Jimmy Scaffnetti Takes the Helm of Mercenary Pictures’ Climaxxx TV
CANOGA PARK, Calif. ‹ Mercenary Pictures sets the gonzo bar higher, as hardcore auteur Jimmy Scaffnetti takes the reigns of Climaxxx TV with its third volume delivering high-quality XXX action with top shelf talent.
Climaxxx TV 3 features an all-star cast of the finest female talent working in adult, including Nadia Styles, Harmony, Brooke Banner, Sandra Romain and Staci Thorn, as well as notable male performers Erik Everhard, Marco Banderas, John Strong, Jerry and three-time AVN Male Performer of the Year and Mercenary owner Lexington Steele.
“My formula for excellent porn is simple,” Scaffnetti, who also directs White Man’s Revenge and Nasty Universe, said. “Just find the best women and men, put them together and let the camera roll. With performers of this caliber, the scenes practically shoot themselves. Working with Mercenary is great because Lex, as one of the top performers in the business, understands that you can’t just throw people together and hope they work out.”
Bringing together the best performers in adult and producing the best all-sex titles in the industry is always the goal of Mercenary, Steele said.
“We don’t cut corners on production, talent or directors,” Steele added.
“Jimmy’s an excellent gonzo shooter and to give him anything less when it comes to production value or talent would ultimately short-change the consumer. The guys at home watch porn for the action, and to give them anything less than the best would be ripping them off.”
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About Mercenary Pictures and Black Viking Pictures:
Mercenary Pictures is one of the premier producers of gonzo, interracial and ethnic adult entertainment and is the only place to find titles directed by and starring the company’s owner, AVN and Venus award-winner Lexington Steele. The company’s titles include ManHammer, Lex Steele XXX, SuperWhores, Black Reign, Pole Position: Lex POV, IronHead, Fresh Out the Box, Silverback Attack, Ebony XXX and Top Guns, all of which have met with critical acclaim.
Black Viking Pictures, subsidiary of Mercenary, produces titles for the transsexual, female and gay audiences. Lines produced by Black Viking are You’d Never Know, Handyman, My First Interracial and Blow Hardz.
Interview with Jimmy Scaffnetti, director of Mercenary Pictures’ Nasty Universe 2, White Man’s Revenge Vols. 1 and 2 and Climaxxx TV 3
Where are you from?
Vancouver, British Columbia. I have a blue-collar background — I’m good at doing what I’m told.
Funny enough, when I got the phone call (to work in this business) it was in September of 2002 from Erik Evehard, who was in Montreal. He was having some issues getting what he wanted. He was with Anabolic and Diabolic at the time when they’d send their director/performers on trips and they would work for each other and shoot for each other. Erik had a distinct way he wanted his stuff shot, and I guess that it wasn’t being done the way he wanted. He called me — we were friends — and asked me if he thought I could do it. He knew I had an incredible work ethic and I think he knew I had a background in sports and automotive photography so he knew I could frame something and that I could be trained to do this.
I came down to Los Angeles in November of 2002, He showed me the camera, showed me how they moved it, a la Mike John. I watched about 20 DVDs, and I wanted to watch Mike John shoot to see what he did with the camera but it never worked out. So I went into my first shoot with Erik Everhard as cold as cold can be. When Erik said go, that was it. I had to make or break. My first four scenes made a movie and it made Editor’s Choice. I believe it was
2 on 1 #14. I did a crazy shoot in Prague in the winter of 2003 after that, below zero, shooting outside. It was crazy. It really puts a guy to the test when he’s been in it for half a month.
Where did your career go after that?
I had family responsibilities in ’03 that took me back to Canada so it took me out of the industry for almost a year. The day I figured I was going to kill my boss on a construction site was when I put my hammer down, picked up my cell phone and called Everhard and asked him, “Hey do you need a good cameraman?” And he said come on down. I was shooting probably about 90 percent of his scenes then, with Mike John shooting the other 10 percent.
You mentioned you’d worked in a strip club — did you do anything else in the adult industry before shooting?
No. I was a bartender, I used to bounce, and in one club in particular it was a complex: it was a 40 room welfare hotel attached to a nightclub that catered to the younger kids in the inner city and attached to that was the strip bar. It was weird. They were really big into promoting from within, so my next step after being a doorman and bartender was management and running the strip bad during the day.
Who else have you worked with?
When I came back in ’04, I shot for John Strong, Steve Holmes and shot some behind the scenes for Manuel Ferrara. I really got a great hookup with Sean Michaels, I shot six or seven movies for him. Currently I’m working with Vince Vouyer, Everhard and of course, Lex. Basically, I’ve been under the wing of the right guys at the right time. I didn’t have to put up with too much bullshit and I didn’t have to whore myself out.
What are you shooting for Mercenary?
I have two volumes in White Man’s RevengeŠ Nasty Universe 2 and I’m currently working on Climaxxx TV. Lex is easy to work with and he’s very flexible. There weren’t too many restrictions on what I could or couldn’t shoot. He told me to give him the product with my vision, but he did give me the title of the project. I can structure my scenes in any way. I can shoot them anywhere I want, when it comes to the location.
Who impresses you as a performer?
Taryn Thomas, Tory Lane, Rita Faltoyano, Erik Everhard, Lexington Steele, Toni Ribas, Lillian Tiger, Julie Silver. You know if you hire those people you will get the best scene imaginable.
