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February 2008: PAUL'S PIECE - Czech Mating - Issue 54.
Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, has in recent years developed a reputation as a sex destination that's in danger of overtaking Amsterdam's. Party this is because there's something very pretty about the women of the area, partly because attitudes towards sex are relaxed, but mostly because asking for money in return for sex is legal in the Republic. Thus there's a large choice of clubs and more than the odd visitor from Western Europe keen to visit them. Prague has also become a major location for porn production, and at the end of last year I was sent to visit Moiré Candy, a firm whose output is mostly distributed by Private.
So I was standing on a balcony, looking out across a Prague skyline of flat communist roofs mixed in with steeply raked terracotta tiles at a television transmitter tower and the giant babies crawling over it. For a moment I wondered if there'd been anything other than water in the drink I'd just drunk, and if I'd be finding myself waking up in an Eli Roth movie. Fortunately I'd not been slipped anything in Moiré Candy's penthouse apartments behind me, which took up most of the top floor of the block; The giant babies were added to the tower by local artist David ?erný.
Having gathered my thoughts from a frantic tram ride across town, I turned back from the view and found producer Max Candy reviewing some material on his laptop. I interrupted to ask what makes working on films intended for Private special.
"Private is unique in Europe, in the sense that they really want to do feature movies; to make something special. They're always trying to be ahead of the curve rather than chasing it. A lot of companies now just chase Gonzo because that's been successful in the past for them. I'm sure it's made them a lot of money but just doing gonzo-gonzo-gonzo isn't thinking about the future. Private has always tried to make high quality movies with a view to the future. The vast majority of gonzo is like toilet paper- You use them once and dispose. Private's movies have a good life span. Private Gladiator still lives up today and that's eight years old- they still sell lots of copies as well. 600,000 I heard."
Max, a big avuncular north American, paused for a drink, then continued, "Private was the perfect partner for us because they appreciate quality and we wanted to make movies with quality. It's become a natural partnership. Both Louis [Moiré, Max's co-producer and director] and I had worked for various other producers and directors, and a lot of Internet work for the last ten years. Louis decided he wanted to make feature movies. I was a bit more hesitant as I was used to the cookie-cutter, gonzo, punch-a-scene-out-get-paid approach. Louis wanted to do something special so we produced a very darkly gothic film called Kill Thrill. It was violent, but it was in context- and there's payback. So anyway, it had an edgy filmic look and we made a list of the top ten companies we wanted to show it to. I only wanted to see CEOs and we managed to see most of them, and had got a good response, but the one I really wanted to see it was Private. After much cajoling I got a meeting with the head at Venus '05."
"He's a man of few words, and I was told he could give me a few minutes to make my pitch, so we're sitting in front of a laptop with a trailer I'd received good reviews for playing on it. The very first thing he said to me was, 'I don't like it'. Our hearts were kinda dashed but we showed him some more things. Again he didn't react much, but five minutes later, the second thing he ever said to me was, 'Actually, I really like it'. We went on to sign a half-million Euro contract with them, and we've made -I think- fourteen movies with Private. It's been a very successful time since then."
We turned to his laptop, where he showed me their latest film that was finished, but at the time wasn't out. The film's working title, M.I.L.K., I commented, fell mid way on the sexy dairy product scale of porn titles. It wasn't as sexy as Cream, but it was sexier than Cheese. Max laughed and said, "It probably won't end up being called that [it has] but that's the title for now. It's a post-apocalyptic world where sex machines are created for the rich and famous and this is the story of one that goes awry and finds herself back to an atomic-bunker for reprogramming. They try to program her to be a docile woman, and her own fantasies come a bit kinkier than that. So it's a sort of fight between the fantasies her reprogrammers are showing her, and the twisted versions of those she generates herself. So you see the contrast between the be-a-good-woman-nice-wedding-sex and her being in a big bath of milk being screwed by machines. It's… Interesting!"
What I saw of it had a cyberpunk, Blade Runneresque, almost Rock Video sensibility to it, which suggested mainstream influences on, and aspirations of, the film-makers. You could see where the film's €50k-ish budget had gone. The Exhibitionists -the title being shot in the block's other top floor apartment while I was talking to Max- I assumed was a bit simpler and cheaper to make, thanks to its more contemporary setting. Max responded, "I actually don't like to talk about budgets. Generally speaking they all fall into the same- Private gave us a kind of an interesting situation which has been good for us. We're not given a specific budget per movie. Our contract gave us a lump sum to draw on, to allow us to make the kind of movies we want to. We find that when we have a great location and great models for a really good idea, we can push that concept forward and take a bit extra from the pool. Private have never had to say no to us. We draw what we need to draw to make the movie."
With productions for Private making up 90% of Moiré Candy's workload, I discovered they also make films for Michael Nin and Marc Dorcel. Max explained, "Sometimes we he have a film idea that Private don't like for whatever reason. Perhaps they already have a movie like that, or whatever, and it's in those cases we'll look to another company and say, 'Hey look, we really want to make this movie- are you interested'. Everyone has their own look and style which we work to, but Private are our main focus."
We paused for Max to make a couple of calls, and when he came back, I wanted to know about memorable scenes from the films he'd produced with Louis. "That might be more of a question for Louis. Me, I've got a very basic way of deciding if I like a scene. If I get a funny tingling feeling in my pants, that's a great scene. I've seen so much -thousands of scenes with thousands of girls- that I don't get moved. It's funny; guys say to me 'I'd bust my ball around that girl' but I'm desensitised. Occasionally I see a scene that features a girl who just lights up the screen. That's special. Some of the hottest stuff is the on-location scenes, as we have a practice of keeping the boys and girls separate except in front of the camera. If you give them a few sex-free days you starve them a bit. I remember a scene we shot for Private Dive with Sarah Twain and she'd gone four days without sex. She was doing a DP and we started the camera, and filmed straight through because it was the hottest thing ever. I think that's the only scene we've ever shot that didn't need at least one 'cut!'. Louis and I both thought if we'd have stopped the action she'd have killed us! It ended up as double anal because she demanded it. It was the best thing ever- everyone just fell to silence, with the camera moving around. Her horniness made the two boys go crazy. Pure animal enthusiasm! On that same shoot we had Priva, one of Private's contract girls and one scene called for underwater sex with her dive instructor. I was impressed how natural she was underwater and that she could hold her breath for something like two minutes while giving a blow job"
Having made a very solid position in the porn industry, I asked what ambitions he had for Moiré Candy. Max replied, "We'd like to continue along the path we're on with Private; producing better and better movies, trying to create something perfect. Something that can cross over and become a mainstream thing. Hopefully we'll build on our success with Private and they'll be willing to write us bigger cheques so we can make bigger and better movies. If money were no object, we do have a pet project. It's planned as a mainstream feature because it's a million dollar plus thing. I think the largest budget in porn history was around a quarter-million for one movie, and we'd need ten times that- twenty times, actually. So it's unlikely we'll get that from the porn industry. Yet! Louis and I have both worked on mainstream film and got tired of working for someone else so perhaps we'll end up doing both. A high-end erotic movie like 9 ˝ Weeks, that's still hot but has a wider appeal; Caligula?"
As he was a long way from home, I questioned Candy on his choice of Prague as a base. "I don't know if it's an accurate statistic, but I've heard half the world's supermodels come from the Czech Republic. Given it's a country of ten million people, about as many as there is in London, that's impressive. The women here are especially beautiful, but because of the EU, I think they're working across the four corners of Europe. There's also something in the Czech culture that works for us. They're a lot less uptight about sex than your average Anglo-American. Sex here isn't naughty. Everyone does it. I always joke with my Czech girlfriend that mainstream Czech movies are obsessed with it too; the main theme always seems to be someone cheating in a relationship. There's an economic aspect here too, let's be frank. If you're a 19 year-old woman here who must have a Louis Vuitton bag, you can train for ten years to be a doctor, or answer an ad and do a couple of scenes."
Speaking of potentially vulnerable actresses, Max was very keen to spell out Moiré Candy's approach to cast-care. "Some producers tend to be fairly heavy handed and try to push them into going further than they want. Maybe they push for an anal scene before the girl is ready of comfortable with that. We take completely the opposite approach. We take a lot of time to get to know them and respect their limits. We'll book them for whatever we need, but we usually have more experienced girls on set for them to chat to if they're interested in expanding- Anal sex is probably the classic example of something that with some education becomes less of an issue. Being nice and respectful we find we get a lot more out of them than more demanding people do. Having the time to talk about ideas and things and understanding their motivation, being supportive, makes them feel comfortable and relaxed- and have fun! People forget we're dealing with young women who can be nervous. We're not dealing with machines. There was a time with our new contract girl Rose when she was a bit shy but having spent a huge amount of time with her, she's turned into a total nymphomaniac! Now she's the one pushing us for harder, faster! It's a part of the whole approach we have to porn. We make movies to get people off, but we want to do that in an ethical manner."
It's clearly a formula that works for them, as Moiré Candy are now on their fifth all-girl film under the banner 'Girl Girl Studio', which is a series they've developed charting the sexual exploration of a female photographer played by Keana Moiré. Mixing business with pleasure, genuine naughty snapper Keana starts by having a thing for long-legged fashion models, and through the series goes snapping on location, has a 21-girl lesbian orgy for her birthday, christens every room of the beautiful apartment shooting for Private has got her and in GGS5 gets a bit kinkier in latex. Six is a secret but it's coming soon!" Other films Moiré Candy have produced include 'Ass Riders' ("It's a cowgirl/reverse cowgirl picture with lots of DPs thrown in") starring Susie Diamond; they also recently shot Sexual Adventures of Little Red with her. In fact, she's in about 50% of Moiré Candy's films as, I was told, she's a lovely person with a lovely bottom. Max commented, "There's a few girls in this business, and Susie is amongst them, that a real pros. They show up when they should, they know their lines… I wish every girl was like that. Unfortunately most aren't. Reliability isn't their strong point. Let's just leave it at that!"
Looking through their portfolio, Ghost Lovers stood out. Max told me Louis loves doing dark, gothic movies (Prague also suits this- Much of M.I.L.K. was shot in 1950's nuclear bunkers under a hill behind Moiré Candy's HQ) partly because you can make it look special without needing to spend a load of money. They have done sunny, tropical movies for Private but it's not their favourite sub-genre.
The film in production during my visit, The Exhibitionists (another working title), is a tale of a terrible tease who has a guy jump through some metaphorical hoops for her. Grabbing a snack from the busy open-plan kitchen, and passing a make-up lady sorting a girl's hair out, we crossed the street to the older apartment block being used for a scene for it. Being based around a central courtyard, it had the feeling of physically isolating the two main protagonists, allowing the teasing to build to a- well, predictably, a climax. I mingled with an international cast and crew as the next shot, looking down from one flat into the full-height balcony window of another, was set up. Having seen both mainstream and porn movies being made before, this looked somewhere in between. Your average porn shoot doesn't have a publicist taking her own photos for a behind-the-scenes feature on the web site and/or movie itself. Czech, German, French, English and Slovak were all being spoken so I tended towards the Americans and Canadians involved. One explained the plot in more depth- Think Rear Window (1954) meets Unlawful Entry (1992) if you like. The result; Rear Entry. While on set I hoped to meet Private's new Czech contract girl, Rose (20) but didn't get a chance. Instead I chatted to Brit Suki Benn, Private's Marketing Co-ordinator about her role. She focuses on UK Press, particularly consumer publications, and online marketing. She also told me about 'Jason Colt: The Mystery of the Sexy Diamonds' - a departure for Private as it's more of a glossy mainstream action film in the Bond mould, but with more sex. With an all-American cast it's expected to go well stateside. She also hinted at a Girl Band themed movie for 2008 which Moiré Candy were planning to shoot. Spiced Up Girls would be the rags to riches tale of five pornographic pop girls ("Pussy Power!") and Max added, "We're writing a special song for it. We're looking forward to creating what should be a really fun film."
In the morning, while Max and I had been chatting, his business partner Louis Moiré had been filming dramatic scenes but now Simonne Style was playing against Cage, plus a Vin Diesel lookalike called Figi and Vanessa May. She also shared some screen time with a giant spider that was walking down the wall next to the window, ready to muck up continuity until I pointed it out. Also gently removed from the area were a bunch of English lads over for a 21st birthday. They'd all squeezed into the bedroom across the corridor and were clearly very impressed with the glimpses of flesh they'd caught.
Between shooting sex scenes in the afternoon director Moiré told me, "Shooting the drama scenes is what I like the most. When it works really good, that's just the best. It's way harder to get right than a sex scene. I did like what we are doing today though, which isn't a typical sex scene. The guy getting the handjob while he watches the action through opera glasses was one of the most erotic scenes I've shot. The lighting was beautiful, using daylight and a fill lamp. It's going to look very Basic Instinct, or Sliver. It's been a good day. Working with Private gives us the chance to build up, develop our careers in film, and they don't take much talking into what we want to do for them. If I say we want to do a Mafia movie, or Vampires, they say ok, and they trust my eye with casting too, which is great. I hate having to pitch a girl to someone only for them to say no, I don't like this girl. As director, I want final say on who I'm shooting with. The wrong person in a role can destroy a movie."
As a man with clear ideas about what he likes, I couldn't resist asking Louis if he had any porn ambitions left. "I'd say sex-scenes-wise, not really", he replied. "For me personally, I find porn sex scenes boring. It's not real sex- If the actors have a connection with each other it can be a very powerful scene, but shooting it is limiting. There has to be a reverse cowgirl so you see penetration… For me it's uninteresting. For me, what would be interesting is shooting a real crossover movie. That's my dream. If a client says 'shoot it' I'd be the happiest. On all our big budget porn movies we push the story forward and make the sex fit to it, instead of trying to write a story to fit to the sex. That's one thing I don't like about porn with a story; usually it's written to have sex in it, and that's cheesy."
Since interviewing Max and Louis they've won Best European Film at Venus 07 for the cheese-free 'The Sexual Adventures of Little Red' and I know they have high hopes for M.I.L.K. When it comes to European adult film production, it'd be rude not to call Moiré Candy the cream.
While in Prague I had to take advantage of a long-standing invitation to visit Big Sister(.cz or .net). Based close to the city centre, this brothel wouldn't be wildly different most others in Prague if it wasn't for one thing; the cameras showing the action live to the web in every room. I started in the bar upstairs, being introduced to two guys from Pink TV and being told about their 'Live Chat with Czech Porn Stars' plan. I then chatted to Big Sister's Patrick Keating and online sales and content licensing chief Carlos about what ETO could do to raise the firm's profile in the UK (I'd always recommend advertising in the magazine!) and what Big Sister is all about. The simple version is it's a brothel where, if they wish, visitors can exchange the right to use video of them in action with one of the club's girls for some quality time with the lady of their choice. All they need is proof of age and a condom (supplied). Ultimately this results in some porn-star performances to be proud of streaming live on the web site, but they also show 'Best Of' pre-recorded material. Then there's what you can think of as the sexual equivalent of the early rounds of the X-Factor. The brave failures and keen-but-freakish-face-pulling efforts make it onto compilations of their own.
In the bar I was also, After discussing and ways of encouraging British porn stars to visit Prague to make use of the facilities (some sort of content-share scheme seemed the most likely to me, but if you want to talk to Patrick about your ideas, drop him an email to bigsister.net@gmail.com) I was taken by Carlos to explore. So, not only my first visit to such an establishment, but as I was there 'on duty' ETO, I found myself working in a Prague brothel. It might not make it onto my CV though. Carlos took me to see the various themed rooms, and pointed out one which Eli Roth used for the recent Hollywood 'gorno' movie, Hostel 2. I saw a polar bear, mountains, a Harem style setting and a hell/dungeon themed room before going to see the girls dancing for clients in the main bar, complete with swimming pool. All the guys wore white bathrobes, "So the girls don't just focus on the ones who look like they have money", Carlos explained. Next I was whisked upstairs to see the gallery, where dozens of screens were watched by a team of technicians, picking what to stream and zooming the Big-Brother-like cameras into the action. They also have a handheld camera that can see a guy capturing the scene 'close up and personal' Next door was a humming bank of servers. The tour concluded with Carlos's office and a big pile of 'Best of Big Sister' DVDs. He explained that while the standard deal at Big Sister was as outlined, they also had swingers parties and couples use their facilities, and that customers got a personal DVD of their visit as a memento.
They do have a contract with TVX in Britain but with literally thousands of hours of video and hundreds more being added weekly, and no UK distribution for their (as yet non-BBFC-approved) DVDs, Big Sister represent an opportunity for someone who knows how to handle their sort of 'Pro/Am' material. They're also keen to develop their web site further and are looking to the UK for more visitors - both to it, and to Big Sister in person. With a unique (as far as I'm aware) concept and product, they're certainly offering something a bit different.