Treasure Island Media
Encyclopedia
Treasure Island Media is a San Francisco-based gay pornography
Gay pornography
Gay pornography is the representation of sexual intercourse between men with the primary goal of sexual arousal in its audience. There is also a tradition, and continuing considerable output, of lesbian pornography....

 studio founded in 1998 by director Paul Morris
Paul Morris (producer)
Paul Morris is the owner of Treasure Island Media, a San Francisco, California-based gay pornography studio that specializes in bareback pornography....

 and specializing in bareback
Barebacking
Bareback is a slang term to describe acts of sexual penetration without the use of a condom.The term comes from the equestrian term bareback, which refers to the practice of riding a horse without a saddle...

 films. The studio is named after Morris's favorite childhood book, Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...

. In addition to the original San Francisco office, T.I.M. has production offices in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and Ft. Lauderdale.

Overview

Treasure Island Media films are presented in the form of documentaries of male sexuality
Human male sexuality
Human male sexuality covers physiological, psychological, social, cultural, and political aspects of the human male sexual response and related phenomenon...

. The Slought Foundation, a non-profit organization discussing contemporary art, used their videos as the focus of a lecture presentation entitled "On Bareback Subcultures and the Pornography of Risk" in 2006.

In addition to his own videos, founder and owner Paul Morris
Paul Morris (producer)
Paul Morris is the owner of Treasure Island Media, a San Francisco, California-based gay pornography studio that specializes in bareback pornography....

 also produces videos directed by Max Sohl, Liam Cole, Jack Miller, and Eric (of ericvideos.com) for release through Treasure Island Media.

Motivation

In a 2011 interview with Let's Talk About Sex, Paul Morris
Paul Morris (producer)
Paul Morris is the owner of Treasure Island Media, a San Francisco, California-based gay pornography studio that specializes in bareback pornography....

 said he started Treasure Island Media because he "was interested in preserving the integrity of pornography and the honest representation of male sexual
Human male sexuality
Human male sexuality covers physiological, psychological, social, cultural, and political aspects of the human male sexual response and related phenomenon...

 behavior. When I started producing porn, the genre had become depressingly corrupt, representing only a small subset of sexual behaviors [...] I wanted to capture the kind of sex that has meaning for me and I wanted to do so as accurately and honestly as possible. I also wanted to document the men. I wasn’t interested in what they looked like, I was interested in what they understood regarding the complex behavioral language of sex among men." He added, "Most recently, I’ve been motivated to produce pornography to directly address the appalling phenomenon of the HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 'closet'."

Controversy and Criticism

In 2004, Titan Media
Titan Media
Titan Media is a San Francisco-based gay pornographic film company founded by director and cinematographer Bruce Cam in 1995.-Overview:The company grew to become one of the largest producers of gay adult content in the world...

 banned its performers from signing with T.I.M.

In October 2007, Bruce Cam of Titan Media
Titan Media
Titan Media is a San Francisco-based gay pornographic film company founded by director and cinematographer Bruce Cam in 1995.-Overview:The company grew to become one of the largest producers of gay adult content in the world...

 refused to accept the DAVID Lifetime Achievement Award. Sponsored by GAYeLINE, a gay adult magazine publisher in Europe, the DAVID Awards were initially considered to be the European equivalent of the GAYVN Awards
GayVN Awards
The GAYVN Awards are presented annually to honor work done in the gay pornography industry. The awards are sponsored by AVN Magazine, the parent publication of GAYVN Magazine, and continue the recognition for gay pornography which was part of the AVN Awards from 1986–1998.The award recipients...

. “We were truly shocked and appalled by the overwhelming amount of low end and poorly produced bareback films being honored at the awards,” said Keith Webb, Titan's Vice-President. “When it became known to the producers of the awards show that I was going to refuse the award on Bruce’s behalf, the award was pulled and I was refused access to the stage. They did not even have the decency to allow me onstage to voice our opinions and to politely refuse to accept the award on Bruce’s behalf. In my opinion the entire event was a set-up meant to showcase and promote bareback films, and was the most biased and poorly produced awards show I have ever attended. The event was an embarrassment to the entire gay adult industry and I am sad to say we were even represented at the awards show."

In July 2009, Treasure Island Media sent out a press release announcing they had been banned from attending or participating in Folsom Street Fair
Folsom Street Fair
The Folsom Street Fair is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair held on the last Sunday in September and caps San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week"...

, Folsom North, Dore Alley, and International Mr. Leather in Chicago.

In 2010, T.I.M. re-signed HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 positive model James Roscoe and his real-life partner Brad McGuire (who is HIV negative) to exclusive contracts.

Legal Woes

In December 2010, the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration
California Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration protects the public and workers from safety hazards and enforces the U.S. State of California's occupational and public safety laws...

 (Cal/OSHA) fined Treasure Island Media for exposing employees (i.e. the models) to "semen and other potentially infectious materials". The fine was $21,000.

Ryan Sullivan's Island

In December 2008, filmmaker Ryan Sullivan began posting webisodes
Webisode
A webisode is a short episode which airs initially as Internet television, either download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial.A webisode can be an episode...

 documenting behind the scenes of Treasure Island Media on his blog. On the blog Sullivan introduces himself as a 23 year old from Nebraska who received a grant to make a documentary and chose Treasure Island Media as his subject: "[M]y older brother is gay. When he was thrown out of the house in 2001, I found his porn collection. There was one video." The video pictured is What I Can't See, a bareback gangbang video produced by Treasure Island Media. Although Sullivan stopped posting to his blog in August 2010, he continued posting new webisodes on his site Ryan Sullivan's Island, which includes a complete archive of episodes.

Sullivan collected several of the webisodes into a feature documentary, Island, which is both an exposé of Treasure Island Media and a personal journey of the filmmaker to reconnect with his estranged brother John (now a T.I.M. model). The documentary had its world premiere at the Mix Film Festival Brasil. It has also played at the Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 porn film festivals as well as TLVFest (Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival).

Minorités, a French blog on gay culture and politics, opened their Summer 2010 issue with an analysis of Island. Reviewer and professor of philosophy Richard Mèmeteau compared Sullivan to Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...

, David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...

, and Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...

. In his positive review, Memeteau said, "Usually, documentaries about porn either turn into porn or miss the obscenity of porn entirely. Our exceptionally gifted film maker manages to reconcile the two by invoking a superior beauty, a superior mystery."

Contemporary cinema blog Tadah called the film "an existential quest" that "questions our relationship to art, to porn, the way we can let ourselves be corrupted, [and] how we can get lost in our ideas."

A DVD edition of Island was included in the special box set release of What I Can't See 3, which features Sullivan's brother John in several scenes.

Awards and Nominations

  • Best Studio of the Year – AEBN VOD (2006) - Winner
  • Best U.S. Studio – AEBN VOD (2007) - Winner
  • Best Amateur Studio – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Winner
  • Best Amateur Studio Director: Paul Morris – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Winner

Bone Deep

  • Best Gay Bottom Bareback Performer: Damon Dogg – JRL Awards (2010) - Nominated

Bone Head

  • Best DVD Cover (U.S.) – Hustlaball Awards (2010) - Nominated
  • Best Film (U.S.) – Hustlaball Awards (2010) - Nominated

Breeding Ian Jay

  • Best Amateur Performer Bottom: Ian Jay – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated
  • Best Amateur Performer Top: Dan Fisk – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated
  • Best Newcomer: Ian Jay – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated

Breeding Mike O’Neil

  • Best 1-on-1 Scene: Jesse and Tom Shannon – Bareback Video Awards (2003) - Nominated
  • Best New Bareback Performer: Mike O’Neil – Bareback Video Awards (2003) - Nominated
  • Biggest/Best Cock – Jesse O’Toole – Bareback Video Awards (2003) - Nominated
  • Most Original/Unique/Creative Concept: “Devil’s Dick Scene” – Bareback Video Awards (2003) - Nominated

Christian 24 Cocks in 24 Hours

  • Best Gangbang Movie – JRL Awards (2010) - Winner
  • Best All-Sex Video – JRL Awards (2010) - Nominated
  • Best Gangbang Movie of the Year – JRL Awards (2010) - Nominated

Damon Blows America 8: Los Angeles

  • Best Specialty/Fetish Film – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Winner

Dawson’s 20 Load Weekend

  • Best Gangbang – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Best New Performer: Dawson – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Best Orgy – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Best Original Concept – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Hottest Ass: Dawson – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Video of the Year – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Best Cumhole Bottom: Dawson – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated
  • Hottest Bod: Dawson – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated
  • Sexiest/Most Desirable: Dawson – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated

Fucking Crazy

  • Best Felching/Cumplay Sequence: Max Holden drinking cum from his ass – Bareback Video Awards (2003) - Winner

Legendary Studs: The Best of Jesse O’Toole

  • Best Amateur Performer Top: Jesse O’Toole – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Winner
  • Best DVD Collection/Compilation – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated

Plantin’ Seed

  • Best Amateur Production – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Best Insemination Scene "Sunday Afternoon (the funnel scene)" – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Best Felching/Cumplay Sequence: Tom Sawyer – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Best 1-on-1 Scene: Jesse O’Toole & Jacob Scott - Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated
  • Best Top: Jesse O’Toole – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated
  • Biggest/Best Cock: Jesse O’Toole – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated

Plowed

  • Best 1-on-1: Jesse and Mick – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Winner
  • Best Cumshots (Overall): Titpig, Scott and Mick – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Winner
  • Best Orgasm Up The Ass: Jesse and Mick – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Winner
  • Best Sexual Action – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Winner
  • Best Top: Jesse O’Toole – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Winner
  • Biggest Cock: Jesse O’Toole – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Winner
  • Best 3-Way: Titpig, Scott & Mick – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Nominated
  • Best Orgasm Up The Ass: Titpig, Scott & Mick – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Nominated
  • Best Video (Overall) – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Nominated

Pounded

  • Best Bareback Movie – JRL Awards (2010) - Winner
  • Best Bareback Top: Titch Jones – JRL Awards (2010) - Winner

Damon Dogg

  • Best Gay Bottom Bareback Performer (Bone Deep) – JRL Awards (2010) - Nominated

Dan Fisk

  • Best Amateur Performer Top (Breeding Ian Jay) – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated

Dawson
Dawson
-People:*Dawson Roger Dawson, author of Secrets of Power NegotiatingFictional characters*Dawson, in Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends*Dawson Leery, on the TV show Dawson's Creek...

  • Best New Performer (Dawson 20-Load) – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Hottest Ass (Dawson 20-Load) - Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Winner
  • Most Interesting Person in Gay Porn – Mark Adams Video View (2008) - Winner
  • Performer of the Year – AEBN VOD (2007) - Winner
  • Best Amateur Performer Bottom (Loaded) – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated
  • Best Cumhole Bottom (Dawson’s 20 Load) – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated
  • Hottest Bod (Dawson 20-Load) – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated
  • Sexiest/Most Desirable (Dawson 20-Load) – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated

Ian Jay

  • Best Amateur Performer Bottom (Breeding Ian Jay) – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated
  • Best Newcomer (Breeding Ian Jay) – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated

Jesse O’Toole

  • Best Top (Plowed) – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Winner
  • Biggest Cock (Plowed) – Bareback Video Awards (2001) - Winner
  • Best Top – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Winner
  • Best 1-on-1 Scene: Jesse O’Toole & Jacob Scott - Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated
  • Best Amateur Top Performer (Legendary Studs: Jesse O’Toole) – Golden Dickie Awards (2008) - Nominated
  • Best Top (Plantin’ Seed) – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated
  • Biggest/Best Cock – Bareback Video Awards (2003) - Nominated
  • Biggest/Best Cock (Plantin’ Seed) – Bareback Video Awards (2004) - Nominated

Videography

All T.I.M. videos are directed by Paul Morris, except where otherwise noted.
  • What I Can't See (1999)
  • Animals (2000)
  • Swallow (2000)
  • Bones for Cumpuppy (2000)
  • Eat It Hot (2000)
  • Swallow...More (2001)
  • Plowed! (2001)
  • Feed Me (2002)
  • Damon Blows America 1-3 (2002)
  • Knocked Up (2002)
  • Breeding Mike O'Neill (2002)
  • Fucking Crazy (2003)
  • Damon Blows America 4: Seattle (2003)
  • Riding Billy Wild (2003)
  • Drunk on Cum 1 & 2 (2003)
  • Damon Blows America 5: New Orleans (2003)
  • Plantin' Seed (2004)
  • Dawson's 20 Load Weekend (2004) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Slurpin' Jizz (2004)
  • Cumsloppy Buttholes (2004)
  • Damon Blows America 6: New York (2005)
  • Meat Rack (2005) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Plantin' Seed 2 (2005)
  • Fuck Holes (2005) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Slurpin' Jizz 2 (2005)
  • Dawson's 50 Load Weekend, Part 1 (2005) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Anarcocks: Pirate Tape 1 (2005) (dir. the Anarcocks)
  • Meat Packing (2006) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Damon Blows America 07: Phoenix (2006)
  • Dawson's 50-Load Weekend, Part 2 (2006) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • BruthaLoad (2006)
  • Damon Blows America 08: Los Angeles (2006)
  • Breeding Season (2006)
  • What I Can't See 2 (2006)
  • BruthaLoad 2 (2006)
  • Drunk On Cum 3 (2006)
  • Deeper (2006)
  • Brad McGuire's 20-Hole Weekend (2007) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Sperm Bank (2007) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Damon Blows America 09: Fort Lauderdale (2007)
  • Built To Fuck (2007)
  • Loaded (2007) (dir. Max Sohl)(starring Cort
    Cort
    Cort is the name of several people:* Cornelis Cort , Dutch engraver* Henry Cort , English ironmaster* Frans de Cort , Flemish writer* John Cort , American impresario...

     Erikson, Mark Seargent, John, Tim Flip, Hernandez, Max Lo, Bryce
    Bryce
    -People:*Bryce *Bryce *Ebenezer Bryce, person for whom Bryce Canyon NP was named...

     Chilton, Army Guy, Blake Anderson, Marc Short, The Colonel, Andy Scott, Lobo Al, Marcelo Masko, Jace Hawk, Austin Shadow, Duncan
    Duncan
    Duncan, originally a Scottish name, may also refer to:- Fiction :* King Duncan, a character in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth* Duncan , a locomotive character in The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W...

    , Alex, Philip, Marty, Jack Justice, Juan-Carlos Velasquez, Ross X, Ben Archer, Tom McCarthy, Joe Gunn, Tom Sawyer, Jake, Josh Henry, Top Stud, Butt Pirate, JC Cole, Kevin, Alan Gregory, Cuba, Marc Hamilton, Kory Hudson, Roman Pearce, Conrad Stevens, Buck Fuddy, Lee Clifford, and Troy Plowman)
  • Drunk On Cum 4 (2007)
  • LatinLoads (2007)
  • Legendary Studs: The Best of Jesse O'Toole (2007)
  • Breeding Ian Jay (2008)
  • BruthaLoad 3 (2008)
  • Slurpin' Jizz 3 (2008)
  • UK Beef Bangers (2008) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Damon Blows America 10: Denver (2008)
  • Fearless (2008)
  • Drunk On Cum 5 (2008)
  • Bad Influence (2008) (dir. Liam Cole)
  • Plantin' Seed 3 (2008)
  • Legendary Studs: The Best of Brad McGuire (2008)
  • Fuck Holes 2 (2009) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • BruthaLoad 4 (2009)
  • Bone Deep (2009)
  • Skull Fuck (2009)
  • Pounded (2009) (dir. Liam Cole)
  • Christian 24 Cocks in 24 Hours (2009) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Bone Head (2009)
  • Knocked Out Jerked Off (2009) (dir. Jack Miller)
  • The 1,000 Load Fuck (2009)
  • Knocked Out Jerked Off 2 (2010) (dir. Jack Miller)
  • Raw Underground: Paris (2010) (dir. Eric)
  • Knocked Out Jerked Off 3 (2010) (dir. Jack Miller)
  • Legendary Studs: The Best of Dan Fisk (2010)
  • Wild Breed (2010) (dir. Liam Cole)
  • Knocked Out Jerked Off 4 (2010) (dir. Jack Miller)
  • Breeding Season 2 (2010)
  • Eric's Raw Fuck Tapes #2 (2010) (dir. Eric)
  • BruthaLoad 5 (2010)
  • Suck Dick/Save the World (2010)
  • Sperm Assault (2010) (dir. Max Sohl)
  • Cheap Thrills Volume 1 (2010)
  • Full Tilt (2010) (dir. Liam Cole)
  • Knocked Out Jerked Off 5 (2011) (dir. Jack Miller)
  • Cheap Thrills Volume 2 (2011)
  • What I Can't See 3 (2011)
  • Suck Dick/Save the World 2 (2011)
  • Eric's Raw Fuck Tapes #3 (2011) (dir. Eric)

Sales

According to XBiz
XBIZ
XBIZ is an American publisher of business news and business information for the adult entertainment industry.In addition to its flagship website, XBIZ publishes two monthly trade magazines, hosts winter and summer exhibition & industry conferences, and facilitates networking among adult online...

, TIM's best selling video to date is 2004’s Dawson's 20 Load Weekend, which stars Dawson, its best-known performer who was named "Most Interesting Person In Gay Porn 2008" by Mark Adams of VidioView.

In July 2008, their first international video filmed in London, England by Max Sohl “UK Beef Bangers” went to Number 1 on the JRL Gay DVD Rental Charts.

In September 2008, Morris' "Fearless" debuted at Number 1 on the JRL Gay DVD Rental Charts, and simultaneously reached #1 spot on the European Gay DVD Sales Charts - the only time a non-European studio has ever held the top position.

Exclusive Performers


External Links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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