LOS ANGELES — Smash Pictures has closed a deal with Courtney Trouble to produce and direct movies for its new lesbian-themed label, Pink Velvet.
Trouble told XBIZ she already is in pre-production for her first title, “San Francisco Lesbians: Lesbian Cruising,” which she’ll begin shooting in early May in the Bay Area.
Trouble thanked fellow producer/performer Jiz Lee for connecting her with Smash Pictures.
“There are very few lesbian porn companies that are really focused on having a queer director,” Trouble said. “So I think it’s really cool they asked me to do something authentic.”
Trouble this week is in Toronto for the Feminist Porn Conference and Good for Her Feminist Porn Awards, where she is nominated for eight different honors. On Sunday, she’ll deliver the keynote address at the University of Toronto.
The native of Olympia, Wash., started a website called IndiePornRevolution.com in 2002 and since has directed 22 films, including 12 for Good Vibrations’ Real Queer Productions line and eight for her own studio label, Trouble Films.
“Smash Pictures is really focused on romance and movies with cinematic value. So I’m going to be taking their product line and putting my own twist on it,” Trouble said. “I can be gritty and hardcore so we’re going to mix the two ideas and create something that’s real, passionate and romantic all at the same time, sort of taking the standing girl/girl genre and mixing it with my special blend of high-chemistry queer porn.”
Trouble noted that “San Francisco Lesbians” would be the first time she will direct a movie that also will be later broadcast on cable and satellite outlets. So she’ll shoot both hard and softcore versions.
“This is going to be my ode to lesbian cruising,” she continued. “I live in the Bay Area, and I spent eight years living as a dyke in the San Francisco Mission District. So I’m going to take this opportunity to tell my real-life stories. It’s going to have a little bit of a Courtney’s secret sex diary feel to it and I'll be showing off some of the incredible talent that lives in the Bay Area.”
Trouble revealed that she has cast Dylan Ryan, Daisy Ducati and Juliette March in the movie, with more to come. “It’s exciting to be working with people from my own town. I’ll also be producing in LA as well.”
She intends to hire both “tried-and-true” and brand new performers.
“Which makes this lesbian line just a step beyond what the rest of the genre has to offer,” Trouble said. “We won’t be super strict about casting. While we have mainstream goals in mind there will be a little bit more diversity in regards to size and style of the girls. And I say this without putting any other companies down for sure. But we’re going to try to create more of a holistic view of lesbian sex.”
Smash Pictures VP Stuart Wall said he was looking forward to seeing Trouble in action.
“To compete and stand out in today’s lesbian market you need to produce unique content that is not like what everyone else is doing,” Wall said, noting that he set out to find a director that already had impacted the market. “Courtney specializes in various niches for her own site already, and for Pink Velvet she’ll be shooting movies featuring performers having real orgasms and real lesbian sex.”
Among the scenarios Trouble is planning for “San Francisco Lesbians” are a one-night-stand, a rock star-groupie hook-up, a bartender-patron encounter and a naughty liaison in a park.
“Casual sex,” she said.
“Porn isn’t really so different from each other, it’s just who’s making it, whose behind the scenes," Trouble reasoned. "And asking a queer woman to be in charge of your lesbian porn line is a really smart decision. I’ve had lesbian sex my whole life. I know what it looks like. I can provide an authentic, juicy point of view.”
Trouble said she would continue producing films for her own label too, while she works to develop the Pink Velvet line.
“We’re all investing in this project and we just want to see how people respond to a mixture of mainstream girl/girl porn and Courtney Trouble’s signature queer porn," she said. "This will be the first time Smash’s fans see anything like my work, which is awesome. I’ve been looking forward to the day when I’d be able to make cinematic porn for cable.”
Photo by Rick Garcia from the 2014 XBIZ Awards.
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