Los Angeles issued only 40 permits all of last year for porn productions, according to a nonprofit group that tracks film production cited by The LA Times. This is a drop from 400 permits issued in 2012. So far this year, only 20 permits have been issued. In years past, according to industry sources, up to 5,000 movies were shot in back yards, private homes and warehouses around LA.
Experts say the decline is due to the new 2012 law requiring the use of condoms in porn movie shoots. But it’s not just that, while American thirst for porn seems not to slake, much of it is now consumed for free.
Paul Audley, president of FilmLA complained to the Los Angeles Times, “It is a cause for concern that people who are manning the cameras, lights and other things on those sets are not working any more…”
The LA Times reported that Penthouse Entertainment, for instance, “which has 10 television channels and produces up to 80 movies a year, has stopped all local film shoots.” A Penthouse executive said her company is shooting 10 movies in Brazil this month.
A survey commissioned by AdamAndEve.com last year found that 36 percent of respondents don’t watch porn at all but that 44 percent preferred to watch their porn for free. Just about anything can be seen online free of charge. Sixteen percent preferred DVDs while 4 percent preferred pay-per-view.
Over all porn profits have plummeted. According to Dan Miller of XBIZ, porn revenues peaked a decade ago at close to $14 billion but today are no more than $5 billion. Miller said, “You can’t compete with free.”
According to the LA Times, porn production used to provide up to 20,000 jobs in the San Fernando Valley and accounted for up to $4 billion in revenue.
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