I'm gonna cry "Uncle!" and will stop pestering you about making a rough male dominated abduction video. Actually, I prefer to consider what I've been doing as less a matter of nagging you to do that kind of video as much as providing a very aggressive desperate encouragement. I guess you don't need a lot of goading because it's something that you want to do, so it'll happen when you can assemble the right mix of talent, time, and budget. Bugging you about it probably isn't going to speed up the process.  

 This will essentially be the last time I really talk about this subject at length. A few things may pop up in the course of conversations, but this will be the end of it for a while.

 I don't know if talking about this hasn't been annoying to you. I like exploring all avenues that are available, though it's certainly very presumptuous on my part to think that I'm going to have any ideas that you haven't already considered in depth. So far, I certainly haven't come up with any brainstorms yet. At the same time, your responses are always very educational. I'm learning from your firsthand experiences. If I ever get around making my own videos, I'll be that much further ahead of the game. You've done a good job of instilling in me the need to be careful with the models and not do things that will be surprising or upsetting to them. I don't know if I ever would have been stupid enough to wrap a woman's head in duct tape, but it's clearly something that won't happen now unless I can figure out some safe way to do it.

 I've had very unrealistic ideas about how bondage videos are put together. That's funny because I've read all kinds of books and magazines on making movies and behind the scenes articles. For some silly reason, I've been applying a different set of standards for fetish videos. I was kind of looking at them as being like the modern sexual equivalent of a Mickey Rooney "Hey gang! Let's make a movie!"

 I know that's dumb. For some reason, I've thought that the whole LA bondage community knows each other and works together. All the companies are in competition for the same small number of customers, but are a close-knit group of professionals that have friendly rivalries in the products they produced. I knew models were getting paid, but figured that they'd come back on their own time to reshoot something that didn't work. I thought that there were enough people buying the videos that you'd occasionally have somebody call up and offer the use of a store or gym or some other exotic location to do a video shoot. This is all very far from the reality that you work under.

 Seeing one of your scripts was an eye opener. Everything was planned out in detail, from the sets you were going to use, the models you were hiring, when you wanted to take photos, dialog, and even every little item that needed to be used in the video, from a bottle to sub for chloroform to the clothing (in the model's sizes) that needs to be bought so it can be torn. Based on most of the videos that I've seen, it was hard to imagine that up front planning was any more specific than some scribblings on a napkin. Certainly, your plot driven scenarios are more elaborate and require a bit of preparation. Did you learn to do this kind of planning the hard way?

 While I hope that I haven't been a nuisance about pushing you to direct the kind of videos you like, it's still been an educational experience for me.

 The main reasons why I've wanted to explore you and Jon taping your personal sessions together is that it bypasses a lot of problems that exist when you try to use other performers. You can do rough action safer together, though I'm a little surprised that even then it isn't always 100% safe. Cost and time aren't as big a concern. If something doesn't work right, you can do it again when you get a chance.  

 Of course, the downside is that you lose control as a director when you're playing the captive. Even if you're calling the shots with the script, Jon is basically in charge because you can't provide a lot of additional direction while you're bound and gagged. I was hoping to get your take on whether you prefer the best bondage action versus the best cinematic video. As a director, I know you're going to prefer technique, but I'm wondering about what you'd like most as a customer who has to choose between, for instance, a nicely made boring HOM video or an early unprofessional ZFX video that focuses on the action?

 Hopefully you can occasionally tape your rough sessions with Jon. Even if you've only got a single camera that's taking mostly long shots, you might still capture something that you like. At worst, you've lost maybe a little time setting up the camera. No money's lost. If something interesting happens, maybe you can film some pickup shots that can be thrown into the continuity.

 In my blind zeal to get videos I want, I may be overlooking more personal aspects of this. You may not enjoy taping something that is an intimate night with your boyfriend. The one thing that I tend to forget is that you probably wouldn't get any personal enjoyment out of seeing this kind of footage. As you mentioned, you're not comfortable watching yourself on video (I hate seeing myself on video too), so it's not as if you'll have fun watching these videos when they're done. If you watch any bondage tapes, they're probably with other people rather than ones that you've been in.

 At least I put my money where my mouth is with regard to your open auction for a custom made video. I have very little hope that mine will be picked since I bent the rules slightly and didn't offer anything beyond the minimum bid. I'm not sure how much I'll like the raw unedited product. I understand that editing the video is a lot of work and is probably what made your last custom video unprofitable. Still, $300 is a lot to spend and I wasn't comfortable enough to go higher. If I'm lucky enough that you choose to do my scenes, and it works out well, maybe it will lead to more if you have any desire to do it again.  

 I threw the kitchen sink in my scenes just in case the offer never occurs again. There's a lot of stuff that I'd like to see in there. Of course, anything that seems unsafe or unduly uncomfortable can be dropped. I don't want this custom video to be an unpleasant experience. Since you enjoy your bondage rough and find some forms of pain stimulating under the right circumstances, it's hard to say where to draw the line. I'd rather let you decide what you would prefer not to do and not do.

 You probably noticed that my plot gave up on good cinematics to get some good manhandling. It would be great to have another person to work the camera so that some close-ups could be filmed, but your offer was only an assistant and you for cost reasons. I may have made the assistant's role more active than you originally outlined, but didn't add any cost to the production. I'm hoping Jon can be the assistant because it's going to be really weird if you've got a gay assistant trying to figure out how to touch you in an aggressively erotic fashion.

 > I did see an agent's book of male models. A bunch of Ken dolls, posing like
> cheesecake. And could I really bring in a stranger and see what he does
> with a live woman? Not really...

 I know what you mean. The last time I gave any serious thought about doing my own video, I was considering hiring a bodyguard in case an actor got out of hand. I never went far enough to even figure out how to hire a bodyguard or how to hire an actor, so I have no idea what the scales of cost are.

 > How many guys do YOU know, personally, that you think could do > this role well and safely?

 One. That's one more than the number of girls I know that would be willing to do a video. I know you've said that you'd be doing these kinds of videos if you could. Same here. You're just a whole bunch more steps closer to being able to do it than I am. Hence, my desires that you achieve your goal to make them.  

 Based on your responses, the biggest impediments to doing the kind of video you want are time and distribution. You can't quite get what you want because you have to work within Close-Up's rules and that drastically limits what you can get away with in your videos.

 With the ease of making videos, I'm really amazed that so few people are putting out amateur bondage videos. Twenty years ago, it was unthinkable to make a home bondage movie. A home 8mm rig could only shoot about 10 minutes, usually without sound, before a new reel had to be used. Once filming was done, the film had to go to a processor for developing. A person would have to be awful gutsy to send their 8mm bondage films to a developer for processing. Making copies meant going back to the developing company. This was a time consuming and expensive process. By contrast, video is easy and inexpensive to shoot and simple to copy. It can be done entirely in the home. Today, the main difficulty is hiring performers.

 I'd be more than happy to buy a well done amateur video, but haven't seen any that fit the types of things that I want to see. I've only come across a few amateur videos on the net and they basically come across as less professional versions of stuff that's already available. I don't understand the mentality of that approach.  

 A couple of quick definitions are needed.  

 When you talk about "The Scene", is this a dedicated organization or just a generic way of talking about the bondage scene?

Strappado -- It ain't in the dictionary.