Last year about this time I wrote a piece regarding the ignorance of female directors in mainstream Hollywood as opposed to the adult industry. In the past year mainstream Hollywood has undergone a monstrous period of disdain and disgust with all of the sexual allegations that arose against Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, James Franco, Woody Allen, Louis CK, James Toback, Jeffrey Tambor and dozens more. And there seems to be no end in sight as every day something else is brought to light. The Academy, after last year’s Oscars, promised more diversification and that there would be changes coming. However, as the proverbial “s**t hit the fan Hollywood, who has basically thumbed their nose at the adult industry, they suddenly saw the moral and lily white persona they have tried to convey over the years instantly become a very despicable and degrading picture to the public, the same public who spend their hard earned money to buy movie tickets. The “MeToo” movement became very strong and other factions lent their voices as well, and continue to do so, but for the most part the Academy has remained silent. In many ways the adult industry is a lot more professional on, and off, the set than mainstream Hollywood.

Now the AVN and XBIZ awards have concluded and Oscar is just around the corner. As for the diversification the Academy talked about, yes there was finally a glimmer of some light at the end of the tunnel. Greta Gerwig, was nominated for original screenplay and director for “Lady Bird”, which also was nominated for Best Picture. Also another first took place with Rachel Morrison becoming the first woman nominated for cinematography for her brilliant photography in the excellent film, “Mudbound”. There were also a couple of others for the ladies nominated in non acting categories, but there were also some obvious omissions. Two women who were ignored were Patty Jenkins for a Best Director nom for “Wonder Woman” and Dee Rees for Best Director with “Mudbound”. The noms for Gerwig and Morrison is a small step forward, almost a token move, but the Academy calls it progress.

Now let’s look at our adult industry and the number of women who were up for Best Director noms at these awards and won. There was Kay Brandt, Mason, Kayden Kross, Bree Mills, Angela White and Joanna Angel. In addition among the female nominees for directing were Stormy Daniels, Jacky St. James, Holly Randall and Dana Vespoli. That’s a total of ten women who were in the Best director categories, something you will never see from Hollywood. Every single one of these ladies turned out extraordinary work in directing a diverse group of films from comedy to drama and more. These women were not pushed to the back of the room like mainstream Hollywood does. They were moved front and center displaying their various directorial talents under much tougher and restricted circumstances.

None of these ladies in adult had millions of dollars as a budget to work with, nor did they have crews of hundreds of people, or acting ensembles of dozens of performers. Additionally, and this is extremely important, they also didn’t have weeks and months to shoot their films. These hard working ladies had a couple weeks or days, small crews, small casts and small budgets to work with. Yet, they still managed to give these productions a mainstream look and feel and turn out award worthy product that both fans and critics loved. As a reward, their hard work earned these ladies their nominations for awards in a variety of directorial categories at these awards.

While the Oscars will only have one woman, Ms. Gerwig, among the ten nominees for Best Director, that certainly was not the case with AVN and XBIZ as those who vote for the awards (including yours truly) are very much aware of how important, and the major role, these women behind the camera play in our industry. To that end, unlike the Oscars, they are rewarded for their hard work and talents as writers and directors. To that end it was a very proud night for the ladies who came away with their prestigious and well deserved awards in various film directing categories and also for the films themselves.

Will Greta Gerwig win the Oscar for Lady Bird? Probably not. Will Rachel Morrison win an Oscar for cinematography for Mudbound? Probably not. Will Hollywood finally realize that our industry has as much talent, and maybe more, than they do and take a little lesson from how the adult industry treats its females who work behind the camera? Probably not, and that is a shame.

So, while Hollywood pretends to be more diverse despite all of the sexual troubles, it will also continue to be an exclusive “Good Ol’ Boys” club. Oh, there will be the token females who are directors, writers, cinematographers, etc. allowed in, but will be summarily ignored and dismissed when the Oscars come around. On the other hand our adult industry will continue to open the door for, and eagerly welcome, more female directors, writers, etc. into the ranks behind the camera in very important roles. It will only serve to make our industry much more diverse, much more original, much more professional and above all, much more entertaining.

In closing my sincere congratulations to ALL of the ladies who came away both as winners and being nominated at the awards shows. Now, let’s really kick some butt in 2018.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga and AVN

Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN