(Special thanks to Jeffrey Rowland’s site, OverCompensating, for the comic strip.

I mentioned briefly the legal battle that Joe Francis and Mantra Films of “Girls Gone Wild” fame went through in my intial post about 2257 paperwork. It’s important to note a case like this in more depth because it shows you exactly how the 2257 paperwork works to protect minors.  To date, it’s the only case on record of a company being prosecuted based on the current 2257 laws and its supportive regulations, mainly because the whole “Girls Gone Wild” franchise is so well known that it was a great example to have been made.

Although most of the charges against Francis and Mantra Films/MRA Holdings were dropped, they were jointly responsible for paying fines upwards of $2.1 million dollars.  Most of the child pornography charges were dropped, but they pleaded guilty to “three counts of failing to keep the required records and seven labeling violations for its series of DVDs and videos” (Wikipedia) and agreed to a plea bargain.  The paying of the fines prevented Joe Francis from having to serve 5 years of prison time for each violation.

Here’s the nitty gritty on where Francis went wrong: Mantra Films failed to create 2257 documentation for each and every performer that appeared on the “Girls Gone Wild” videos.  So many of the scenes seem to have been taken “on the fly”, that is, a camera guy approaches a girl (or girls) on a beach or bar and ask them to bare their chests.  The problem with shooting a segment like that, although it goes along with the gonzo style of reality filmmaking, is that there is no business attached to the fun that is being had.  A few tipsy or drunk college girls, a cameraguy trying to catch as much footage as possible in the shortest amount of time possible…and you have a recipe for a lawsuit.

It is CRUCIAL that a company, no matter how much fun is being had, makes sure that the documentation is correct and filed properly.  The second part of the plea bargain involved the company admitting to being lax about labelling their tapes properly.  Under federal law, they were supposed to label their tapes with the name and location of the custodian of records (if you’ve watched any adult content, you’ve seen this at the end of the DVD or TV program).  Neglecting to do so is illegal.

So, make sure you’ve got your 2257 paperwork filled out properly.  Make sure that you have copies of the performer’s picture IDs to accompany the paperwork.  And make sure that all paperwork is filed properly – in a file cabinet, in individual files, filed alphabetically by the performer’s legal name.  The FBI will not warn you when they will come by to visit to check on how your files are being maintained…it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to legal paperwork.

Permalink: U.S. vs MRA Holdings, LLC – Agreement and Public Statement of Joe Francis

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