Florida- Holly Halston told me this afternoon that she’s done with the adult business. Halston had three movies allegedly stolen from her, she tells me. Halston, recovering from dental surgery which left her mouth wired, did the best she could to explain the situation that has soured her on adult business dealings and the talent.
Halston, who runs Halston Productions along with her husband Troy, said she was recently approached by a man named Anthony Coviello at the Bada Bing Club in Florida. “He wanted to buy into the company,” said Halston. “He was supposed to buy a percentage and bailed out in the middle of one of the movies we were shooting.” According to Halston, Coviello has allegedly stolen all of the masters of Halston Productions. “He stole all of the copies from the editors,” she says. “He took all of it and we’re in the middle of lawsuit. Otherwise I don’t have anything else to report on it.” Halston said she’s going to put her first movie from Halston Productions- Holly’s Tea Party- up for sale.
“This is for anyone who wants to buy it, for the rights to use it, to sell it or do what they want with it for the next three years,” Halston explains. “Then I’m exiting the building.” In other words, Halston said she’s done with the adult business. “I have no regrets at this point,” she said. “If I leave now I will maybe still not have regrets. If I stay, I will have regrets. I will have gotten too frustrated with the disloyality and dishonesty of other entertainers that are in the industry. They’re supposed to support each other.”
I told Halston I know all too well of what she’s been talking about.
“I want to kill people,” I told Halston. She laughs. She knows exactly what I mean. “Definitely,” she agrees. “It appears that Ms. April Summers [Coviello’s girlfriend] is helping him,” Halston also tells me. “It appears that she wants to go into cahoots.” According to Halston, Summers met Coviello on a Halston Productions set.
Halston claims that Coviello has put his hands on all of her masters except for Holly’s Tea Party. “That was shot before he came to us and spoke with us.” Halston claims the movies were already sold. “We had an oral agreement to sell all the movies to South Beach Hot Honies. They were going to buy all of them. But due to this and us being in a lawsuit they can’t buy those.”
According to Halston, she was doing a show at the Bada Bing [a club formerly owned by Charlie Frey] in Pompano Beach when Coviello came in. “He wanted to talk to us about starting a company. Well we already had one. We had shot Holly’s Tea Party.” Halston said she wasn’t looking for partners. “Partners don’t wortk out well, but if you want to buy in, we’ll let you buy in.” Halston claims Coviello never paid the money to buy in. “We told him pay up or bail out.”
Halston said Coviello agreed to buy in for $250,000 or 49%. “That would be the gross.” But later Coviello apparently acquired the masters from Richard Anderson. “He was also on our camera crew at the time and they were still in his posession for editing,” Halston claims, noting that Anderson allegedly turned the tapes over to Coviello. “The story goes back and forth. First it was he came in and took them. Then it was he thought he was part-owner. The police are all involved and it’s a big huge mess. Lawyers are involved.”
Halston says she has all the paperwork and model releases on the masters. “If anybody sees any of that footage out in the public it was illegally sold.” Halston tells me she’s been feature dancing the past three years but with all the “slander” that’s been going on, she’s lost some bookings. “They’re afraid of having Anthony Coviello showing up at their bar.”