Expert: Jim Boyd - 3/10/2009

Question
My business partner and are hoping to start an adult video production company, and simply market the videos on a subscription based website. I've read some previous answers by you and other experts on this site, and it seems that you can only legally film adult videos in California. Is this true, and if so, if we film the videos in California and comply with all of their legal requirements, plus the federal laws regarding record keeping, can the company still be based in Oregon? If we were to run the site from a business that was registered in Oregon, at an Oregon address, would that be ok, as long as the films were made in CA?

Answer
YES...it is true that California is the ONLY place in the United States where productions of this type are actually legal.

Adult film production is legal in California due to a precedent created by a 1988 decision of the California Supreme Court (California vs. Freeman). As a result of that decision, California became the FIRST AND ONLY state where a person can be legally hired to have sex for the purpose of making adult films. However, producers are still required to obtain permits before starting any such production. NO OTHER STATE HAS SUCH A PRECEDENT therefore production in any other State is, and will remain, ILLEGAL!

Now that being said....As long as all of your material is legally produced in California, then you could technically run the site form a location in the State of Oregon. Oregon currently has no obscenity laws that would prevent the operation of such a business and by legally filming in California you would obviously avoid any legal issues Oregon would have related to prostitution and/or pandering.

There are still legal issues to deal with because most cities in Oregon have very strict zoning Laws related to the operation, location, and licensing of Adult Business. You will also have legal issues such as model releases, USC 2257 compliance, contracts, privacy, and about a dozen other things.

I STRONGLY advise you to talk to an Attorney in California who specializes in Adult Industry Law before you starting any actual production to insure that you are following California’s strict production guidelines as well as the Federal Regulations related to such productions.

It would also server you to speak to a local Attorney who can assist you with the legal issues of running an Adult Website Business from an Oregon location.