An MBA in Porn + PR + Kinky Ideas = Big $$

When we first met the diminutive, young and bearded Mark Kulkis at AVN in Vegas in early 2005, we were impressed by how many damn questions he asked about our business. This was uncharacteristic for a business in which so-called CEOs are famously better at talking about themselves. Kulkis had done much more research into Sir Rodney than Sir Rodney had done on Kulkis. We are playing catch up now.

What we didn’t know at the time was that Mark Kulkis was the marketing genius behind Mary Carey’s star-making run for Governor of California; that he was the founder of Hustler Video (and responsible for the launch of its insanely successful Barely Legal and Jail Babes series).

Ten years ago Mark was like any of the thousands of talented young men and women who throng to El Lay from New York for a career in mainstream movies and TV. He’d achieved early success as a PR exec and copy writer. With an impressive screenwriting sample Mark quickly secured an agent, who demanded a new script. But when Mark sat down in front of a typewriter to write it, he was blocked. Badly. Instead of writing a script he could show his agent, Mark wrote a porn star vehicle for Hypatia Lee and Asia Carrera (which he still hopes to see made). Most Hollywood stories end here, with our hero retreating to his home state, or joining one of the many related industries in Hollywood (no shortage of PR work there).

Mark decided to do everything he could to get a job at Paul Fishbein’s industry clearinghouse, AVN, because he saw it as the one place where he could meet everyone who was anyone, and learn about every aspect of the business. After six months of calling, networking, and outright begging, Mark was hired by Gary Ross for the princely sum of 25K a year as a go-fer. By working the hardest, and taking every chance he got to show off his creative skills, doing interviews, covering parties, and writing reviews, Mark was named managing editor of AVN a year later. The reasons are simple. First, Mark made himself indispensable. Second, people like him. Mark’s a straight shooter, who does what he says he is going to do.

At this point, things really get interesting. After a year and half as editor of AVN, one of the most powerful positions in the porn business, Mark started working on a couple of pictures on the side, one of which became his super successful Barefoot Confidential series. He left AVN to work with Pat Collins at Elegant Angel, but after a couple of months of doing pr and marketing work, Mark left to join Rob Black at Extreme (and then Legend), where he was a “buyer” of movies for the wholesaler. Ironically, Kick Ass now sells through Legend. Mark’s big opportunity to move into producing in a substantial way came when he joined Hustler to create Hustler Video. If AVN was his MBA, then Hustler is where Dr. Kulkis got his Ph.D. In addition to the blockbuster series he launched at Flynt’s shop, Kulkis was able to start work on the second of his personally owned series of titles, Chica Boom. Chica Boom is now among the most popular titles on Playboy’s Spice Channel.

Today, Mark Kulkis’ Kick Ass Pictures produces over 50 titles a year. The titles are mostly packaged into series like Chica Boom, Barefoot Confidential, Pussy Pump, 5 Guy Cream Pie, and 10 Man Cum Slam, and presented with the unique Kick Ass promise of “no condoms and no fake tits.” In fact, the no fake tits promise is what led to Mary Carey’s unfortunate departure from the Kick Ass family.

We specifically asked Mark about his role in putting Mary Carey up for Governor of California. He told us it was a stunt that would only work in a recall election, where the bar to get on the ballot was absurdly low. He sent out a press release promising a porn star in a stars and stripes bikini who was running for Gov on the steps of LA’s famous city hall and, to Kulkis and Carey’s surprise, the city’s press corps turned out en masse. Turns out everyone loves a porn star! Thus launched into the public eye, Kulkis came up with a new PR event every week leading up to the election, including attending a dinner with the president (cheap at $5,000, especially when it captured the attention of the national press) in Washington, DC.

With his miraculous sprint to the top of the porn industry reaching its apex, it’s possible Kulkis will soon slow down. He recently moved in with his girlfriend, who is med school, and has increasingly taken the time to indulge his interest in collecting art. Mark also has a passion for international travel, and visits 3-4 new cities every year, most recently Shanghai, Bangkok, Lisbon, and Berlin, a favorite. One thing is certain, when a man as creative and perverted as Mark Kulkis gets an MBA in porn, anything is possible.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.