[For the moment, film production has continued largely
unabated here, as the city works to determine how to enforce the condom
requirement. And production companies say the ordinance does not require them
to use condoms when filming at certified sound stages, which are permitted
differently than shoots on location.]
By Ian Lovett
 |
Vivid Entertaiment, via ReutersActors prepared to shoot a scene for a pornographic film.Opinions differ on whether the industry
will try to leave Los
Angeles.
|
LOS ANGELES
— Since the early days of X-rated films, this city’s San Fernando Valley has
been the industry’s home. With year-round sun, access to Hollywood filmmaking
expertise and beautiful young people flocking to the region from around the
country, pornographic studios have filmed thousands of movies here each year.
But a new ordinance requiring actors in
pornographic films made in Los Angeles to use condoms could drive
the multibillion-dollar industry from the city. The law took effect this week.
While sexual health advocates have hailed the requirement as
a milestone in protecting the health of sex-film performers, pornographic film
executives, who have long maintained that condom use in their movies cuts
sharply into sales, have said they will have to consider relocating their
operations.
“Clearly, the viewing public doesn’t want to watch movies
with condoms,” said Steven Hirsch, an industry veteran and the founder of Vivid
Entertainment. “If they mandate condoms, people will shoot in other locations.”
But despite the new restrictions it now faces, the
pornographic film industry may struggle to find another home as welcoming as
Los Angeles has been.
Officials in some nearby cities so fear becoming the next
capital of pornography that they have already set about trying to ward the
filmmakers off. Simi Valley, just across the hill from the San Fernando Valley
in neighboring Ventura County, issued only one permit for a pornographic film
last year, according to city officials there. But the City Council will vote
this month on its own, even stricter condom requirement.
“This is a family-oriented community, and we don’t want the
smut industry in our town,” Simi Valley’s mayor, Bob Huber, said.
By contrast, pornographic movies accounted for about 5
percent of all film permits issued in Los Angeles last year, according to Film
L.A., the nonprofit agency that handles permits. Until the new city ordinance
took effect on Monday, pornographic film companies had largely been allowed to
police themselves, requiring performers to get tested for H.I.V. and
other sexually transmitted infections at least once every 30 days.
In addition, in 1988, the California Supreme Court ruled
that pornographic filmmakers could not be prosecuted under prostitution laws.
The only other state with a similar ruling is New Hampshire, while in many
states the issue has not been litigated.
For the moment, film production has continued largely
unabated here, as the city works to determine how to enforce the condom
requirement. And production companies say the ordinance does not require them
to use condoms when filming at certified sound stages, which are permitted
differently than shoots on location.
But the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which pushed
for the Los Angeles condom law, is now collecting signatures for a November
ballot initiative that would extend the requirement to more than 80 cities
across Los Angeles County.
Mr. Hirsch said the industry would “fight back,” potentially
with legal challenges or by moving operations elsewhere, if voters approve the
measure.
Ged Kenslea, a spokesman for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation,
said that prospect was unrealistic.
“The industry is not going to pack up and move,” Mr. Kenslea
said. “They are too entrenched here. It would be very difficult to move a $13
billion industry out of the state.”
But some city officials have taken that threat more
seriously. Mitchell Englander, a Los Angeles city councilman who represents the
San Fernando Valley, was the only member of the Council to vote against the condom
requirement, citing fears that jobs would leave his district.
“My great concern is that most of the large studios have
said that if there is a strict enforcement on this, they would leave,” Mr.
Englander said. “A lot of ancillary jobs are directly or indirectly related to
this industry.”
With the rise of the Internet and digital cameras,
professionals and amateurs alike have already begun making pornographic movies
all over the country, some permitted, others not. And industry executives
insist that many cities would welcome the billions of dollars in revenue that
the industry rakes in.
In particular, Las Vegas, which hosts the annual Adult
Entertainment Expo, has emerged as a place where some film studios go. Clyde
DeWitt, a lawyer who represents pornographic film companies in both Los Angeles
and Las Vegas, said that filming already occurs at hotels during the
convention, while at least one company he represented opened a studio in Las
Vegas.
“Office space is cheaper. Industrial space is cheaper. Housing
is cheaper. There is a good supply of labor. There is no state income tax,” Mr.
De Witt said. “If they wanted to come shoot here, it wouldn’t be difficult.”
If production companies do move their operations to Las
Vegas or elsewhere, Mr. Kenslea promised the AIDS Healthcare Foundation would
work to pass similar condom laws there as well.
“We will go where they go,” he said
