am not the easiest person to get along with, heartfelt actions speak louder than words. It’s something Bartender Jimmy and Carpenter Josh will have to live with and hopefully one day will learn from.
Now, I spoke to the REAL co-owner of Remmet and he was irate when I told him that in Josh’s self-aggrandizing post (http://www.pornstarperformance.com/main.php) Carpenter Josh said it was “MY studio.” It is NOT Josh’s studio, he’s just the flunky manager. Furthermore the REAL co-owner apologized to me and said I was right. Yes, I am difficult to deal with, but I always pay my bills and speak HIGHLY of those who help me.
I wasn’t going to bring this up, but now I will because Carpenter Josh text-messaged me that Drew “fired me” from LFP. That’s a gray area, because in my mind, I quit, and just forced Drew’s hand. I got tired of the disorganization at LFP, the censoring of my movies, the two-hour drive, the robotic IBM atmosphere, the cruel voice messages about the “missing masters” which invariably and mysteriously were found in the office by the personnel they were dropped off to, and some hack directors getting $80,000 for their flicks when I wasn’t even getting a third of that for mine, while being told I was their “flagship director.” Yes, Drew may have been frustrated by my innumerous drunken emails and phone calls, but I only did this with the purest of intent, especially as I would spend twenty four hours on PR (for free) and then not ONE press release I worked on was ever sent out. I feel for Drew (he is under a lot of pressure), as I respect him because he helped me out so much when he owned Studio 5533. Truth be told, I was the one who recommended Nicki and Josh to Drew as directors, likewise with Extreme. Also, Josh has repeatedly credited me and Glenn Baren for all he’s learned in the business, along with me being one of the first major directors to shoot at his newly-opened Xotic Studios a couple years back, which subsequently brought him a lot of business. You see the thanks you get. Having said that, I wish Drew AND Josh the best of luck as I like Drew very much. If it makes him feel better to say that he fired me, I consider it the highest of compliments. I left LFP, because my sales were lower there than at ANY company I previously worked for. In my opinion, it was because of the disorganization, the attention afforded to a few “pet” directors, the butchering of my stuff, and the lack of PR. Only time will tell if I was right or wrong on this.
To Mr. Larry Flynt: I would highly recommend you audit all your directors’ budgets because I guarantee a bunch of that money is not going into the productions but into the directors’ pockets. Have them give you cancelled checks from their corps and then follow up with calls to cast and crew to see if that is where YOUR money was REALLY spent. The rats will come out of the woodwork then. Watch them fucking dance! and/or scurry out of the building!!
As far as Josh goes, we are done, but I wish you luck, my lost friend. One day you’ll truly get it. I just want to make my movies, be left alone, and try to be a good man. I’m going to be opening my own studio and will treat ALL clients with respect, understanding the unforeseen problems that arise, which are outside the producers/directors control and not try and RAPE them for money. Also a girlfriend of mine and me, along with some sound investors, will be starting a new modeling agency where we WON’T take any of the talent’s money, only the agency fee from the producers and directors.
Finally, to Josh, LEAVE IT ALONE. I WILL NOT SHOOT IN SASCHA’S/CAESAR’S STUDIO EVER AGAIN NOR USE ANY GIRLS FROM NUMBER 1 MODELING AGENCY.
If you want to continue this, I will turn up the heat, regarding your house and what not (and you’re smart enough to know what I mean here and I don’t want to do that.) We will never be friends anymore, but we can hold out the olive branch and help each other if and when our paths ever cross again.
And furthermore, the day ya’ll same I’m sane is when I’ll commit myself to a mental institution. Maybe you ALL should drink and be on high-tilt passion and love and then you’ll truly get it. START BEING FUCKING HUMAN BEINGS INSTEAD OF SCHEMING AND CONNIVING AS TO HOW YOU’RE GOING TO USE PEOPLE TO BUY YOUR NEXT MERCEDES AND BE A BIG SHOT DIRECTOR OR SUPERSTAR.
My track record speaks for itself. People may think I sit behind a monitor, drink beer, laugh, and smoke cigarettes, but, truth be told, I’m ten steps ahead of all of you, arguably, even technically. Creatively is not even a question.
As much as many in this business despise Mr. Robert Black (and we’ve had our differences in the past), he is one of the most straight-up, honest, good-hearted, and courageous men I have ever met. I am going to help make Extreme No.1. Just watch and see. And you want to know why? Because WE won’t be so FUCKING greedy to charge $200 for a kill fee when the pains and sufferings of humanity create unexpected or unforeseen circumstances.
And yeah, motherfuckers, I am a drunken idiot. But look in the mirror and you might see who the real “drunken idiot”, user, scumbag, clown, and joke is.
This is the LAST time I will ever write anything like this. What sucks about all this is that Josh is, in fact, a good man–and I TRULY believe this–although like so many others he has become corrupted by the false power and greed this business so cleverly likes to tempt us with, and sad to say, so many of us fall for it, at the expense of our morality and humanity. And that, to me, is the biggest tragedy of all.
Perhaps, if we had half a heart, we would start working WITH each other instead of AGAINST each other.
Peace, Love
Thomas Zupko