Number of porn films shot in Los Angeles shrinks after condom law was passed

The number of permits issued for porn productions in LA County dropped by 90 per cent

(AFP/Getty Images)

The number of porn films produced in Los Angeles has shrunk spectacularly in the face of a recent law requiring performers to wear condoms during shoots.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the number of permits issued for porn productions in LA County dropped by 90 per cent between 2012 and 2013, to a total of 40. According to Film LA, the body responsible for the permits, just 20 were issued in the first seven months of this year.

In 2011, an estimated 5,000 adult films were produced in Los Angeles, many of them in the San Fernando Valley, which is considered the industry’s spiritual home. Porn is thought to have accounted for as many as 20,000 jobs in the region. That is, until the new law, known as Measure B, was passed by LA County voters in November 2012, after AIDS activists campaigned on its behalf, claiming it would prevent the disease spreading among porn performers.

Porn professionals insist the law is unnecessary, because the industry already enforces mandatory HIV testing for performers, many of whom dislike wearing condoms. Audiences are also thought to prefer their adult entertainment condom-free, which is why porn production has largely relocated to more laissez-faire locales, including Las Vegas, Florida, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Paul Audley, the president of Film LA, described the decrease in permits in LA County as “dramatic”, telling the LA Times, “It is a cause for concern that people who are manning the cameras, lights and other things on those sets are not working anymore.”