Talk Comstock with Sue Johanson
One of the things you get to do when your an independent filmmaker is scour the internet to see who’s saying what where about your films. This is mostly pleasant work, dipping into a blog or bullettin board to say “thanks”. Sometimes you find something disappointing. From the forum at Talk Sex with Sue Johanson:
Posted by P. on March 20, 2007 at 07:12:27:
My husband and I wanted to try an adult video. There is a new dvd I am hearing about “Matt and Khym: Better Than Ever” (Real People, Real Life, Real Sex series) by Tony Comstock (DVD - Jan 3, 2007). I am interest in finding a dvd that is not a sleezy/cheesy porno, Something that is couple friendly with nothing ‘fake’. Do you recommend this dvd? Or could you let me know of some you do recommend?
Thanks!
Webmaster Reply:
I don’t know this DVD, but last season, the crew did try to find couple-friendly videos and really only found one they liked - “Pirates”. It is in our Bookshop. The most consistent producer of non-sleazy erotic films is Better Sex. Their videos, which are instructional and use real couples, are beautifully produced, totally explicit, and very erotic. There’s something about watching people who are actually in love (as opposed to “hired hands”) that is very, very sexy. Go to bettersex.com and peruse their catalogue.
Randy
I don’t take the Better Sex recomendation too hard. In fact, our films are well liked by the people over at the Sinclair Institute and available on the BetterSex.com website. Unfortunately, because of the size and inertia of their marketing machinery they have a very long acquisition process, and MATT AND KHYM won’t be available from them until this Summer.
But PIRATES? PIRATES? Randy, how could you do us like that? Well I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
But the thing about this that really gets my panties in a twist is that we’ve been sending screeners and e-mail updates to the Sue Johanson show for three years, and have never had as much as a “thanks, we’ll have a look.”
This is the not so much fun part about being an independent filmmaker. Even when you send your stuff out to a person or organization you think will be really receptive, usually they’re not. It’s a noisy crowded world, and places like Sinclair/Better Sex or Digital Playground have the muscle (money) to cut through the noise and get noticed by people like Sue Johanson. Meanwhile here at Comstock Films, we live by our wits and (hopefully) the quality of our films.
Also peeving me is that there is no way to respond directly on the Talk Sex with Sue forums, so for the time being, “Canada’s foremost sexual educator and counsellor, recipient of the distinguished Order of Canada” will continue to be unaware of Comstock Films, and continue to offer PIRATES (available in Sue’s online store) to people looking for something that is “couple friendly with nothing ‘fake’”.
Grrr.
April 6th, 2007 at 11:53 am
PIRATES? They can’t be serious! It’s entertaining, sure, and it’s interesting to see what Porn producers do when they actually have a budget, but I wouldn’t exactly call that *sexy,* or couple-friendly.
And lol to the nothing ‘fake’! Everything from the boobs to the acting was horribly fake, pretty much laughably so. I’d rent it and sit around with some friends and some martinis and make fun of it all night (and have, actually, and a rollicking good time was had by all), but I’d hardly say it got near pushing any of my buttons.
Sue should do her research and realize that there’s a hell of a lot of better couples’ porn out there!
April 7th, 2007 at 6:59 am
When we started out making this films we thought that people like Sue Johanson would be excited about what we were doing and that it would be easy to get their attention. But it turns out people like Sue have mostly given up on the idea of a sexually explicit film that isn’t silly, offensive or boring (and mostly all three!)
Luckily we found our way to people/places like Violet Blue, Good For Her, Come As You Are, and Blowfish that we were able to get a toe-hold, and from there break into the wider world of the sex-positive market.
Even still, there are more people that haven’t heard of what we do than there are people who have. For example, we’ve been trying for years to get Libida to pick up our films, but they are forever “under review by our sexologists”, which is another way of saying “don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Making films is hard. Getting them seen is harder!