Jordan Septo and Gina Lassen Talk About Girl Club Films

The word came out in February: a new production house dedicated to “creating high-end media for girls who like girls and for guys that like girls that like girls” was on the way this spring. But everything about the venture was hush-hush—except for the name: Girl Crush Films. In spring, the principals were revealed as Jordan Septo and Gina Lassen, the team behind many parody productions, including the XRCO Award-winning OMG It’s the Leaving Las Vegas Parody. Distribution for the new studio is through Exquisite Multimedia. The name, however, had to be changed as a result of a trademark conflict, as AVN learned when Lassen and Septo stopped by the office to talk about the studio, renamed Girl Club Films. “I really liked the logo,” Septo said, so they chose a name with the same initials. Lassen fielded the question of why they started the studio. “I’ve been wanting to take over his job for a long time,” she said, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that these two are a married couple by adding, “I kind of do anyway, right behind him. The camera guys listen to me more.” Lassen had suggested that they start “a whole new company, for girls, made by girls, everything by girls. Make the whole thing girls.” At first Septo was skeptical about handing the directorial reins to Lassen. And though he ultimately did, he’s still on set doing some of the camera work. “But I have her over my shoulder now—and I have to listen, which takes a little getting used to. But that’s OK. We wanted to have a woman’s perspective so that it wasn’t just another girl line.” “So I have to take a back seat this time,” he said in mock exasperation, adding that at least the Girl Club shoots were shorter than working on the parodies. “I don’t know if at 4 in the morning I’d be so amenable to ideas.” Lassen has wrapped her first two titles. Seduced By My Boyfriend’s Mom is out now, with Shay Fox and Mischa Gold on the box cover and three other older/younger pairings: Syren De Mer and Whitney Westgate, Hope Howell and Jewels Jade, and Sammy Brooks and Natasha Voya. Up this month [streeting today, May 27] is an all-girl squirting movie starring Bonnie Rotten. “It was unbelievable,” Lassen said. “But not easy to book. Because some girls can squirt, but not with girls.” She took her time when booking—but that’s something she always does. The agents and performers are used to her asking a lot of questions. “I like to pair up people who want to be paired up. … It’s about them having a good time, so that comes across. It’s a great time for us and a great time for the viewer.” Due to the specialized needs for a squirting feature, Lassen said, “I went out of my comfort zone to shoot girls I don’t usually use,” including new girls. “They were all very professional and very enthusiastic. And they were enamored of Bonnie.” The cast featured some veterans—Krissy Lynn (“she was great with the toys”), Danica Dillon and Ashlee Graham (“she’s definitely into girls”)—and three newbies: Chase Ryder, Savannah Fox and Alana Raines.Lassen said, “They really loved the squirting. Some of them were soaking and their hair was dripping. It was insane.” The box cover features Rotten and Ryder. Septo said, “It’s not as glamorous as our first one. [Ryder’s] hair looks like she just got out of the pool.” Proclaiming her satisfaction so far—“The first two are going to be kickass. I love both of them”—Lassen said she’s still feeling out what comes next. “I have some things I’d like to see myself. Sometimes as a viewer I get frustrated when I see something really beautiful, but then they stop short. … Let me in there. Stop taking me away from that shot. Pretty is pretty, but I want pretty and nasty at the same time.” Lassen says she’s got a long list of performers she’d like to hire. “Shooting girls who like girls. That’s the simple formula. Can’t go wrong with that. I’m not shooting girls that I’m writing a check to who are just there to work.” Lassen’s first industry job was as a caterer. Living in Chatsworth, she “just kind of fell into it.” She worked for Pleasure Productions, Sin City. “You move to Chatsworth and your neighbors do porn, the people down the street do porn—everyone is in porn in one shape or another. More than the stars, you meet the people behind the scenes.” But her first on-set work came much later, courtesy of Septo. How did they meet? Septo recalled, “She was separated and going through a divorce, actually, and I was divorced and my ex-wife lived next door …” “… to me,” Lassen chimed in. “I was friends with his ex-wife, because she had two kids, and I had my daughter. They would play. And he would come over, because he was very friendly with her and her current husband.” They would see each other often, but Lassen wasn’t dating yet. “The week I moved out, we went out on a date.” “I got your phone number the day you were leaving,” Septo concurred. “As I was pulling out of the driveway, it was my last truckload. And he came out in the middle of the street and said, ‘Let me get your phone number so we can stay in touch.’” “There was no Facebook then,” Septo shrugged. They’ve been together some 15 years since then. First, they had their own company, Precious Video. “We did well with it, but it was very difficult,” Lassen said. “We were in each other’s face, 24/7.” Next they produced under a label called Venom for Exquisite Multimedia. “We’ve been with him [Jerry E. at Exquisite] every since. It’s like a family,” Lassen said. The couple obviously loves working together, and they love their movies. What were their favorites? Though “it’s hard to give a definitive top spot,” Septo named Saturday Night Fever XXX: An Exquisite Films Parody. “It’s the first one that really developed the way we shot. That was really the beginning of that era for us. Shooting over three days instead of one day, and shooting with crazy amounts of costumes.” He added, “That’s the first one I didn’t shoot camera on, because we had so many jobs. It was the first, so I’ll always have fond memories.” “That was when I first met Seth Gamble,” Lassen said. “That was his first big role, and he gave us more than 150 percent. Every minute he wasn’t working elsewhere he was at my house, on the phone with me, doing dance lessons with us at a studio—he went shopping with me to find his clothes.” For Lassen, “It’s a tossup between three. My favorite, favorite one was the Xena move. Again, another period piece, and again I did the costumes, but this time I hired someone to help me. Still, my hands were on everything, down to the pieces of jewelry. ... We did this with our hearts and souls.” Quickly, she added the other two favorites: Lone Ranger XXX: An Extreme Comixxx Parody and Tomb Raider XXX. Then she goes for a fourth: American Dad XXX: An Exquisite Films Parody, which she initially had doubts about doing. “I fought him tooth and nail,” she said, adding wryly, “He always wins.” But it’s said with a smile—because it’s clear she knows that they’re both winners. “We’ve had a lot of great people working with us, and we’re grateful,” Lassen said. “We’ve never had a problem. It works for us.” This article originally ran in the May 2012 issue of AVN magazine.