2257 has absolutely no bearing on whether you pay a model for filming her or not. If you produce the content with her consent you have entered into a 'contract' with her (or him) and you have managerial authority over the relationship, regardless of payment, then you must keep records of the identities.
The interesting question becomes "Does flashing your tits constitute sexuallly explicit content?"... seems a bit discriminatory to me... Suppose I want to produce a set of videos called "Guys Gone Wild" and have a bunch of guys flash their tits .... is that sexually explicit? Is it produced with the intent of satisfying prurient interests? Could it be construed in some communities (outside of San Francisco) as being obscene content?
I think the feds must have had more on these guys than what is being told and they just copped to a 2257 records beef.
Remember, 2257 record keeping is a BUSINESS requirement, just like keeping tax records or payroll records. If you don't keep 2257 records, you are begging for inspections and then that opens you up to all kinds of other issues due to the rules of 'in plain sight' evidence collection. It's much harder for the feds to come to you (with a warrant) and inspect for income tax evasion. They probably wouldn't be able to get the warrant. But as a content producer, they can say to the judge, "We need to do inspections of these guys because we think they are using underage models." and the judge will probably give it to them. Then when they come to do the inspections, they'll be on the lookout for other non-compliance issues they may stumble across in the attempt to inspect 2257 records.
This is why it is imperitive to keep your 2257 records on a single computer, not attached to the internet, or to any other business network. They can come in and inspect your 2257 records and that's all they can inspect. If you keep all of your records electronically, then all they can inspect is electronic information, especially if you have explicitly identified your company as one that only keeps electronic records. If you keep ANY paper records then they are able to inpect ANY paper records to determine whether they are pertinent to 2257 and that's where things really get nasty.
When the inspectors come (and they eventually will) to do 2257 inspections you should already have a written affidavit (get help from your attorney) stating that all of your 2257 records are stored in an electronic format without any paper records. This will greatly limit the scope of what they can search and search for. It's also not a good idea to keep the party tray of coke or ecstacy in plain site when the inspectors come knocking at your door.
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Originally Posted by RawAlex
It is all the difference between filming what happens at Mardi Gras and taking girls back to your room and filming them eat each other out. The first part is open without issue, the second part requires documentation.
As soon as you pay someone to appear (ie: you aren't just filming events, but actually creating the event) you have moved from reporting to production... and you need 2257 documents and model releases.
Alex
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