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INDUSTRY UPDATE: Bjorn’s “El Rancho” & Condomless Sex
August 29, 2007 | 1 Comment
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[Edited slightly for clarity, 5:30pm] A storm whipped up this past week as word began to spread that director Kristen Bjorn and Sarava Productions’ latest sex-soaked epic, EL RANCHO, contains a condomless sex scene (between real-life boyfriends Pedro Andreas and Daniel Marvin) in the mail-order version available only via KristenBjorn.com.
We’ve seen Messrs. Andreas and Marvin before: They are the gorgeous, body-beautiful pair (pictured below) whose passionate coupling is a highlight of COLLIN O’NEAL’S WORLD OF MEN: SAO PAOLO (CollinONeal.com and Raging Stallion Studios) and one of the best duo scenes of 2007. Their threesome with Andre Santos in COLLIN O’NEAL’S WORLD OF MEN: MIAMI is equally scorching. Their first condomless scenes for CollinONeal.com has been repackaged as the 35-minute PEDRO AND DANIEL: PRIVATE SESSIONS.
Industry watchers have been waiting for this to happen: It began several years ago when various companies (Big Blue Productions and Raging Stallion, among others) began actively promoting oral cumshots in their films. This was a distinct move away from scrupulously safe humping in the Big Eight studio flicks.
The Big Eight are Bel Ami, Channel 1 Releasing, COLT Studio, Falcon Studios, Hot House Video, Raging Stallion Studios, Sarava Productions and Titan Media. Smaller companies like Big Blue Productions, Centaur Films, Dark Alley Media, Jet Set Productions, Lucas Entertainment (arguable…more on that later), Miami Studios, Red Devil Entertainment and Studio 2000 are considered boutique studios.
I called around and virtually no one was willing to speak on the record about this. But off the record? Certain powerful industryites are friggin’ furious. But if you think a Bjorn-branded condomless scene means the horse is now out of the barn, you haven’t been paying attention. More on that soon.
I queried both Kristen Bjorn (via email), and his longtime aide-de-camp, Barry “The Bear” Gollop (via email and telephonic device), about the burgeoning EL RANCHO controversy. Mr. Gollop told me that he is no longer involved on the creative side of Sarava and instead works primarily in promotions and marketing, with a heavy emphasis on combating illegal downloads of Sarava material. “I didn’t know about this scene until after the fact,” he told me. However, “I have no doubt in my mind that greed, money or [publicity] had nothing to do with this.” After two decades of professional partnership, Mr. Gollop asserts, he knows Kristen Bjorn well enough to state that “he has never been someone who was interested in making as much money as he possibly could, cutting corners to save a few bucks, or doing a publicity stunt to get the attention of the industry. How many times has he even come to an award show?” (I can answer that: Not many.)
Mr. Bjorn has been somewhat reluctant to speak publicly about anything over the years. This controversy certainly hasn’t changed his position in that regard. His statement is the same that he has given other outlets: “Before things get out of hand, let me explain,” he says. “Yes, in the mail-order version there is a condomless scene between a real-life couple in a long-term relationship of the same HIV status. There is a warning at the beginning of the film advising people of this special situation. Since most people in this type of relationship have condomless sex, I don’t feel that it is incorrect to allow it in the video. I trust that viewers are intelligent enough to understand the difference between this and a ‘bareback’ film. Sarava Productions doesn’t promote or condone unsafe sex practices.” He also acknowledges the complaints from industry peers like Titan Media. “While I respect Titan’s politics, we may not see eye-to-eye on this point.”
Yeah, no kidding! They definitely do not see eye-to-eye. You’ll have to trust The Bear, and trust me, that Kristen Bjorn is not someone prone to publicity stunts or money-grubbing. I called around and spoke to several studio heads. “We don’t want to go bareback,” one of ‘em told me. “But if that’s where the audience is going, that’s where we’ll go.” We’ll revisit this issue next week, but what are your thoughts on this, people? Does this mean condoms-only gay porn is headed for the scrap heap alongside VHS tapes?
[Image © CollinONeal.com.]
Contact JC Adams at JCAdamsXXX@aol.com
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[...] week, GayPornTimes has an interesting article on the controversy surrounding El Rancho, the upcoming DVD release from legendary director Kristen Bjorn. Through his website [...]