Digital Playground, hustler and Kick Ass Pictures have now joined Brazzers, Wicked and Vivid and have halted production.
This is the kind of thing that pushes performers into bad situations…they aren’t making money so they are more likely to shoot for someone who is taking unnecessary risks.
It’s a bad situation, i applaud the companies for being responsible but I do understand that the talent has bills to pay and need to make a living…what are they to do here?
It’s tough situation all the way around.
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[New Post] Digital Playground, Hustler and Kick Ass Pictures Halt ptoduction – via #twitoaster http://www.mikesouth.com/hiv/digital-pla…
[New Post] Digital Playground, Hustler and Kick Ass Pictures Halt ptoduction – via #twitoaster http://www.mikesouth.com/hiv/digital-pla…
“It’s a bad situation, i applaud the companies for being responsible but I do understand that the talent has bills to pay and need to make a living…what are they to do here?”
McDonald’s. Fuck they bills they have. They never deserved them anyways. A Beemer, $10 Long Island iced teas every night, and Gucci hand bags is NOT “making a living.” If this doesn’t make them appreciate reality, HIV is a fitting punishment for such a mentality.
If the production halts were short, coordinated, and industry-wide that would be one thing. By this I mean, in the event of an incident (the positive test), across the board companies halt production for a couple of days until the quarantine list is well established, the appropriate steps are in motion, and thus the extent of the situation is known. However, as you and others point out here and in various ways, the situation is NOT coordinated and is based on a lot of misinformation.
At this point, there is a quarantine list, if you do a verbal from set on an individual by calling AIM and the test is “not available” then that means they are on the list and should not perform until they take the appropriate steps (i.e., tests) to clear themselves.
If at this point the results are available and clean, then aside from making a “statement” halting production only causes more problems for everybody who is losing their income, as you pointed out.
The worst impact of the halt in production (and many producers/directors I have spoken with off the record in the last couple days share this view) is that it feeds the primarily mainstream media over-zealous reaction to this situation, which doesn’t help any of us or the industry. A positive test is not an “outbreak”, everyone is not in immediate danger, etc.
In the ideal sense, there would be one clear announcement the minute an issue comes out followed by updates, all companies simultaneously would agree to halt production for just a few days until the quarantine list was in place and in the process of being cleared, and then production would resume with all of the cleared talent.
I would add that there should be no stigma attached to being on a quarantine list and then being subsequently cleared.
Due to various political and economic agendas, the flow of information and the coordination across the industry is not in place for the ideal.
I would offer that compared to many other industries, the amount of information and industry coordination and responsibility is comparably quite remarkable.