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Greg Lansky

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Greg Lansky
Greg Lansky at the XRCO Awards June 2016
Born (1982-12-12) December 12, 1982 (age 41)
Paris, France
Websitewww.greglansky.com

Greg Lansky (born December 12, 1982) is founder and former CEO of the adult entertainment company Vixen Media Group, one of the largest companies in the adult entertainment business.[1][2][3]

After creating multiple brands and successful websites for Reality Kings, Lansky opened his own company creating high-end adult studios Blacked, Tushy and Vixen in 2014.[2] Outside directing, Lansky has worked as an entrepreneur, founding the Vixen Media Group.[4] In 2018, Lansky transitioned into running his company and producing rather than directing.[4] He originally received notoriety for his work as director with the Tushy production Being Riley (2016), starring Riley Reid, which received seven awards at the 2016 AVN Awards.[5] Additionally, he has become well known outside the industry for referring to adult entertainment as "art".[6][7][8]

Early life

Lansky was born in 1982 in Paris, France.[2][9] He was raised Jewish.[10] After dropping out of school, he briefly worked in television production in Paris and interned with a production company that produced reality tv shows. Shortly after he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career.[11] He writes that as a child he was "fascinated" by Playboy and Penthouse.[12][13] Lansky later attended marketing school in Paris and worked for various TV networks, yet pornography remained his main passion.[14] "I just loved the fact that it wasn't politically correct," he says. "It was this aspect of society that everyone loves and worships in private, but in public it has a lot of shame. I love the paradox of it. People were absolutely obsessed with it in private and in public no one would talk about it."[15]

Career

Lansky has been compared to Hugh Hefner and is credited with having "elevated the [adult] business as a whole."[16] He was called "the most-pirated man in porn," and the movies his company produced are "some of the most-watched adult film content in the world."[17] Lanksy started working in the adult industry in 2005 with his childhood friend, Mike Adriano. Adriano worked in real estate and Lansky in French TV production. They used his listings to shoot their first adult movie called Slut Diaries featuring Steve Holmes. They attended the Venus Fair in Berlin later that year and sold their first film. There he was introduced to Scott Taylor, who was the owner of New Sensations.

In 2006, Lansky was given a directorial contract. Lansky went on to direct many titles for New Sensations/Digital Sin until 2007. In 2007, Lansky opened his production company and began directing and producing for the web-based adult network Reality Kings. Lansky stopped working for Reality Kings in 2014 to concentrate on creating his own company BLACKED.

In June 2015, Lansky launched another adult website, anal sex-themed Tushy. That year, Tushy won the best new imprint at the 2016 AVN Awards and won the most awards of the night with Being Riley totaling 9 wins.

In 2016 he launched his third adult website, Vixen. The following year Vixen won best marketing campaign and best new imprint at the 2017 AVN awards.[18] His acceptance speech for the 2017 AVN Director of the year was appreciated by numerous adult performers and gained mainstream attention and wide-range support on social media.[19][20]

Additionally, he has received notable attention for his unorthodox approach to producing adult videos, where he aims to raise porn standards to that of art.[6] He was the main keynote speaker at the 2017 XBIZ Show.[21] He has been referred to as "The Spielberg of Porn" and his Instagram was called "the most NSFW" profile of all time by GQ France.[22][23][24] On April 5, 2018 Lansky was interviewed and featured on Rolling Stone about the issues with piracy his companies face. David Robertson from Xtakedown has processed more than 12.6 million copyright infringements for Lansky's sites and he estimated that Lansky's brands represent about 6% of total adult online piracy.[25]

During the 2018 AVN Awards, Lansky became the second man in history to ever win AVN Director of the Year three consecutive times. After receiving the award Greg Lansky gave Kevin Moore his acceptance speech time so he could speak about his wife adult star August Ames who committed suicide on December 5, 2017, and the August Project - a support system tailored for performers in the adult film industry in honor of Ames. A large number of adult stars were moved and applauded Greg Lansky for giving Kevin Moore a platform to speak. Many of them took social media to support and applaud Greg Lansky and Kevin Moore.[26][27]

In 2018, Rolling Stone profiled Lansky and Ad Age called him "a master of SFW marketing."[28][29] In August 2018, Kanye West revealed on the American late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! that his favorite pornography was by Lansky's brand Blacked.[30]

He sold his stake in Vixen Media Group in January 2020 to pursue other business ventures.[3]

Awards

  • Best Web Director – XRCO Award – 2014[31]
  • Best Web Director – XRCO Award – 2015[32]
  • Best Director – XRCO Award – 2016
  • Best Release – XRCO Award – 2016
  • Best Cinematography – AVN Awards – 2016[33]
  • Director of the Year – AVN Awards – 2016[33]
  • Best Director – NightMoves Award – 2016 (Editor's Choice)
  • Director of the Year – AVN Awards – 2017
  • Best Director – Non-Feature AVN Awards – 2017
  • Best Marketing Campaign AVN Awards – 2017[34]
  • Director of the Year – Body of Work 2017 XBIZ Award
  • Best new Studio: Vixen – DVDEROTIK Awards – 2017[35]
  • Director of the Year – AVN Awards – 2018

References

  1. ^ "I Spent The Day With An Adult Entertainment Company". YouTube. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b c XBIZ. "Q&A: Director Greg Lansky Discusses BLACKED.com, Career". Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b Warren, Peter (2020-01-14). "Greg Lansky Sells Stake in Vixen Media Group AVN". AVN. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Lansky Inc. — Meet the Man Who Made Himself A Brand". AVN. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Tushy, BLACKED, Lansky Rack Up 16 AVN Awards". AVN. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  6. ^ a b "How One Pornographer Is Trying To Elevate Porn To Art". Forbes. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Versace, Champagne and Gold: Meet the Director Turning Porn Into High Art". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  8. ^ "The Butt King of Instagram Is a French Porn Director Named Greg Lansky". Men's Health. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  9. ^ "How One Pornographer Is Trying To Elevate Porn To Art". Forbes. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Artful Porn and anti-Semitic Threats: The Man Behind the "HBO of Adult Films' Bares All". Haaretz. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Kanye West's Favorite Pornographer Is A Master of SFW Marketing". AdAge. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  12. ^ "About — Greg Lansky". Greg Lansky. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  13. ^ "KANYE WEST'S FAVORITE PORNOGRAPHER IS A MASTER OF SFW MARKETING". AdAge. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  14. ^ "How One Pornographer Is Trying To Elevate Porn To Art". Forbes. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  15. ^ "How One Pornographer Is Trying To Elevate Porn To Art". Forbes. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  16. ^ "Jerking Off to Capitalism: The 1 Percent Fantasies of Greg Lansky's Vixen". Jezebel. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  17. ^ "The Most-Pirated Man in Porn Is Getting Angry Adult film director Greg Lansky sends 50,000 takedown notices a month". Inverse. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  18. ^ "Blacked, Tushy Creators Launch Vixen. com".[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ "Why Porn Is Actually Empowering, As Told By Experts In The Industry".
  20. ^ "2017 AVN Awards Show Lights Up Las Vegas".
  21. ^ "Greg Lansky to Deliver Digital Media Keynote at XBIZ 2017".[permanent dead link]
  22. ^ "Meet the Man-Making Porn Great Again". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  23. ^ "Dans sa bio Instagram, Greg Lansky se décrit comme "CEO & Artist". Son œuvre se compose majoritairement de seins et de fesses". GQ France. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  24. ^ "'Steven Spielberg of porn': Stop stealing my adult films". The New York Post. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  25. ^ "Versace, Champagne and Gold: Meet the Director Turning Porn Into High Art". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  26. ^ "2018 AVN Awards Show Dazzles in Vegas". AVN. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  27. ^ "Sex, Death, and Social Media at the Annual Porn Awards". Vice. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  28. ^ "Versace, Champagne and Gold: Meet the Director Turning Porn Into High Art". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  29. ^ "Kanye West's favorite pornographer is a master of SFW marketing". Ad Age. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  30. ^ "KANYE WEST'S FAVORITE PORNOGRAPHER IS A MASTER OF SFW MARKETING". AdAge. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  31. ^ AVN, Peter Warren. "30th Annual XRCO Awards Takes It Back Home - AVN". AVN. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  32. ^ AVN, Peter Warren. "XRCO Announces Winners of 2015 Awards - AVN". AVN. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  33. ^ a b "2016 AVN Awards". 2016 AVN Awards. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  34. ^ "2017 AVN Awards". 2017 AVN Awards. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  35. ^ "2017 DVDEROTIK Award Winner". April 2017.
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