I have several well known reputations but patience and understanding are not one of them. So if you fuck with me I fuck back, usually without verifying that it was actually you in the first place. That being said let's talk about Thailand.
Thailand is the pornographers Utopia. It is Porno land, there 100,000's of beautiful girls who sell their bodies daily for the price of a cheese burger and a coke and talking them into shooting porn is not a difficult task. If you can put up with the fact that it is a different culture, different food, the most corrupt police force in the world, everybody is a thief and the fact that anybody you piss of will sell you out to the cops, it is porn heaven. Many American Pornographers live there either full or part time, some are friends with each other some are not.
Vin (I prefer not to use his second name as it is illegal to shoot there) is an ex-pat American living and working in Thailand who became the centre of an ugly controversy last year. In his words
"It's true that I did contact several producers in Thailand about a year ago to exchange models- my idea at the time was to build a network of producers to share costs, models and locations. the end result was I inadvertently made enemies across the board. it turned out I had filmed a girl that one guy built a site out of before I met her, and another guy was pissed because I was a newcomer. I never imagined the true extent of his anger and ability to slander, the guy is a true Karl Rove. I still don't know what I did to piss him off - my motto is live and let live and as you can see even when I knew he was slandering me, I thought it wouldn't amount to much so I didn't react".
New guys full of good ideas tend to charge into still waters and ruffle a few feathers.
So why do I care?
Well two reasons, first it is well known over there that the ex-Mrs. T. Bone's mother is the Mayor of one of the cities in Bangkok and so our connections are very powerful and I was led to believe that Vin was out to get me.
And two, a war of lies was created with people pointing fingers and accusing each other of falsifying ID's.
Let's start with one. Vin pissed off a lot of people, 'shit happens' except that if you shine a light on 'the guys' they will loose everything. You think you have problems if the FBI wants to check your 2257's? For these guys if the cops come knocking they loose their business, their homes, wives and children, everything, then they are deported and may also spend time in jail just for good measure. The last thing they need is a new kid with the attitude of a young bull.
I was told he was talked to and was too arrogant to listen, the words ascribed to him were "I have $10,000 in my pocket at all times and I will give it to any cop who busts me" If you know anything about Thailand you would know how fucking stupid that was. "The guys" were more than pissed at him and I was shooting up a storm which ruffled feathers too. Most of "the guys" are web masters they shoot one or two scenes a week and stay very low profile, I was shooting 3 scenes a day and was besieged by Ladyboy's. I was asked to leave several hotels because my activities were so public.
Two nuisances! What better strategy than to set them on each other?
So a war began.
Now let's talk about two, Vin's words "in June someone wrote on a blog 'lukeisback' that I was shooting underage girls, the story was relayed to a company I was working for and they passed it off as bull and the issue was forgotten about. Then around august 7th I saw a post about my IDs on another Blog talking about the 'lukeisback' posting and I figured it was one of "The guys" who engineered the original post on 'lukeisback'. Since I've been back in the USA 4 people have named one of "the guys" as the person saying that I've been shooting underage girls and faking id's.
Sometime later the Luke story was changed to imply that it was you (me) shooting underage girls- and without any proof you came to the conclusion that I (Vin) had posted it. probably the same reason you came to the conclusion that it was I trying to snake your deal with Robert Hill, who I had never heard of until Paul xxxx brought it up to me.
So on august 3rd you posted on your blog about me. I hadn't seen this until yesterday and I don't know if you believe this about me -perhaps "the guys" have put all this in your head - or its dis-info but the whole thing is right out of left field".
Intriguing stuff huh?
Somebody played Luke like a drum, and who better to use for slander than the only guy who never checks any facts, tell him any shit and he will jump on it as if it were some kind of scoop. But the same persons played me too and like the insta-mad moron that I am I took the bait.
I didn't give a fuck about the new kid, until somebody emailed Robert Hill and told them I was shooting under-age girls. That person failed to understand that I have done business with the people behind Robert Hill for close on 15 years and they were never going to buy that story. But they did know about Luke the "print anything" King so once again they played the Luke card and told me it was Vin who had planted the story. I crucified him in print, both on my Blog and my long time friend Gene Ross picked up the story too.
I was wrong, but I had no way of checking on Vin I didn't know him and nobody wanted to put me in touch with him.
So what now in this drama?
Both Vin and I really don't give a fuck, we are much more interested in looking after our business's. I don't know about Vin but I have learned a valuable lesson about being too high profile in Thailand and who's word I can trust. But the biggest and dumbest outcome of all of this is the common distrust that US distributors have for Thai ID's. Spooked by the recent FBI incursions they run from anything that could cause them problems, and who can blame them?
Well I can for a start.
We don't shoot underage girls, why? Because there is no profit in it! We are not in the kiddie porn business, why shoot an underage girl, fake her ID so that everybody will think she is of age and then risk jail for .....what? The people that shoot children are a different breed and so are their customers, nobody watches a Vivid release and expects to find children in it, the same way a heroin addict doesn't go to a sports bar and expect to find his 'fix'. On top of that there are thousands of girls in Thailand begging for work who are of legal age and carry the documents to prove it, the Thai government is now aiding our 2257 requirements by printing all new ID's partially in English, so why would anyone do it?
Thailand is a center for pedophiles, that is sadly the truth, but the word's police are active all over Thailand to stamp out this abhorrence, they are smart enough to know that we are not in that business and don't need the publicity of busting legitimate pornographers for political advancement.
So let me spell it out NOBODY IS NOW, OR HAS AT ANYTIME FAKED ID'S ON THAI GIRLS, NO DISTRIBUTOR NEED WORRY ABOUT HIS PRODUCT IT WAS ALL IN-FIGHTING OF STUPID GREEDY PORNOGRAPHERS!!!
So who invented this story? If he is shooting product for the DVD market he has to be the dumbest motherfucker in the world as he is frightening away his own clients. A webmaster then? Good choice, he answers to no one.
The reality is at the end of the day I don't give a fuck, jealousy and greed have been around a lot longer than I have. Continuing this battle will profit no one and outing "the guy" will start a new war. I choose to remain ignorant and hope we have seen an end to it. The good news is I have lost an enemy in Vin, I still don't know who he is, but today I bear him no malice, I am however embarrassed by how easily I bought the story and attacked him, maybe there is a little Luke in me and that makes me want to vomit!