Page 38 - AVN January 2013

Who's Who.1.13 12/21/12 2:40 PM Page 38
ADUL T WHO’S WHO
eases
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
“Now that I’ve made this documentary I plan on shooting other
documentaries and also some independent narrative movies,” Valentino
said. But the AVN Hall of Famer is hardly turning his back on adult. “I
can produce movies as well as direct them. I’m interested in shooting
bigger productions in adult entertainment.”
In fact, he’s drawn a lot of inspiration from his work in the industry.
“I acted a lot in Europe in the adult business when we were shooting on
35mm film in the ’90s, and we had some directors who shot on
spaghetti Westerns in the ’60s, then they did horror movies in the ’70s
and the ’80. And they were doing pornography in the ’90s.”
Valentino Debuts With Doc on Measure B
The AVN Awards Show hits the three-decade mark this year. For
definitely more demand. … So that’s what I’m working at cutting
performer/director Valentino, it’s only his 20th trip to the show, but
now.” When the finished product is ready, he’ll look to sell cable and
he’s reached a more significant milestone: He’ll be attending January’s
DVD rights in Cannes with an eye toward a fall release.
AVN Adult Entertainment Expo as a graduate of the New York Film
Academy with a master’s of fine art.
“An MFA in filmmaking—it covers everything from writing, edit-
ing—every aspect of production. They give you a mastery of all of it
… any facet of production, we had to cover everything from A to Z.”
Valentino’s thesis, however, is all about the second letter of the
alphabet—as in Measure B. He’s been at work on a short film about
the fight surrounding the mandatory condom ballot measure, which
was approved by voters in Los Angeles County in November.
“I’m still editing it. I still have one or two small interviews, but
basically it’s done,” Valentino said when we spoke last month.
“I shot it on the Red camera,” he explained. “It takes like 40
minutes in real time to transcode every minute of film. It’ll be done by my deadline, which
is in January, and then I’m going to market it in Cannes, at the film festival.”
The director got interviews with folks at the Free Speech Coalition and the No on
Measure B campaign offices, and he also shot “all the rallies, all the street demonstrations.”
In addition, Valentino said, he shot at last year’s AEE. “We were in Vegas last year as part
of the documentary as well because I knew I was going to shoot it and I got a lot of people
from different countries so I could get a global perspective, knowing they wouldn’t be here
when I shot the bulk of it in October.”
He added, “It’s coming together really nicely. And I interviewed the other side, AHF …
Particularly with the Italian directors he found that as an actor they
offered him a higher level of professional direction because of their
experience on larger mainstream productions. And back then, some adult films were fairly
large as well: shot on 35mm film with $500,000 budgets. “We would shot in gorgeous
locations,” he recalled.
In terms of how much overseas production there is now, Valentino has noted that “with
the exception of Japan, Europe is kind of struggling too. Not that the economy in Japan
isn’t struggling, but it hasn’t affected the pornography production in the same way it’s been
affected in the west—they’re still shooting right along. It’s been affected, but not to the
we have some good conflict there. It looks good.”
In addition to editing the footage into a short, Valentino says, “I’m looking at doing a
feature or I may do a series, because series obviously sell better, more marketable and there's
same degree.
“But I’m still interested in shooting in Europe, and it may be the staple later if we are
forced to outsource the work because of this Measure B business,” he grimaced. “I’m sure
there will be American productions, but I think that Europe might fill more of that
vacuum.”
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