Porn industry may boogie out of L.A. over condom law
“The viewers out there don’t want to see movies with condoms,” Hirsch said.
Diane Duke of the adult film lobby group Free Speech Coalition said performers should have the right to have sex as they wish. She compared the issue to boxers who fight for entertainment, even though they risk injury.
“The goal of that is to knock someone out - pound them in the head until you knock someone out,” Duke said.
“This is the first step of government overreach into the way we make movies,” Duke said. “It’s clearly the government interfering where it really doesn’t belong.… Because our industry deals with sex … we’re vulnerable and easy to attack.”
“History has shown us that regulating sexual behavior between consenting adults does not work,” said Diane Duke, executive director of Free Speech Coalition, the trade association for the adult entertainment industry.
“The proposed regulation would likely diminish existing protocols and force adult companies out of the city, out of state or underground making it ultimately much less safe for performers,” she said.
The head of California’s Occupational Safety and Health department, Ellen Widess, on December 23 told a Los Angeles deputy city attorney who is disputing the measure in court that the regulatory body has no objection to the measure.
It’s unclear how much money the city would give up if porn producers began leaving. Film L.A., the nonprofit that manages permits, estimates that it issues under 500 a year to adult film companies wanting to shoot on location. Some filmmakers, however, may not bother asking for permits. A survey found that one of the top 10 sites for on-location filming in Los Angeles in 2010 was a Chatsworth porn studio.
In the most recent study, local economists estimated a decade ago — before the recession — that the industry generated $4 billion in sales and provided 10,000 to 20,000 jobs annually to actors, makeup artists, camera crews, caterers and the like.
Even with the condom law, there are still options available to the porn industry. A loophole allows filming without condoms in certified sound stages like ones found at major movie studios.
They could also do filming outside the city limits, though it is unclear what kind of welcome they would receive.
The mayor of the Ventura County suburb of Simi Valley has already called on his city to draft a mandatory condom policy similar to that of Los Angeles.
“The people of our town do not want to be noted for being porn purveyors,” Mayor Bob Huber said.
Porn producer Hirsch considers the condom requirement “a nuisance more than anything else. We will continue shooting the movies, and if that means outside of the city of Los Angeles, so be it.”