Page 35 - AVN April 2013

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Jules Jordan Announces DVD Distribution
Deal With Kink.com
In March, Jules Jordan Video and Kink.com announced an
exclusive deal for Jordan to distribute DVDs from the San
Francisco-based fetish company. Kink.com, a leading glob-
al producer of BDSM and fetish entertainment, will release
up to six DVDs per month through Jordan, featuring con-
tent shot for some of the company’s most popular websites.
The deal also includes material from the KinkMen.com
gay and transsexual lines.
“For nearly 15 years, we’ve been online-only with the
U.S. market,” said John Sander, vice president of market-
ing at Kink.com. “We look forward to being able to bring
our BDSM and fetish content to a new audience. We know the demand is there, and I’m
sure that under Jules, these DVDs will do exceedingly well.”
Based in San Francisco’s historic Armory, Kink.com operates nearly two dozen premi-
um subscription sites with content ranging from sex machines and rope bondage to erot-
ic wrestling and foot worship. The company occasionally partners with guest directors
for smaller, highly sought after projects released through Kink on Demand, the compa-
ny’s VOD site.
“Peter Acworth and Kink.com have done an incredible service for the BDSM and
bondage community, bringing their art to the mainstream world in a very professional
manner,” Jules Jordan said. “It
’s an honor, and I’m very excited to bring their vision to
the DVD market—there’s a real void of content, and they’re the best in the business.”
Jules Jordan Video recently celebrated 111 nominations and 24 wins at the AVN
Awards in Las Vegas in January.
Kink.com’s Peter Acworth Launches Blog
Kink.com founder Peter Acworth has built a reputation as a
supporter of ethical production, advocating for workplace safe-
ty and the rights of models. But with his business moving
toward live content, Acworth found the company facing sce-
narios that fell outside Kink.com’s shooting guidelines.
Two months ago, Acworth launched a personal blog—
PeterAcworth.com—to talk about how to maintain integrity in
a workplace that’s rapidly changing.
“I don’t pretend to have all the answers,” Acworth said. “But
I hope that by raising some of the questions, we can start a dis-
cussion that will get us there.”
Since founding the company in 1997, Acworth has pioneered a number of policies
aimed at protecting his models—including a bill of rights, publically posted scene rates
and pro-rated payment for models who choose not to finish a scene. But most of those
were based on a traditional notion of what making porn was.
The most pressing issue today, Acworth said, is the company’s growing webcam busi-
ness. When it started two years ago, Acworth proposed a baseline guaranteed payment
for models plus commissions—an outlier in an industry sector that usually pays models
on a commission-only basis. Unfortunately, the baseline payment proved financially
unsustainable, and when he switched to commissions last June, he faced uproar from
disappointed models.
He admits the decision wasn’t communicated well, and he hopes the blog can be a
starting point for discussions about the changing landscape. Acworth has previously
written about the challenges of industry generally for sites like Huffington Post, but
wants the blog to be a place he can address issues in a more granular fashion.
“This industry is at a crossroads,” he said. “There are many issues we need to
address—from cams, to condoms, to consent—and I don’t think these are things we can
solve by decree from on high. I hope that by being honest about the challenges, we can
find solutions that work for models and Kink.”
Readers can follow him at PeterAcworth.com, or interact with him on Twitter,
@peteracworth.
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