Page 33 - AVN August 2018

“Performers get excited when they hear the idea of, ‘Ooh, I can have a website,’ but they
maybe don’t realize they’re actually starting a business and it takes a lot of work,” she added.
“But it’s also understandable that they would need help with that because it’s OK they don’t
know how to run a small business. That’s where I come in, to help with all of that.”
Hearts has a “little dream team” of five “targets” she wants to get online by the AVN Expo.
“Kristen Scott, Janice Griffith, Leigh Raven, Charlotte Sartre and Julie Kat. It’s a diverse
group; each has a huge, dedicated fan base; they’re all driven; they’re really smart; they want
to take control of their careers, and I think they all have the ability to do that with the right
help. So that’s what we’re going to be focusing on, is just building them the perfect site, help
them create merchandise like T-shirts, stuff like that; help them keep up on shipping—the
whole thing to make it a really solid business for each of them, and the goal is to make their
sites successful enough to where they can just work by themselves.”
And there’s no question that Hearts has the business chops to do all this. She’s got
schooling in graphic design and spent several years as a marketing rep for sex toys, both of
which will help her design marketing materials for performers and run occasional sales of
their content and merchandise.
“Performers don’t necessarily have time for that when they’re still trying to work and
support themselves, so they need help. So that is part of my job, to provide them with, ‘Hey,
here’s your sale for the weekend; post it, 10 percent off; here’s the flyer to post on your
Twitter.’”
Of course, New Savages isn’t doing all this for free, but according to Hearts, the company
takes a smaller commission than similar suppliers.
“I have a very successful and very wise partner,” Zipper stated, “and he was like, ‘What’s
the least percentage we can take from them so they’re really happy?’ That’s how we did it.
‘What’s the least amount of money we can take and still give them something so they just
stick around?’”
“I HAVE NOT GOTTEN THE
OPPORTUNITY TO BE THE
THESPIAN THAT I ACTUALLY AM,
AND THIS SERIES WILL GIVE ME A
CHANCE TO SHOW MY ACTING SKILLS
IN SOMETHING OTHER THAN SEX
SCENES.”
—LEXINGTON STEELE
“We are right now obviously focusing on big-name performers who have big fan bases,”
Hearts added, “but we’re also open to making websites for photographers, videographers,
artists, whatever. If you can sell and market your stuff in the same way a performer could,
we’re interested—and even now, Jack is shooting lots of stuff with all of the girls just to keep
them up-to-date with having cool new content.”
But that’s hardly all. Zipper, Steele and Styles are also working to form the company’s
content production arm, dubbed the New Savages Network—and one of its first projects will
be a very mainstream-like web series, Apollyon Descending.
“I’m a director; I’m always thinking of persona, and somebody’s perception with the
public,” Zipper said. “So we’re going to build his platform and get LexingtonSteele.com 2.0
going for 2018, we’re going to establish all that, and then, what can we do? What can we
shoot? So we kind of hashed together a cool idea and we’re going to shoot a continuing series
for his site. So Jack The Zipper and Lexington Steele are actually doing something, and it’s
going to be called Apollyon Descending and that’s a character we created. We’re going to start
shooting it in 4K and premium and every month will be a new installment of the series.
Lexington plays an ex-Secret Service guy who was part of the mind-control CIA thing and was
overseas in Europe.”
While Apollyon Descending has been slow to get off the ground, Zipper is very happy with his
leading man.
“He’s really cinematic,” Zipper said of Steele. “I started working with him a little; we
started shooting a little bit. We’d go behind the supermarket at 4 in the morning and just
shoot with the sodium lights lighting the alley and just do some stuff, and I realized, ‘Oh,
man, this guy’s cinematic; he looks great on camera, really naturalistic,’ and that’s how we
started going.”
“A lot of the things I would like to do as a director, I don’t,” Steele stated. “My brand is
attributable to one genre, which is the high-end interracial and black-on-black, but I have not
gotten the opportunity to be the thespian that I actually am, and this series will give me a
chance to show my acting skills in something other than sex scenes.”
In fact, Zipper and Steele are still working out the plot elements to Apollyon Descending, and
when they do finally get some episodes in the can, they will debut on Steele’s official website.
Opposite page, Lexington
Steele strikes a cinematic
pose. Above, Nikki Hearts.
Below, branding for the
network. Artwork courtesy
NewSavages.com
“Now that we have Nikki in place, the performer network part of
the puzzle is growing exponentially,” Zipper informed. “Once we get
past certain benchmarks with the platform, we’ll be rolling a ton of
production. That will be the official arrival of New Savages as a label.”
Apparently, that “arrival” will coincide closely with next year’s Adult
Entertainment Expo, where New Savages will be hosting a booth,
and in the meantime, they’re hard at work building sites and filming
content—and considering the talents of the principals involved, the adult
community can expect a small earthquake when it officially debuts.
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