Ridgleline Films

2007 saw the start of a few brand new gay porn companies. One in particular looked to drastically separate itself from the rest of the pack. Veteran performer Jason Ridge decided that he wanted to create his own adult film company, but in order for it to be successful, he felt that it needed to be different from everything that has been done before. No stranger to porn, Jason Ridge first came to prominence in 2003 as a performer for director Jett Blakk's company Red Devil Entertainment. After a lengthy association with Red Devil, Jason branched out to work for other companies like Rascal Video, All Worlds Video, Falcon Entertainment, Lucas Entertainment, and even did a stint as an exclusive model for Hot House Entertainment. In 2004, he won the prestigious GAYVN award for Best Newcomer, and this year he won the GAYVN award for Best Threesome for Lucas Entertainment's Michael Lucas's La Dolce Vita for his scene with Derrick Hansen and Michael Lucas. During these past 4 years, Jason has taken occasional breaks from the industry to clear his thoughts and come back refreshed and recharged. After one such break, Jason decided to launch his own gay porn production company, and Ridgeline Films was born. After a little bit of help initially from circuit party producer Jeffrey Sanker, Jason started to put together his first production. His first step was to assemble his team, and he turned to longtime friend (and fellow gay porn model) Rob Romoni as production manager. Having a background of performing in front of the camera has helped Jason and Rob put together their productions, by knowing exactly what they DIDN'T want to do, and also being in sync with each other when it came to Jason's vision for the company and the product that they looked to produce. Then, after selecting a director (Dylan Ryan), they looked beyond the gay porn industry to find individuals with backgrounds in high fashion photography and television commercials, since stylistically that is the look they were hoping to achieve. They put the word out to their model friends in the industry, and the response was overwhelming. That first movie, A Rising Star, starred Jason, Roman Heart, Blu Kennedy, Joe Strong, Andrew Justice, Matt Cole (in his last gay porn performance before retiring), and Marcos David, was filmed in beautiful Palm Springs. (If you're wondering how Roman Heart was able to do this when he is a Falcon Exclusive, he did this film with Falcon's consent.) More than just porn, the goal of Ridgeline Films is to produce male erotica that will get you off but also have a sophisticated feel. Everybody involved has been nothing but complimentary and pleased with the finished product. However, this isn't to say that this new venture hasn't already had its fair share of controversy. During a PR blitz, Jason made an appearance on a radio show and in his eagerness to be bluntly honest about some of the shortcomings that he sees in the gay porn industry, made some extremely harsh and biting remarks about some of the biggest names in the industry. In fact, he publicly apologized afterward to Trevor Knight, whom he considers to be a friend and took a few digs at in that interview. He also took the opportunity to clear up any rumors about his personal life (he has been romantically linked to fellow porn stars Brad Slater and Caleb Carter). Although that appearance really got people talking, he is now looking to move beyond the drama, and focus on the growth of his company. One PR move had Jason appearing on The Howard Stern Show, one of the few gay porn stars to ever do so, in an attempt for Howard to prove whether or not his sidekick Joey Boots (who recently came out of the closet) was REALLY gay. (They did end up making out on camera and Jason later admitted that Joey copped a feel). That day Jason was the #1 Google search. With all that behind him, and A RISING STAR yet to be released, Jason went right to work on his second production BEYOND MALIBU. Filmed on location in Malibu and the Hollywood Hills, Jason re-teamed with Dylan Ryan behind the camera and also brought back Blu Kennedy. This time he employed such ethnically diverse performers as Danny Vox, Antonio Milan, Braxton Bond, Damian Rios (one-half of the REAL COUPLE from last issue's JUB), and Ridgeline's first "discovery", Maliek Taylor. The production only recently wrapped, and once again all cast and crew are extremely proud of the work that they have done. DVD movies are only one portion of Ridgeline's business plan. They also plan on producing original content for their website (www.ridgelinefilms.com) and are excited about becoming a strong presence in both mediums. Also heavily engrained into their business plan are the ethics of the company, which are non-negotiable. For instance, everyone involved in front of or behind the camera will be GLBT. There is no gay-for-pay performers allowed at Ridgeline as Jason feels that a gay person would know how to produce gay porn better than a straight person would. Also, all of Ridgeline's content both on DVD and on the Web will be condom-only. Not only will Ridgeline never shoot bareback, but they will never sell bareback titles on their website even if it made by a different company. That decision was spurred by seeing some of the big condom-only studios have bareback titles available in their online stores, according to Jason. And that was just 2007! A Rising Star is currently available for purchase at the Ridgeline website where you can also sign up for their newsletter. You can also stay in the loop by reading the Ridgeline Films blog (ridgelinefilms.blogspot.com) or Jason Ridge's personal blog (jasonridge.blogspot.com). It looks like an exciting ride and next year should bring only bigger and better things from Jason Ridge and his new company. Stay tuned folks, you can be sure that JUB will be there covering the growth of this new company every step of the way.

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