Rating: 
Summary: Save Your Money!!!
Review: (Negative stars not permitted, unfortunately...)
Believe the bad reviews written here by burned customers. The positive reviews must be written either by the author or people indebted to her.
This is an AWFUL "book" -- and I use the term loosely. I would have thought that a worse book about the porn industry than Luke Ford's could not have been written , but I would have been wrong.
This, uh, OBJECT is definitely on my list of all-time worst books *ever* published. In fact, the general appearance of the book indicates it may be a vanity press affair -- odd type face, double-spaced lines (!!!), lack of standard publishing info, etc.
It is a sub-literate effort. Badly spelled, with poor grammar and syntax, each plodding 5th-grade declarative sentence piled onto the last one in an endless tedious progression. It is PAINFUL to read!
Apart from being atrociously written, the overall story also manages to be somehow both boring and trivial. It's not even good gossip, just the settling personal grudges by someone who is, maybe, not the sharpest pencil in the box. So-and-so is mean; somebody else is a drunk; another guy is an OK guy. Pow! Zap! Dull! Pointless! And as someone has already pointed out, this screed is only very VERY tenuously related to anything at all to do with the adult film industry.
You'll be annoyed at the incompetence and aimlessness of this effort, and I guarantee will learn nothing significant. Save your money - sooner or later somebody will write a decent book about adult movies.
Rating:
Summary: This book is not what you think
Review: Beware: before you buy this book you have to know that the extent of this woman's knowledge of the 'industry' comes from having worked the back office in small-time post-production companies that sell porn.
Ms. Bridge's writing is best described as a diatribe against former employers who happened to be in the business of obtaining and re-selling adult film material. It is a self-indulgent, poorly written rant devoid of any sympathy for of the people she writes about (co-workers, not actors or producers). They end up being one-dimensional cardboard caricatures, with no attempt at a greater understanding of their lives or indeed a reason why we might care to read about them at all.
Far from zipping through the book in a day, as I had originally thought when I bought it, I was surprised to have to struggle to make it through the first chapter. I finally gave up 70% of the way into it.
Rating: 
Summary: A+ 100% Accurate
Review: I am a sales person in the industry and every word that the author wrote is 100 % accurate, she has not exaggerated one bit. Yes and I know the man she has described, that man is incapable of love, cold and hard as a rock. The gramma was not perfect but then the author is not American. I recommend anyone that wants to know the truth about the porn industry this is it!
Rating: 
Summary: Better than good, actually great.
Review: I am getting so sick and tired of reading reviews about books I have read that are actually great. I read reviews about this book that is of negative sort, and it shines through that the reviewers are in the business, and of course if someone trashes their bread and butter shame on them, right.
A reviewer claims that the author knows nothing about the industry. Well, they want you to believe that she knows nothing so that anything the author has written will not be taken seriously. You want to know anything about the book, I suggest you read it for yourself and make your own opinion. I have read many bad reviews about many books, one start to wonder if they truly have read the books.
Read for yourself.
" People that do drugs in the pornographic film industry are either addicted before they enter it or become addicted soon after beginning their "career". It also has a lot to do with the fast cash flow and easy money that is so prevalent throughout the industry. I believe that the porn stars have been given a celebrity status and more and more young people find it hip instead of "dirty" or "filthy". The high yet outdated moral standards of the American society relating to sex are becoming less and less meaningful among younger Americans. The young people of today are rebellious and freer in spirit and mind, though not as free as the Woodstock era. Yet they are still very sexually active and much more open minded than older generations of Americans. Some would say that Americans have become stuck in their Puritanical roots and have fallen behind their European cousins when it comes to accepting and embracing the inevitable change, or evolution, in moral beliefs that have helped human kind to grow as a species from the very first day we emerged from caves. The hip layouts and glossy, high quality pictures that are produced with the videos gives the young audience a false image of glamour and fame that would all but vanish if they were to step into the shoes of the people in this industry.
L.A. Weekly, a free magazine available throughout the Los Angeles area, has many young readers. The magazine contains a good amount of adult advertisements in its pages and even allows advertisers to place employment ads for various "openings" in the adult entertainment industry. Several "freelance shooters" place ads in the paper regarding auditions for adult videos, they are looking for both males and females. The audition is simply a test of what you are capable of doing in front of the camera. Unlike a movie or TV audition where you read some lines, here you are required to have sex with an experienced actor or actress. Sometimes an audition can be set up to do a complete sex scene. Since the young girls and boys have no experience they are usually taken advantage of. They are paid $100 to $200 for an audition and the filmed scene is then sold to a big company in the industry that pays over $1,000 for the scene. Sometimes the company will pay even more for the scene because the girl is new, fresh, hot, attractive, and nobody else has her under their label. There is a constant demand of new girls in this industry and amateurs are big in the market. Can you find a better amateur than a brand new girl off the street?
In today's L.A. Weekly there are several categories listed for adult work. There is one called "Adult Employment" and it is the one used by the production companies to get fresh new faces into their offices. It is also used by the freelance shooters who sell the raw footage to the production companies.
No matter what they tell you over the phone, it is never entirely true. When you go there, they start bargaining with you regarding the price. They tell you that you are not all that good looking, that you are too old, they will even tell you that you would be lucky to find someone who will shoot video of you. Some shooters are even showing the cash before the shoot begins in order to convince the girls that they will get the amount they agreed upon and that the money is there after the shoot. However, things can and often do happen during the shoot that changes everything. After the shoot is complete and its time to pay, the shooter says that the performance is not good enough for them to use or that its not worth the price they agreed up on and the actor or actress gets stiffed on the price. This sure sounds like scam business practices to me."
Rating:
Summary: This book is absolutely terrible!
Review: I bought this book on the recommendation of someone on this page. Assuredly, you can read the tremendous endorsement on one of the above posts.Me, being literate, I find this book to be a complete joke.
The grammar and writing style are on the level of a 2nd grader. I understand fully that English is not the author's mother tongue, in which case the call for (need for) an editor is all the more glaring. I assure you there was no editorial process done on this abortion! The grammatical errors and blatent misspellings in this book are extremely distracting, at best. The sentence structure is a joke. I should provde samples of what I refer to, but I am too lazy. I could quote a quip from virtually *any* page and it would make any thinking human's hair stand on end. Also please know, as I did not realize, then when they refer to this book as describing the porn "video" industry, please understand...that this is actually about the cut/splice/duplication aspect of the creation of VHS tapes. Not the shooting of the tapes or anything like that...just how the raw footage is made into the final VHS product. Who cares??! This book is a joke and on a 1-10 scale, I would rate it -21.
Rating:
Summary: I don't agree
Review: I don't agree with the latest review that it is a bad book. It is actually very informative and enlightning. I think the person who wrote the bad review is a porn industry player that does not want these things to come out. I believe that someone recognized themselves in it and don't want others to read about it. In our society we tend to give negative feedback if we have something to hide, ("point one finger and three points back at you") does the writer of the review have something to hide or has the author hit a sensitive nerv? I believe that the author has exposed a lot of things that the industry don't want the regular Joe to know about. There is a mafia in the porn industry and it is not Italian, the mafia is religious but not catholic. The money 'under the table' is the real profit that no one really knows how big that is, this is where the industry makes their money and placing them in offshore accounts. Oh yes, this is very much a reality and a fact. The porn industry plays by the rules on the surface but in reality the illegal activity is a growing trend with hitmen and extortion. The industry of porn is the other Hollywood but with a dark and deceitful side.
Rating:
Summary: Are we reading the same book?
Review: I have just finished reading a book called Cut Throat Business; I am having the last word. I see that a lot of reviewers have "immature" comments about this book. My questions is have we read the same book? I have read this book and I can't see what others so to speak complain about. I have a take out of the book; this is so those who want to buy the book can judge for themselves.
Page 48, "Clinton had his fair share of "friends" and "enemies". His enemies weren't afraid of him, on the contrary, they stomped into his office and handled him hands on, literally hands on. To give you an idea; there was a competitor in the industry, a very good friend of Billy and, naturally, another hot-headed Italian, who turned up one day in Clinton's office without notice. Billy was in Clinton's office having his brotherly conversation when the little man barged into the room. The man was very loud and he made certain that no one missed a word of what he was saying. The little man was pretty pissed off, jumped up on the desk, grabbed Clinton by the neck, and pinned him to his high back executive leather chair. Billy simply stood there and watched it all happen, he didn't even attempt to offer Clinton, his so-called "mate", any help.
After a few moments that must have seemed like hours to poor, helpless Clinton, Billy finally decided to do something as he tried to calm down the little man. Still, Billy never lifted a finger to go in between them and break them up; no Clinton was on his own. So much for all that brotherly friendship and all the talk about being "mates". Orca finally stormed in, grabbed the little man off the desk, and threw him out. Billy's words were useless here.
Another situation occurred after Clinton had struck a deal with a seller to purchase some masters. The deal was that Clinton would pay half of the agreed upon price up front and the remaining half upon delivery of the masters. However, when the seller returned to deliver the masters and pick up the balance of the money, Clinton changed his mind and was no longer willing to pay the remaining amount due. The seller was furious, took his masters, and left the building with Clinton on his tail. The entire time Clinton was desperately trying to reason with the seller.
Outside the building, Clinton and the seller started to play tug-of-war with the box of masters. After a few moments of this childish display, the seller eventually won the battle and placed the box in the back of his truck."
Page 57 "People that do drugs in the pornographic film industry are either addicted before they enter it or become addicted soon after beginning their "career". It also has a lot to do with the fast cash flow and easy money that is so prevalent throughout the industry. I believe that the porn stars have been given a celebrity status and more and more young people find it hip instead of "dirty" or "filthy". The high yet outdated moral standards of the American society relating to sex are becoming less and less meaningful among younger Americans. The young people of today are rebellious and freer in spirit and mind, though not as free as the Woodstock era. Yet they are still very sexually active and much more open minded than older generations of Americans. Some would say that Americans have become stuck in their Puritanical roots and have fallen behind their European cousins when it comes to accepting and embracing the inevitable change, or evolution, in moral beliefs that have helped human kind to grow as a species from the very first day we emerged from caves. The hip layouts and glossy, high quality pictures that are produced with the videos gives the young audience a false image of glamour and fame that would all but vanish if they were to step into the shoes of the people in this industry.
L.A. Weekly, a free magazine available throughout the Los Angeles area, has many young readers. The magazine contains a good amount of adult advertisements in its pages and even allows advertisers to place employment ads for various "openings" in the adult entertainment industry. Several "freelance shooters" place ads in the paper regarding auditions for adult videos, they are looking for both males and females. The audition is simply a test of what you are capable of doing in front of the camera. Unlike a movie or TV audition where you read some lines, here you are required to have sex with an experienced actor or actress. Sometimes an audition can be set up to do a complete sex scene. Since the young girls and boys have no experience they are usually taken advantage of. They are paid $100 to $200 for an audition and the filmed scene is then sold to a big company in the industry that pays over $1,000 for the scene. Sometimes the company will pay even more for the scene because the girl is new, fresh, hot, attractive, and nobody else has her under their label. There is a constant demand of new girls in this industry and amateurs are big in the market. Can you find a better amateur than a brand new girl off the street?"
What is so misspelled, retarded, and all other comments that have been used to described the book, if someone is retarded it is "Mr. Clinton" in the book.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT Companion to ANY Book in this Genre!!
Review: I just finished reading this book for the second time, and, I have to admit, I liked it better, much better, the second time around. You see, I originally read the first edition and was put off by the poor writing style that some of the reviews have noted. Then, on the insistence of a friend, I shelled out some coin for the second edition and settled down for what turned out to be quite a good read. Yes, the current second edition is well written and properly edited. I don't know if the first edition was released by mistake, before the editor had finished the job or if the second edition was sent back to the editor after some of the comments below. Either way, the results are great and the book now has a life of it's own. In any event, my point is that this book is a great compliment to round out any book you buy about this industry. It tells the story of ordinary people in the not so ordinary world of adult film. It's not about hype or glam or the attempted legitimization of this industry. It is, however, all about the happenings down in the trenches of the world of porn and it makes no excuses for what takes place. It is what it is!
So, I say to you, ignore the older reviews of the first edition of this book as they are absolutely obsolete and do no relate to the current edition. I think the author does a good job at describing the type of people she worked with and the actual happenings inside an adult film studio. No, it does not detail the set up for shooting scenes, contain explicitly detailed sex scenes (something I think some of the reviews were looking for and didn't find, and that's what put them off), or have X-Rated photos inside to "stimulate" more than just your mind. It does, however, tell a compelling story that really gets beneath the varnish and exposes the core of an industry that is truly operating on the fringes of legality in every sense of the word. I liked the fact that the author tells us about the industry as seen through her eyes, not the eyes of a ghostwriter or rose-colored glasses. She takes us along with her on her journey through the inner-workings of a morally corrupt industry and shows us the real people behind the scenes. In some ways this is akin to reading a daily journal or diary as it seems to have taken the highlights from her experiences and dispenses with the mundane filler.
To sum it up, I was pleasantly surprised by this book and I think you will be too, so be certain to pick up a copy (second edition) and judge for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: SO BAD IT HURTS
Review: I totally agree with S.K.'s review, and have a hard time figuring what book the good reviews were from. I tried to read it, but could only get about half way through it. It seems like they printed the original unedited manuscript. I can overlook a few typo's, but this filled with either no editing or really bad editing that it became too much of a chore to continue reading. After skimming chapters in the last half of the book I found that it just continues to read like a first draft manuscript. I finally gave up trying to read this manuscript about half way through the book......Aside from that this isn't really about the creative side of the industry, but rather about the packaging and distribution aspect of the adult film industry. It would be like reading about the rigors of a corporate mail room to get a picture of what the coporation is really like. It would basically be viewing the corporation from the bottom looking up. If you're interested in the behind the scenes look and the perspectives of those involved with the actual filming of adult films, then this is definately not the book you're looking for.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastically Incriminating!
Review: Not only does Traci Lord write a book about the industry but it is refreshing to read something that relates to present time.
This book has so much information that if I was one of the characters I would run and hide. There is enough to put some of them behind bars.
I like the author last chapter "I am having the last word" where she gives her comments about what you have read.
"It is all for one and one for none industry. In other words, the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many; no one covers anyone's back and there is no honor amongst thieves. This is basically a thieves paradise and nothing more.
Many times, I have wondered if well-known and famous mainstream music artists knew that older porno movies feature their work as background music. It's quite prevalent and done without permission, licensing fees, credit, etc. So, not only do the porn industry's players steal each other's flicks, they also illegally use copyrighted music in their productions. A thief is a thief is a thief!
As of today, bootlegging has become such a problem that there are now rewards/bounties put up by the larger porn film companies in an effort to crack down on bootlegging. I could mention one company that has made and profited nicely from just a handful of bootlegs, but I'll keep that information under my hat... for now.
There is much more to tell about the other "Hollywood", but, as of now, I'll keep it to what you've just read. What I've exposed so far should be enough to raise anyone's eyebrows and open one or two young and naïve person's eyes. You should all see that this is not the right path for making the American dream come true."
...and she continues further down.
"What you have just read is not a unique story about this industry; this is how things actually are and will continue to be. Keep this in mind the next time you hear someone say how good this industry was for him or her while they were in it, then suddenly turn on the industry when they wrote their best-seller in order to cash in on the last few moments of their fading star. This industry is only good to the few privileged czars who sit at the top of the heap. Yes, this is modern-day feudalism in practice, complete with individual fiefdoms, lords, and peasants. This industry has no conscious whatsoever and I do not expect any time soon that it will grow one either, it is as I said earlier, a cutthroat business."
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