VIVID STUDIO INSIDER FOR JUNE 19, 2009

VIVID STUDIO INSIDER FOR JUNE 19, 2009

BUSINESS MAGAZINE SAYS HIRSCH IS "STAYING FOCUSED" - Reporter Mark Madler of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal writes this week on Vivid's 25th anniversary. His article is headlined: "Staying Focused: Steven Hirsch Guides Vivid Entertainment to its 25th Anniversary Following a Strategy of Staying Current and Setting the Company Apart." Madler writes, "If there is one thing that Steven Hirsch never wants to have happen to Vivid Entertainment Group is to be described as old. Since its founding a quarter-century ago, Hirsch has guided Vivid through technological and cultural changes. A company that began releasing its adult movies on videotape has moved into digital. While never a niche producer, Vivid managed to corner certain market segments with its contract performers and celebrity sex tapes?Considering that Vivid is a global brand based on female nudity, the corporate offices in the Cahuenga Pass are extremely business-like, almost chaste. No posters for Vivid films hang in Hirsch's office but like any good producer he does display the awards his films have won...Hirsch started Vivid and continues to operate the company under the strategy of quality films with beautiful performers. In the digital age, those films are transitioning away from a physical product to distribution via online. This is why Vivid scaled back its DVS business and focuses on the Internet." Of Internet activities, Madler quotes Steven as saying, "We see that as where the dollars are coming from and we want to be positioned for that." Noting that it is "an ongoing challenge to stay current," Steven says that there will be a "thinning out" in the adult industry, "But those that are left will be that much stronger? those who are able to be the most clever are going to be ones that ultimately survive."

SUNNY IN BRAZIL AND OTHER UNLIKELY PLACES - A photo of the DVD cover of a feature starring Vivid Girl Sunny Leone popped up this week in Vice Magazine. Writer Chris Nieratko used the image of "Sunny in Brazil" to illustrate his Skinema article in the current Vice, even though his story has nothing to do with the movie (http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n5/htdocs/skinema-859.php). The article actually concerns an adventure in Rio in which a skateboarder reveals how he came to be circumcised - at age 30 - and how the experience changed his life. Nieratko concludes that the tale is "the saddest story I'd ever heard." Of course there was no relation whatsoever with the Sunny Leone film, just a clever use of its DVD cover to help illustrate it.

VIVID GIRLS MAKE RADIO WAVES -- Vivid Girls and a director have been appearing on numerous radio programs in recent days. To note just a few of the appearances, Vivid-Ed director Tristan Taormino was interviewed on Las Vegas station KOMP about her newest release, "Expert Guide to Anal Pleasure for Men." In London, Kerrang! radio's "The Night Before" show had a lengthy interview with new Vivid Girl A.J. Bailey. Host Nick Margerrison talked to AJ about her decision to become a Vivid Girl, her thoughts on her debut Vivid movie and how she felt during her first on-screen sex scene with a man. Upcoming is a Savanna Samson interview on WOCM in the Baltimore-Washington-Ocean City area of Maryland. She'll be on the popular "Rude Awakening" show about her latest Vivid movies and her new column for XCritic.com.

From left, Vivid-Ed Director Tristan Taormino, photo by Sarkis, Vivid Girls AJ Bailey and Savanna Samson, photos by www.vivid.com

VIVID MUCH QUOTED ON HIV STORY - Newspaper reporters and numerous radio and TV programs turned Vivid co-chairman Steven Hirsch for background and contest during their the extensive coverage of news that an adult film actress had tested positive for HIV. Among the many outlets that sought out Steven were Los Angeles ABC7 TV and news radio KNX, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press for a story picked up by hundreds of outlets worldwide. Steven consistently made the point that effective monitoring systems are in place and it is rare to have any HIV cases in the industry. The Los Angeles Times published a follow-up story noting that local health department officials had been releasing erroneous information about the actual number of cases of HIV in the adult industry.