Bill Asher '84

On porn, profits and prurience

"When people ask me what I do, I tell them I'm a pornographer. I do it for shock value. Some run screaming from the room holding crosses; some think, 'Hey, I want to hang out with this guy because I'll meet a lot of hot women.' And some just laugh. They're the people I want to have dinner with."

"If someone came to observe me at work they'd think I was in the most boring business in the world. There are no naked women in sight. It's basic M.B.A. stuff: marketing, distribution, content, how you break yourself out of the pack."

"I used to tell interviewers that I grew up in Paris, Illinois. Then my parents asked me not to mention Paris. I'm waiting for Dartmouth to ask me not to mention Dartmouth."

"When I worked for Playboy I'd go to parties at the mansionin a suit. I liked to sit in a spot where no one could see me. I'd drink sodas and enjoy looking at the landscaping."

"Nothing about the real Hugh Hefner would surpriseanyone: He does sit around in his pajamas and rake meetings in the bedroom. I wear khakis and have my meetings in an office."

"Adult entertainment is the flavor of the month in Hollywood.There is incredible demand for the product that will only grow with Internet access."

"I look out my window atUniversal Studios. I don't think about working there. It might be fun, but not as lucrative."

"I've never seen one of our movies being made."

"If my daughter ever told me she was going

to be in the porn business, I'd be disappointed. I want her to be an astronaut who becomes president of the United States. I live my life only for her."

"Our company has the best-looking women in the business. I've met them, but we're just fellow employees. We have a company picnic at Magic Mountain and they show up with their families."

"All the talk about pornography is much ado about nothing. People who think that it and sex education will bring about the downfall of American civilization should look at the studies showing teen pregnancies down and abstinence up in the last decade."

"Adult entertainment is the only business where you don't knowif what you're doing is legal. Community standards are determined by 12 people sitting on a jury. Anyone wanting to prosecute someone for pornography would have to go through a lot of people before they'd get to me, but I'd want a jury of intelligent people who could recognize that our product is being purchased by their neighbors without impacting the community in the slightest."

"What we do is very tame, standard adult movies. Drawing a line is the decision each producer makes, whether on moral or business grounds. We show stuff, like foreplay, that women like, won't show weird stuff."

"We have a mandatory condom policy that a lot of people don't find very sexy. But we feel strongly thatit's important to encourage condom use."

"I get my greatest satisfaction from launching newbusinesses. I also own bars and have starred a music network—l AM as in First Amendment—to provide an outlet for uncensored music MTV won't play. I try jo do the next thing that will piss the right people off. If people in the Bible Belt don't like me, so be it."

"It's hard for anyone to say anything about me that I would find troubling. I'd like to have some teenage angst about my life but I don't."

"I guess I'm a troublemaker. I always have been."

EDUCATION: A.B., political science; M.B.A., University of Southern California, 1988 CURRENT CAREER: Adult entertainment entrepreneur, 1998- present; co-owner and co-chairman, Vivid Entertainment Group, 1999-present PREVIOUS CAREER: Salesman, Ricoh, 1984-88; director, special projects, Lawry's Restaurants, 1990-1992; financial analyst, executive vice president, Playboy, 1992-1998 NOTEWORTHY: Interviewed by such publications as The WallStreet Journal, The New YorkTimes, Time, Newsweek; featured on 60 Minutes and Frontline PERSONAL: lives in Los Angeles, California; single; daughter Nicole, 17