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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

‘Vivid Valley’ Takes Reality TV to Local Adult Industry

If Huge Hefner and his rotating cast of girlfriends opted to allow cameras into the Playboy mansion for his E! Entertainment network reality show, then some producer somewhere would’ve been remiss not to have tried to give the documentary treatment to adult entertainment powerhouse Vivid Entertainment. Accordingly, last week marked the U.S. debut of the 13-part weekly one-hour documentary series that goes behind the doors of Cahuenga Pass-based Vivid, focusing on the public and private lives of Vivid co-founder and co-chairman Steven Hirsch and the Vivid girls, Vivid’s own stable of contract girls. The series was first produced for television in the United Kingdom, where it has ran for the past two years. Entitled “Vivid Valley,” the series will run on Playboy TV, available as part of the service to Playboy’s TV monthly subscribers and by pay-per-view to non-subscribers. The series will be produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato of World of Wonder. The pair has produced films such as “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” “Party Monster,” and “Inside Deep Throat.” According to Hirsch, the reputation of World of Wonder was instrumental in gaining his consent to allow cameras into Vivid’s operations. “This was different from other offers that we had earlier considered because we had the opportunity to work with World of Wonder, a production company known for its powerful documentaries,” Hirsch said. “We are always interested in finding creative avenues to extend and expand the Vivid brand and this series is one of them.” The series marks one more way in which Vivid has tried to widen its offerings in pop culture. Included in the documentary will be extensive footage of Jenna Jameson, perhaps the most well-known of the Vivid girls. Some of Vivid’s other products include the company’s first book: “How to Have an XXX Sex Life: The Vivid Guide.” The book, which was published by Regan Books/Harper Collins, recently made its paperback debut after a successful hardback run. Additionally, the first two books in a new Vivid girl erotic book series was launched by the Thunder’s Mouth Press division of Avalon Publishing. The company also recently introduced a line of Vivid Wheels and according to Hirsch, will soon be announcing licensed products in entirely new categories. MGA Expands in Europe After eroding much of Barbie’s market share domestically, it seems like MGA Entertainment’s Bratz line of fashion dolls and accessories are doing the same internationally, as the August NPD Europe study noted the fact that Bratz has now obtained 64 percent of the market share in the United Kingdom. This tops a July record of 52 percent and overall the Bratz brand is up 48 percent for 2005 to date. According to Margaret Whitfield, a toy analyst for Ryan Beck and Company, this is another sign of the damage that North Hills-based MGA has done to its arch-rival, Mattel. “This growth has been at the expense of Barbie. NPD’s data clearly suggest a very strong gain in market share,” Whitfield said. “On top of it all they’re looking to expand to Latin America and Asia by 2007. It’s obviously not good for Mattel.” Additionally, last month MGA debuted the new Rock Angelz DVD, developed in a partnership with 20th Century Fox Entertainment. This release went head to head against Mattel’s My Scene Barbie DVD and doll, which featured a hipper and cooler Barbie and an advertising campaign and doll featuring Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan. Yet according to Whitfield, this new film hasn’t fared as well as the Rock Angelz. “Though it’s only been out for about a month, the Rock Angelz DVD has been performing well. Mattel’s My Scene line of dolls and DVD has thus far been disappointing,” Whitfield said. “Mattel has been trying to do this sort of multimedia entertainment for the last few years, focusing on younger age groups every year. But it has yet to stop their market erosion due to the success of the Bratz.” And don’t excerpt Bratz’ saturation of the multimedia marketplace to die down any time soon. Last month also marked the debut of a Bratz CGI-animated television series. Developed in conjunction with 4Kids Entertainment Inc., the series is currently running on Saturday mornings on the Fox network. Additionally, just last week, Calabasas Hills-based THQ, Inc. shipped its first copies of a Bratz: Rock Angelz video game for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance and the Windows PC. The game is the first release under THQ and MGA’s worldwide interactive agreement. The video game made its launch debut last week at The Toy Wishes Holiday Preview Show at the Jacob K. Javitz Center in New York City. Technicolor Sound Move As a result of a sale of the building by its owner Echo Sound Services, Technicolor Sound Services will be moving its post production operations to Hollywood. But while many sound studios and post production facilities have closed up shop over the past few year, the two lots on the property will remain in the hands of the entertainment industry. Eddy Schreyer, the owner of Oasis Mastering purchased the Burbank-based facility located at 4109 Burbank Blvd., for $1.2 million. Oasis is a well-known entity in the music industry, having engineered and post-produced works from such musicians as Kanye West, Will Smith and Beyonce Knowles. “The property already had improved production facilities and Oasis wanted to buy it to take advantage of that. They will use the retrofit it into a mastering studio, where they improve the sound of albums before they get mass produced,” Patti Kutschko, the real estate agent from GVA Baum who represented the seller, said. The other property vacated by Technicolor’s departure is 4119 Burbank Blvd., which was sold for $1.65 million to David Rosen, the owner of Absolute Rentals and Wordlink Digital. Rosen will use the facility to house a range of production equipment for rent and will also lease several rooms in the facility to production companies. One company that has already signed on is Media Island, a film finishing and duplication firm. The remaining offices will likely be used by small independent entertainment companies.

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