March 18, 2007 06:12am
Writer Know Thy Place
Source: BillMargold.com
by: William Margold
"An exclusive to AINews opinion editorial regarding the Lockwood/Ponante non-event"
By William Margold.
In descending order of value to an Adult Entertainment Industry production shoot are:
1. Investors to get the project off the ground.
2. Behind the camera technical workers, particularly that person who is called "director."
3. TALENT
4. Craft services
5. Packaging and duplication experts
6. Distribution outlets
7. Adult Entertainment Industry writers, who are as proliferate as scabies, and who are of specious value to the end result of the production.
Therefore...in the recent, blown way-out-of-proportion "bitchfest" during the making of "eXXXtra, eXXXtra" between the actor Kurt Lockwood and writer Gram Ponante, the ABSOLUTELY correct choice was made when Jennifer James, the film's director, asked Gram, who may, or may not, have had more than just his feelings bruised by the bombastic Lockwood, to leave the rented location area, in order to maintain a quite logical "The show must go on" policy.
However...the really loathsome action here, and what prompted this editorial, was that Ponante scurried off to tell the Los Angeles police department about the "small-tercation." Obviously the man is clueless when it comes to matters of honor and loyalty toward a business that allows him to butter his daily bread. During my days as a Probation Officer in Central Juvenile Hall (downtown Los Angeles), I advised my kids in Units E/F that I wouldn't punish the person who was told on. Instead...I would make sure to shame the person who did the telling... and then let the problem work itself out within the confines of my Units. I guess that Gram considers himself beyond the realm of being shamed. And that's a shame!
35 years ago, I started out as a writer (for various alternative/underground publications) and an actor on the set of "The Goddaughter"---and throughout the seven day production, I basked in an atmosphere of carnal cinema camaraderie, never, ever feeling anything but lucky to be there in the first place. And I never, ever considered what I was doing "A job." Nor, was I ever jealous or smugly contemptuous of the performers who were laying their souls on the line as they created a "masturbatory catharsis for the masses."
The lusty ladies, and perhaps not-so-gentle-men in front of the camera must be treasured, for it is their willingness to sacrifice their eternal privacy, and their "function on demand" privates for the pleasure of the public, that makes the world of XXX so unique.
As the lifeblood of "The Family of X"---many of actors and actresses are as fragile as panes of stained glass, and they are constantly in need of being the center of attention. I've always referred to them as "overage juvenile delinquents." And my term for the world that they exist in is "The Playpen of the Damned"---where recess is 24 hours a day, and the bell of responsibility never rings. The "damnation" comes from a nation of hypocrites, and even some Adult Entertainment Industry writers, who jack off to the actions of the performers with one hand and then proceed to deny them with the other.
Tragically many of those who have been allowed the privilege to write about "The Family of X" have been deafened by the bell, and are way out of touch with the child in their soul, and have become bitter over the fact that they have sold out to the rigid constrictions of growing up. I call it being a victim of "The Calcified Asshole Syndrome."
And if that is making you writers out there squirm a little...then perhaps it isn't too late for you to understand your relative importance to XXX, and stop taking yourselves so "damnationally" important.
Or my late "cosmic brother" Jim Holliday used to say---"important is just a letter or two away from becoming impotent."
William Margold
bmargold@aol.com
www.billmargold.com
[Adult Industry News is happy to give this forum to Bill Margold for his op-ed pieces. Other writers are encouraged to submit similarly well written pieces for consideration. At this time we have not yet been able to reach Gram Ponante for comment. -Ed.]
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