AboutDan Pepper Expertise How to start an adult film business or adult website LEGALLY.
What laws to be concerned about with getting into the adult entertainment industry.
What terms and conditions do you need on your adult website.
How to comply with 18 USC 2257 - the federal record keeping requirements.
What forms and agreements to use with models and crew.
How to deal with copyright and trademark laws.
Experience I have been practicing law for 14 years, and have represented numerous businesses and entertainers in the adult entertainment industry as the managing member of Pepper Law Group, LLC, at www.adultwebsitelawyer.com.
Organizations Free Speech Coalition,
Past speaker at the Internext Expo, interviewed in AVN Online
Education/Credentials BA in Political Science, JD (law degree)
Expert: Dan Pepper Date: 5/16/2008 Subject: where do fetish films fit in?
Question QUESTION: So California is the only place where it is legal to produce adult films. By adult film, I mean a video of two or more people having sex, for money, on video and then distributing the video.
What about fetish films? Videos where people aren't necessarily having sex? This includes feet, food, enemas, leather, feathers, pumpkins, fast cars, pretty little birdies, whatever people enjoy that isn't good old fashioned sex.
What if the models are nude, but there isn't any graphic display of genitals? Semi-nude, like a hospital gown? Not nude at all, like they are fully clothed but only hike up their skirts a bit?
I live in New York, which is almost as far from California as you can get.
What's the deal with fetish films?
ANSWER: Like most issues in this business, the answers depends on the details. At the end of the day, if the content is deemed obscene by local standards, you'll have problems. What is obscene? Ask 10 people and you'll probably get 10 different answers, but I usually go through the specific content with my clients and analyze it based upon the prosecution history of the local jurisdiction.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: So the New York obscenity (New York Penal Law, Article 235) laws define obscenity as follows:
S 235.00 Obscenity; definitions of terms.
The following definitions are applicable to sections 235.05, 235.10
and 235.15:
1. "Obscene." Any material or performance is "obscene" if (a) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that considered as a whole, its predominant appeal is to the prurient interest in sex, and (b) it depicts or describes in a patently offensive
manner, actual or simulated: sexual intercourse, criminal sexual act, sexual bestiality, masturbation, sadism, masochism, excretion or lewd exhibition of the genitals, and (c) considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value.
So I want to make enema fetish films, but I DO NOT plan on having any graphic and patently offensive depictions of excretion. Nobody is doing any crazy offensive pooping on camera for these. Yuck.
I plan on keeping these videos for my own use, I don't want to reproduce or distribute them by any means.
I will be compensating my models for their time and willingness to work on this project.
Does any of this have any effect on possible legal trouble I may find myself in?
I have been advised by another guy who makes enema fetish videos to join the Free Speech Coalition ( www.freespeechcoalition.com ). Have you heard of this group and would it be worth it to join?
Thanks, this is helping out alot.
Answer I am a member of the Free Speech Coalition, and would recommend you join them as well if you're interested in getting into the business.
Your question is very specific, and would entail providing you with legal advice which I cannot do in this forum. If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail, feel free to visit www.adultwebsitelawyer.com for info on how to contact me.
