Page 50 - AVN August 2018

FEATURE |
“HIS PRODUCT HAS BEEN
CONSISTENTLY SOME OF THE BEST-SELLING
CONTENT SINCE THE VERY FIRST RELEASE,
AND HE NORMALLY HAS NUMEROUS ITEMS
IN THE TOP 10 BEST-SELLERS.”
—COLIN ALLERTON, VP, ADULT EMPIRE
That’s not to mention being anointed
with a champagne toast in a first-of-its-kind
ceremony broadcast on Instagram Live to tens
of thousands of viewers.
“Greg is really hard to explain but I feel
I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t
for Greg,” says Sunderland, the curvaceous
blonde whom Lansky also named his first
Vixen Angel of the Year in January 2017.
“He definitely helped me build my name
and the exclusivity around my name,”
Sunderland adds. “Greg has treated me like
family since the very beginning. Words can’t
describe how grateful I am for him.”
Because of his remarkable rise and
reputation for quality, a Lansky production
has become a sought-after booking in today’s
industry. Several A-list stars—such as Riley
Reid, Lana Rhoades, Kendra Lust and Brett
Rossi—have performed their first anal scenes
for Tushy or their first interracial for Blacked;
and it’s no secret that Lansky will pay a
premium to shoot certain performers doing
first-time scenes.
“We don’t charge him any more than
anyone else, unless it’s a ‘first’ something,”
says porn super agent Mark Spiegler, whose
boutique talent agency has represented five
of the past six AVN Female Performer of the
Year winners. “He has a relatively unlimited
amount of money, so he can pay whatever he
wants to get what he wants.
“A lot of people don’t want to spend
anything and they get crappy product and
then they complain. He has more of a
forward-thinking way of doing business.
You do something really good, spend a lot of
money on it, and it will draw people to come
and pay.”
The approach not only has led to shelves
stacked with AVN trophies, it also has
generated industry-leading sales figures.
Lansky in late May had the first (Black &
White 12), second (Blacked Raw V6), third (My
Greg Lansky featured Nicole Aniston (top photo) in a boxing-themed
Vixen Angel shoot in January 2018.
One of the centerpieces of Lansky’s marketing campaign is his
monthly Vixen Angel crowning. Abella Danger (bottom photo, far
right) was the February 2018 Vixen Angel; she’s pictured with fellow
Angels Ana Foxxx (December 2016) and Tori Black (2018 Vixen
Angel of the Year).
FEATURE | LANSKY
50 | AVN.com | 8.18
DP 4) and fourth (Threesome Fantasies 3) best-selling DVDs at Adult
Empire, one of the largest online retailers in the country.
Colin Allerton, vice president of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-
based firm, tells AVN he has been working with Lansky since
Blacked released its first DVD through Jules Jordan Distribution in
August 2014.
“His product has been consistently some of the best-selling
content since the very first release, and he normally has numerous
items in the Top 10 best-sellers,” Allerton says. “Right now, he has
six of the Top 10 best-selling DVDs.
“Having his four different studios producing the Top 4 selling
DVDs—each with a different style—is really impressive and speaks
to his appeal across different genres.”
Allerton notes that Blacked is Lansky’s No. 1 studio on both DVD
and VOD at Adult Empire; and the No. 1-selling DVD of 2017 was
Kendra’s Obsession from Blacked, which featured the Salem, Oregon,
native in every scene.
“There’s a strong demand for all of his brands spread across all
regions of the country,” Allerton adds. “His attention to detail on
the outfits, lighting, location and making the girls look their best
appeals to lots of different consumers. Greg, his team, and the Jules
Jordan team are all really passionate about their work, and they’ve
raised the bar on what consumers expect in top-quality content.”
One of Lansky’s signature movies—which he calls “a turning
point” for his company—was 2015’s Being Riley, featuring 2016 AVN
Female Performer of the Year Riley Reid in her first anal and double-
penetration scenes. Both the encounters won AVN Awards, while
the movie also captured the Best Star Showcase and Best Girl/Girl
honors in January 2016, when Lansky and his studios dominated
the 33rd annual show with 16 gold statuettes.
Lansky’s right-hand man is 20-year vet Mike Moz, a native of
Tampa, Florida, who started in the industry as editor of Nightmoves
magazine, moved into public relations for more than a decade, and
then transitioned into sales and marketing with Digital Playground.
As Lansky’s producer, Moz presides over perhaps the busiest
shooting schedule in porn, supervising the production of about 35
scenes a month in multiple countries. Each of the four sites updates
every five days—or six times a month—so Team Lansky drives a
minimum of 24 site updates every 30 days.
“I’ll look at him more times than not and I’m like, ‘I don’t know
what you’re doing, but I know what you’re doing,’” Moz tells AVN.
“I don’t see things like he sees things. But he’ll be like, ‘We’re going
to position ourselves like this and we’re going to do this and we’re
going to do that.’ And I’m more like a consigliere.”
One of Lansky’s most valuable leadership qualities is how he
always considers the perspectives of his inner circle, according to
Moz.
“He listens to the people around him,” says Moz, who joined
forces with Lansky in 2013. “Because I’m not that in tune with the
pulse of what people are into. I’m very thorough. I can see things
done. But he’s definitely the idea guy.
“When Blacked came about he was, ‘We’re going to do a paysite.’
Everybody else was like, ‘That’s probably not a good idea.’ He’s like,
‘I know this part of the market isn’t being filled properly. There’s
people out there that want this who are not getting what they
want.’”
Moz admits he used to think Lansky was “nuts.”
“I’d go look at locations and he’d be like, ‘The main room needs
to be facing west and ba-ba-ba. And I’d be like, ‘What the fuck are
you talking about?’ But he would know. He would know,” Moz
recalls.
“At the beginning I wasn’t resistant to what he was saying, I just
didn’t understand what he was saying because I had never worked
with anybody like that. But after all this time you learn that there’s
a method to his madness. There really is. The guy’s like two steps
ahead of everybody. He knows what’s gonna be hot.”
So does Lansky’s longtime girlfriend Jennifer, a former fashion