| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Adult Entertainment |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder(s) | Steven Hirsch David James |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Key people | Steven Hirsch (Founder/Co-Chairman) Bill Asher (Co=Owner/Co-Chairman) Marci Hirsch (VP of Production) Harry Bixton (Pornstars' Department Chief Engineer) |
| Products | Adult films plus a brand licensing program that extends to sex toys, books, skateboards, snowboards, condoms, apparel, etc. |
| Website | vivid.com |
Vivid Entertainment Group is an adult video producer,[1][2] featuring a catalog of VHS and DVD titles and internet content. In 2006 it was described by Reuters as one of the handful of studios that dominate the U.S. porn industry.[3]
Vivid specializes in high-production-value movies, shot in exotic locations with professional lighting and quality cinematography. Founder Steven Hirsch is co-chairman, along with Bill Asher, who is also a co-owner.[4]
In the 1990s Vivid began to win industry honors, and today has more AVN Awards (described as the "Oscars" of the adult business) than any other studio. Vivid Girls in the 90s included the actresses who were known by their first names alone: Janine, Lexus and the late Savannah, plus stars such as Christy Canyon, Nikki Tyler, Racquel Darrian (the "brunette goddess of porn"), Chasey Lain, Heather Hunter and Kobe Tai. Those who have attained fame in more recent years include Jenna Jameson, Tera Patrick, Savanna Samson, Sunny Leone and others.
Vivid became the first studio to introduce celebrity sex tapes – Pamela Anderson & Tommy Lee: Hardcore & Uncensored, Janine & Vince Neil: Hardcore and Uncensored, Kim Kardashian Superstar, Jimi Hendrix The Sex Tape and others.
Vivid reaches over seven million consumers every month.[5]
Additional brand-name awareness has been created with marketing and licensing programs for Vivid condoms, snowboards, skateboards, tee shirts, playing cards, advertising, calendars, comic books and book publishing. How to Have a XXX Sex Life: The Ultimate Vivid Guide,[6] co-authored by the Vivid Girls and published by HarperCollins, was a best seller.
In November 2011 Vivid filed a cease and desist letter to HTC America, claiming the mobile phone maker's newest model - VIVID - infringed upon it's trademark. The letter threatened a lawsuit if HTC doesn't change the name of their device by Monday, November 21st. [7]
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In February 2006 Vivid made its first foray into Alt porn with the signing of Director Eon McKai and the formation of the Vivid-Alt imprint.[8] Vivid-Alt in turn hired erotic photographers—Dave Naz and Octavio "Winkytiki" Arizala[9] to direct features for the imprint.
The first film directed by Eon McKai under that imprint, "Girls Lie", was nominated for an AVN Award, one of 13 nominations in 2008 for various Vivid-Alt imprint releases.[10] In 2009 the company won the AVN Award for Best Music Soundtrack for "The Bad Luck Betties"[11] and in 2010 for the musical soundtrack of "Live in My Secrets".[12]
In March 2007 Vivid signed award-winning author, columnist, editor and sex educator Tristan Taormino to head up the Vivid-Ed imprint,[13] which has produced several how-to DVD sex guides including "The Expert Guide To Anal Sex", "The Expert Guide to Oral Sex, Part 1: Cunnilingus", "The Expert Guide to Oral Sex, Part 2: Fellatio" and "The Expert Guide to the G-Spot". In 2010 Vivid Ed's director Tristan Taormino received several AVN Awards as well as the Trailblazer Award from the Feminist Porn Awards in Toronto, Canada on April 9, 2010.[14]
In 1998 Vivid pioneered the development of the celebrity sex tape, when it distributed Pam & Tommy Lee Hardcore & Uncensored. Some of the sexually explicit Vivid-Celeb videos are obtained directly from the celebrities while others are acquired through third parties. Vivid's collection of celebrity sex videos includes Janine & Vince Neil Hardcore & Uncensored (1998); The Tom Sizemore Sex Scandal (2005); Karrine Steffans Superhead (2006); Lil Jon's Vivid Vegas Party (2006); Toastee Exposed (Jennifer "Toastee" Toof) (2007); Kim Kardashian Superstar (2007); Jessica Sierra Superstar (2008); Former Miss USA Kelli McCarty in Faithless (2009); Mindy McCready Baseball Mistress (2010); The 11th Hole (2010) starring Tiger Woods' mistress Joslyn James; Kendra Exposed (2010) featuring TV personality Kendra Wilkinson, and Montana Fishburne (2010) starring the daughter of the famed actor Laurence Fishburne.
In 2010, following the successful distribution of Batman XXX: A Porn Parody from Axel Braun Productions, Vivid announced it would launch an on-going series of parodies under the Vivid SuperXXXHeroes imprint with Axel Braun as lead director. The first title is Superman XXX: A Porn Parody. Vivid will also continue to distribute parodies from Braun's production company. The initial lineup includes Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody, to be followed by spoofs of the popular TV shows Law & Order, Starsky & Hutch, and The Addams Family, as well as classic movies like Grease, A Clockwork Orange and The Godfather.
On November 7, 2011 Vivid Entertainment launched its Vivid for Google TV channel as "the first TV app designed to make sexually explicit content available through the new Google TV set-top device". It will broadcast in high definition "award-winning adult movies, celebrity sex tapes, XXX parodies of popular superheroes, educational videos and other content", to who also subscribe to the company's website.[15]
Vivid produces over 60 titles a year. The company has a small number of high budget movies that it produces and aggressively markets. This is different from many other San Fernando Valley production companies, which routinely film, edit and release a two-hour title in less than a week, spending relatively little on advertising or promotion. According to Forbes Magazine Vivid's annual revenue is estimated to be $100 million USD.[16] The same estimate was given by Business Week in June 2006.[17] However, Vivid also aggressively repackages its original material in compilations, which are relatively inexpensive to produce. Forbes also reported that approximately one third of all the titles sold in U.S. adult DVD stores are Vivid films.
Its titles are sold through retail stores across the United States, the rental market and direct to consumers through various online mail-order sites. Vivid also distributes the films to cable and satellite channels and offers its Internet subscribers full access to the largest archive of titles in the adult industry.
In February 2006 Vivid changed its condom-only policy to a condom-optional policy that lets performers decide whether or not to use them.[18][19]
Vivid also runs several websites, including Vivid.com, featuring its Vivid Girls. These websites prominently promote the "Vivid Girls" and their various videos. The sites also allow users to view scenes from various Vivid productions, as well as much Internet-only content.
In October 2010, Vivid stopped production as a precaution when an actor tested positive for HIV.[20]
Vivid Entertainment LLC is owned by Steven Hirsch, Bill Asher, and David James.[21]
On December 6, 2007, Vivid Entertainment filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against PornoTube.[22][23] The lawsuit alleged that the YouTube-like site profits from the illegal posting of Vivid's copyrighted films, and failed to comply with the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act, a federal age-verification and record-keeping law that applies to the adult film industry.[24] The case was settled out of court.[25]
In April 2010, country singer Mindy McCready sent Vivid a cease and desist letter ordering them not to distribute copies of her sex tape.[26][27] Vivid produced proof that it had a signed release form from McCready.[28]
Kimberly "Kim" Kardashian Humphries sued the company for full ownership of her sextape. She later dropped the suit and settled for $5 million.
According to AVN, Vivid has won more of its awards than any other studio in the history of the industry. A selection of some of them follows in addition to awards and nominations received from other notable industry organizations:
The following is a list of notable current and former Vivid actresses.
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