“It’s awesome,” Hendrix told XBIZ. “Things are just falling into place and happening and working, and I think it’s because we decided to come back at a certain caliber and certain level, and it’s all in how you present it and do it — that’s what we’re trying to do — do it A class.”
According to party guest Pacific Sun Marketing Director Michael LaBarbera, the evening festivities recalled a bygone era in gay adult, when there was more of a show business vibe and parties for feature movie releases were commonplace.
Champagne and a lavish food selection set the tone for the party, which featured a screening of the new movie.
Other party guests included writer Mickey Skee, TV personality Bobby Trendy, as well as three of the movie’s stars: Chad Clovis, Ryan Thompson and Dominik Rider.
“Friendly Force,” which was written and directed by Hendrix, is a cop-shop feature drama starring newcomer Clovis, as well as Rider, Thompson, Park Wiley, Kevin Cavelli, Brodie Newport, Logan Robins, Corbin Michaels, Mark Galfione, Steven Waye and Chase Evans.
Hendrix returned to adult directing after spending eight years honing his skills in mainstream productions.
“It was different when I came back to do hardcore, after eight years of doing mainstream; I was just dealing with so many straight-line mainstream people,” Hendrix said. “Coming back into it, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to shoot a scene — it was really different. But I told myself that I needed to be back doing this, and once I shot the first scene, it was magic.
“To bring the acting and different elements into what I’m doing now, that thing that I now have is a lot more skills with characterization and development,” Hendrix added, noting that he has ambitious plans to create more story-based titles with high production values.
The director-producer also made several announcements at the party that included some mysterious hints as to an upcoming production that will be shooting in October.
He also told guests and media that JamieHendrix.com had relaunched as a retail website. Users can go there now to purchase “Friendly Force,” view trailers, photos and model profiles.
“We’re looking at a two- to five- year building phase,” Hendrix explained. “We just launched JamieHendrix.com as a retail site, so now we’re actually selling. Down the road, we will be doing streaming and downloads, once we get to that phase.”
The other big announcement came in collaboration with Hendrix’s distributor Pacific Sun, when the director announced that he would be traveling to the Venus Berlin trade fair with the distribution company. The Venus Berlin show will be held in Berlin in October, and this is the first year that they will have a separate gay industry area on the show floor.
As a special gift, Hendrix and his partner Eli also presented guests with a trailer disc for the upcoming rerelease of a movie they produced in 2005 called “Curious.” The original version of the softcore title was the victim of poor editing, but Hendrix has re-cut the video and will repackage it for upcoming release.
“Everything is at a point where I can comfortably say that the time is right, and it’s all working,” he said. “The media and everyone have accepted me back very well.”
