Steve Hirsch
Title:
Chief executive, founder
Company:
Vivid Entertainment Group
Born:
Lyndhurst, Ohio; 1961
Career Turning Point:
Borrowing $20,000 to start his adult video company
Personal:
Married, two children
Hobbies:
Collecting presidential autographs and Bruce Springsteen memorabilia; spending time with his family
After dropping out of UCLA in his 20s, Steve Hirsch and his partner David James borrowed $20,000 to found Vivid Entertainment Group, an adult entertainment company, in 1984. It wasn’t a world unfamiliar to Hirsch: His father, a former stockbroker, had moved the family from Ohio to Los Angeles to launch his own adult film company when Hirsch was a child. Today, Hirsch is a multimillionaire and Vivid is the biggest adult film studio in the world, with estimated revenue of more than $100 million. Hirsch is known for signing starlets such as Jenna Jameson to exclusive contracts. Hirsch has seen the industry grow from its seedy roots to its more mainstream position in today’s world Jameson, for example, is the author of a best-selling book, “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale.” Vivid and similar production companies now supply content through major hotel chains, and satellite and cable operators.
Question: Did you always want to be in the adult business?
Answer:
Back in those days you weren’t very public about being in the adult business because some people were afraid of potential legal hassles coming their way. I had different ideas and those were: Just put it out there and get as much media as possible and not be ashamed. I’m proud of what I produce and I don’t have a problem with it. This is stuff made by adults for consenting adults. If someone doesn’t like that, we respect that and we ask them not to buy our movies. For years and years it wasn’t like that. People weren’t very forthright with what they did and sort of hid from it. I think Jenna Jameson went a long way in changing that and transcending the adult business and that was good for the entire industry.
Q: Was it an uphill battle at first?
A:
I was young and fearless. I always felt if it didn’t work out I would just go get a job somewhere, it wouldn’t be the end of my life. I didn’t have a wife and I didn’t have kids and I didn’t have a mortgage payment. So it was like, hey, let’s take a shot. So we were fearless and we went after everything. There were several things we did to make ourselves unique: signing girls to exclusive contracts, which had never been done before; shooting the majority of our movies on film; working with an art director who wasn’t jaded by the old adult business so we had a new, fresh, slick look. We were very lucky because our first video went to No. 1 and was a huge success. For the first five years, I didn’t take more than $500 a week. We just took every dime and plowed it back into the business.
Q: The adult industry was long regarded as a sleazy place to do business. Has that changed?
A:
You have to remember that to get in this business years ago, you just had to be brave enough to say, “I’ll deal with any potential legal problems that come from the business,” and now that’s obviously changed. Now it is a very competitive, very mainstream business. So it’s a little bit different than it was then. Having said all of that, the bar is very low to get into this business. All you have to have is a little video camera, you shoot some scenes and you throw it up on to the Internet and you are in the business. Although that doesn’t compete directly with us, at some point it does take away from this big adult pie that’s out there. Most of the people in the business are people who used to be in sales or something.
Q: You used to be in sales, too.
A:
It was a little bit different for me because I was brought up in the business, so it wasn’t like I went for a job to be a sales person and then started Vivid. When we started there were probably 25 or 30 other producers, now there are 300. It’s not unlike thousands of other small businesses out there, but we just happen to be in the adult business. I enjoy it.
Q: How did you meet your wife?
A:
My wife worked for a video company as a national sales manager. She was selling us product. I was already here at Vivid and had been for a long time. I’ve known her for close to 10 years. We have been married for six years and have two kids, Alexa (6) and Jack (3).
Q: So, even though she was in the business, too, has your line of work ever bothered her?
A:
She is quite smart enough to know that there aren’t naked ladies running around here. I think perception is far worse than reality. But she has been very cool with it. It makes things much easier.
Q: Was it much the same in your family growing up?
A:
My mom obviously understood what my dad did and didn’t have a problem with it. My parents have been married for 50 years and have a very happy, healthy marriage. When I started this company my mother was obviously very supportive. I don’t think that anybody thought it would grow into what it has.
Q: Have you addressed the subject of your business with your children?
A:
Not yet. But obviously, there will be a time when I have to tell them. I mean, they know the name “Vivid.” If you handle your life ethically and morally, then it’s all good. I believe in doing the right thing and dealing honestly in all of my business, and I think that’s part of the reason we have been as successful as we are. I think integrity is important. I would encourage my kids to do what makes them happy. I want them, whatever they choose, to stay focused and really go for it.
Q: How often do adult-industry hopefuls walk into the company or approach you personally?
A:
We have a lot of girls approach us, but I don’t have a lot of girls approaching me at all. Our name is well known enough that people e-mail us and call us and send photos.
Q: What are some of the things you enjoy doing when you’re not at work?
A:
I like going to concerts, and I am a big Bruce Springsteen fan, so I collect a lot of Bruce Springsteen memorabilia. I also collect fossils and amber. I have a substantial collection of 300 to 400 pieces and really love it. I collect presidential autographs, and have all the presidents. Took years to amass it. But it’s about getting really cool pieces, whether it’s a document or a letter, and going to auctions and things like that. I like cars in general, but I do like sports cars. I have four cars, a Bentley, two Mercedes and a Maserati.
Q: How big a role does your Web presence play in Vivid’s business these days?
A:
On the Internet side, we have a big presence and were one of the first out there. It’s probably 35 percent of our revenue. We have about 3 million unique visitors a month, so it’s a massive amount of traffic that we can monetize or send somewhere else and get paid for it. We launched our Web presence in the late 1990s. We looked at it as a business, rather than a place to put our box covers up. It was a way to really drive revenue. Very early on we started that and tried to grow it. The DVD business is falling off, and eventually it will go away, so the Web is increasingly important.
Q: How did you decide on exclusive contracts for porn stars?
A:
It just made sense. If I was going to put a girl into a movie and I am going to spend a bunch of money promoting and marketing this movie then the next time a guy wants to see a movie with her I want him to come back to me. I don’t want to be spending my money to promote and market a girl that’s in another guy’s movie next week or next month or next year. Now we have nine or 10 girls under contract. At one point we had more but we’ve cut it back a bit.
