Conversations with Red Ezra- final

Porn Valley- I had a chat with director/cameraman Red Ezra, www.redezra.com [pictured left] on the set of ArchAngel's Vampire Chronicles. We talked a bit about the hi-def shoot and the fact that Ezra, like many pornsters, has a Texas background and a Michael Raven connection to the business.

I was curious if this being hi-def, was trickier to pull off. "No," Ezra says. "It's in handi-cam size now, so it's almost like the same thing except you shoot it in wide screen format. But hi-def is a little trickier when it comes to lighting. It takes a little more time to set it up. But it does look really pretty."

Although many harbor the suspicion that he's a director under contract, Ezra makes it clear that he's a director-for-hire. "And I'm also doing freelance photographer and still work," he adds. "I prefer shooting for other producers and directors. I shoot for different companies. I don't make myself hugely available because I don't want to be all over the place. I want to try and keep a level of quality with the Red Ezra Productions. I shoot maybe once a month at the most. Probably every other month is more realistic. Because I shoot, direct and edit all my own material. That takes a lot of time to do all that. In the end, with doing all the other camera work, time just gets away from you. So I have to be kind of careful with what I take on."

Ezra's from Texas and about six years ago he was wrapping up a music video project for Pantera. He was on the road four years with the band. "And they shoot camera every day, every night and what's in between," he says. "That was two albums' worth of footage. It took me about a year to get that edited and when it was all said and done, it was like what do I do now? I'm in Texas. It's not like there's a lot of other video opportunities."

Ezra also mentions that he comes from a strip club background where he was a deejay and a manager. "That's how I made my living," he says. "On the side I got interested in doing little video projects with the girls, the strippers. They had the sports bar screens on the walls and stuff. I bought a little handi-cam and started making videos of the girls to play while they danced on stage. One thing led to another. I met certain people that were doing glamor stuff and bikini movies. That's how I met Sydney Steele and Michael Raven. They're from Texas, and we did some projects back then. They decided to make the move to Los Angeles and got into hardcore. I ran into Michael Raven and he told me what he was up to. This was right after Pantera. He invited me to come out and shoot camera with him on his production called The Johnny Swinger Show with Jonathan Morgan as like a Jerry Springer. Of course, I'm like I don't know if this is something I want to do, but I'm going to do it. I came out here and enjoyed it. I met a lot of great people and decided to make the move. That's how I got started."

In the beginning of his adult career, Ezra made his living, for the most part, as an editor and worked his way into directing. "it's been a lot of fun and a great way to make a living," he states. "There's a lot of good people and a lot of good times. I hope it continues to be like there. Things seem to be changing pretty quick. There's a lot of companies and a lot of competition but there's also a lot of shoots."

Regarding his site, www.redezra.com, Ezra began about three years ago shooting his own exclusive content as a hobby. "But now I'm starting to do it professionally for hire from all the practice I've been putting in on the side. But it's fun and I enjoy that."

As far as directing's concerned, Metro has been keeping him busy.

"I give them a script and a budget and they give me money," Ezra says. "It's been a real nice relationship. I give them their money's worth. I give them good movies, good quality and I like it. Sometimes it's a little difficult because the change over there is frequent sometimes to say the least. But for the most part I've been very happy with my relationship with Metro."

Recently Ezra's shot for Club Jenna- a movie in music video style. In January he also shot two movies with Savanna Samson, but Ezra says he'd like to find a place to call home. "I would like to be able to work for just one company," he says. "It's a whole lot easier to do. And that's kind of the reason why I started shooting for some of these companies- just to see what was out there and what opportunities might be around. But we'll see. I've got a couple of offers on the table. But I'm not in a big hurry right. I just want to take my time and get caught up. I've got a couple of movies in the can that I'm editing and negotiating something like that is nothing you should rush into. That's kind of where it's at right now."