Scott Masters
Encyclopedia
Scott Masters is a gay pornographic
film
director
and studio
owner active in adult film since the mid-1960s.
Masters, whose real name is Warren Stephens, used the nom-de-porn "Robert Walters" when he founded Nova Studios
. He later shuttered Nova Studio and became head of production at Catalina Video
. In 1992, he co-founded gay adult film studio Studio 2000
with director John Travis. In 2006, Masters sold Studio 2000 to former Falcon Entertainment
consultant David McKay
and financier Trace Wendell.
, and later attended college.
Masters came to San Francisco, California
, from Chicago
in 1966. Many of the bookstores (including gay
and adult bookstores
) which he visited were openly selling gay pornography. He established a small business purchasing gay pornographic magazine
s for area booksellers. He began selling nude male
photosets
from such notable photographers of the male nude as Bruce Bellas
("Bruce of L.A.") and Walter Kundzicz (Champion Studio), as well as softcore
nude films from Athletic Model Guild
.
In late 1967, he formed a partnership with Reuben Sturman
to print and distribute one-off magazines featuring the work of Kundzicz. The first magazine was Champions All, published in the spring of 1968. Moving full-time to San Francisco from Chicago, Masters took up work as a full-time bookkeeper
at a printing company. He began taking photographs of nude men on the side to supply his magazines with images. Although the U.S. Supreme Court
had ruled that images of the male nude were not obscene
in MANual Enterprises v. Day
370 U.S. 478
in 1962, U.S. postal inspectors
still considered the tumescent
and erect
penis
obscene under then-current interpretations of American federal postal and obscenity law and court rulings. Nevertheless, Masters took hardcore
as well as softcore images, and images of solo, duo and group sex.
In 1969, Masters began producing hardcore gay male nude magazines. The Supreme Court had further liberalized the standards for obscenity in Redrup v. New York
, 386 U.S. 767 (1967), and several lower-court rulings had significantly undercut the ability of state and federal authorities to seize even materials which depicted hardcore sexual activity between individuals of the same gender. The first such magazine was Hard?. By the end of the year, Masters was producing as many as six magazines a month.
In 1970, Masters produced his first film, Drilled Deep. It was a "loop" (an 8mm
short film
, roughly 200 feet in length, designed to run over and over in peep show
s), and starred Jim Cassidy—at the time a popular underground
hardcore gay porn star
. To distribute his hardcore films, Masters established his first adult film studio, named The Stephens Agency. Masters closed the distribution business in 1972 because it was unprofitable. However, he continued to direct loops with former Hollywood lighting technician and cinematographer Jim Randall.
Masters is responsible for developing the "West Coast Look" of gay pornography. As noted in a published history of Nova Studios, the West Coast Look was a very stylized and planned filmmaking style. The films were like staged plays, with very linear story-telling. "Tight transitions" were inserted between each scene to add continuity and establish setting, mood, and theme. Each scene sequenced almost formulaically "from master shot to medium shot to close-up, with frequent returns to the master shot. (By re-establishing the overall shot so often, Walters made viewers feel that they were viewing the action from the best seat in the house, not from within the circle of action itself.)" The lighting was strong, and tended to eliminate shadows and expose flaws in the performers' skin. Models' hair was carefully groomed, make-up was used, and cleanliness emphasized.
That same year, Masters was prosecuted in Texas
for obscenity. He pled guilty. He received a one year suspended sentence
, three years of probation
, and a fine. The judge waived the fine because Masters told him he was putting a child through college. What Masters said was true, but he did not reveal that the college-age student was also his gay lover. After his sentencing, Masters cut back on the number of brochures, magazines and loops he produced but did not exit the adult film industry. By 1976, however, Masters had directed more than 100 loops.
techniques, Masters produced one of the best-selling gay adult films of the 1970s:
Masters heartily disliked that sort of filmmaking process. Jaguar Productions later heavily edited the film, angering Masters so much that he vowed not to make another film.
In late 1973, Masters founded In Touch (now known as In Touch for Men), a softcore gay porn magazine. But after two years, Masters turned over management of the magazine to a third party (while retaining ownership).
as well as adult bookstores. The studio's first production was Tubtricks. Masters doubled the length of Nova Studios' loops to more than 400 feet, extending each film's running time to nearly 20 minutes.
The film was a major success. Masters followed up with a series of wildly popular long loops: Kept After School, Beached, Tricking, Hot Lunch, Jocks, That Boy Next Door and Down on the Farm.
Nova Studios established a number of tropes
now common to gay adult film: a heavy emphasis on sexual fantasy
; gay-for-pay
performers; partially-clothed performers having sex (including the now-notorious white athletic socks with colorful stripes on top); an emphasis on youth; incest
themes; "the natural look" (performers with a lean, natural build); strong sexual chemistry; structured story lines; and structured sexual performances.
Masters began licensing many of his pre-Nova loops and early Nova Studios material on video in 1980. Unbeknownst to Masters, however, his lover had been licensing much of the same material to a wide variety of customers without Master's knowledge. The studio's financial situation deteriorated as this material began to flood the marketplace (much of it in degraded quality).
Masters attempted to keep Nova Studios afloat by finally producing sound film
s. In 1981, Masters bowed to public demand for sound film and financial pressures and produced It's the Life. Filming went so poorly that Masters eventually shot most of the film without sound. Masters would not finally produce a sound film until 1983. But in the intervening two years, Nova Studios lost critical market share. Masters began dubbing
older silent loops in 1981 as well. He added music, some narration, and asynchronous sexual sounds to the films and began re-releasing these to make money.
In 1984, Masters hired Chet Thomas as an editor, and Thomas worked on several of Nova Studios' final films.
But later that year, Masters' partner embezzeled the company's entire bank account and fled with the master print
of the latest Nova Studio release, Boys Town. Masters subsequently discovered that the company's taxes had not been paid for several years. Faced with a large tax bill and $60,000 in debt, Masters licensed the remainder of his studio's products to a third party.
Nova Studios ceased to make gay adult films in late 1986.
had founded Catalina in 1978. Catalina Video had been distributing Nova Studios' films to adult bookstores and video stores since about 1982. With Nova Studios in financial distress, Higgins and Masters struck a deal: Catalina would purchase the rights to the unreleased Boys Town. Masters would be free to sell the rights to all his other films to another vendor. Catalina would also hire Masters as its head of production, where he would also be free to write and direct films on an occasional basis.
Masters sold the rights to nearly all of Nova Studios' films to L.A. Video. Unfortunately, L.A. Video would go bankrupt
a few years later, leaving the rights to all of Nova Studios' products in legal limbo.
Given the transition in his life, the director stopped using the name "Robert Walters" and adopted his new stage name, Scott Masters.
Masters' first film for Catalina was The Bigger They Come (1987). For the first time, Masters made a film on a set in a studio rather than on location. He followed it up with Down for the Count, a film which featured the debut of popular star Jon Vincent
.
Once at Catalina, Masters also hired Chet Thomas, his former editor at Nova Studios.
During his time at Catalina, Masters also became good friends with director John Travis. Travis had been working for Brentwood Studios and Falcon Studios since the early 1970s. In 1988, Masters hired him away from Falcon. The first film Travis helmed under Masters' supervision was My Best Buddy (1988). Travis had a problematic work ethic at Falcon. But Masters and Travis found working together easy, and Travis' productivity increased dramatically.
In 1989, Masters hired Josh Eliot as a director for Catalina. Catalina was expanding, and wanted to open a second studio in San Francisco. Although hired initially just to run the office, Eliot quickly became one of Catalina's top directors.
Masters is also partly responsible for the career of gay adult film director Chi Chi LaRue
. LaRue had come to California in 1987 and gotten a job in Catalina's sales department. He had been promoted to the promotions department, and sought a directing job. Masters, however, refused to give him one. LaRue left Catalina in 1989, moving to InHand Productions and Vivid Video. Catalina president Mike Merrick left and new studio head Christian Mann took over. Mann rehired LaRue, and put him to work on his first film, Billboard (starring Joey Stefano
). LaRue credits Masters with forcing him to learn more about directing, which led to his eventual directorial career.
The change in management at Catalina led Masters to significantly cut back on his duties. While he still managed productions, he became far less involved in casting decisions. When Merrick eventually purchased Catalina from Higgins, Masters decided to leave the studio.
In 1991 Masters met Matt Powers, a newcomer to adult film. Masters cast Powers in Lifeguard on Duty. The two eventually became lovers, although the relationship did not last.
That same year, Masters discovered a number of noted adult film performers. He discovered Lex Baldwin, brother of straight porn star T. T. Boy
. Although Masters opposed producing the film, Baldwin was cast in Powertool 2, the sequel to the noted Jeff Stryker
debut film, Powertool. He also discovered muscular, blond and versatile performer Cody Foster, and cast him in Foster's first film, Malibu Pool Boys (1991). Finally, he discovered performer (and now director) Blade Thompson, and cast him in his first film, Behind the Barn Door.
Masters announced his retirement in 1999. But he quickly returned to making adult film. He and John Travis found and hired Czech photographer Jan Novak
to produce Studio 2000 International line with European talents.
During the 14 years in which Masters co-owned Studio 2000, the studio won numerous awards at the Grabbys
, Gay Erotic Video Awards
, and GayVN Awards
.
In April 2006, Masters and Travis sold Studio 2000 to former Falcon Entertainment consultant David McKay. Masters continued with the studio as a consultant until October 2006.
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....
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
owner active in adult film since the mid-1960s.
Masters, whose real name is Warren Stephens, used the nom-de-porn "Robert Walters" when he founded Nova Studios
Nova Studios
Nova Studios was a gay pornographic movie studio established by Scott Masters in 1977. It closed in 1986. Under Masters, Nova Studios created the "West Coast Look", which dominated the gay adult film genre through the 1980s.-Genesis of the studio:...
. He later shuttered Nova Studio and became head of production at Catalina Video
Catalina Video
Catalina Video is an award-winning production house of gay pornography, founded in 1978 by William Higgins. The company was primarily a distributor for Nova Studios in 1982. In 1987, Scott Masters was hired as its head of production, and he began making films for the studio...
. In 1992, he co-founded gay adult film studio Studio 2000
Studio 2000
Studio 2000 is a gay pornographic film studio based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1992 by producer Scott Masters and director John Travis. It is currently owned by two former Falcon Entertainment executives who purchased the studio in April 2006 upon the retirement of Masters and...
with director John Travis. In 2006, Masters sold Studio 2000 to former Falcon Entertainment
Falcon Entertainment
Falcon Entertainment , an United States company based in San Francisco, California, is one of the world's largest producers of gay pornography....
consultant David McKay
David McKay (adult studio owner)
David McKay is the owner of gay adult company Studio 2000, one of the largest such companies in the world. Prior to becoming co-owner of Studio 2000, McKay was vp of marketing for Falcon Entertainment...
and financier Trace Wendell.
Early years
Masters grew up in IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and later attended college.
Masters came to San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1966. Many of the bookstores (including gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and adult bookstores
Sex shop
A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...
) which he visited were openly selling gay pornography. He established a small business purchasing gay pornographic magazine
Pornographic magazine
Pornographic magazines, sometimes known as adult magazines, sex magazines or top-shelf magazines are pornographic magazines that contain content of a sexual nature. Adult magazines are mainly aimed towards men, and in some parts of the world, many men's first sight of a naked woman has been in an...
s for area booksellers. He began selling nude male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
photosets
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
from such notable photographers of the male nude as Bruce Bellas
Bruce Bellas
Bruce Bellas was an influential photographer of the physique of nude males. Bellas was well known under the pseudonym Bruce of Los Angeles.-History and Influence:...
("Bruce of L.A.") and Walter Kundzicz (Champion Studio), as well as softcore
Softcore
Softcore pornography is a form of filmic or photographic pornography or erotica that is less sexually explicit than hardcore pornography. It is intended to tickle and arouse men and women. Softcore pornography depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic...
nude films from Athletic Model Guild
Athletic Model Guild
The Athletic Model Guild, or AMG, was founded by gay pornography pioneer Bob Mizer in December 1945. During those post-war years, United States censorship laws allowed women, but not men, to appear in various states of undress in what were referred to, with a wink, as “art” photographs. Mizer began...
.
In late 1967, he formed a partnership with Reuben Sturman
Reuben Sturman
Reuben Sturman was an American pornographer and businessman from Ohio. He was featured as a subject in Eric Schlosser's 2003 book on underground economies Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market....
to print and distribute one-off magazines featuring the work of Kundzicz. The first magazine was Champions All, published in the spring of 1968. Moving full-time to San Francisco from Chicago, Masters took up work as a full-time bookkeeper
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions. Transactions include sales, purchases, income, receipts and payments by an individual or organization. Bookkeeping is usually performed by a bookkeeper. Bookkeeping should not be confused with accounting. The accounting process is usually...
at a printing company. He began taking photographs of nude men on the side to supply his magazines with images. Although the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
had ruled that images of the male nude were not obscene
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
in MANual Enterprises v. Day
MANual Enterprises v. Day
MANual Enterprises v. Day, 370 U.S. 478 is a decision by the United States Supreme Court which held that magazines consisting largely of photographs of nude or near-nude male models are not obscene within the meaning of...
370 U.S. 478
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
in 1962, U.S. postal inspectors
United States Postal Inspection Service
The United States Postal Inspection Service is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. Its jurisdiction is defined as "crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S...
still considered the tumescent
Tumescence
Tumescence is the quality or state of being tumescent or swollen. Tumescence usually refers to the normal engorgement with blood of the erectile tissues, marking sexual excitation and possible readiness for sexual activity...
and erect
Erection
Penile erection is a physiological phenomenon where the penis becomes enlarged and firm. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular and endocrine factors, and is usually, though not exclusively, associated with sexual arousal...
penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
obscene under then-current interpretations of American federal postal and obscenity law and court rulings. Nevertheless, Masters took hardcore
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
as well as softcore images, and images of solo, duo and group sex.
In 1969, Masters began producing hardcore gay male nude magazines. The Supreme Court had further liberalized the standards for obscenity in Redrup v. New York
Redrup v. New York
Redrup v. New York, was a May 8, 1967 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States, widely regarded as the end of American censorship of written fiction. Robert Redrup was a Times Square newsstand clerk who sold two of William Hamling's Greenleaf Classics paperback pulp sex novels, Lust Pool...
, 386 U.S. 767 (1967), and several lower-court rulings had significantly undercut the ability of state and federal authorities to seize even materials which depicted hardcore sexual activity between individuals of the same gender. The first such magazine was Hard?. By the end of the year, Masters was producing as many as six magazines a month.
In 1970, Masters produced his first film, Drilled Deep. It was a "loop" (an 8mm
8 mm film
8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...
short film
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
, roughly 200 feet in length, designed to run over and over in peep show
Peep show
A peep show or peepshow is an exhibition of pictures, objects or people viewed through a small hole or magnifying glass. Though historically a peep show was a form of entertainment provided by wandering showmen, nowadays it more commonly refers a presentation of a sex show or pornographic film...
s), and starred Jim Cassidy—at the time a popular underground
Underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing.-Definition and history:The first use of the term "underground film" occurs in a 1957 essay by American film critic Manny Farber, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of...
hardcore gay porn star
Pornographic actor
A pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is a person who appears in pornographic film. Most actors appear nude in films...
. To distribute his hardcore films, Masters established his first adult film studio, named The Stephens Agency. Masters closed the distribution business in 1972 because it was unprofitable. However, he continued to direct loops with former Hollywood lighting technician and cinematographer Jim Randall.
Masters is responsible for developing the "West Coast Look" of gay pornography. As noted in a published history of Nova Studios, the West Coast Look was a very stylized and planned filmmaking style. The films were like staged plays, with very linear story-telling. "Tight transitions" were inserted between each scene to add continuity and establish setting, mood, and theme. Each scene sequenced almost formulaically "from master shot to medium shot to close-up, with frequent returns to the master shot. (By re-establishing the overall shot so often, Walters made viewers feel that they were viewing the action from the best seat in the house, not from within the circle of action itself.)" The lighting was strong, and tended to eliminate shadows and expose flaws in the performers' skin. Models' hair was carefully groomed, make-up was used, and cleanliness emphasized.
That same year, Masters was prosecuted in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
for obscenity. He pled guilty. He received a one year suspended sentence
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
, three years of probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
, and a fine. The judge waived the fine because Masters told him he was putting a child through college. What Masters said was true, but he did not reveal that the college-age student was also his gay lover. After his sentencing, Masters cut back on the number of brochures, magazines and loops he produced but did not exit the adult film industry. By 1976, however, Masters had directed more than 100 loops.
Feature film career
In 1973, Master directed his first feature-length hardcore gay adult film which starred zarni warry. The film was Greek Lightning, produced for Jaguar Productions and starring gay porn star Jimmy Hughes. Using guerrilla filmmakingGuerrilla filmmaking
Guerrilla filmmaking refers to a form of independent filmmaking characterized by low budgets, skeleton crews, and simple props using whatever is available...
techniques, Masters produced one of the best-selling gay adult films of the 1970s:
- We did some rather audacious things. We shot on top of a train in Train Town in Griffith Park without a permit, while one of us was given one of the guards money and another of us was talking to another guard, just so we could get the shots finished. We knew we couldn't be there long. All we had to do was do our legerdemain for five or ten minutes and be out of there. And we certainly couldn't pay for it.
Masters heartily disliked that sort of filmmaking process. Jaguar Productions later heavily edited the film, angering Masters so much that he vowed not to make another film.
In late 1973, Masters founded In Touch (now known as In Touch for Men), a softcore gay porn magazine. But after two years, Masters turned over management of the magazine to a third party (while retaining ownership).
Nova Studios
In 1976, Masters (still using the name Robert Walters) founded Nova Studios, distributing films through direct mailDirect marketing
Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
as well as adult bookstores. The studio's first production was Tubtricks. Masters doubled the length of Nova Studios' loops to more than 400 feet, extending each film's running time to nearly 20 minutes.
The film was a major success. Masters followed up with a series of wildly popular long loops: Kept After School, Beached, Tricking, Hot Lunch, Jocks, That Boy Next Door and Down on the Farm.
Nova Studios established a number of tropes
Trope (literature)
A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...
now common to gay adult film: a heavy emphasis on sexual fantasy
Sexual fantasy
A sexual fantasy, also called an erotic fantasy, is a fantasy or pattern of thoughts with the effect of creating or enhancing sexual feelings; in short, it is "almost any mental imagery that is sexually arousing or erotic to [an] individual"...
; gay-for-pay
Gay-for-pay
Gay-for-pay describes male or female actors, pornographic stars, or sex workers who self-identify as heterosexual but who are paid to act or perform as homosexual professionally. The term has also applied to other professions and even companies with the same core concerns and criticism in place...
performers; partially-clothed performers having sex (including the now-notorious white athletic socks with colorful stripes on top); an emphasis on youth; incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
themes; "the natural look" (performers with a lean, natural build); strong sexual chemistry; structured story lines; and structured sexual performances.
Masters began licensing many of his pre-Nova loops and early Nova Studios material on video in 1980. Unbeknownst to Masters, however, his lover had been licensing much of the same material to a wide variety of customers without Master's knowledge. The studio's financial situation deteriorated as this material began to flood the marketplace (much of it in degraded quality).
Masters attempted to keep Nova Studios afloat by finally producing sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
s. In 1981, Masters bowed to public demand for sound film and financial pressures and produced It's the Life. Filming went so poorly that Masters eventually shot most of the film without sound. Masters would not finally produce a sound film until 1983. But in the intervening two years, Nova Studios lost critical market share. Masters began dubbing
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
older silent loops in 1981 as well. He added music, some narration, and asynchronous sexual sounds to the films and began re-releasing these to make money.
In 1984, Masters hired Chet Thomas as an editor, and Thomas worked on several of Nova Studios' final films.
But later that year, Masters' partner embezzeled the company's entire bank account and fled with the master print
Original camera negative
The original camera negative is the film in a motion picture camera which captures the original image. This is the film from which all other copies will be made. It is known as raw stock prior to exposure....
of the latest Nova Studio release, Boys Town. Masters subsequently discovered that the company's taxes had not been paid for several years. Faced with a large tax bill and $60,000 in debt, Masters licensed the remainder of his studio's products to a third party.
Nova Studios ceased to make gay adult films in late 1986.
Catalina years
In 1987, Masters was hired as head of production for Catalina Video. William HigginsWilliam Higgins (director)
William Higgins is a director of gay pornographic films. His first film, "Boys of Venice" was produced in 1979 and he has produced over 140 internationally distributed titles. His films have won several Grabby awards and he is in the GayVN Awards Hall of Fame...
had founded Catalina in 1978. Catalina Video had been distributing Nova Studios' films to adult bookstores and video stores since about 1982. With Nova Studios in financial distress, Higgins and Masters struck a deal: Catalina would purchase the rights to the unreleased Boys Town. Masters would be free to sell the rights to all his other films to another vendor. Catalina would also hire Masters as its head of production, where he would also be free to write and direct films on an occasional basis.
Masters sold the rights to nearly all of Nova Studios' films to L.A. Video. Unfortunately, L.A. Video would go bankrupt
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
a few years later, leaving the rights to all of Nova Studios' products in legal limbo.
Given the transition in his life, the director stopped using the name "Robert Walters" and adopted his new stage name, Scott Masters.
Masters' first film for Catalina was The Bigger They Come (1987). For the first time, Masters made a film on a set in a studio rather than on location. He followed it up with Down for the Count, a film which featured the debut of popular star Jon Vincent
Jon Vincent
Jon Vincent a.k.a. Dave Phillips, real name: Jeffrey James Vickers was an American gay pornographic actor. Though he performed in fewer than 40 films, he is considered a porn legend.-Background:...
.
Once at Catalina, Masters also hired Chet Thomas, his former editor at Nova Studios.
During his time at Catalina, Masters also became good friends with director John Travis. Travis had been working for Brentwood Studios and Falcon Studios since the early 1970s. In 1988, Masters hired him away from Falcon. The first film Travis helmed under Masters' supervision was My Best Buddy (1988). Travis had a problematic work ethic at Falcon. But Masters and Travis found working together easy, and Travis' productivity increased dramatically.
In 1989, Masters hired Josh Eliot as a director for Catalina. Catalina was expanding, and wanted to open a second studio in San Francisco. Although hired initially just to run the office, Eliot quickly became one of Catalina's top directors.
Masters is also partly responsible for the career of gay adult film director Chi Chi LaRue
Chi Chi LaRue
Larry David Paciotti is an American film director of gay, bisexual and straight pornography. He is best known in his drag persona as Chi Chi LaRue and has also directed under the names Lawrence David and Taylor Hudson.- Career :...
. LaRue had come to California in 1987 and gotten a job in Catalina's sales department. He had been promoted to the promotions department, and sought a directing job. Masters, however, refused to give him one. LaRue left Catalina in 1989, moving to InHand Productions and Vivid Video. Catalina president Mike Merrick left and new studio head Christian Mann took over. Mann rehired LaRue, and put him to work on his first film, Billboard (starring Joey Stefano
Joey Stefano
Joey Stefano was an American pornographic actor who appeared in gay adult films.-Early life and career:...
). LaRue credits Masters with forcing him to learn more about directing, which led to his eventual directorial career.
The change in management at Catalina led Masters to significantly cut back on his duties. While he still managed productions, he became far less involved in casting decisions. When Merrick eventually purchased Catalina from Higgins, Masters decided to leave the studio.
In 1991 Masters met Matt Powers, a newcomer to adult film. Masters cast Powers in Lifeguard on Duty. The two eventually became lovers, although the relationship did not last.
That same year, Masters discovered a number of noted adult film performers. He discovered Lex Baldwin, brother of straight porn star T. T. Boy
T. T. Boy
T.T. Boy is the stage name of an American pornographic actor who has starred in over 1500 adult films. He made his adult-video debut in 1989, twice won the XRCO Male Performer of the Year award, and was named the 1996 AVN Performer of the Year.In 2000, Boy was elected to the XRCO Hall of Fame. He...
. Although Masters opposed producing the film, Baldwin was cast in Powertool 2, the sequel to the noted Jeff Stryker
Jeff Stryker
Jeff Stryker is an American porn star who has starred in bisexual, gay, and straight adult films...
debut film, Powertool. He also discovered muscular, blond and versatile performer Cody Foster, and cast him in Foster's first film, Malibu Pool Boys (1991). Finally, he discovered performer (and now director) Blade Thompson, and cast him in his first film, Behind the Barn Door.
Studio 2000
In 1992, Masters left Catalina. John Travis, too, had left Catalina after a contract dispute and began using the name "John Trennel." The two directors co-founded Studio 2000 in late 1992.Masters announced his retirement in 1999. But he quickly returned to making adult film. He and John Travis found and hired Czech photographer Jan Novak
Jan Novak (director)
Jan Novak is a Czech director and producer of gay pornographic films.He was nominated for a GayVN Award and won a Grabby Jan Novak is a Czech director and producer of gay pornographic films.He was nominated for a GayVN Award and won a Grabby Jan Novak is a Czech director and producer of gay...
to produce Studio 2000 International line with European talents.
During the 14 years in which Masters co-owned Studio 2000, the studio won numerous awards at the Grabbys
Grabby recipients
This is a listing of the winners of the Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards . The awards are given annually by Gay Chicago Magazine and were first given in 1991; the first live awards ceremony was in 1999 and presented awards for work done in 1998.-----1992: [Top]-----1993: [Top]-----1994:...
, Gay Erotic Video Awards
Gay Erotic Video Awards
The Gay Erotic Video Awards were awarded annually for gay and bisexual pornography by the Gay Video Guide , a pocket-sized newsstand magazine that catered primarily to fans...
, and 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...
.
In April 2006, Masters and Travis sold Studio 2000 to former Falcon Entertainment consultant David McKay. Masters continued with the studio as a consultant until October 2006.