Jan
20
2010 GAYVN Awards Still Tenuous
January 20, 2010 | 14 Comments
A number of us porn-biz bloggers have been calling, Tweeting and/or emailing Adult Video News for some kind of update about the fate of the 2010 GAYVN Awards. My colleagues over at The Sword finally got AVN Media Network CEO Darren Roberts on the phone this afternoon, who confirmed the GAYVNs have not been canceled, but instead kinda-sorta put on hold while the company seeks a “media partner” to broadcast the event for television, thus enabling AVN to put on the kind of show that would measure up to their standards. If that doesn’t happen, “we might have to look at producing something that’s different, but we don’t have any intent of discontinuing reviewing the gay product or minimizing what’s going on the the gay sector,” Mr. Roberts said. “We’d still like to recognize the achievements within the gay sector.” AVN has made some hay with the broadcast of its straight awards show, as well as red carpet arrivals, on the Showtime pay cable channel for several years. But as The Sword points out, the GAYVNs have never aired anywhere on television, apart from a couple of clips on Bravo‘s Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List back in 2008 when she hosted the show. The Sword wonders whether AVN is “setting the bar unrealistically high by seeking broadcaster funding.” Probably, yeah. But Here Media, which also owns The Advocate, has set about producing a newscast branded after the venerable magazine; Here Media’s principals also own porn company Unzipped Media. They also own Here TV, which runs programming like nude yoga and produced a documentary series about gay porn stars in 2008. I can’t think of anyone else offhand who would bite.
See also:
* “PlanetOut, Regent Merge Without Unzipped Media”
* “‘The Advocate’ on Gay Porn Doc Series”
* “Kathy Griffin to Host GAYVN Awards“
Comments
14 Comments so far
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JC Adams, Shufuni_Gay. Shufuni_Gay said: 2010 GAYVN Awards Still Tenuous: A number of us porn-biz bloggers have been calling, Tweeting and/or emailing Adul… http://bit.ly/4FLmzX [...]
HA! What a joke. Even if AVN decides to go ahead and produce a Gayvn Award Show who would even bother supporting it since there’s NOTHING in AVN that even slightly resembles gay adult film support? They can fuck off.
Who would watch this at all? AVN supported or not, nobody cares about some narcissistic fool meeting where they anticipate who has been the sluttiest over a period of a year.
So, I guess that AEBN/Naked Sword isn’t willing to pony up the bucks for their own studio to take home a few trophies, so now AVN is looking for some other fools to pay for an awards “show.” Well, good luck with that!
To recap AVN’s winning formula: 1) Dis an entire segment of their industry, 2) piss all over the half of that segment that has the $$ and desire to support you — until you’ve alienated them, too — and, 3) try to get somebody else to pay for your shit.
Good riddance!
Why would The Sword need to call AVN to ask if they are still planning to have the GayVN Awards? Couldn’t they have just called Scott Coffman at AEBN and asked if he was planning to co-sponsor the show again? Since The Sword co-produced the show last year their report should also include a statement from their own organization about their intentions to co-sponsor the show this year again or not. Since they did’t tie up a bunch of money trying to take over another studio they should take some of the profits they made off the gay studios and produce the 2010 GayVN’s.
Throughout my history at AVN I have managed to remain fairly non-reactive to the, somewhat limited, negative posts about our company. Instead it has been our policy to take these comments and use them in a positive and productive way. However this thread attacks a long time, personal and passionate commitment that I, and many others have made to the industry. The GayVN awards have never been profitable, nor have they even come close to covering their own cost. They have been produced and paid for out of a passion for, and a commitment to the industry in which we serve. For nearly 28 years we have dedicated ourselves to the adult entertainment industry and all the various sectors within. Our mission to satisfy this commitment has withstood many financial hardships along the way and never once have we lost focus or forgotten who we are or who we serve, profitable or not. So to even question our industry “support” is simply naive and without merit. And to respond to who watches the industry receive these awards (AVN Awards), the answer is millions of people. It is viewed on multiple cable networks around the world. Being recognized by the critics is not only a tremendous honor but it also supports the integrity and structure of our industry. Public recognition of these achievement awards support the legal distribution of the product as well as supports the retailer, distributor, talent, and many others that make up the skeletal structure of our industry. It is what separates those who make a living from their devotion and those that are devoted to only making money. Despite the tremendous cost and ongoing losses to AVN, the GayVN team, as well as the entire corporation, has always strived to not only live up to, but exceed the expectations of the gay industry. I know that may be difficult to comprehend, but it’s the truth spoken from the heart. With that said, I can only wish for the day that people have an understanding and respect for the power of their words and that they think and do the proper research before hitting the return button.
The Problem Mr.Roberts is you are not GAY, why should an award show by a straight company be something we salivate over?
Especially considering how you have done your best to run Gay Porn out of your precocious AVN Convention!
How many showed up this year?
Two?
We dont need GayVN (and Platitudes) we have the Grabbys and Cybersockets its time to move on..
Darren. blah, blah, blah….thats all we hear from you. Go away.
I think it will be a very sad day if we no longer have the GayVNs to look forward to.
Frankly, our industry did not support AVN very much through advertising, and now with the loss of the magazine, of coverage, and of the awards show, it is a loss that hits us all.
Sure, e-posters are bitter and negative, but they do not represent fans as a whole.
I sincerely hope that the GayVNs survive.
Chris Ward
Raging Stallion Studios
Why doesn’t everyone over at AVN and 2 or 3 of these “players” in the gay porn industry just come on out and say what the real deal is.
How about the itinerary of the 12th Annual Gayvn Awards getting announced on Monday, February 8th, let’s say around 11pm or thereabout?
Darren’s comment perfectly exemplifies the attitude I wrote about, and while I appreciate the heart-felt emotions Darren attempted to convey, it was all too revealing that he wrote about the millions of people who watch the AVN awards on Showtime. Umm, Darren… they don’t even ackowledge the gay side of the biz on the AVNs, and for years the gay businesses have been shoved back into a corner away from the traffic and crowds at the AVN show in Vegas. When you attempted to break out the GayVN magazine from when it was an insert in AVN, one of the stated reasons was that the gay material “offended” some of your readers, and that’s stating it as charitably as I can. God forbid an image of two men showing affection towards one another break up the constant stream of mammoth fake tits.
AVN covers the gay side of the biz from the perspective that a few straight companies sell gay product, and that’s the extent to which AVN cares. Its obvious that no one at AVN knows very much about the gay side of the biz, and just like straight porn producers salivating over the margins of gay product, repeated attempts at being the publication of record have failed. Of course, bringing in a staff composed of idealogues without any corporate direction (or worse, tacit corporate approval of biased coverage) didn’t help.
Mid-way through his comment, Darren expresses the meaning to a studio of being publicly acknowledged for their work and the importance for the industry to establish that “porn isn’t outside of the mainstream, porn is the mainstream” as Richard Schickel aptly stated. Except gay porn, or, at least the half that is making money in this economy.
Here’s the bottom line: if AVN wants to cover the gay side of the biz, cover it; if not, don’t. But don’t go boo-hooing when you don’t make your money back after half-assed attempts and relegating the portion of the business making headway to the back of the bus.
“The Problem Mr.Roberts is you are not GAY, why should an award show by a straight company be something we salivate over?”
Coming from someone who champions the cause of the g4p’ers, this is a bit disingenuous, to say the least.
HaHa Mr.Wilson that would require a COMMITMENT! LOL not a chance!
[...] of this year’s 12th Annual GayVN awards, Darren Roberts, CEO AVN Media Network weighed in on JC Adam’s Gay Porn Times website about the current state of the event. Robert’s comment on JC’s Blog has created some [...]