PRODUCER / DIRECTOR / WRITER
LANCE'S DIRECTOR REEL

Lance Tracy, (IMDB) Writer/Producer/Director, is the winner of 12 writing and directing awards. They include “Best Director, Short Film Series” at the 2001 New York International Film & Video Festival, 5 Telly Awards, 3 Communicator Crystal Awards and 2 Aurora Awards. His film, “The Prodigal Daughter” (1999) won the 1999 Gold 20th Anniversary Telly Award, a competition including Telly winners over a 20 year period.

Six of Lance’s 1/2 hour narrative dramas were distributed in 155 countries in 15 languages. Mr. Tracy took home the Los Angeles Audience Award for his “48 Hour Film Project” competition film, “The Neighbor”.  In December of 2002, he became a Project Greenlight top 50 director, out of almost 2000 entries.

Lance has directed documentaries in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Cambodia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico City, Moscow, St. Petersburg, New York to Miami and Los Angeles.  But his heart is in narratives.  He is currently in production on "The Trail", a horror film with Art Alexakis of EVERCLEAR, scheduled to lens in July & August of 2007.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

This is not a porn film. It isn’t a documentary about the porn industry and it certainly isn’t a pro or anti-porn film. It’s a documentary about the effects, if any, of explicit media and entertainment on consumers. I passionately wanted to make this film because close friends, family and myself have been affected by porn to some degree or another; even to the point of what some call, “Porn Addiction”.  I’ve also seen others use porn with little or no effects. And I’ve witnessed a 30-year controversial war between those who insist porn is decaying America from the inside out, and those who think it is harmless entertainment and fantasy. And yet there must be something golden about it if people are spending $57 billion a year. There’s a need. There’s a market. Why? 

My goal was not to exploit the controversy or the sex behind this industry. People who hear the title and subject of the film seem to first ask about nudity and adult content. My goal was to stay on focus and discover any effects that porn might have on consumers. I did this through honest interviews, hiring professional staff and handling the subjects and content maturely. My journey took me from the dark-secretive world of S&M chambers, to Hillary Clinton’s office (no, they aren’t the same thing).

This film ignited in November of 2004 when Senator Brownback of Kansas spear-headed a Senate Hearing on the effects of pornography on consumers. He invited four experts from around the country to testify. No one from the porn industry was invited; only experts who would testify to its negative effects. This infuriated the porn industry and I wanted to hear from them, as well as from those experts who testified. And of course I wanted to hunt down the bull-riding Brownback himself.

We secured our financing through private real estate venture capitalists. In March of 2005, we officially started pre-production. I hired a full-time Production Coordinator, a colleague/Marriage and Family Therapist and a few assistants and researchers. We shot from late-March through mid-August; about 5 months. I had several stand-by camera operators who could shoot or leave town on a moment’s notice.

We traveled to major cities all over America, including Los Angeles, DC, Phoenix, Portland, Santa Barbara and Philadelphia as well as a bunch of smaller communities. We discovered four general groups of people: 1) those who think porn is immoral, 2) clinicians who have experienced a massive out-break of “sex addicts”, 3) folks who are interested in protecting the porn industry because of the 1st amendment, and 4) those who feel porn doesn’t create a problem.

I was dead-set on discovering any effects of porn 1st hand.  So we decided to run our own porn experiment with a married couple and a single man. We found a study done in the 80’s with 160 subjects. They gave them a “massive exposure” to porn for a short period of time and discovered some dramatic results. We decided to conduct a similar study contemporizing it to fit current technology and accessibility. We sought the advice of these original scientists, as well as research experts from 3 other major universities; a delicate balance of non-bias.

We interviewed subjects for about 1 month, trying to find non-biased men and women who were honest and willing to do such a study. With the married couple, it was especially difficult to find a wife who wasn’t extreme; either anti-porn or pro-porn and who would allow her husband to participate. We found the perfect neutral couple. 

We ran the 60-day experiment June-August, 2005. Throughout the study, they filled out quantifiable surveys which monitored attitudinal and behavioral adjustments. Interestingly, I was dumbfounded about half-way through the study.  I expected dramatic and obvious results but saw none...at first. Our subjects were unaware of any changes as well. Until the survey data was processed.

At roughly the same time, Cal State University conducted a similar study with about 100 college students. The results reflected those of our on-camera subjects.

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 The funniest experience: The street interview with 2 men—the older one heckling the younger, “He wants to be a Porno Star…prob’ly cause that’s the only way he can get some.”  “Porno Star” stuck with our crew for the rest of D.C.

The saddest experience:  Personally wrestling with our scientific goals vs. watching the effects of the experiment on our subjects.

The most sincere moment: My interview with Tim Connelly, head of Adult Video News.  He insisted on having an in-length spiritual conversation with me.

The riskiest moment: Filming porn shops in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, as well as the hood of Philadelphia.

Most patriotic moment:  Getting Senator Brownback Bull-Riding Collector Trading Cards from his office in Washington D.C.