Adult Film Industry Questions

[wolfie59]

I have a bit of a strange request:

A friend just contacted me because he has an idea related to creating an "adult" film. (No, its not secretly me hiding behind the "friend" thing. My friend contacted me because I have a bit of experience in the Legal field, having been a Law Librarian for 3 years for a large firm in NY, as well as some overlap in IP and Copyright issues in my former position).

He is looking to find out what limitations there are in PA regarding filming a hard core film. All actors will be of age and legit, nothing out of bounds or extreme. Nothing that could not be ordered up from a Hotel room's offerings, for example. Rather, the niche he looks to tap into would be related to the setting/props/scenery that he feels would appeal to small but select market.

So, in a nutshell, are there any laws on the books that would prevent him from creating an adult film in PA? Are there any anti-decency laws or anything that would legally prevent him from filming a movie of this sort in PA?

He does not have a film production company, so I assume he would need to set up a business. What type of business would be best? An LLC, or an incorporation?

I know that California is where the vast majority of adult films are filmed. I assume a large part of this is the ready access to actors, but I am wondering if there is also some inherent advantage to performing this work there, much like Incorporating in Delaware because of their favorable corporate laws.

This is all, obviously, in the theoretical stage right now, and I would appreciate any guidance anyone could provide.

Thanks in advance.

[Eslynne]

Absolutely create a business first. LLC is best, Corporations have more formalities which means it's harder to maintain the corporate identity which means easier to peirce the corporate veil if he ever ends up in court.

Adult film is always tricky, best to consult with an expert. The biggest issue I'm aware of is to differentiate from prosititution - ie, he'd be hiring models and actresses to play a part in a movie that happens to be adult and include hard core scenes, NOT he'd be hiring attractive people to have sex that happens to get filmed, so look up the prostitution laws and make sure it doesn't overlap. And absolutely make sure to have signed model releases with two forms of id and 2257 everyone whose in the film, because skipping that is the fastest way to end up in jail.