EXT. ATA, LADYFEST 2005, SAN FRANCISCO – NIGHT
As the short film screening at Ladyfest 2005 ends, throngs of riot girls mill about, socializing. Shawn and Shae have both been volunteering to help curate and organize the film festival. They stand outside talking about the films they just saw and wishing on the future.
Shae
I would love to make some porn, like, from our generation. Is there anything out there right now?
Shawn
I have a filmmaker friend who wants to as well. She’s writing a script. I’ll introduce you.
Shae
I got a camera. Lets do it.
Two weeks later.
INT. MUDDY WATERS, CHURCH ST, SAN FRANCISCO – NIGHT
Shine Louise Houston and Shae sit together at a tiny coffee shop table. It wobbles a bit and they ignore it as they review the storyboards of Shine’s demo script. This is the first time they have ever met, but their dispositions blend nicely. By the end of the meeting, Shae offers to shoot the demo scene for free, just to try out her new camera.
What they filmed helped secure the financial backing to produce The Crash Pad, jumpstarting the queer porn revolution and inspiring the works of future directors to come.
THE AUCTION
Pink & White Productions has placed one of the original video cameras up for auction on EBay over San Francisco Pride Weekend, raising money for the Bay Area queer community by selling a piece of queer porn history. The company auctions the original Panasonic video camera used to film the company’s breakthrough debut film, The Crash Pad.
Co-director Shae Voyeur on the set of The Crash Pad. 2005
THE CAMERA
The Panasonic AG-DVX100A still sells online for about $800.00 from trusted retailers. I picked it up brand new at 2,750.00 when it came out in 2004. At that time it was the hot camera for independent filmmakers. In 2004, CNET called it “the kind of camera that sends shivers down the spines of pro videographers and serious amateurs with modest budgets.” The site boasted that it was a digital camera that could shoot video that looked like film. It offered various frame rate options, including the infamous 24 frames a second. At the time it “made news by being the only 24P camera available for less than $25,000,” CNET wrote.
That’s how we shot Shine Louise Houston’s groundbreaking feature film The Crash Pad. We are now auctioning off the original camera that shot the movie, with a starting of $400. After the auction, 20% of the proceeds above $400 will be donated to CUAV (Communities United Against Violence, a non-profit that works to build the power of LGBTQQ (lesbian, gay,bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) communities to transform violence and oppression.
THE HISTORY
After The Crash Pad, the camera went on to shoot the CrashPadSeries.com for a few years with the amazing DIY lenses that Shine built. Jiz Lee squirted on it during the making of the original The Crash Pad movie. Vai squirted on it in the first season of the CrashPadSeries.com. (The camera was not harmed in the making of any of these scenes!)
Auction ends Tuesday, July 1st. BID NOW!
