PAUL FISHBEIN
PRESIDENT of AVN
By Marla Santos

Paul Fishbein started the Adult Video News publication that has now become the bible of the Adult Industry.  It began as an eight-page newsletter and has grown to a multi-million dollar conglomerate.  Speaking to him just before the 2008 AVN Award Show, he answered our questions and told us why January 14th will be such a fantastic night.

SLV:  When you first started your publication as a newsletter in 1982, did you ever imagine in your wildest dreams the business would grow to this extent?
FISHBEIN:  No, I just thought we were doing a movie magazine, like a regular movie magazine, only for adults.  I wasn’t predisposed to this industry.  I was a journalist student and I had published magazines in my past.  I was graduating college and I didn’t want to work in retail.  For me, it was just something to do where perhaps there’d be a light at the end of the tunnel and I wouldn’t have to work retail.  It was the first idea we came up with coming out of college and it stuck for some reason.  It was just a  ‘right place at the right time’  moment.    

SLV:  The AVN Awards Show has grown each year with 2008 being the biggest yet.  What word describes your feeling about this?
FISHBEIN:  Very cool!  It’s very cool to see the Adult Industry accepted into mainstream and now be part of our culture, rather than hidden behind closed doors and sleazy peep shows.  The AVN Award Show today has more glamour than most Hollywood award shows.  I mean the dresses, the way people look, the girls and how outgoing they are and just how the talent interacts with the public, and isn’t afraid.  They’re not behind the velvet ropes and untouchable—they actually interact with the public.  It’s just a very glamorous, high-end event, but not so much that the public feels like they’re not included, because the public is included. 

SLV:  How many people do you currently have working at AVN?
FISHBEIN:  About seventy. 

SLV:  How does that number expand when you get towards The Expo and Awards Show?
FISHBEIN:  We have the staff in Las Vegas.  We need the girls, the models to work, security, and you know, you need the whole thing.  We have a fulltime editorial staff, a fulltime sales staff, and a fulltime accounting staff, just like any other business.  There are a lot of freelancers that vote on the award show;  people that don’t necessarily work fulltime for us but work in the Adult Industry. 

SLV:  The award itself has probably changed many times over the years.
FISHBEIN:  Only once.

SLV:  Only once?  Tell me about the two of them.
FISHBEIN:  The first was like a glorified bowling trophy.  Then for the year 2000, it was this beautiful Lucite encased, very happy, etched-out, carved award.  It’s actually something very beautiful and very unique.  That’s the only time we changed the award—in the year 2000.

SLV:  Who gets to vote on the winners?
FISHBEIN:  All the fulltime AVN staff writers and editors.  We have a huge freelance pool of people that write for us.  Then we select adult critics throughout the industry who are higher-end critics, whose job it is to watch adult material.  They get to vote as well.

SLV:  So none of the actors or actresses get to vote?
FISHBEIN:  No.  One year we tried to include a committee from people who work in the industry, but we couldn’t get them to watch.  They wanted to vote without watching.  You can’t vote without watching!

SLV:  Technology has advanced from VCR’s to DVD’s and now the internet.  Will DVD’s be a thing of the past, replaced by broadband technologies and on-demand satellite services?
FISHBEIN:  All you have to do is look at the music industry and see what technology has done.  So, if you take the same sort of attitude—if you like music, you can get your music— buy your CD, download it from iTunes or all the various services onto your MP3 player or iPods.  You can get your music a number of ways.  It seems like technology makes it easier for people, so people will get their adult material through DVD’s and as time goes on, they’ll be downloading them from the internet or video-on-demand.  There’ll probably be a time in the future when you can download it to your computer and watch it on your home television set.  People who want to collect and have the hard goods, will continue to do so, but video stores will probably go the way of the record stores.  The material will be available and people will be able to get it.  People will want to watch it and collect it.  It’s not like sex is going anywhere.  But technology always changes the delivery system, so everybody either adapts or it dies out. 

SLV:  Porn has gone very extreme with all the gonzo movies.  Do you see it continuing to get harder, or do you think it will move in the reverse direction?
FISHBEIN:  I don’t know how much harder it can get.  I mean personally, my personal taste is—that’s not my thing.  I think there’s enough for everybody.  As long as the material is performed by consenting adults, I don’t think there should be any restrictions.  I think it’s a matter of consumer taste.  It’s market-driven.  Harder means what?  There’s nothing wrong with really hard sex, but I don’t like violence in my porn.  I think if they’re really committing violence, it shouldn’t be allowed, but if it’s fake, or acting, there’s nothing we can do.  There’s still room for the big movies with the big budgets that people seem to like to buy, like Pirates or Debbie Does Dallas Again.  I think there’s room just like in regular feature films.  Foreign film, westerns, low-budget independents, big, stupid, special-effects movies—it’s the same thing.  There are different genres and different tastes.  There’s something for everybody.  Will these big budget, story-driven movies go away?  I hope that never happens.  

SLV:  It seems like there’s a huge problem with these free porn sites like u-porn.  Do you agree?
FISHBEIN:  One of the things we’ve noticed is people who stop paying for DVD’s can go to the internet and if they’re smart they can find a lot of free stuff.  Then they don’t necessarily become a consumer of online porn.  In the next six months I think you’re going to see a lot of action taken by the distributors and producers to band together and act against those who are putting out all this free content, because it’s definitely hurting the business.  Everybody is feeling it.  They’re feeling it in their pocketbook, and they’re seeing it with their own eyes.  Tell your readers that there’s going to probably be some action about the distribution that deals with that.  Believe me it’s in the front of everybody’s minds right now.     

SLV:  Your magazine has Dr. Mitch’s advice column in it.  Have you ever honored her for her work?
FISHBEIN:  Yes, Sharon Mitchell got the Reuben Sturman Memorial Award in 1999, for her work with AIM.  She’s an industry treasure.  She’s really important.  I think the people don’t even realize all the great work she’s done.  It’s great to see someone who’s a former drug addict and who’s an industry performer, sort of come through the industry and find this role in the industry and be able to speak to the talent from experience and emphasize safety.  She’s very important and definitely someone we love and respect.  

SLV:  All of us at SLV are excited for this year’s 2008 AVN Award Show.
FISHBEIN:  It’s a great event for consumers to be able to hobnob with the talent.  If you’ve never been to the AVN Awards, you should go.  It’s at a larger venue this year, but will be more intimate because even the worst seat is a good seat.  It’s a great night!   SLV