I first started thinking about this post when we started selling our Real People, Real Life, Real Sex series on Amazon. This was about the same time that Kirby Dick’s MPAA expose doc This Film Not Yet Rated came out on DVD. Kirby and I have rather different takes on the MPAA, and whether or not the MPAA functions as a de facto censorship body; and I think This Film Not Yet Rated, while making some valid points about the vagaries and inconsistencies of the MPAA’s rating system, does a real disservice to the conversation around grown-up movie making by conflating the function and scope of a trade organization with censorship and by promulgating myths about the NC-17 rating.

Of course Dick’s film was enthusiastically received by the indie film community, and not hard to understand why. Indies films often deal with provocative subject matter, and the idea of the Big Bad MPAA destroying maverick films and maverick filmmakers by assigning the dreaded NC-17 rating is an appealing one, or certainly one I found appealing, especially in light of the sort of violence that receives an R-rating.

But in the course of making and marketing our films, I’ve come to believe that the way the system works actually suits exploitation filmmakers like me and Kirby Dick to a T. To understand why, let’s first get a working definition of an “exploitation filmaker.”

Click here to read the rest of The MPAA Took My Baby Away!: Why exploitation filmmakers love to hate the Motion Picture Association of America, and have a safe and happy Fourth of July. If you like the films Peggy and I make, no that it would be possible without the freedom we’re all celebrating today!

I only know their work by reputation, but apparently they did some rather disgusting things. But that’s not why they’re going to jail. There has been so far as I am aware of, no allegation that any of the things they did were against the law.

No, Rob Black and Lizzy Borden are going to jail, not because of anything they did or paid other people to do,  but because they videotaped various mayhems and then sold these recordings.

Let’s all just think on that a minute.

There is no allegation that what was happening in front of the camera was illegal. The crime is that what was going on was videotaped and then sold to an adult in a juristiction wherein the contents of the recording, although not actually criminal actions in and of themselves, the recording and sales of these actions so offend public decency that is constitutes a crime.

The mind reels.

And if you think for a minute that this sort of thing doesn’t make my wife Peggy and I reconsider what we do, you’re wrong. Stuff like this scares the shit out of us.

And that’s the point, isn’t it?

“Where my uncle and I meet is in the very grown-up movies of the late 60s and early 70s –Carnal Knowledge, Klute, Midnight Cowboy, etc – the films made in the very first few years after the demise of the Production Code. But before getting into those movies, why they suddenly flourished and then just as suddenly disappeared, I think it’s worthing taking a look at the forces that brought about the end of the Production Code.”

We’re starting to build an nice little cadre of film-loving commenter, including just now, my beloved uncle who I’ve mentioned from time to time on this blog. If you’re intrigued by the  collision of sex and the moving image, why not click on over and join the discussion!

One of the problems in being an erotic filmmaker is that there is almost nothing to emulate. The world is filled with all sort of example of what not to do, but very little in the way of what one might try. As a result, most of the inspiration for my films from outside the world of explicit images. And in the 20 or so years I’ve been making erotic images, one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever come across is the work of Greg DeLong at Njoy Toys. 

Whether or not these toys hit  your sweet spot is a matter of personal preference (some people like snails, some people like mussels.) But what is inarguable is that Greg’s line of Njoy Toys are made with the same attention to detail, personal pride, and acknowledgement of the customer’s humanity that we simply take for granted in things like bicycle components or bathroom fixtures. From Greg’s choice of materials, to his designs, to his packaging and marketing, the sort of shabbiness and shamefulness that seems utterly taken for granted in the sex industry is utterly absent in Greg’s work. There is neither the vulgarity that is so common, nor the clinical affect that is so often offered in it’s place. Greg takes his customers’ sexual pleasure seriously, and Greg takes himself seriously.

Greg and I have long talked about a collaboration, an adventure in cinema that would serve as a venue for our sexual and creative philosophies, and also be good business for Njoy Toys and Comstock Films; and after letting this roll around for a few years we have the answer. The only thing missing is you!

CASTING CALL

Prospective subjects sought for short documentary-style promotional film featuring NJoy Toys stainless steel pleasure instruments.

Requirements and other information:

1) You should be an Njoy enthusiast. Tell us what Njoy pieces you own, how you learned about Njoy and what in particular you love about your favorite piece.

2) You should be in the New York area. We will be shooting tests on Super16, with final production shot on 35mm. You will need to be available to the production on an on-going basis over the course of 4-8 weeks. (3-4 in-person meetings total.)

3) You need to really think through what it means to be appear on camera nude and using Njoy products. As the saying goes,  you can’t unring a bell. 

4) This film is a commercial endeavor and there will be (modest) compensation. 

To be considered please send e-mail telling us about you and your Njoy adventures, along with photo(s) of you an your Njoy Toys to njoydoc at comstockfilms dot com.

If you have a blog or a newsletter or whatever else and it would be appropriate, we would be very grateful if you repost this!

Thanks for your interest!

BRETT AND MELANIE: BOI MEETS GIRL will go on pre-order this weekend at the special price of price of $17.95. This price will be good until the DVD goes out for replication later this Summer, after which the DVD will be available at the regular price of $27.95

In this passage above, Melanie describes her (sometimes awkward) journey from being a young girl who loved pink party dress to an adult, comfortable with her love of women and her love of over-the-top glamour.

The clip was taken from a point in the editing process the footage from both cameras is shown. The story is now “locked”, and decisions on when to show the close-up, and when to show the two-shot are being finalized. As with our other films, the final cut will not have any split-screen effects.

BRETT AND MELANIE: BOI MEETS GIRL is the seventh film in our Real People, Real Life, Real Sex erotic documentary series. I am particularly excited about this film because (for me at least) this film opens up questions about strength and vulnerability in the context of how we portray and interpret gender. Throughout Brett and Melanie’s interview, there is a constant dance of who is strong for whom, of who is vulnerable and who nurtures; and this dance continues when Brett and Melanie make love.

Peggy and I are deeply grateful to Brett and Melanie for sharing themselves with us in such an intimate way, and it is our privilege to share Brett and Melanie’s story with you.

It’s Half-naked Thursday again over at CameraPlayForCouples.com

In our Real People, Real Life, Real Sex series we’ve explored what happens when you completely ignore the show/don’t show paradox and just treat the sex act and sex organs like it is just another beautiful human experience. In our erotic documentaries we don’t tease, we reveal. Instead of being coy and flirtatious, those movies are candid and frank, and I think that’s what makes them special.

But what is covered or not covered, seen or not seen or half seen is also a very real part of our sexual lives. Flirting is often as much fun as doing, and showing/not showing can be a lot of fun to play with in erotic images. Sheer fabrics are one of my favorites because they flirt with all of those ideas all at once. I think that’s also what I like about stockings and garters – the mix up of what’s covered and what’s exposed…

Click on over to CameraPlayForCouples.com to read the rest!

The Romance of Cocksucking

For a brief moment I saw myself sucking the Statue of Liberty, I know she has no cock but dear God I broke out laughing, he laughed too but tried to silence me by pushing his cock further down my throat, but my mirth wouldn’t be contained.

Read the rest of this story about fellatio, camping, and marital mirth on Ell’s Wilful Damage blog!

“Comparing what goes on on a porn set to what goes on on a movie set is like comparing what goes on on a porn set to what goes on in people’s bedrooms. In either case, whatever similarities there might be, they are outweighed 100:1 by the differences.”

I’m a big believer in form and process, especially as a fall-back when inspiration fails.

The abstract for The Intent to Arouse was written in a very much inspired state, 24 hours in which everything I’ve learned, everything I’ve blogged about, everything I’ve experience making my movies seemed to magically distill itself into a few 100 characters. My fingers seemed to have a life of their own.

I can count on one hand the number of times that’s happened to me in the 20+ years I’ve been making my way as an artist. The rest of it has been, as Woody Allen says, just showing up. (Although in his case he claims 10% is something more than just showing up. The difference between his experience and mine is probably a measure of the difference of our respective talents.)

In any case, I’m going to use my abstract as road map to fleshing out my ideas. I’ll tackle each section, mostly in order, assembling ideas (my own and others) along with visual resources…

To keep reading, and join the discussion in the comments click on over to TheIntentToArouse.com.  See you there!

I was born in New York City, but it’s not where I grew up.

When I was two years old my family moved to Southern California. When I remember my childhood I remember sunshine and sand and gorgeous young mothers in bikinis made of fabric that was blue and yellow and brown.

In 1978, when I was 12 years old, I made my first trip back to NYC to visit with my uncle (over the next 15 years there would be four more of increasing length before I settle out here permanently.)

The New York of today is nothing like the New York of 1978, and the New York of 1978 was nothing like the San Diego at the end of the 70s. In 1978 New York was dirty and dangerous. 

What do I remember most? The smell; pretzels, piss, sweat and sex. Yes, in 1978 New York actually smelled like sex. At the time I didn’t have a name for the smell, but I recognized it, was excited by it, was intoxicated by it. My uncle lived at Seventh Ave. and 12th St. and we ended many of our long days touring the city with hamburgers at David’s Pot Belly on Christopher St., in the gayest heart of Greenwich Village. On Christopher St. the smell of sex hung in the air almost like the perfume of lilacs on a Spring day, save that the oder sex wasn’t light and floral, it was heavy and portentous.

30 years later New York is changed. The smell of piss is occasional, rather than pervasive. The smell of sex is gone. I don’t find myself in the neighborhoods where the pretzel wagons ply their trade that often. The city is safe.

And it’s a little boring.

I almost feel ashamed to say this, but I feel nostalgia for the bad old days. Peggy feels it too, and she wasn’t in New York in the 70s as a tourist. As a child she lived with the smell and the danger every day of her life. We watch films like TAX DRIVER or SUMMER OF SAM or GAY SEX IN THE 70s and we feel wistful – ”It used to take grit to live in this town, now all it takes is a bank roll.”

But don’t be fooled by our nostalgia. Time has a way of white washing the muggings and the dog shit and the four locks on your apartment door and two more on the building itself. Time has a way of white washing the daily diet of petty indignities and the personal violations that used to be part and parcel of being a New Yorker.

New York in the Seventies was a shithole, and I miss it.

The only version of this scene from TAXI DRIVER I could find is dubbed in Spanish, but you get the idea.