http://adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=28714------------------------
personal press releaser/promoter Gene Ross writes about Eli Thomas-
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Miami,Florida- I spoke to Eli Thomas of Alternative Modeling Monday morning. I asked him about all the stories I've been reading on Industry Black List, et. al., suggesting that he or persons connected to him had been responsible for a recent spate of office break ins in Florida.
There was even one suggestion that Eli had fled to California on the lam. Eli says he was also the victim of an office break in over the Memorial Day weekend.
"Everyone seems to be leaking you with break-ins and that kind of stuff."
"Which is nonsense," he says. "There had been a break in with Fisher studios as we all know. My office was broken into. But I had nothing to do with either one of them."
"There was something being said about a business partner you had being linked to this?"
"I don't know anything about that," Eli says. "That's not true. I know nothing about a business partner. There's a possibility that employees have been involved which have yet to be proven. I can't even comment on that accurately."
"There was also talk that when all of this went down you fled Florida to come out here to hide."
"Here's what's happened," says Thomas. "I was growing in Florida rapidly. We were building out a customer service staff with a whole team. That team was supposed to support our other offices in New York and California. The problem was our burn rate was really high in Florida for what we were dealing with. And I was going out to LA to secure the business in Los Angeles. That was my mission."
"In that time frame, I made some bad hiring decisions at the same time and there was drama going on within my staff. In addition, that same weekend we were robbed and it all kind of imploded on me. When you have a hit like that and somebody robs you to the point where they steal every piece of technical equipment we had, we were set back a little bit. It was a pretty tough scenario to get through."
"We're working pretty hard to regroup," Eli continues. "Things are going well and we're bringing on new clients right now. We're currently booking. It took a little bit for me to get back to Florida because I was dealing with some big deals in California. So I couldn't just leave instantaneously. I had an office manager that I entrusted to handle a few things and he didn't."
"When I got back here things were in a shambles," he goes on to say. "But we immediately started rebuilding and moved out of the office space we were in. We are moving into a smaller office space so we can continue to do business. We're taking on clients and we're currently booking in Florida and California as well as New York."
Eli's keeping the name Alternative Modeling. He also addresses other things that have been written on Industry Black List. He says there's been suggestions that he's doing some of the posts.
"I have never posted on there once," he claims. "I am amazed that people are continuing to post things on there as if they're me. It's turning into it's own little soap opera and I'm finding it entertaining on some level. But at the same time there are many concerns I have. The address for when my office was broken into was put out there as well as addresses where I have talent. That's a safety issue as far as I'm concerned for us and we're considering moving my talent."
Regarding the Brianna Beach hooking post on Industry Black List which Eli responded to on my site,
www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=28701 he says some people think either he or Brianna Beach instigated the story to begin with.
"We're not doing any self-promotion and that certainly wouldn't be what I was reporting if I were going to do it," he says.
"To think that's our strategy is ludicrous. We go to legitimate sources for news and aren't doing self promotion on industry black list."
In the beginning Thomas felt that Industry Black List might have been a good idea.
"But frankly on the east coast we have too much drama," he says. "The Craig Valentines, Karen Stephenson, Giirlz Inc., all that stuff."
"Actually that's more entertaining because everything out here is pretty dull," I remind Eli.
"I stay out of all of it," he replies. "But I do know the other methods these agents use are to post stuff like this that is completely false then reference it as they're recruiting brand new girls. The new girls don't know whether to believe it or not because it's their only reference of information."
"How is business in Florida- I hear it both ways," I ask Eli.
"I would say it's pretty consistent with what's out in Los Angeles," says Eli. "But as we all know the brand new girls will work, regardless of the economic climate. If you're bringing in brand new girls, those girls are working. Girls who have been around for awhile that have shot with every company in Florida are not getting bookings as much."
"And there's a bunch of new things going on," he continues. "There are some softcore series that are being shot down here. Bang Bros is doing their thing and booking just as much as ever. But I think with the legal things in Florida everyone's keeping one foot in LA."
The Max Hardcore trial has generated talk, says Eli but no trickle down effect to suggest that business has quieted down because of it.
"Everyone's wondering what effect it will have on us," he states. "It's really more on the distribution side than on the production side when you're dealing with obscenity and delivering the content- that's where the challenge becomes. But I haven't heard of any issues in production especially in the South Florida area."
Asked if he and Brianna Beach were still an item, Eli says they are separated.
"She's doing her career-thing but we still talk every day," he answers. "We're very close friends. She's looking to do a lot more work and stay in the Los Angeles market through the end of July.
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