Pulling the Curtain Back: An Industry Insider’s Take on the Adult Biz

February 5, 2014
NSFW.ARMY

Welcome to my new blog on XCritic. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Erika Icon, owner and publicist of The Rub PR. I specialize in adult and most of my clients are performers, studios and/or adult-oriented companies. Many people are curious what really goes on in the biz and I’m going to give you an insider’s take on it.

The AVN Awards and AEE (Adult Entertainment Expo) are two of the biggest events of the year. Between that and XBIZ 360 (mainly for biz professionals) and the XBIZ Awards, January is beyond nuts. If you didn’t make it to Vegas this year, I can give you an idea of how it was for me.

My first day was getting my AEE badge and making sure my clients who arrived in Vegas for the show that day got their expo badges. Many of the companies put their badges under their stage names, which created havoc in the form of a gazillion texts and lots of trips across the showroom floors to the registration office over the first three days of the show. The first day is trade only—the toy companies show their wares and the studios and other companies are setting up in the main room and The Joint. After a few short hours, a small crew of writers from XCritic and the owner of Porn Life Magazine, along with my client Brooklyn Chase, and I head over to Happy Hour at Pink Taco. What was so brilliant about this was that I was able to schedule many interviews with multiple writers for my clients. I also got to see Brooklyn Chase come out of her shell—she is uber professional and nice, but keeps to herself, so this was definitely a bonding time. After Happy Hour, there was time for a quick nap and more drinks with friends and biz associates at the Circle Bar.

Day Two was far more intense now that the booths in the Main Room were up. Some fans got in the first day and even more were let in today. I started my day texting each client (that’s nine girls) their schedules for signings and interviews—I do this every day because even if you send them their schedules for the whole time, they will ask every day. A quick breakfast at the hotel and then it’s a day of running around between the two companies I do PR for, Forbidden Fruits Films and Nookie Chat, and all the booths that the girls are at. I also get several calls from journalists about the girls not being where they’re supposed to be. By the time 5pm rolls around, all I want is a drink and I get to. Then, it’s back to the hotel to work and edit and upload the photos I took.

Day Three is very similar to Day Two, except it’s even more frenzied and everyone has arrived in Vegas…finally. I get to meet people I only have email relationships with like the owner of talent agency ATMLA, the editor from XCritic, the owner of Girlfriends Films and many more. In between all the craziness, I have meetings with potential clients looking for PR. As a publicist, you have to hustle for new clients all the time—girls leave the biz, can’t afford PR or just give up on their careers and image. The serious ones like Nikki Delano, Allison Moore, Kayla-Jane Danger and Nikita Von James are in it for the long haul, and have been with me for quite a while.

Although I just want a drink and a nap, I head back to the hotel to get ready for the evening…a launch party for Nookie Chat at Sapphire, which is a HUGE strip club off the Strip in Vegas. We take a limo to the club and in it are the owner of Porn Life Mag, my web guy, Platinum Pussy and her crew, Karla Lane and her date, and a few civilians. We get to the club and find the Nookie Chat party is in the center of the action (under a glass stage) and we seem to have unlimited bottle service and our own private servers. Girls are dancing all around us on many stages and are giving lap dances. Many of the girls who signed at the Nookie Chat booth are there—Kendra Lust, Emily Austin, Brandy Aniston, Veronica Avluv, Isis Love and Richelle Ryan, just to name a few. A few of the people I came with got lap dances and one even commented that it made him feel important. I got to see Emily Austin do a set and was really impressed with her moves. She’s very sweet and we sat and talked to her for a while. Sadly, I was the only sober one in the cab ride back to the Hard Rock. We trotted around the Circle Bar again and left pretty quickly since most everyone was at the White Party.

Day Four is usually the easiest day. The expo closes early and then it’s red carpet and awards. That was not the case this year. All the publicists and agents have to go to a red carpet walk through where we find out there will be not one red carpet, but three. There’s a main one that wraps around the casino so fans can look at the adult stars like animals in a zoo, a main red carpet for nominees, presenters and Hall of Famers, and a small red carpet for people who don’t have passes to the main one. Then, it was time to get ready—I went to Nikita Von James’ super swanky suite and got my makeup done and got to watch her get ready (yes, you should be very jealous). Then, back to my room to get dressed to the nines with a cleavagy dress and killer heels.

I spent three hours waiting for all my clients to get to the main red carpet and walk it—it’s just like the movies, but longer and full of even more reporters and photographers from around the world. I didn’t stay the last 30 minutes because I had to get my ticket and meet my industry friends. There were tons on fans swarming outside the entrance waiting to see everything. After the red carpet, I was exhausted and stayed at the awards only long enough to see my clients present (Jenna J Ross and Allison Moore) and then bolted. When we left the awards, the fans charged at me trying to figure out who I was—it was completely surreal. My friend from Porn Life Mag said they were trying to figure out who I was and one even asked for a hug. We had a quiet dinner at Mr Luckys. After that we head back to the hotel and change into our civilian clothes to hang with our friends at The Circle Bar one last time. Only this time, I could truly relax. Well, there are still texts from clients who are unhappy they didn’t win. And no, I’m not telling you who.