Expert: Dan Pepper - 1/2/2011

Question
I hear you when you say porn production is only legal in California, so how do other big name's film in place's like Fla?

Answer
Mike,

The issue is a bit more complicated than that.  I've answered this question many times before, but here it is again.

In 1988, the California Supreme Court in a case named People v. Freeman. decided that pandering laws could not be used as a "tool to impose a system of governmental censorship of erotic materials."  Effectively, this means that the production of adult content in California is not pandering on the part of the producer, nor prostitution on the part of the performers.

With the explosion of adult content on the Internet since the 1990s, and the fact that very few pandering or prostitution charges were brought against adult performers or producers, it has generally been assumed that such content could be produced in the U.S. without risking these types of charges.

That being said, no other state in the U.S. has considered the decision in the Freeman case, which means we don't have a definite answer how other states will handle it.  New Hampshire has certain laws or court decisions which MAY, under certain limited circumstances, permit certain forms of adult content production.  However, it is safe to assume that the more conservative jurisdiction you produce your content, the higher your risk.  Louisiana would certainly fall within that category.

Additionally, any adult content that is considered "obscene" under the definition of the U.S. Supreme Court, is also prohibited and illegal.