“We just wanted to make our site user-friendly and easy to navigate, where everything is totally accessible,” Jet Set’s Executive in Charge of Production Mark Hovanec told XBIZ. “In the next 30 days we’re adding an additional 1,000 video clips for the members.”
“Every single week, from upcoming movies that aren’t even out on DVD yet, there’s going to be a preview scene. What better way to decide what DVD you want to buy, plus you’re seeing content with the highest value production work, editing and the most expensive casts you can get in the business,” he said.
In a process that took a year-and-a-half to complete, the newly revamped site features redigitized photo galleries, and new galleries will be added on a weekly basis.
Currently, the site features pay-per-view content in several niches including twinks, muscle, daddies, Latino and fetish. There also is a “My Favorites” feature that enables end users to save their favorite photos and clips for easy access.
Long-range plans include a revival of JetSetMen’s gay hardcore soap opera series “Wet Palms.” The original series was shot in nine episodes, which wrapped with a cliffhanger in 2005. According to Hovanec, the show put the studio on the map, featuring popular models like Jason Adonis, Brad Benton, Rod Barry, Cody Cash and Jason Ridge, to name a few. Appearances were also made by Chi Chi La Rue, Sharon Kane and Jason Sechrest.
Writers Jack Shamama and Michael Stabile won 2005 GAYVN Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Comedy for the series.
Hovanec said that, despite its popularity, the studio pulled it back in order to reassess marketing and promotion for the project.
“The goal with ‘Wet Palms’ ultimately is to bring it back in a major way with a prequel and pick up with a ‘how does it all end up’ episode,” Hovanec said. “Everybody wants to know what happened to these characters; we wrapped episode nine with Lucky Hansen getting shot and we don’t know who-done-it or whether Lucky survived. We have the main story points written out for that episode and we’re looking at doing both of those movies next year.”
When they relaunch the series, Hovanec says that a hardcore and a softcore version will be available, and that there will be an area on the Jet Set Men site that will offer members first looks at scenes from the series, outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage.
“We’re going to be cutting [the softcore version] with a little bit of sex, so that it doesn’t distract you from the story,” Hovanec said. “But if you’re into Jason Ridge and whoever, you can also watch that scene in its full uncut version without interrupting the story.”
Hovanec was quick to point out the crossover appeal of gay content for straight webmasters and gay-curious end users.
“We see a huge potential for cross marketing and repurposing. Softcore edits and clips for muscle worship, phone content, as well as other content, provide additional revenue streams,” Hovanec said. “Additionally, straight sites are always looking for ways to convert their traffic and having quality gay affiliates is key for them to convert the traffic they worked so hard to get in the first place.”