More about transparency in porn industry

Part two of a two-part series

Sherri Shaulis knows something about transparency.

As an editor for AVN Magazine and a member of the Adult Video News Awards selection committee, Shaulis has seen it all, including a lot of things she wishes she didn’t see.

Her tweets during the selection process are both entertaining and revealing, without giving away too much information about the actual performers and plots.

“It’s a fine line to keep them vague enough to not give away who or what we are talking about, but still entertaining enough to grow the audience,” Shaulis said. “Every single tweet was something that was actually said in our meetings.”

As funny as the tweets are in context, they are even funnier out of context.

Sure, her tweets are meant to be amusing. They’re also used to validate a selection process dogged by criticism from performers and directors. They accuse AVN of a conflict of interest: Buy an ad in the magazine and you’ll win.

The selection committee’s tweets prove otherwise.

Shaulis is known for posting pictures of the stacks of movies her committee has watched, and quotes that are said during the meetings.

“I use the hashtag #avnawardsmeetings,” Shaulis said. “And I try to keep it funny while at the same time let people know we really are putting in some serious effort.”

Some of Shaulis’ cleaner, more humorous tweets included:

#avnawardsmeetings “My god those cr ®me br ªl e cupcakes are amazing. Much better than this cinematography.”

#avnawardsmeetings “Ewwwww ... I am NOT tweeting that!”

#avnawardsmeetings “It’s like it’s shot on a webcam ... attached to a Gateway PC.”

The selection committee members know Shaulis is tweeting their comments.

“Many times when something funny is said, they yell to me, ‘Tweet that!’ I know there are still people who think it’s all fixed, but there are so many more now who realize we really are sitting in a room for hours and hours a day for weeks on end watching, reviewing and putting our hearts and souls into the process.”

In fact, each member spends all year watching and reviewing movies.

“When the studios send in the movies and scenes they want nominated, we spend weeks narrowing down the nominees for each category to 15.”

Every year, Shaulis gains a few more Twitter followers during nominations, and people in the industry tell her they love reading the tweets. “They try to decipher who or what movie we are talking about.”

Shaulis notes that watching countless hours of porn often leads to heated debates among committee members. “We work hard to recognize the best of the best.”

Don’t think for a second that Shaulis and the selection committee members enjoy their task:

#avnawardsmeetings “I’m hampered in tweeting my reaction in these meetings ‘cause I’m not sure how to spell the guttural disgust sound I make.”

It’s not all revulsion. Her tweet related to the selection of awkward parody titles says it all:

#avnawardsmeetings “You guys ... YOU GUYS!!! WE ARE DOING CLEVER TITLE OF THE YEAR!!!!!! THIS IS MY FAVORITE!!!!!”

Follow Shaulis on Twitter at @AVNSher.

Dr. Adam Earnheardt is chairman of the department of communication at Youngstown State University. Read his blog at adamearn.com and follow him on Twitter at @adamearn.