During my formative years
in Catholic schools, adult magazines were
our Holy Grail. Sure, teachers, nuns, and
priests desperately tried to pound guilt,
fear, and more than a little shame into
our growing brains. But it didn't take long
for us to figure out that they were totally
full of shit. Pretty soon we were searching
for a hint of nipple during 'Charlie's Angels'
and 'WKRP'. Next thing you know we graduated
to lifting sleazy adult mags from newsstands
and sneaking into the local pornos.
You see, my generation (our
generation for those in their mid-20s to
mid-30s) had the misfortune to come of carnal
age as the sex revolution fired its final
salvos and AIDS reared its ugly head. Sometimes
it seemed like your hand was the only lover
you could really trust, 'cause God knows
what kind of diseases lived in those sex
dolls! Hell, the proliferation of the VCR
may have liberated the sex industry, but
sex fans were stuck back at square one.
As the years passed, sex film
producers got the crazy notion that fans
wanted to see plot, romance, and dialogue
in their films. They were wrong, hence the
emergence of the amateur film scene. Though
big-budget, high-end pornos with David Lynch
scenarios and snappy editing garnered adult
film awards, they didn't appeal to the end-user.
Uh, that's a polite way of saying "you
and me."
Increasingly, porn fans have
had to turn to foreign shores to get the
hardcore action they're looking for. But
fear not you jingoistic bastards. One of
our own is turning the tide by creating
HARD-core, envelope-pushing porn for us!
If you're into lame cum shots and lipstick
lesbos, look elsewhere - Al Borda delivers
tits and toys, dicks and dykes that'll set
your balls on fire!
ER: So how does a South
Philly Italian boy end up in California
producing porn flicks?
AB: I was in the car business initially,
and we were buying and selling high-end
exotic cars. Ferraris, Lamborghinis and
so forth. And a producer wanted to rent
my cars for his movies. Actually he wanted
to buy and we tried to finance him and it
didn't work.
ER: This was Buck Adams?
AB: Right. And it just didn't work. He didn't
have any credit, didn't have any money.
So he talked me into loaning him money to
make a movie, and a cheap video went to
an expensive video, went to a low-budget
film, went to a real expensive adult video
film. In the process of collecting my money
from the distributors...well, I wasn't getting
paid, so in the process of collecting all
my money from the distributors is kinda
how I got into the adult video business.
They kept asking, "When's the next
movie coming out?," what did I have
in the future, and I told them I wasn't
in the video business. "Oh, well your
first video did so well and you should do
more," and this and that. As I sat
around and waited for my money to come in
I stumbled into another one and started
doing like four a year, and then one a month,
and now we're at ten a month.
ER: What lessons did you
learn from making those early flicks that
you've applied to making your newer AB:
flicks better and more profitable?
Everything I learned on the first movie
I learned not to do again, basically. Not
to do the big budget. Not to shoot on film.
Not to shoot story and romance. Not to buy
the crew food. If they can't buy their own
fucking food they shouldn't be working.
If you're working for IBM...and this goes
from camera people to fucking talent. People
work for IBM all fucking day long, making
eighty, or a hundred, or two hundred dollars
a day, and they bring their own fucking
food. You don't see the boss going, "Don't
leave, I wanna buy you guys food."
The reason why - on big-budget films - I
can understand why you buy them food is
because they'll fucking leave, they'll go
get high, and they'll forget to come back.
And you're fucked. You want to keep everybody
there, so no one leaves, so you can get
all the shots you need. That's the only
reason why people buy people food in porno.
On my sets, you come in, you
shoot, you fuck, and you leave. People will
sit there and they'll be done shooting and
they'll be like, "What've you got to
eat?" "What? You're done. Leave.
Don't ask me for fucking food. What the
fuck's wrong with you? You're not buying
me food."
It's like, "Well you
should buy me food." You just made
a fucking thousand dollars! You make more
in one day sucking dicks than most people
make in a month, and you want me to buy
you fucking food?! So the balls these fucking
girls have...you know, eat a fucking Pop-Tart
or a bowl of Captain Crunch before you go
to work. Hit Subway on the way home.
ER: Did you grow up watching
a lot of porn?
AB: Zero.
ER: So you had no preconceived
notions of what you were getting into?
AB: Right, and I still don't watch
porn. In fact, when I watch tv and there's
a lot of nudity on HBO or whatever, I won't
watch it, I'll just turn it off. I'm not
opposed to nudity or sex or perversion.
I mean, I like pissin' on a girl just as
much as the next guy. I just don't watch...I'm
not into it. I like hardcore sex, I'm just
not into soft-core. But I don't sit around
and fantasize and look at magazines like
most guys. I jerk off to video. Magazines
or phone sex, that crap doesn't do anything
to me.
I'm young too, though. You
gotta remember, I just turned 25. I have
a girlfriend, but when I don't have a girlfriend
I can go out and bang out twelve girls in
a week no problem.
ER: I rented RESERVOIR
BITCHES last night, and that was pretty
interesting. It certainly pushed the envelope
further than most of the mainstream porn
I've seen recently. And that's the first
one that you directed...
AB: That's the first one I directed.
I direct all my movies. That's [also] the
first one that was out under my own label.
That movie's two-and-a-half years old and
I still sell a ton of it. And that movie
still pushes the envelope today, and there's
a lot of companies that can't compete with
something I did two-and-a-half fucking years
ago. That shows how shitty the companies
are nowadays.
ER: One of the articles
I read on you talked about how you research
your market and talk to the porn shops about
what's popular. What do you think the average
guy wants in a hardcore sex tape?
AB: What I think the end-user wants isn't
so much quantity, he wants quality. He wants
to see a good-looking girl, having good
sex if it's anal or regular or dp - one
video's anal, one video's dp, and some videos
don't have anal at all...very few of them
don't have anal. A hot girl that's into
it, and not necessarily blonde hair, blue
eyes, and big tits. Each guy likes different
girls, that's why we use different types
of girls. They want proper lighting that's
not blown out, and they want angles where
they can see some penetration. And I don't
think you need five scenes or eight scenes
or ten scenes and have it be two hours and
twenty minutes long to have a good video.
You can get two hours of shit and twenty
minutes of good footage and the guy won't
be happy.
ER: What's the average
length of one of your videos now?
AB: 75 minutes.
ER: Are you still working
with guys like Max Hardcore and Tim Lake
(Frontier media) to put out product?
AB: No. The company ABV puts out my
product (Al Borda Video), a product for
Tammi Ann (Pixie Pictures), and then another
company called Shocking Video.
ER: What kind of videos
are under the Shocking label?
AB: Same stuff, it's just a different
director.
ER: So the Al Borda stuff
is all things that you've directed?
AB: Right. People associate ABV with
Al Borda Video and it's not. Just 'cause
it has the ABV logo on it doesn't mean it
was directed by me. [If it was] it'll say
it was directed by me. Not necessarily something
that comes through ABV is bad 'cause it
doesn't have my name on it. Everything that
comes through ABV is good, they wouldn't
put out a shitty product.
ER: How come you've been
able to gain such notoriety in the business
in such a short time?
AB: I think because I'm a standup person.
I give the customer a good product; if a
scene's not good I'll eat the scene, I just
won't put it out. I'll sell it to somebody
or I'll throw it away. A lot of times I'll
sell my scenes to other people and the contract
will say that they can't use my name. They
can't say, "Directed by Al Borda."
If I sell a scene to somebody it's 'cause
it wasn't up to the quality standards of
[my label], and they can't use my name as
a director.
Like, anything that I've been
in, I own. I don't work for other companies
and be an actor for [them]. You look at
all these great guys, Joey Silvera, Tom
Byron, Van Dammage. You know, he's through
Elegant Angel, "Oh, I'm a big-time
producer and director" - he doesn't
own his own company, he doesn't even own
his own footage, and he goes and works for
other companies. You know, it's like if
you're so fuckin' big and so popular, why
are you working for another company for
$300 a scene? You're big-time, your Mr.
Big Shot, what's wrong with you?
ER: Is there a lot of that
kind of hypocrisy in the adult business?
AB: Yeah, I get everybody to shoot
scenes for me. I get Max Hardcore in my
movies, I have Van Dammage in my movies,
I have Tim Lake in my movies who's from
Frontier Media, I have Tom Byron in my movies
and he's from Comeback Pussy, I have Marc
Wallace in my movies and he shoots for Vivid.
You know, these are all guys that own video
companies. If they're so strong and have
such a good following why shoot for me?
ER: You hear the
names Vivid and Elegant Angel a lot these
days. Where does Al Borda Video rank in
the porn world hierarchy?
AB: I guess it depends on who you ask.
I sell more tapes, on an average per scene,
than any other company. I'm not gonna dispute
the fact that John Stagliano - and I don't
watch other people's movies, so I can't
say that John Stagliano's movies are good
or bad. I know he called me and told me
that one of the scenes I did was one of
the best he's ever seen in his life. And
I've never called him and told him that.
I do an average of about 2000 pieces out
the door on a particular movie. And I had
three scenes in my video.
Look at FILTHY FIRST TIMERS,
for instance, through Elegant Angel. You
got six or eight scenes, nine scenes, ten
scenes in them sometimes. He sells 4000
pieces out the door on a movie that has
nine scenes, I would sell 6000 pieces out
the door with nine scenes. People go around
bragging, "I sold 4000 pieces out the
door." Yeah, and I spent $3000 to make
my movie and you spent $30,000.
ER: Yeah, like what was
that stupid pirate one?
AB: Oh, CONQUEST. Which I've never
seen. I used to go to the awards shows,
and one day I sat down with my accountant
and you know what he told me? "You're
focused all wrong. Al, you're a smart kid,
and you're really focused on what you're
doing, but you have one problem." I
go, "What's that?" "You're
worried about this stupid AVN Award and
the XRCO Award and you know what Al? You
won an award." "Really, where?
I've got awards in the trophy case, but
what award are you talking about?"
He goes, "The one in the bank. You
forgot about that one. Go out and take your
fucking money and buy the trophies if you
want 'em. All you should be worried about
is how much money you're making."
ER: Do you see yourself
sticking with the business for a while,
or do you foresee getting to a point where
you don't have to do this anymore?
AB: I am not going to be on the set
of every movie. I've been on the set of
the last 80 movies, and it's hard for me
because unlike other companies, like Vivid
and VCA...have you done an interview with
Russ Hampshire?
ER: No.
AB: How about Steven Hirsch? Do you
have plans to?
ER: Who knows. I guess
it depends on what we can get set up.
AB: Well, they probably won't do an
interview with you. And if you say to them,
"Your big movie sucks. The third scene
in it, what did you think about it?"
They're not going to know what the third
scene is. They own the company, [but] they
don't know it. I do the production on my
shoots, I go to my shoots, I do the camera
on my shoots, I come back and sit with my
editor and edit the movies. I design the
box, I pick the chromes. I sit there at
my Mac and I come up with the name, and
do the color correction. And when it comes
in, if we're jam-packed, I'll even label
it, put it in the tray, and put it in the
box. Then I'll sell it and then I collect
the money on it. And then I do it again
the next week.
ER: Are you just about
the most hands-on person in the industry
these days?
AB: I'm by far the most hands-on person.
I guarantee you and I'll challenge anybody
who tells me that I'm not. It's very easy
for somebody to say, "I'm more hands-on."
No problem. Here, show me how this camera
works. Design a logo real quick on the computer.
You edit this movie real quick. And who
can do it better? I'm not, per se, the best
company in the business, but I'm the most
hands-on. And I think for the consumer that's
what's important. They want to relate to
a guy that is actually one of them - the
blue-collar pornographer.
ER: Do you think the industry
is in a healthy period right now?
AB: I think it's flooded. There's a
lot of product out there, and hopefully
it won't stay like that. It's causing mass
confusion for the consumer. The consumer
sees a tape for $9.95 - which is a compilation
tape probably - and then he sees my tape
which sells for $49.95...you get what you
pay for. And I don't have a problem holding
out and waiting for all the fads to go through
and burn out. It was the same with the UPS
strike. Adult companies went out of business!
ER: Yeah, I actually heard
a report on National Public Radio where
they talked about the strike's devastating
effect on the porn industry.
AB: Right, they couldn't get their
product out and they're losing money. For
me it wasn't a problem. I'll take a holiday,
too. I sold enough tapes and have enough
money in reserve to where I can take off
a week, or two weeks, or a month, or six
months, or a year. I don't have to put a
movie out if I don't want to. I have enough
receivables coming in. I mean, I'm a little
bank. My receivables are over a quarter
of a million dollars every month, and I'm
bankrolling the distributors, I'm bankrolling
the stores that I sell to.
ER: What myths about the
porn industry would you be willing to shatter
for our readers?
AB: Well, I hate to shatter the fantasies
for the fans. But of the 200 girls that
I've dealt with in the last two years, I've
probably only met two that would go out
and fuck somebody they met in a bar. The
fantasy that these girls are whores who
just throw down and suck cock in a supermarket
and fuck you and fuck him and fuck her is
not true. I think the girls and the guys
need to be respected, and you're renting
these movies because your wife, or your
boyfriend, or mistress doesn't do this stuff
at home.
And when you see these girls
- and I wanna say guys, too - but when you
see these girls at a convention, you need
to respect [them] and not grab their ass
and try to pick 'em up like they're gonna
suck your dick underneath the counter. That's
all in the video. If you're in a car accident
and you see George Clooney walking down
the street, don't think he's gonna stop
and perform some sort of surgery on you
because he does it on tv.
ER: Right. These people
are as much actors and actresses as the
people in Hollywood films or on tv.
AB: It's like, I'm not a whore, but
I play one on tv. I think the guys need
to understand that. I've seen it done. When
I was going out with Tammi, one guy grabbed
her ass at a show and she broke his finger
right out of the skin! They called an ambulance
and rushed this guy out on a stretcher to
an emergency room 'cause she broke it right
out of the socket.
ER: And deservedly so.
AB: And deservedly so. You don't go
puttin' your hand on some girl's ass. The
guy's lucky that I wasn't with her at the
time 'cause I probably would've taken my
pen and stabbed him in the fucking eye!
I'm not going out with a porn star now,
and I probably won't ever go out with a
porn star again. Because people think that
it's okay for them to try and fuck your
girlfriend, or your wife, or whatever the
case is. Just 'cause you see her naked what
right do you think you have to try and fuck
her?!
These girls go out and put
it all on film for you. I don't shoot girls
that act. Sometimes you're watching a movie
and a girl's screaming, "Yeah, fuck
my ass, fuck it, fuck it harder," and
sometimes the girl's just going, "Oh...yeah."
I don't dub in hot sex scenes, I don't dub
in music over my sex. If the girl's loud,
she's loud, if she's not loud, she's not
loud. I'm not gonna go, "Hey, just
fake it for us this one time." What
you see is what you get, it's real.
I might cut something out.
If I tell a girl, "Hey, put your hand
on your pussy and spread it open,"
I'll dub that part out and you'll see her
spread her pussy open. But I don't add anything
in.
ER: I know that you made
a film called WHOREO. Did that cause any
problems with Nabisco?
AB: I'm in a huge lawsuit with them. It's
been two years now.
ER: What are they suing
you for?
AB: Copyright infringement, trademark infringement.
It's all alleged and delusion. Like we took
away from their market. A guy walked into
a porn store's "Interracial Anal"
section and picked up WHOREO and actually
thought it was cookies and he saw the cassette
and was disillusioned that he found no cookies
inside the package. Yeah, we're not even
distributing through the same channels!
We're not even in a store where there's
porn in one section and cookies in the other
and the guy was so drunk that night that
he got confused.
ER: Yeah and tried to eat
the tape.
AB: It's basically a frivolous lawsuit.
You usually think a frivolous lawsuit is
from a person trying to sue a company, and
this is the other way around. This is a
company trying to sue an individual.
ER: What are your plans
for the upcoming months, just shooting more
videos?
AB: Yeah, just shooting more videos.
We have a new line that we're going to be
putting out called MY GIRLFRIEND'S GIRLFRIEND,
which is an all-girl video coming out through
Tammi Ann's Pixie Pictures. It's an all-girl,
anal, six girls, three scenes hot video.
We're concentrating on the lines we have
now, making the product strong, and keeping
a good foothold in the market
