Showbiz Commentary: Heidi Oringer
Jan. 10, 2001 -- Having just returned from Las Vegas, all I keep hearing ringing in my ears are people shouting, "Hit me, hit me!" Funny thing is, these people weren't playing blackjack, they were attending the 2001 Adult Video News Awards, aka "The Porno Awards."
Of course, not everyone there was into S&M and bondage. There were, after all, more than 80 categories of winners. (I would like to point out that Humiliation of Heidi was the winner for Best S&M Video. I wasn't in it, but I'm quite proud of my namesake.)
These awards, much like the Golden Globes, honor work in film and on video. (OK, the Globes honor TV and film, but the comparison works here, especially since there were more Golden Globes at the Pornos then there are at the Golden Globe Awards … if you catch my drift.)
Honoring Bodies of Work
I'd like to say there were a lot of, excuse the expression, big winners, but there wasn't exactly a runaway hit … a Titanic, if you will.
However, there was a movie called The Sopornos that got quite a few nominations. It only garnered one win, and that was for actor Rob Spallone, in the Best Non-Sex Performance category.
You see, the Adult Video News Awards, known affectionately as AVNs, aren't really all about dirty movies. You may not believe it, but the people in the industry take what they do very seriously.
These nominees are proud of their body of work. And it is a BODY of work because there are Best Actor and Actress categories, but also Best Male and Female Performer categories. They may seem the same to you and me, but the Performer category means you are recognized for ALL your work throughout the year instead of just one film in particular.
This makes a lot of sense to me. Helen Hunt may not have a shot at an Oscar this year, but she should be recognized for doing four films … making her a good choice for Best Performer, though I'm not sure she'd like the comparison.
Ensembles From Frederick's of Hollywood?
Anyway, porn stars think what they do is real acting, that it takes real talent and that it should be recognized.
And so it is, with a three-hour ceremony every year in Las Vegas, this year at the Venetian Hotel. There were more than 250 tables with more than 2,000 attendees. Most people are in the business, others just come to gawk. And there's plenty to gawk at.
The women are usually dressed rather scantily, in the types of outfits you'd find on the Frederick's of Hollywood 50 percent-off rack.
The men, and there are plenty of them too, dress fairly simply. Some sport animal print, leather pants, etc. And while I say the men are there, they are not a necessity in an adult movie, as demonstrated by the winners of Best All-Girl Sex Scene in a Video — Syndee Steele and Jewel De'Nyle in Dark Angels.
As a matter of fact, the adult film and video industry is virtually the only one where the women not only outnumber the men, but make more than they do and are treated far better.
Most of the more popular starlets are courted and contracted by the big video companies (Wicked Pictures, Vivid, VGA). As contract players, they are paid to work exclusively for that company (kind of like a "don't show your booty to anyone else" retainer). They are also paid per scene.
I know this seems hard to believe. You don't think of scenes in porno flicks — it looks like just one long whoopie fest. But these celluloid skin flicks are actually broken down into scenes, and the women get paid for every one they perform in.
The popular gals make up to $1,500 per scene. This may not seem like a lot to a layman (sorry), but think of it this way: In the past two years, Bridgette Kerkove, one of the biggies in the industry, shot 456 scenes. It adds up.
Overlooked Artists
These stars say they love what they do. I spoke with Tiffany Mynx (bet you're thinking, "That's not her birth name"), who was upset because she was inducted into the porn industry's Hall of Fame this year. She's been in the business nine years and it was an honor. But she worried that her days were now numbered. To her, it was like when someone receives the Irving J. Thalberg Award for lifetime achievement at the Oscars. The people who get that award have done great work, but they are chosen because they're getting on in years and closer to the end of their career than the beginning.
Mynx loves what she does and believes she has "several good years" left in her. It's easy money. It's glamorous (to her). And it's hard to find other work once you've done adult movies. There's no one exactly beating your door down asking you to star in a Spielberg film.
And that's kind of a shame for these porn people, because they have some interesting qualities besides being limber. They have a strong work ethic, a sense of adventure and quite often, they are very witty.
After all, they come up with their own stage names: Inari Vachs, Kristi Myst, Shayla La Veaux, James Bonn, Honey Wild, John T. Bone, Sunset Thomas and (my personal favorite) Candy Apples.
It Beats the Oscars
Granted, they may not be the greatest actors in the world, but they could at least be used as extras in action movies. For the most part, though, they are shunned by the mainstream movie industry, except for the rare exceptions like Jenna Jameson or Traci Lords, and they mostly end up doing B-movie stuff.
Many people may not approve of what porn actors do for a living, but many others do. You see, the adult video industry makes almost as much, and some years more, than the mainstream motion picture industry. We're talking billions of dollars a year in sales and rentals with MUCH lower overhead.
Anyway, this was not meant to be a lesson in the pluses and minuses of the adult industry. It's merely a new door into entertainment that you may never have opened, or at least told anyone you open quite frequently.
Congratulations to the winners of this year's AVN Awards. They certainly won't get the recognition or the airtime that the Hollywood folks get, but I'll tell you one thing: Spending three hours watching winners of the Pornos accept their awards is far more fascinating than any awards show you'll see on TV.
Trust me … you wouldn't even mind the commercials!
Heidi Oringer is director of entertainment programming at ABCNEWS Radio.