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March 14, 2007

All about the gossip

There are a lot of rumors lately about Lucas Entertainment in the press and on blogs. I know I am not perhaps the most popular person among some in the industry, but ever since we swept the GAYVN awards, the drumbeat seems to be increasing. There is even speculation that our success at the awards was somehow due to a hostile conspiracy in the industry.

A "source" speculates in Queerty as follows:

"Some say that people voted for him repeatedly simply to bring more attention to what he did. In other words, the more attention he gets (which he actually wants, btw), the more there's a chance of harsh legal action coming his way."

I am much given to conspiracy theories myself, but even I can't believe that our industry would achieve that degree of coordination—just to get back at me!

Let me make it very clear to all the cicadas, big and small, to all the hens who run around clucking "cluck cluck": Lucas Entertainment has been operating for almost 10 years. We have proven our abilities and we are not going anywhere.

There is a growing trend here in New York by new companies to portray themselves as "spunky upstarts" against the "bullying giant" Lucas Entertainment and to leech off of our publicity. That's obviously flattering for us, though sometimes it becomes so blatant, it's a little annoying. But make no mistake, success comes in the market with our public, and not in the blogs though industry gossip. And what counts with our public are hard work, new ideas, and talent. If you want to make money today, you need a brand that's recognized by the customer, not just by the gossip pages of the industry. And to build such a brand in today's environment is a slow and expensive process with uncertain outcomes. That's where your energies should be, not in spinning some bizarre conspiracies.

I am sure you have read about the "coalition" of companies supposedly forming against me in New York City, which some gossip columnists are reporting about lately. Take for instance this little tidbit from Will Clark's newsletter:

"Speaking of slugging it out I hear whispers that at least two of the smaller struggling gay porn companies located here in New York are in talks to join forces to combat the powerhouse of Lucas Entertainment's dominance over the porn shops...talk about combining budgets, talent and administrative is rumored to be taking place even as I write this..."

This right here is one of my favorite fantasies, my company's supposed "dominance" of New York stores. I wish it were true, but if you look at any of the New York stores, you will see that it is not. ALL the A-List studios are fully represented on the shelves. If some new company has trouble getting space on those shelves, it's not because of Lucas... or Channel 1... or Titan. It's because of the flood of bareback movies, twinky and otherwise. Like it or not (and I don't), but that's where the sales are today, and that's what's getting the shelf space. You can bray as much as you want about the powerhouse that we supposedly are (thanks for the compliment!) but in the end your REAL competition for space is all those barebacking twinks.

If a couple of small studios want to cut costs by sharing overhead, that seems like a great idea to me. But be straight to the world (and especially to your backers) about why you are doing it. You are doing it for sheer survival and not because of one specific competitor.

There's also this little piece of news from Jossip:

"Couple all that with rumors we've heard about a new New York gay porn biz coming to town – to directly compete with Lucas Films..."

Once again, it's all about Lucas Entertainment, and we're flattered. However, why "a new New York gay porn biz coming to town" should be of particular interest to us escapes me. We already compete directly with dozens of excellent companies in the industry, and I'd say that we are doing quite well. There are many studios in San Francisco, for example, and they all do more or less well for themselves, depending on the quality of their product. If anything, having more studios in New York can only help our own business as it brings more models, resources, and publicity to the city.

Let me conclude by saying that I love competition. It makes the business more interesting and makes us more productive and creative. So I endorse it and we are always open to co-operate with studios, in New York or elsewhere. But I would say this to the many budding upstarts who may or may not succeed: Lucas Entertainment already exists. We have made our name through the distinctive style of our product and a good working relationship with the trade. You are more likely to succeed by concentrating on developing your own distinctive identity than by ranting on and on about the supposed big, bad Lucas Entertainnment.

We may be big, but let me assure you, we are not bad.

PS - Talking about rumors, I'm hearing from Mark Adams that I'm not going to be nominated for the Grabbys for "Michael Lucas' La DolceVita," or any other of my films. This does not come as a suprise for me, as they always blacklist me from any awards anyway. What really gets me is that they say they've never received any of my films. The true fact is that Stacy Bridge passed by me at the Colt Party before GAYVNs and told me not to get too excited, as he'd rather drop dead than give my company one award! So there you have it. Now they are lying that I didn't submit my films to them for consideration. They have my films. They got my films. What liars. Whether they nominated me in the past or not, I never won. Take last year's "Michael Lucas' Dangerous Liaisons." Nothing for it. And this year, not even a nomination? How low is it, that for me, speaking my mind years ago, I am now stripped of any awards? All because I think that David Forest is an embarrassment to the adult community? It's absurd.

Posted by Michael at March 14, 2007 12:51 PM

Comments

Posted by: Donald in Toronto at March 14, 2007 05:22 PM

Posted by: Scottie M at March 14, 2007 08:54 PM

Posted by: Tight Hole at March 14, 2007 09:10 PM

Posted by: Toby at March 15, 2007 01:13 AM

Posted by: Marc at March 15, 2007 02:55 PM

Posted by: Tim at March 16, 2007 01:08 AM