It’s sophisticated and its fans are some of the most demanding and discriminating in the world. But despite the proliferation and overall quality of much of gay porn, if it weren’t for early pioneers like Falcon Studios, the industry that’s so “in” today would have been hard pressed to have ever come “out.”
Celebrating 40 years as trailblazers of all male porn, San Francisco-based Falcon is now recognized worldwide as one of the preeminent producers of the finest quality soft and hardcore all-male imagery.
As the first production of Falcon under the new merged company we went back to Falcon’s roots and extended the most successful porn franchise in history.
Having partnered with Raging Stallion Studios under VOD powerhouse AEBN, and engineering key alliances with other companies like Next Dorr Entertainment, Private Media Group and others, Falcon is flying high.
Its products are distributed in the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, South America, Japan and Europe. The original company was founded by Chuck Holmes, a “starmaker” whose hallmark is creating state of the art erotica featuring a wide variety of young men, all of whom are remarkably good looking, well built and well hung.
The company says these are “the men fantasies are made of” and is proud to say it is responsible for discovering the superstars of gaymale erotica that over the years has spawned an incredibly diverse line of video lines including Jocks Studios, Mustang Studios and the Falcon International Collection.
Each brand was created to cater to a particular niche. Jocks Studios presents masculine, youthful, handsome and sexy jock types in hot guy next door and buddy action. Mustang was created to cater to the kinkier Falcon fan who liked his action rougher and edgier and who liked his men hairier and more macho. And the Falcon International Collection features fresh faces in beautiful locations throughout the world.
The combination has proven successful considering the studio is one of the most award winning in the business.
“All four lines give the public a wide variety of choice in both the men they feature and the action they offer while maintaining the high standards of excellence that Falcon is know for,” says company president Chris Ward.
But excellence is always earned. And the company’s milestones over four decades have helped forge the path to success. One recent development — this year’s merger of Falcon Studios and Raging Stallion Studios has, according to the company, been the most significant milestone of the company in the last five years.
The marriage has caused huge changes and improvements in all parts of Falcon. The company maintains while many mergers have adverse effects on the one or more of the merged companies, Falcon and Raging Stallion have both been improved by this combination of talent and energy.
Ward, himself a multiaward winning director and founder of Raging Stallion says the new operation boasts a staff of 40 dedicated people in one location who are working together to produce, promote and distribute product through a variety of channels.
“As the first production of Falcon under the new merged company we went back to Falcon’s roots and extended the most successful porn franchise in history — ‘The Other Side of Aspen VI.’ The goal was to continue the tradition of this epic series and reclaim Falcon’s greatness,” Ward notes.
The consolidated studio is now producing more than 60 new titles per year and shooting 20 days per month on average that Falcon says are more new films than any other major studios combined.
“We have an efficient machine of the best directors, designers, marketers and support staff that really make it all happen. The biggest challenge — high volume and keeping the quality up to par is what makes Falcon the preeminent studio,” Ward says.
And you’d think that with such deep roots, countless successes, a huge fan base and an immediately recognizable brand, the studio could rest on its laurels. Think again.
The studio says it’s planning on creating new movies with leading stars by keeping ahead of the curve with new technology and providing new distribution channels that include FalconTV.com — which it says will be the world’s largest porn scene download-to-own site.
Also in its war chest is its Hunt online bi-weekly e-zine, with a readership of nearly 50,000 per issue; a new cam product that will be launched with AEBN later this year; new membership sites for both Gunzblazing and Next Door Entertainment and a new recruitment program to ensure that the studio wrangles the best male talent in the industry.
But it’s not all business. With a 40-year legacy built on hard work and laser-like attention to its film’s details, Falcon is ready to let its hair down.
‘We’re doing a Falcon 40th Anniversary / Raging Stallion Annual Folsom VIP Party on Sept 24 in San Francisco with star directors, Falcon stars and past exclusive talent all in attendance,” Ward says.
The First Falcon Man of the Year will also be named prior to the big party and Raging Stallion’s Man of the Year will be on hand to join the celebration. And if that’s not enough, the studio says a “major Falcon star presence” will appear at the Folsom Street Fair, signing autographs and will be available for photos with fans.
For fans who can’t come to the soiree, Falcon said it will release a 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition DVD and is planning a month of special anniversary sales kicking off around Labor Day that will include special offers, “a greatest Falcon movie” sale and a huge anniversary blow out.
“We are going to begin releasing ‘From the Falcon Vault’ — out of print movies will become available again through a Falcon burn-on-demand DVD service where we burn a DVD and specially package each order from the master files,” Ward revealed.
But when the party’s over Falcon will be back at work producing films like its first feature under the new merged company — “The Other Side of Aspen VI,” says Ward who directed the film that the company says was the biggest gay hit of 2011 and Falcon’s biggest in five years.
If that’s any indication of the future, Falcon is squarely in the catbird seat for the next 40 years.
