An Interview With Fred Bercovitz From Video 10
Goldie: Tell me about your background. What did you do before coming to Video 10?
Fred Bercovitz: Prior to taking this job, I was a commissioned salesman for Catalina Video, and just before that I managed the Malibu Sales mail order division of the Advocate magazine. But I also brought some organizational skills to the job because of my work in the Savings and Loan industry during the 70's up until 1985.
I quit my career in banking when I was offered the job of office manager for a phone sex company. That opportunity came up when my hobby of writing dirty poetry, and getting some of it published, lead me to answer an ad for a "seminar" on how to talk dirty on the telephone. Phone sex was a new industry around then, and I wanted to gain some insight into it to help me write some poetry or short stories about it. But the seminar was really a front to attract potential phone "actors". When I befriended the owners of the company, I accepted their offer to become their office manager and left banking for good.
I can't say why I left the job security of a mainstream industry like banking for the shadier adult industry of phone sex, but I just took a leap of faith that it was something that I would enjoy and excel at. After that, I also worked for the Advocate in their mail order division, which also lead to a stint writing under the name Hands Solo as the Advocate Men gay video reviewer, where I invented the teaspoon system of reviews (don't ask!). That bit of corporate confidence in my writing skills kept me attempting to get published in all types of places.
Eventually, the desktop publishing revolution happened towards the end of the 80's and the beginning of the 90's, and something called "zines" were getting published by writers just like me. I had this idea to write about how much fun I was having when I did drag for Halloween year after year. That idea, with the help at first of my friends at the Advocate, became 10 issues of my underground zine, Dragazine, the Magazine for Halloweeners and Inbetweeners, that I published under the name Lois Commondenominator. Little did I know that doing drag and writing about it would become a fantastic hobby that would teach me all about graphic design, photography, printing, journalism and editing. All of these things have contributed to my success here at Video 10.
Goldie: What is your current role within Video 10 and what do you attribute your long lasting success to?
Fred: Being the Sales Manager for Video 10 Distributors since 1991 has been a dream job come true! There are so many reasons why I have found a home here, why I have lasted this long, why I feel the fit has been so good between the company and my talents and disposition.
When I was first hired, Video 10 had just been entrapped into shipping adult materials to the central district of Pennsylvania, and it was possible that the company wouldn't survive very long. But I took the job because I've always been an optimist, and my optimism paid off. The position of Sales Manager had come up when the previous manager went on to run his own mail order company. I don't remember if I had to compete for the position at that time, but it helped that I had some previous adult business experience.
Goldie: What has been your most memorable or rewarding experience working in the porn industry?
Fred: I am currently the Sales Manager for Video 10, but over the years, I have also produced three of my own titles. The fist two received nominations for awards from the Adult Video News, but in particular, I'm very proud to have been nominated twice in the category of Best Sex Comedy. Please check out my website for my second movie at A Rim With A View. I like to infuse humor into the movies that I create.
My third project has been the most challenging and rewarding because not only did I do all of the editing, I also produced the six music tracks heard throughout the movie. It helped that I was classically trained on the piano as a young child for this achievement, but I also received an "A" in music composition from a class I took at UCLA during my college years. Please check out my g-rated music videos based on my "Music To Bone By" by going here.
Here is a sample of Fred's music videos to enjoy. The rest can be accessed at the above link.
Goldie: How is the content from Video 10 unique from what else is on the market?
Fred: Video 10's content is similar in many ways to the quality of content that other companies offer, except we offer a wide variety of titles from various producers that are exclusive to Video 10. We have represented big companies and little companies, from Falcon and Huge to Jeff Stryker.
As the market changed over the years, or as producers bolted for greener pastures, we had to turn on a dime ourselves to keep the doors open. I think we're still in business because we're now what I would call a "boutique" distributor. We take on productions from producers who might have needed some help to bring their productions to market, or who trust us because of our reputation for being honest.
Goldie: Do you have a favorite Video 10 movie and if so what makes it so special?
Fred: That's a hard question, because I won't take on movies that I don't like. I'm able to see something good in every one of our movies. That might be why we have an audience for our titles. They appeal to a wide audience, which is the objective of a commercial appeal.
But competition is fierce right now, and I think it's a maturing industry with a flooded market, so the profits we've seen from years past aren't as easy to make as they used to be. Video 10's success now is not so much that we're the most profitable or the most famous company, but that we're able to keep in business with so much competition around from new formats and changing tastes. I'm very proud to work at Video 10, and I think my customers continue to buy from me not only because they can make money from the movies we sell, but because they respond to my personality and friendliness.
Goldie: Are you single or taken?
Fred: Ahh, the juicy questions. Well, my personal life has recently had quite an upturn. I am currently taken and have been in a monogamous relationship for over 2 years now.
Goldie: What types of guys do find sexy?
Fred: I like guys who have a good sense of humor. I've always enjoyed looking at handsome guys and fantasizing about sex with them, but I realized when a guy told me that I was "too old" at 18 years of age(!) that I realized that looks are transitory. I've had more than my share of sex with many types of men, but since I finally settled down after enjoying my extended adolescence, I can see that a successful one-on-one relationship like we have includes the best sex I've ever had with anyone in my life!
Goldie: Boxers, briefs, boxer/briefs, or none of the above?
Fred: I'm a boxers guy now. I used to be a low-rise briefs, guy, but since I've been working out 5 times a week for the last few years, my muscular thighs just won't fit into tighty whities anymore. But I should also mention that I must have a jock straps fetish (among others) as I seem to have featured them in my movies. I've made up a few jock strap tricks that have been witnessed by those that have seen the Freddie Show, a very local and exclusive production with extremely limited seating, but which I will show off in a future worldwide release.
Goldie: What do you have planned for the future? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Fred: For the near future, I'm hoping to produce more movies and write more music for them. I love the streaming checks that come to my post office box like manna from heaven! That's my retirement plan! For the far future, I'm thinking about chucking it all and buying something in the desert where I will become the produce manager for the Cathedral City Ralphs while on Thursday evenings sell macrame belts and milk carton candles at the weekly street fair.
Goldie: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer everything with such great detail. You are very open and this was a true pleasure! Best wishes for continued success at Video 10.
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To see a small sample of the movies Video 10 offers, come to my Goldie's Gay Galaxy Pay Per View Theater and take a look here. They are waiting for you right now, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for just pennies per minute to watch on your PC. So please, check them out, you won't be sorry!
Here are a few movies from Fred and Video 10 including Fred's own A Rim With A View.
You can click right on one to be taken to the full movie if you want to see more. Thanks again Fred!!!
