The imprint will focus on the alt-porn genre McKai helped to create over the past year and a half with VCA Pictures’ titles such as “Kill Girl Kill,” “Joanna’s Angels” and “Neu Wave Hookers.”
The deal calls for McKai, who has a masters degree from California Institute of the Arts, to deliver 12 films, including four he will direct himself.
McKai told XBiz that he hopes having the weight of the Vivid name attached to his alternative product will help expand the genre to the point where alt-porn has its own shelf in retail stores right alongside teens and Asians.
“I’ve always been a big champion of the genre, and I just want to see the channel opened up a little wider so that distributors will continue to take it seriously,” he said.
McKai said he was initially apprehensive that aligning himself with such a well-known brand would damage his credibility as an independent moviemaker, but was reassured by Vivid co-founder and co-chair Steve Hirsch that he would have total creative control.
“Steve hasn’t put any expectations on us about the type of movies we’ll make,” McKai told XBiz. “It was really amazing to see on paper that we’ll be able to do what we want to do” — including hiring directors whose work he admires, such as photographers Octavio Winkytiki and Dave Naz.
Winkytiki, whose photography book “Modern Vixens” was released this year by Goliath Press, is set to start shooting his first movie for the new label next week. Naz’s work has been featured in numerous men’s magazines as well as in his own books, “Lust Circus” and “Legs,” also from Goliath Press.
“Here’s the tricky thing,” McKai said, “you’ll notice that the people successful at delivering alt are the people who are living it. I’m one of them. Winkytiki is living the psychobillie style, bringing another voice to alt. Dave was in the Chemical People. He’s legit to the core.
“People who are just dressing up girls to look like punk rock girls, that’s not going to fly in this market,” he continued. “There are a lot of people faking the funk, and the young adults who buy alt can tell the difference.”
In addition to selecting directors for the new imprint, McKai also will help to bring a fresh look to Vivid’s talent lineup, according to Hirsch.
“Eon will find the first actress to give a fresh, new face to the imprint,” Hirsch said. “He’ll also be looking for all sorts of alternative and progressive talent and programming to keep us at the top of this genre.”
