Page 30 - AVN December 2013

ADUL T WHO’S WHO
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
A Ax xe el l B Br ra au un n J Jo oi in ns s
W Wi ic ck ke ed d P Pi ic ct tu ur re es s
Three-time AVN Director
of the Year Axel Braun has
signed an exclusive two-
year deal with Wicked Pictures
under which he will both direct for
the studio and receive distribution
of his own Axel Braun Productions
titles.
7.78.84.5 “I really like the way Wicked
operates and I genuinely respect the
positive message that they send
within the industry, so it was an
easy choice,” Braun said. “I’m very
happy to have found both an awe-
some new home for my product
and an exceptionally creative envi-
ronment where I can make the movies I want.”
Braun will bring his catalogue of ABP titles to Wicked as part
of the deal, including the blockbuster Batman XXX: A Porn
Parody, along with his contract girls Aiden Ashley and Riley
Steele.
“Axel is at the top of his game,” Wicked owner Steve
ce e
X XX XX XJ Ja ay y A An nn no ou un nc ce es s S Se ev ve er ra an nc F Fr ro om m A Al ll l H Hi is s C Co om mp pa an ni ie es s
Jay “XXXJay” Quinlan, the veteran webmaster, marketer, founder
and owner of a number of successful adult entertainment
companies, announced on October 17 that he has been bought
out of all of them. His future, he said, is “wide open and I’m optimistic.”
Specifically, he announced, “I am no longer an owner or working with
Pornstar Platinum, OCCash, OCModeling, Lords of Porn or FreshChecks
because ‘the partners had different visions for the future of the companies, and decided to go in a different
directions. I wish them the best in new ventures and current business.’
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“Does that explanation sound kind of ‘stock’?” he quickly added. “It is. Do I wish them continued success?
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Yes. As an integral part of building these programs/brands: I truly do. They are my legacy. Would one want to
leave behind a legacy of failure or success?
“The latter, I hope.”
A longtime and voluble fixture on the adult scene, XXXJay expressed a full measure of pride in his achieve-
ments over the years. “Fact is,” he wrote, “I built all of these companies (and previously JQMEDIA aka ‘Jays
XXX Links’) from struggling upstarts to successful businesses without the aid of much cash. I did it with inge-
nuity, experience, and hard work. I kept them in business and healthy for years past where most with their same
business model had folded by keeping in-house traffic high. I’ve never ripped anyone off and sold out for a profit
every time.
“I’m not growing a third hand to pat myself on the back,” he explained, “But …that’s a good track record,
right? I’ve done this three times. I can do it again.”
An energetic individual, even as he was ostensibly signing off, Quinlan could not help listing his professional
qualifications—should any especially interesting concepts be percolating out there. Considering he now has
Orenstein said. “We are absolutely thrilled to add him to our
“unlimited time, am relieved of stress, and a decent chunk of change in my pocket,” he reminded the industry,
extraordinary team of directors, and look forward to watch him
“If anyone needs one of the best traffic, SEO, affiliate, social media, program owner, PR, marketing, brand
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bring to life all the amazing projects he has planned for Wicked.”
development, biz-dev, networking, digital media, project management, Wordpress, tube traffic, press writers,
The Braun deal comes on the heels of Wicked signing reigning
b2b, branding, public speakers, GFY jockey, webmaster dudes/out-of-the-box thinkers / jack-of-all-trades in this
AVN Female Performer of the Year Asa Akira, which she herself
business…
announced while accepting the trophy for Porn Star of the Year
“I’m here, just waiting for the next opportunity to strike.”
at last month’s inaugural presentation of The Sex Awards.
Responding to a query, Jay said he was unsure to what extent, if at all, his former companies would be reor-
“Being able to tap into Wicked’s roster of contract performers
ganized.
is pretty awesome,” Braun enthused, registering particular excite-
ment about Jessica Drake. “I literally have at least half a dozen
feature scripts that I wrote over the past few years where the lead
is a ‘Jessica Drake type’ ... now I can actually shoot them with
D Da an nn ny y W Wy R Re et ti ir re em me en nt t yl ld de e A f fr ro om m An nn no ou un nc ce es s
P Pe er rf fo or rm mi in ng g
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the real one!”
Veteran male adult performer Danny Wylde announced on his blog
Commented Drake herself, “Axel is a great addition to the
October 12 that his career as an adult performer has come to an end—
Wicked family. He is clearly the king of the parody genre, and I
effective immediately.
25.0.100.0 0.0.100.0 25.100.100.25 am looking forward to collaborating with him on many
50.0.100.0 25.0.100.0 “Today marks the end of my career as a pornographic performer,” he wrote,
projects—from original features to parodies and beyond. I am
adding quickly, “This was not planned out. I was looking forward to perhaps
always inspired by hard-working, creative people who love what
another decade in front of the camera.
they do, and I can’t wait to see what we can create together.”
“It’s hard to imagine an end so abrupt,” he wrote of his eight-year career.
Braun was also quick to praise his new fellow Wicked
“I don’t need to go into great detail, except to say that I’ve encountered a medical issue associated with my
directors: “Being on the same directing team as Brad Armstrong,
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use of performance-enhancing, erectile dysfunction drugs,” he explained. “I’ve received professional medical
Jonathan Morgan and Stormy Daniels is quite a thrill. I just saw
advice to stop. If I don’t, I face the likelihood of some pretty nasty, long-term problems.”
Brad’s latest epic, Underworld, and was literally blown away by
Iafd.com lists 298 performer credits for Wylde, with only a very few denoted as compilation, for a career that
how stunning it looks. When somebody can operate at such a
began in 2006 when he was around 19, looking to make a few bucks to supplement his day job as a student at
high level as Brad has for so long, you know it’s not just about
the University of California, Santa Cruz.
skills and vision, but also about drive and passion, and I have
“I started going on Craigslist to look at the gigs section and I found these weird jobs where people, mostly
tremendous respect and appreciation for that.”
gay photographers, wanted to take pictures of naked guys and will pay you $50-100 or something for the day,”
“Having Axel join the Wicked team is an exciting moment,”
he said in a recent interview for GoreGoreGirl.com. “I started doing that here and there but that’s still not real-
Armstrong offered. “We’ve always had a friendly competition
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ly a substantial income, so I found this ad that was for Kink.com (they used to be called Cybernet back then)
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between us. Most years, he and I have the lion’s share of the par-
ody/feature nominations, and being under the same umbrella will
make Wicked Pictures an unstoppable force in the adult indus-
try.”
Braun announced two weeks ago that he was ending his four-
year partnership with Vivid Entertainment. The first ABP release
through Wicked will be the Riley Steele star showcase Riley Goes
Gonzo, scheduled to street in December. His first Wicked feature
is yet to be announced.
and they were looking for men to do femdom stuff. ... So I applied, and they got back to me the next day. I
went there and they were so nice to me. It was really different from what I imagined porn would be.”
He also met Dana DeArmond, who he dated for three years and who introduced him to mainstream porn
and the “stylistic punk rock porno” being made at the time by Eon MacKai and the Vivid Alt crew. “I grew up
listening to hardcore and metal and was really into that scene, and so I was like ‘This is something cool’ and I
could actually be proud of doing something like this,’” he recounted in the interview.
Wylde is also a musician, novelist and filmmaker, has been an APHSS (now PASS) Advisory Committee
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Member and just spoke at CatalystCon West. He also can be seen in Dana Vespoli’s latest “psycho-sexual opus”
for Evil Angel, Girl/Boy. (He’s pictured above in a still from his scene with Veruca James in that title.)
30 | AVN.com | 12.13