About Tricia Devereaux
- Height: 5 ft. 7 in.
- Weight: 140
- Eyes: Blue Eyes
- Born: January 12
- Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
Interviews
Interview with Tricia Devereaux - July 30, 2001
Phone Interview
Pornstarempire.com: Let's start very briefly with the genesis of Evil Angel...In the beginning, God created John Stagliano. And then...?
Tricia Devereaux: John was working as a stripper - he was one of the first Chippendales, and he knew a girl named Angel. Since his stripping name was Evil John (he had a great vampire act), they joked around about the name Evil Angel for her as a stripper, but she never used it. Needless to say, he did!
Q: So what were you doing before I so rudely interrupted you for this interview?
Tricia: The things I'm working on now is the Buda two disc DVD. I'm going to be doing the primary edit of Nudes a Poppin' 12, and John's going to do the final edit of it after I've done a rough one.
Q: You've learned how to edit watching the master at work...
Tricia: I'm learning [laughs]. I've learned a lot of the technical stuff right now, but as far as being a good editor, I have a lot to learn!
Q: And these DVDs will have the Tricia Devereaux production credit?
Tricia: Yes, produced by Tricia! The other DVD producer, Rick Hall, he's fantastic. I'm really lucky to have him working for the DVD department. If it says, "DVD Produced By Rick Hall" it's gonna be as good as one produced by me. We collaborate all the time. We give each other ideas. We basically work in the same office all the time. It's just a matter of dishing out the work [laughs].
Q: What's your current project right now? I know you have plans to direct?
Tricia: I've got something about the guys at Nudes a Poppin'...
Q: The male audience members?
Tricia: No, they're competitors! Nobody's done a video on them before.
Q: We know that the first edition and #9, 10 and 11 are available on DVD. Do they focus on the male competitors...?
Tricia: Only the women. Every once in awhile you'll see a guy in the background. I think it was in #10 or #11 that I put maybe twenty seconds of footage on a guy, not naked yet, but on stage. It's kind of a little prelude to show that there's guys there...
Q: You were just at Nudes a Poppin' [a special event where various nude contests are held] a little while ago...
Tricia: Yes! Number 11 that just came out not too long ago, that was the August 2000 show. And this July [2001] show will be coming out probably November 2001, and then the August 2001 show will probably come out maybe February or March 2002. We were trying to stagger them, but there was one time when John got kind of behind and four of them came out within fifteen months.
Q: Will this be a simultaneous DVD and videocassette release?
Tricia: If I do the men one? I'm not really sure. We have no idea what the market is going to be. Because basically I'll be probably be competing against the Playgirl type videos. I've been trying to go around and see what the content is [for videos of that genre], because I can't get the guys to masturbate, because it's just not allowed on the grounds where the event is held.
Q: Are you talking masturbating about on the stage, or would you try to get them to someplace private...
Tricia: No, there's a deal with the people who run the show that even in John's videos, he couldn't take a girl to the side and ask her to play with her clit. It's just something they don't want associated with their event. It's in the contract that we're not allowed to put [hardcore in the Nudes a Poppin' videos]. We can't put a trailer to Nudes a Poppin' in our [hardcore] videos, and vice versa.
Q: Could you take one of the girls after the show and ask her to perform privately?
Tricia: Oh, sure...but it can't be on anything that bears a Nudes a Poppin' name, or indicates that it was shot there at all. Randy West used one of the girl's there, but it went into an Up and Cummers. They might have mentioned the name of it, but with no images, and nothing that indicated that it was done on the grounds. It was just, "hey, we met there" and that was probably about it.
Q: How involved are you with the talent which agrees to do work for Evil Angel?
Tricia: Not very much at all. Each director pretty much does his own casting. Now that I'm getting ready to direct, Joey Silvera has been very helpful for me, since he is our main director who shoots here in the States. He turned me on to a great girl named Jolene, but unfortunately, scheduling just didn't pan out. Maybe next time she's in town!
Q: You may or may not know, but in many Empire Reviews, Evil Angel movies have been singled out for their exceptional standards in quality and production. How is it done?
Tricia: Evil Angel has its own video duplication lab which runs almost 24 hours a day. They are great about quality control, and from what I hear from the distributors and read in trade magazines, we have one of the lowest rates for defective videotapes that have to be returned. John and all of us are really proud of the quality of the whole product.
Q: I recall in my early years of consuming porn, Evil Angel videos would offer more than two hours of video and began housing their tapes in those red cassettes. Was this to discourage bootleggers?
Tricia: We silkscreen the titles onto a red cassette shell and have some other security measures to try to discourage professional bootlegging. We know that some people are going to make one-offs for their friends, and we're disappointed about that, because essentially, it's stealing, but it's impossible to avoid all of it. It's a matter of morals. Personally, I've never bootlegged anything...never even used Napster.
Q: You have been pretty active in informing fans and answering questions on Evil Angel's line of DVDs. Besides the business side of it, do you enjoy watching DVDs?
Tricia: I love DVDs. I actually just bought my mom a DVD player because she didn't have one yet, and I loaned her a bunch of my mainstream DVDs. I've always been so interested in filmmaking, that the DVDs that had behind-the-scenes stuff on them were my favorites.
Q: So you are a fan of DVD technology...is it one of your hobbies? Were you always interested in the technical side of video productions?
Tricia: I actually didn't learn anything about DVD technology until after I started working for Evil Angel. Now I try to learn as much as I can, but I leave the authoring to the professionals. I work on the production, editing, and organizing of the DVD. As for video production, that was my first interest in technical production. I used to sit and watch an editor work while I was still a performer. It's helped me a lot to have a little bit more experience in watching porn being edited.
Q: Without sounding too much like a gushing fan, I do have to say that John's editing of the sex scenes works so well, especially in a movie like Face Dance, where there can be so many bodies and so much action going on. Some movies just seem to let the camera roll on forever without any cuts or assembly...
Tricia: John is an incredible editor. He has linear and non-linear editing systems in our house and at his office at work, and it's so great that he's doing all the editing of his own movies again. So everything that he gets excited about as he's directing is now the main focus of his movies again. I'm lucky that John has taken me under his wing and shown me a lot about editing and just really "seeing the shots" that are there.
Q: These days, we are so jaded by technology that fans take for granted the complicated process of mastering a DVD. Could you tell us how Evil Angel DVDs are made? Is it a direct transfer of the original master videotape?
Tricia: For the simultaneous releases, we do use the original Beta tapes that will be used to duplicate the VHS copies. For the older movies, because we need those masters to keep making VHS copies, a Beta copy is given to the DVD department for us to work from, since it takes about three to six weeks for us to make the DVD.
Q: Does it go through any processing like cleaning up defects or errors on the original tape?
Tricia: We typically don't make any adjustments to the original tape, but sometimes we balance the audio a little better.
Q: Are videos which are being made now produced with an eye on the DVD market? How has DVD changed the way your movies are made?
Tricia: Since Evil Angel is mostly known for it's gonzo and non-feature movies (although we have had some great full-length feature movies like Face Dance, Dog Walker, Rocco Never Dies, etcetera), we don't put on quite as many features as some companies. John came up with our fetish menu idea which is a section of the DVD that isolates some of the different types of action in the movie. It's only the best of the best of each thing (blowjobs, anal sex, sex toys, etcetera.) We also spend more time on the photo gallery. This is possibly the area where the directors do things a little different. They take a wider variety of stills, and they also take more candid stills during shooting, which are my favorites to put in the photo gallery. The directors also leave the camera on a little more between shooting the actual video for some extra footage for the DVD. Other than that, it's the same as usual because of the way our movies are shot. Each director does his own camera-work and lighting, so often it's just him and the performers (and sometimes a makeup artist or extra camera person if the director is one of the performers). However, John and I have been talking extensively about the possibility of doing some movies just for DVD. Not like the Virtual Sex series, but a feature made for DVD. When I direct, I will interview the girls separately for the DVD, as well as shoot some footage of pre and post-production.
Q: There are some companies, where allegedly, people can buy "unedited" or "director's cuts" versions of their movies which might show fisting, or , or what have you. Whenever certain video footage has to be removed from the final consumer version, is there a temptation to sell harder versions on the net or through the mail?
Tricia: No comment.
Q: Gotcha! When Evil Angel released its first batch of discs, there were occasional problems with audio quality or video quality. But these problems were admitted and remedied through exchanges. How are quality control issues these days?
Tricia: Actually, the first four movies were Buttman in Budapest, Buttman's Big Butt Euro Babes, Buttman's Big Tit Adventure, and Buttman's Extremely Big Tit Adventure. The person doing DVDs for the company back then also hadn't known anything about DVDs prior to working at Evil Angel, so they made a judgment call to do DVD-5s, which turned out to be the wrong thing for our movies. John felt horrible about the video quality of the movies, so he decided to re-issue those four titles as DVD-9s. This double-layered disc allowed more space and gave the movie much better quality. It also allowed room for John to do a video commentary about the movies, and add the fetish menu and photo galleries. On [the] Rocco: Animal Trainer 1 DVD, the Beta tapes which were copied and given to me accidentally had the last scene of part two instead of the last scene of part one. So when we made Rocco: Animal Trainer 2 DVD, the entire VHS of that movie is on the disc, along with the scene (which is a great one) from Animal Trainer 1 that got left out. Also, due to a technical difficulty, the audio in Rocco's Initiations 1 is a couple of seconds off. So we are redoing that disc, and will have an exchange available fairly soon. [Fellow DVD Producer] Rick Hall's an excellent proofer, so quality control has been great. He produces about 40% of our current DVDs, and does the everyday issues of keeping things organized. Our biggest problem is that we have found that a lot of our discs aren't really compatible with a few of the older Toshiba DVD players and some DVD-ROMs. I feel horrible about this, and we are working on a solution, but I am happy to say that the newer Toshiba's play our discs just fine. It was so frustrating, but in the end, we found that Toshiba made their players ultra-sensitive on purpose. It backfired on them, but it's also hurting us a lot because our fans who own those players can't watch our movies.
Q: And you are always open for consumers to spot problems or offer suggestions, right?
Tricia: Absolutely. If a consumer or reviewer or anyone notices a problem, email me or dvd@evilangel.com (which is also me!). We'll check it out, and we always appreciate the opportunity to make our movies and our DVDs better.
Q: As a reviewer and a fan, let me say that we really do appreciate prompt customer service. As far as the actual DVDs themselves, what are your favorite bonus features to include on a disc? And what are John's?
Tricia: For me, I like the behind-the-scenes and extra footage. I also like the director and star commentaries. I'm going to do a star commentary of my scenes in Buttman's Toy Stories, Barby's on Butt Row, The Voyeur 6, and Dirty Tricks 2. John's favorite features are the fetish menu and extra footage to see more sex and tease that wasn't on the VHS.
Q: I've noticed the extended scenes in videos like Dog Walker and Buttman's Anal Show. They really added to the viewing experience. But what about the other directors under Evil Angel's wing? Are they as excited about the format?
Tricia: To tell you the truth, they're still getting used to it, because they spend so much time making great videos. But they're all coming around, which is so exciting to see. I still remember last year, showing Christoph and Joey one of their movies on DVD for the first time. They were so fascinated. The best thing about Evil Angel's directors is how much they truly love making great porn movies, and today that means making great porn DVDs. I'm even more excited about becoming an Evil Angel director, because I'll also get to produce my own DVD and pick out the extra features, and do a commentary!
Q: With the massive catalog of videos under the Evil Angel banner, how does one decide which titles are to be released? Is it up to the director (Christoph Clark, John Leslie, John Stagliano, Joey Silvera, etc.) or does the company make decisions with the director's consent?
Tricia: I get to pick Christoph's DVDs, with John Stagliano's help. For Rocco, it's a joint decision between me, him and John. The same for Joey Silvera. John Leslie picks his, as does John Stagliano. The titles are picked based on VHS sales, consumer favorites, videos which won awards, and director's favorites. We release at least one DVD per director each month, and each director usually gets one extra DVD every five weeks. The first one is usually newer, the extra one is usually older.
Q: I see. Do any of the directors besides John Stagliano get as involved with the DVD editions?
Tricia: Rocco and Christoph are getting more involved as they learn more about possibilities on DVD. So far, John Stagliano is still the most involved with his DVD movies. I can't wait to get his commentary interview about Buda. He gets so into his filmmaking. John Leslie is great about giving me lots of extra sex footage for his DVDs.
Q: Well, the more the merrier when it comes to additional footage. I saw The Voyeur 18, and I really liked seeing the extended sex scenes. Are there any plans to re-release titles with special editions?
Tricia: No, although I wish I had gotten a chance to produce Face Dance, Dog Walker, Rocco Never Dies, and Drop Sex myself. They're very good as it is, but I would have added a little more if I could have.
Q: John Stagliano has directed many landmark films, including Wild Goose Chase, Face Dance and Buda. You stated at the 2000 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo that the DVD release of Buda was one that you were really excited about.
Tricia: Buda is coming out on DVD on September 24, 2001. We picked this day so it comes out right before the AVN deadline for the awards. I'm going to be working really hard on this DVD. It's going to be a 2-disc set, with a bunch of extra footage, and either an interview of John and/or a partial commentary by him.
Q: And of course, fans are always asking about classics like Wild Goose Chase, Bend Over Babes and early editions of Rocco's True Anal Stories. Some of the True Anal Stories titles are out on DVD, but what about the others?
Tricia: Wild Goose Chase is one (like Buda) that I want to give special attention to, so I am looking at probably Spring 2002. Shadow Dancers actually isn't on the schedule, but it's a great movie, and I can't wait to get a chance to work on it. Bend Over Babes movies are difficult because the first four haven't been released yet, but #5 was released during a simultaneous release with the video. Most likely, #4 will be the next one from that series because it has a great scene with Ruby, Christi Lake, and Rocco. Rocco's True Anal Stories are the same situation, because it's a series that is on #14. We did #13 and #14 simultaneous, and want to keep some sort of order to the previous ones. Other notable upcoming releases are Buttman in the Crack, Sandy Insatiable, A Pink Hotel on Butt Row, Euro Hardball 5, and The Voyeur series.
Q: Ah! Sandy Insatiable! I really enjoyed that flick. She was just as nasty as Kelly from Rocco Meats Kelly, Part Two. And I bought A Pink Hotel on Butt Row on videocassette when it first came out for Kelly Havel. Fans really appreciate seeing those titles finally coming onto DVD, but we can really be an impatient bunch. So why the hold up? Is there a marketing strategy here?
Tricia: We are releasing about two DVDs a week now, up from only one a month during the Spring of 2000. Any more than two a week would possibly compromise the interest in each DVD that we would release. Currently, five of our directors are doing their DVDs through Evil Angel DVD, so they each get one big release a month. John Stagliano, Rocco Siffredi, and Christoph Clark have chosen to work really hard at doing their new VHS movies as simultaneous (day and date) DVD releases. Joey Silvera and John Leslie like to use new girls a lot, so they bring out the DVD shortly after the VHS release. On a side note, I'm really excited about how many simultaneous releases we have done. (As of July, it's been done to more than fifteen of our movies!) I pushed really hard to be the first company to do simultaneous releases on a regular basis (at least one a month). It's so difficult, but I'll get into that more later. Since there are usually more than five releases each month, we rotate the remaining releases between the directors and typically pick one of their really great VHS movies to transfer to DVD. The choice is made by the director based on VHS sales and simply his favorite movies.
Q: And what have been some of your favorite releases from Evil Angel?
Tricia: I personally really enjoyed Rocco's Way to Love. The intensity of the emotions during the sex is just incredible.
Q: There's a lot of imitators of Evil Angel videos: box cover designs, the gonzo genre...is it infuriating that there seems to be some attempt to confuse the marketplace? I pick up a title that has the same little square boxes and slogans like an Evil Angel video, and I find out that it's by someone else...
Tricia: It probably frustrates me and the other people who work at Evil Angel maybe even more so than John, because we work so hard at the day to day duties of the company that to see other people make quick bucks because they're confusing [customers] who don't know the difference. John gets a little frustrated sometimes, but he's more level headed than the rest of us [laughs]! We understand that the consumer won't be fooled over and over; people who care to know the difference will figure it out.
Q: I'm sure that imitation is a form of flattery. I also noticed that some of the pictures on the DVD cases are sometimes different from the original videocassette box cover: Dog Walker and Buttman's Ultimate Workout, for instance. Was that planned by you, or...
Tricia: Actually, I wasn't even working in the DVD department back then. It was a decision by John. We changed the cover a little bit to try to reach the markets that couldn't [put] hardcore pictures on their shelves. That was changed to doing two-sided covers [the paper inserts on the DVD case] for a little while. We moved away from that because there wasn't quite enough demand for it, but we might do it again. It's funny though, but I was talking to [buyer representatives] and they basically said, "we could buy your she-male products, as long as we don't see the dick or the nipple!" [laughs]. So that's why we toned down the cover. But now we went back doing a complete cover. We may take one picture off due to the smaller space on the cover, but now we put what you see on the hardcore.
Q: So when Wild Goose Chase comes out, it will come with the original cover? Which if I recall only had some partial nudity...
Tricia: Actually, it will have the original cover. For our bigger releases in the future such as features, we might want to go back to doing a two-sided cover [to reach a bigger market].
Q: Is the box cover art and design still one of the biggest selling points of any DVD even for Evil Angel?
Tricia: I want to say that it has a big thing to do with it. You know, it's really hard to tell of course.
Q: Evil Angel usually focuses on its directors: Joey Silvera, John Leslie and Rocco Siffredi. Are there actresses under contract? Is there a line of "Evil Angelettes," for instance....
Tricia: Evil Angel's never had a contract girl. We've had some girls who began with Evil Angel at different parts of their careers, but John doesn't really believe in the contract girl thing, because we can't really them offer parts on a consistent basis; we don't really send girls around the stores on a regular basis. Angela Summers, for awhile, was kind of associated with Evil Angel. Krysti Lynn was. [And] Brandy Alexander.
Q: And some of those girls actually got their early career started with Evil Angel before they became superstars.
Tricia: Yeah, Angela Summers first movie was Wild Goose Chase.
Q: And Stacy Valentine is popular now, but her earliest role was in Joey Silvera's...umm...
Tricia: Executions on Butt Row.
Q: That's it! Well, even without contract girls, viewers can rely on the director's names and reputations. When I pick up a John Stagliano video, or a Rocco Siffredi video, I know what I'm getting.
Tricia: And John's really good about that. First of all, his directors are great anyway. But if, for example, if someone didn't have a movie that was up to par with what he thought Evil Angel stood for, he would tell them straight out: "look, this needs to be made better...maybe toss a scene out and put a really good scene in"...and stuff like that. And that's what happened with Apocalypse [Productions] that did Anal Ball. They did a second movie, and...it just wasn't very good! And John said, "I'm sorry; I can't release this movie..." And they said, "okay, that's cool...we'll just go off with [someone else]...we really don't want to make this movie any different than what it is."
Q: It's pretty unusual, it seems, that a company would enforce standards of quality when a lot of studios just want to hack it out.
Tricia: Yes!
Q: As I mentioned before, I noticed on the box cover that you have a credit now "DVD Produced By Tricia Devereaux". So when we see that credit on Evil Angel discs like Animal Trainer, is that the "Good Housekeeping" seal of approval for all the DVD extras as we can get...?
Tricia: Well, as many as I am able to get. The way the company is set-up is that each [director] owns their own product. So even though we can encourage them and show them that the discs that have more extras [and] maybe might sell better or things like that, if the directors choose not to give extra footage or a commentary, I can't them to do it. Whereas other companies, they buy the movie from the directors and they can go in and edit their own extra footage, or they can say, "okay, we'll give you $500 extra bucks if you give us the extra footage." And I can't do that! I'm still working at getting a biography from Joey Silvera! [laughs]. Well, Joey is turning around! He just recently told us that as soon as we get the edited masters for his movies, we can start working on the DVD right away. Since we only get the masters on time for the VHS to go out, I don't think we're going to see a simultaneous [DVD] release right away. But you won't see much of a delay. As soon as we get the DVD made, it will be available!
Q: The male version of Nudes a Poppin', will that be Evil Angel's first foray into the gay market?
Tricia: Some may consider the she-males videos to be towards that [market], because Joey Silvera is incredible with his Rogue Adventures. I actually like watching gay videos a lot. I don't get to see nearly as much as I'd like! The things I would love to see, if I was Queen of Evil Angel for a day, things I would love to see included, a blowjob line which is possible in the future anyway...professionally shot...just blowjobs! I'd love for us to get in the gay market. But I know that everybody at Evil Angel is smart enough to not think, "okay, we're just gonna shoot two guys together who don't mind fucking each other!" Evil Angel would never have that approach to any kind of porn, and especially not gay porn. So, it would have to be, finding a person who is already into making good gay videos and having them make some [for our company] or something along that line. Because none of our people really understand the gay market and knows what's good about it...stuff like that. I just know that I enjoy it, but I certainly wouldn't be able to make a full gay video.
Q: I notice that Evil Angel has a DVD called Rocco's Best Buttfucks. But I don't see many compilation videos, like a cumshot collection, like so many other companies do...
Tricia: I actually haven't heard any of our directors talk about one. It's something may be to mention to a couple of them. But I've never heard a director express any interest in doing one. [Distracted by her husband] John just laughed. He says, "what are you talking about?" I said, "cumshot compilation." And he goes, "ugh!" [laughs].
Q: Let's go back in time for a few minutes...Am I correct in understanding that Elegant Angel was associated with Evil Angel?
Tricia: Patrick Collins started out in porn with Tianna. And then he was a salesperson for John. And then he started making his movies and he used the name "Elegant Angel." Afterwards, he started breaking away from John, without John knowing ahead of time what was going to happen. And then he took the Elegant Angel name and titles with him.
Q: And the banner [Elegant Angel company logo]? Which is so close in design to Evil Angel's...
Tricia: The banner, the logo and everything which basically John had started. But there's no association anymore.
Q: I think there are some people who thought that Elegant Angel was part of the Evil Angel Empire.
Tricia: We're not going to change our logo, but we do our best to keep ourselves looking real fresh, and when Patrick left, he stuck with the same graphic artist [as we had used]. That's why the products still kept looking pretty similar. Now they do their stuff in house, which we're kind of happy with because our stuff still looks like it used to and their stuff doesn't anymore. There's a lot of time that I go into adult video stores, and they have the products mixed in together. And say I'm signing at a store when I used to feature and stuff, I'd be like, "hey, can you do me a favor and separate these two products [laughs]...these aren't the same companies!"
Q: I guess the break up was kind of sour, but then John was probably a better man for not making too big a stink out of it...
Tricia: He does say nowadays, if he had his knowledge today of what ended up happening, he would have suggested, "why don't you make a new logo?" It's especially confusing that they have Buttwoman and we have Buttman, so everything is similar.
Q: You were in a few videos for Elegant Angel?
Tricia: I worked for Tom Byron in his first movie for Elegant Angel because he had been one of the guys in my scene in Gangbang Girl 17. He flattered me very much by saying he wanted me all to himself. He sounded kind of disappointed when I told him I'd be willing to a DP for his movie. Anyway, after that, I went to talk to Patrick Collins at their office, but he never hired me. I worked for Rob Black separately because a friend of his in LA who I worked for recommended me when Rob was trying to cast a movie he was going to shoot in New York. That was Cellar Dweller (the first one.) I liked Rob a lot when we talked over the phone. My ex-husband, who I was separating from right then, was way too tame of a guy, and Rob excited me because he was exactly opposite. He moved in with me when he moved to LA. A couple months later, he landed his job directing for Elegant Angel. That's when it all went downhill. He got a big head and became pretty much an asshole to everyone. I was in every movie he directed that first year except for one, because I was out of town. We had gotten engaged, but broke up six months later. The next year was when he started Extreme Associates. I still talk to him now and then, but it's difficult to forgive him for all the horrible things he did to me. He's just a hateful person, and it makes me sad to see him treat people so badly.
Q: According to the "Bio" section on your website, www.triciadevereaux.com, you were born on January 12 and grew up in the Midwest. You began stripping to make money for graduate school, and made contacts in the industry which eventually led you career in adult videos.
Tricia: Yes.
Q: You also discuss your porn career, including the difficult times when you contracted HIV through your work. You took a break from porn, and then eventually struck up a relationship with John Stagliano, who also previously disclosed his status some years ago...
Tricia: Yes.
Q: Without asking you to speak for John, it is generally well-known in the adult community that both you and he were downright candid and open about the HIV infection. Was it a socially-conscious decision to go public with this subject, or was it to avoid the rumors and myths and scandals which can be perpetuated on this kind of subject?
Tricia: For me, the decision to talk about my HIV was because of both of those reasons. Right after I was diagnosed, the other people in the industry wanted to believe that I hadn't contracted HIV during a scene, so they were more than ready to believe the untrue rumors that I had been prostituting myself, doing IV , or whatever else. Another reason for me is that although I don't believe in making companies go to all-condom videos, I do want to make people understand the risks involved and let them make a well-informed decision on their own. In my personal life, I always had used condoms. John is possibly the most honest person I've ever met. He contracted HIV from casual unprotected sex in Brazil. It was during a difficult point in his life, and he admits that he knew the risks involved and chose to take those risks. It never even entered his mind to lie about his HIV status. Currently, John takes the medications suggested by his doctor, and he is undetectable.
Q: Do you try to take an active part in AIDS awareness and safe sex issues in the adult industry?
Tricia: No, I don't take an active part. Every once in a while I do, but it's still such a big part of my private life, that I just don't think that I have the energy to constantly be so disappointed by people's denial that the only risk-free activity is to have no activity at all. When I direct, I will make sure that I allow the performers the choice of using a condom or not, and I won't decide not to hire someone just because they want to have safe sex. That's pretty much the policy of Evil Angel in general - the directors at Evil Angel would never tell a performer that they had to have sex without a condom if they were uncomfortable with it. And for safety, all of the scenes with transsexuals include condoms.
Q: Is there any rumor or misconception regarding your health or how the incident happened that you would like to clear up?
Tricia: That is was definitely Marc Wallice who infected me and at least four other girls, and that I have absolutely no doubts that he knew he was HIV+ and was forging tests in order to keep performing.
Q: As a public figure in adult entertainment, and a representative for Evil Angel, you must be asked the same questions on this issue again and again. Are you tired of discussing it in general with the press?
Tricia: Pretty much...!
Q: Now there is more awareness of safe-sex and testing within the industry. But do you find it frustrating that there are so many fans who essentially boycott certain videos with a mandatory condoms policy?
Tricia: Yes. I understand that they watch porn as a fantasy. But for the performers, it's reality, and they catch something, any type of STD, it's a reality. In the gay community, it's almost the opposite with consumers. It's more the exception to have a consumer who doesn't just accept that the porn he watches is going to be with condoms. It's a special circumstance when gay porn is without condoms.
Q: Would you and John consider putting out a series of videos where you two work together, or are there health considerations?
Tricia: I don't know about a series... I don't think there would be a whole lot of consumer interest in that... There are no health considerations for us to be together. The one scene that we did together, we used a condom to show safe sex and to make other people feel more comfortable. I'd love to do another scene with him in the future after I've had a chance to get back into shape again.
Q: Do you find yourself sometimes being a spokesperson for or authority on the adult industry and health concerns? Is that something that you avoid, or do you not mind answering questions or curious comments based on your experience?
Tricia: If someone asks a question, I'll usually try to answer it. I try to make sure that they understand that I'm not an authority, I'm only telling them things that I've read or been told by my doctors. A lot of times, I get questions about whether I consider it safe for a guy to get blowjobs without condoms or what is the actual risk of certain acts. Those are the types of questions that I try to avoid because I wouldn't want someone to make a risky decision because they were encouraged by something I said.
Q: Do you ever get tired or bored with discussing your porn performances of the past before you became more involved behind the scenes?
Tricia: Only if someone keeps going into details about scenes like "what did you wear". I'm really proud of most of my performances. I wouldn't have stayed performing for that long if I wasn't. So if someone sends me an e-mail about my movies, I'm usually just flattered that they remember me at all!
Q: We've already noted that you discuss some personal things on your website...was that to stave off repetitive questions or to bring fans closer to you?
Tricia: Both. Actually, I was getting lots of letters and e-mails asking why I wasn't doing scenes anymore, and it was kind of difficult to keep answering that question, so I put the whole thing in my bio, and most of the responses I've gotten are very nice and encouraging. I've always liked talking with my fans, and I recently expanded my website a little to include a mini-journal page and a page listing upcoming appearances. I don't go to clubs to dance right now, so when I do make an appearance at an event, I want to make sure that if someone wanted to see me, they'd know I'll be there.
Q: That's really remarkable to find all that information there. A lot of star websites are filled with endless advertisements or puff pieces.
Tricia: I've always been pretty vocal about my opinions, such as my likes and dislikes, who I get along with and don't, etc. I can't stand people who are fake about their feelings, even if they think it's better to sugarcoat things. I'd rather that people not have to guess about my feelings. That way, if I like them, they can be sure that it's real.
Q: By the way, the Evil Angel website, www.evilangel.com, also has a lot of good information, especially for a free site! Is that something you look over, too [along with your own]?
Tricia: No...we give our input, though. There are actually a couple of people who work at the internet department, and John works with them on content and tells them what he likes, and they give him concessions. He basically oversees them.
Q: And when do you get to work on www.triciadevereaux.com?.
Tricia: I recently added some stuff, but I want to keep it a free site. Because I'm so busy with Evil Angel, I don't really have time to dedicate a lot of time to it, so I keep it simple. More than anything, it's for people to get a hold of me if they want to. It just has some answers about me on there. Probably the biggest question I hated answering all the time, was...when I came back [from my hiatus from the industry] to working for Evil Angel, some people were sending letters to me at Evil Angel when they saw me in the Nudes a Poppin' videos and stuff, "why aren't you performing anymore?" And it was really difficult for me to answer that question over and over. Especially at conventions...that's the worst, because you're face to face with people.
Q: I can imagine so, because even if they ask about your working status innocently or ignorantly, all the same repetitive questioning can get tiring...
Tricia: Right.
Q: So it's convenient for those who have the same question about you, to go to the website and...
Tricia: Exactly. If a lot of people do send me an e-mail, and haven't seen the website, or haven't read through the bio or something, I'll write back and say, "oh, it's all up in the bio!" [laugher]. It's just easier that way for me.
Q: It's pretty rare that anyone of your position in the industry discloses that kind of personal information on a public website. Even your e-mail address...because fans can get overzealous and take advantage of it [by writing to you constantly]! Before the internet, fans had a hell of a time contacting their favorite stars. But if they have a website, some people might feel like they have an open invitation to contact that person however or whenever they choose.
Tricia: If anybody writes to me, and they're rude...they won't even get a response. If they write to me and they just start pestering me, I'll just write back to them and say, "you know, I work full time, I'll try to answer some of your questions, but just understand that most girls don't even answer e-mails...so just be happy that I do the best that I can!" [laughs].
Q: Well, a lot of celebrity websites can be impersonal...just as a means to sell product, instead of one that reaches out to fans...
Tricia: I got very lucky. I had a fan that wrote to me and said, "I notice you didn't have a website...can I make one for you?" So I decided to buy the domain name, and I found out someone else had just bought it. And I thought, "oh my god, some company just bought it and they were going to add it to their list to 'Pornstar blah, blah, blah'". I found out who had bought it; I wrote to them, and they said, "oh, we're big fans of yours!" I didn't want to happen what you're afraid might happen [a website becoming impersonally owned]. And they gave it to me for free. I pay for the renewal fees and I pay for the server. But that's the end of it. But now I have another fan who is going to update it and make it a little happier! I don't mind it being a mixture of those two type of things [sales and information]...but I just don't have the time! And I'm such a control freak, that I just don't see how...I wouldn't want somebody else pretending they were me. I hate it when I go to other girl's sites, and I can tell that they probably never even saw their site more than once! Even when the fan did my site, I sent everything in text format what was to go on my site. Now, I update the text all by myself!
Q: The porn industry is a controversial place. But lately there has been more exposure in the mainstream media whether it's on Howard Stern, or The Man Show or exploitative talk shows. Do you think that acceptance of this genre will be dependent on its mainstream effect?
Tricia: Unfortunately, shows like the ones you've listed don't talk about porn in an everyday way - at least not everyday in the sense that it could be talked about with parents and teens. They tend to perpetuate the assumption that porn is risqué and dirty because of the way that they talk about it. I love porn, but I don't talk about it like it's something to be ashamed of. These shows make porn seem like it's not realistic, that it's some superhuman act of sex and that's it. Porn is so much more than that. Until people accept it as an art form that depicts different ways of expressing sexuality, it won't be accepted as part of the norm of society. I myself am much happier with the depictions of porn in a lot of mainstream porn in movies and of sexual situations on cable TV like Showtime and HBO than I am with the irreverence about porn that some of the talk shows have.
Q: How do you feel about mainstream movies which focus on porn like, The People Vs. Larry Flynt, or Jenna Jameson getting a role in the Howard Stern movie, or Kobe Tai appearing in Very Bad Things?
Tricia: The cameos are nice. It shows that there is acceptance out there. But I would like to see more pornstars getting more normal roles, not them getting a role as a pornstar. I mean that's great! It shows some acceptance; it's not a complete stigma [to have done porn]. But you always hear the good actresses in porn saying, "I'd love to get into mainstream. But I've done porn, they won't take me now." Porn has some good actors and good actresses. And I don't think that because they've done porn for some portion of their career, that they can't choose to do both, or someday make the switch completely over.
Q: It might get closer. Alisha Klass was in a Wayne Wang film: Center of The World...
Tricia: Exactly...and that's great!
Q: Is it encouraging to see the mainstream TV shows or movies mention porn, even if it's just a joke? Does that lead to acceptance?
Tricia: I think it is encouraging. It is not a malicious joke, I don't think. Some people might look at it, they're just talking about it and it's silly. But my favorite is the porn episode on Friends. The first time I saw that I was just ecstatic! I was like, "oh my god, that's incredible!" Just about everything in mainstream is talking more and more about sex, and details about sex. I think it's great. Someday, the only difference between the two [mainstream and porn] may be just seeing the penetration shots! It's wonderful!
Q: What about mainstream figures that come into porn...like Snoop Dogg's DVDs or that god-awful John Wayne Bobbitt in Frankenpenis?
Tricia: You know, of course I'd rather see something that brings mainstream attention to porn that is quality. Attention is good, but I don't want to say that any attention is good as long as it's attention, because that's not true. I guess if it's not negative, then it's not bad. But I wish it got to the point where things were better quality. I haven't seen Snoop Dogg's video, but I would hope that it would lead to good porn. But if it isn't then that is not something I would consider to be positive crossover porn from the mainstream. We just got an e-mail from a rap person. And we wrote them back asking them, can we use your name because we don't really know if this is something that is still considered bad for them. Even though they [rappers] talk all the time about porn and getting chicks and stuff, some of them don't want to be associated with an actual porn company. And you know that's kind of sad that there is such a double standard.
Q: So some of the mainstream will enjoy the benefits of referring to porn, and capitalize on it, but won't admit to associating with it.
Tricia: Right.
Q: John Stagliano was interviewed by US News and World Report several years ago to discuss Evil Angel's success. Are there any attempts by Evil Angel to make porn more mainstream, in the way that other studios try to do?
Tricia: No. We don't dedicate ourselves to that much advertising. And like I mentioned before, many people don't accept porn as a "normal" entertainment source. Vivid makes itself seem more acceptable by toning down the intensity of the sex and making their ads seem more mainstream. We're proud of what we do and the image that we have, but we're not going to kid ourselves into thinking that we're the same as mainstream. Someday, maybe people will open up and not separate the value of a XXX movie from an R-rated one. They have different purposes of entertainment and different audiences perhaps, but they both have their own place in the entertainment world.
Q: Do you keep up with industry news? Do you read the industry publications, look at any of the internet sites?
Tricia: I look at AVN, and some of the non-malicious ones. I've never been a gossip, and I don't enjoy reading hurtful statements about others, so I don't really look at Luke Ford or Gene Ross. Every once in a while a fan will send me a note about something bad written about me. I used to feel compelled to defend myself, but John's been wonderful in helping me ignore that kind of childish stuff.
Q: Do you read reviews? Do you feel compelled to respond to criticism if someone gives the opinion that Bend Over Babes #24 wasn't up to snuff?
Tricia: I try to look at a variety of reviews of Evil Angel products, and especially of John Stagliano's DVDs. I don't always respond just because the DVD wasn't somebody's cup of tea. I do respond however, if they get some of the factual info wrong, such as cast lists, listing the special features, etcetera.
Q: Then what do you look for in a review? Comments on the technical and content side?
Tricia: As a consumer, when I look at reviews, I like to know about the technical quality of the movie and of the DVD features themselves. I also look for an overview of how good the movie is with regards to cast, sex, etc. It's not as important for me to get a play-by-play commentary of what happens in each scene. And I really appreciate it if a reviewer is more descriptive about their reasons, such as, "the girl in the first scene wasn't my type, because I don't prefer silicone boobs". It helps me a lot more than him saying something like, "the first girl wasn't good looking".
Q: Besides what we talked about, anything else you want emphasized?
Tricia: Toy Stories is coming out on DVD, which will be promoted [at] CES [AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2002]. My favorite is Nudes a Poppin' 10 , because...I looked good [laughs]!
Q: Trust me, you look great in everything!
Tricia: In Nudes a Poppin' 11 I was pregnant!
Q: Well when I saw you at the Expo in January, you were glowing! Which leads to the next question: How do you like being a mother?
Tricia: It's very difficult and tiring, but I love it so much. It's really rewarding, seeing something that came from me and John growing up every day. John makes things so easy on me because he's such a great dad. My daughter really helps me look at my life differently, but in a good way.
Q: And we all know that you're baby is happy and healthy!
Tricia: Yes, I took proper medications during my pregnancy. John and I discussed the possibility of having a child for about a year before we actually started trying to conceive. We spoke with our HIV specialist, who was very encouraging that we try. He told us that the chance of us having a baby who didn't have HIV, if we took all the suggested precautions, was 99%. We were still worried about the small risk, but decided that no matter what, we would love our child the same as if she had any disease or birth defect. In addition to the medications, which brought the virus down to an undetectable level during my pregnancy, I also had a C-section. At five months old, my daughter is HIV negative, and all of our doctors are certain that she will remain negative.
Q: Your new daughter is named Isabella, right? I don't mean to take her mother away from her this long for an interview.
Tricia: She's taking a ! She's an angel! Oh my gosh, she's incredible!
Q: I bet! Me and the wife are trying to have kids this year...
Tricia: Oh, good luck!
Q: Yeah, it's hard...your videos help [the conception process]...
Tricia: We were way nervous...and we're doing great!
Q: I'm nervous too, admittedly. I mean I'm [number deleted] years old, and someday, I'll have to grow up and take responsibility, I guess...
Tricia: I know, and it totally does change you. But it doesn't have to be in a bad way [laughs]! John's friends were very nervous for him, some were excited for him and said that it was totally going to change him. Some people were thinking the same thing, but we're afraid by it! But everybody's like, "Oh, it's so good for him! He's so happy about it!" It's great! [Young Isabella calls out to her mother to pay her some attention...] Oh, here we go...she just woke up!
Q: And we here at the Empire congratulate you and John on your new family! Thank you for this interview, and take care!
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