Film Fatale

In San Franscisco's Mission District, where real estate prices are as steep as the hills, who in the film and TV industry can afford to rent a creepy, derelict old building left vacant when the National Guard moved to better quarters?

Only the enterprising adults of the specialty adult direct-to-web video.

Peter Acworth of Kink.com convinced City Hall agree to sell him the State Armory and Arsenal building which looks like a Moorish castle -- for $14.5 million. The Wall Street Journal online has the story on the community reaction and the Kink company's efforts at community outreach: cleaning graffiti, fixing windows and offering internships in film/video production.

Reporter Vauhini Vara got this choice quote from a city planner as to why the city "didn't notice the wordly about NC-17 films."

"Frankly, I kind of missed that," he says.

Another city planner says,"The planning code...is not really worried with moral propriety."

You know how we can tell that that this company's on the level, just like an ordinary film production company? Because the WSJ.com story (available for free if you register for a two week trial) says internship rather than paid internship. If you intern on a indie/art film, you don't get paid. If you're a production assistant on an adult film: you should expect to be paid. If not at the end of the day, at the end of the shoot. In cash.