Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008    Text size: 

“A panel of seven notable judges drawn from the gay adult entertainment industry will visit seven major European countries in their search for the fiercest raw talent Europe has to offer,” Ganesha said.

The contest will visit seven cities representing various European countries, beginning with Manchester, United Kingdom on October 11, and Berlin, Germany on October 12.

The remaining cities are Prague, Czech Republic; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Paris, France; Milan, Italy; and Barcelona, Spain.

Participants will be selected from a cattle call at nightclubs and other venues in each city. They will perform various tasks to prove they have what it takes to become an adult star.

The top fourteen prospective performers — two from each city — will then journey to Portugal. The entire group will live together for four days and compete in a series of filmed elimination challenges, from which the final winner will be selected.

The seven industry judges include Bel Ami founder George Duroy and iconic Bel Ami star Johan Paulik; CockyBoys.com exclusive Jesse Santana; NakedSword.com co-founder and CEO Tim Valenti; Titan Media exclusive Damien Crosse; and performer Francesco D’Macho.

Creators and co-executive producers Dean Carr and Simon Cherry co-founded Ganesha Productions in 2007, through Ganesha Event Management Ltd., primarily to facilitate production of the series. (Carr will also serve as an in-house director.)

Cherry told XBIZ the concept for “Europe’s Next Gay Porn Star” came about because both men are fans of reality series American’s Next Top Model.

“It was Italy, May 2007, while we were working on a wedding for a private client,” he recalled. “We took some time out and went for dinner in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast. We had started discussing who should win ‘America’s Next Top Model’ when the waiter brought more wine. He was hot! And the conversation turned very quickly onto sexy guys, then modeling, then porn and several bottles later we had it — Europe’s Next Gay Porn Star. The name, the concept, all of it.”

One of Ganesha’s initial forays into event production for the adult industry was the 2007 European Gay Porn Awards ceremony.

“We thoroughly enjoyed the exposure with gay adult, in general,” Cherry said. “And we realized that we wanted to do more within that industry. Concept development is very much our thing, as is event management, so it was a natural development.”

Cherry said corporate sponsorship for the series is “limited” for the time being.

“We made that decision as felt it was the only way it would succeed,” he said.

According to Cherry, all of the sponsors have been guaranteed “exclusivity in their slot,” with one sponsoring adult studio, one sponsoring distribution company, one travel agency and so on.

“We also wanted to work with people we felt would appreciate what we are trying to do,” Cherry said. “It all started with Bel Ami, who in turn recommended NakedSword, who suggested CockyBoys.”

“Bel Ami immediately saw potential in our project,” Cherry said. “They’ve been great, and they will offer a contract to the winner. We’ve been very lucky with all of our sponsors.”

Ganesha will handle filming and post-production in-house in order to retain control over the finished product. However, sponsoring companies will oversee their own blogs and on-set interviews with the participants.

Content offered via NakedSword through the official content site will include “hardcore and softcore contestant auditions,” Cherry said, as well as “behind-the-scenes footage, jury interaction with the auditioners [sic], and so on.”

A DVD of the entire series will be released in the spring upon the naming of a winner.

Ganesha plans to export the concept behind “Europe’s Next Gay Porn Star” to other countries such as Asia, Australia, Canada and perhaps North America.

In addition to the Bel Ami contract, additional prizes include guaranteed coverage by various European gay adult magazines, a modeling contract with adult retailer Clone Zone, and an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the Boatslip Resort Hotel in Provincetown, Mass.