It was announced on my Facebook page last week that after a four year run, “Regarding Jenny” has been officially cancelled. But I wanted to leave some final thoughts here before I sign off.
My Facebook page has been where the ‘blind masses’ congregate. Where the casual viewers, the large group of clueless “WTF?” people hang out, and even where that group of guys who never quite figured out my Polymerisian status tried to date me. But here… on my “D.D.S.” blog, is where my real friends and real fans followed the real news of what goes on in my strange life.
So it’s important to me to leave my final thoughts here, for those who really deserve to hear them.
I’m not going to rant on and on about the “why” of the show going dark, because I’ve been saying it for years. It’s been widely popular on the internet, and in small fetish circles like the ‘Doll Community’, but it’s never been financially supported by anyone but a handful of loyal followers. Well, a little more than a handful. There’s about 12 actually.
“The Loyal 12” who have bought every download, every photo set, and every DVD we’ve ever put out.
A Brief History….
Between 2011 – 2012, Karen and I actually went on Hiatus. We both knew that the ‘Porn’ world was not for us. The industry had imploded, turned ugly, sleazy and controlled by only 2 or 3 companies. However, in our absence our show had a bit of a resurgence on Ebay and Amazon where our first two DVD’s became collector’s items. Those folks began to visit our web site, and it started us thinking about a ‘come back’.
Karen and I decided to do this together, and re-work the show so it was a more realistic, ‘reality show’ style that gave a real glimpse into our actual lives as a Poly Couple. Thus came “Season 2”. Now of course, we camped it up, and wrote in our dirty jokes, and played around a bit for our new fans, but we both felt comfortable moving forward with the show this way.
And again, while lots of people tuned in – even more than the first ‘porn’ season – only ‘The Loyal 12’ were actually buying anything. But that was ok, because Karen makes decent money as a fetish model, and I still have a couple ‘Spokes Model’ deals, and some royalties from a thing I did on TV in Sweden. So, our personal bills were being paid. The web site has a few sponsors, so it at least doesn’t lose any money, and Maddy G was still willing to bankroll production costs on the new shows. Besides… we had our eyes set on bigger things – Television.
We started the new season with legit interest from Discovery Channel, to do a documentary piece on our lifestyle, and we had started development on a version of our show for VH1. These projects would bring the wide, mainstream audience we needed to break out of the “Doll Fetish” valley we had been stuck in since we started in 2009. The rest, we assumed, would take care of itself.
Well, as I’ve ranted about on Facebook and here on this blog, The Discovery Channel thing fell apart quickly due to “Doll Wars” conflicts and the VH1 thing started, but quickly blew up because one of the Executive Producers there is a complete and total douche bag, with no respect for anyone.
So, with our plan of Television Dominance smoldering in ruins, we were once again left with our own “Regarding Jenny” show, being entirely supported by “The Loyal 12”. At an average price of $2 per download, each new episode of our show was grossing about $24 in revenue, unless I did an accompanying photo set, then we would gross $48. On a show that averages $300 – $500 an episode in production costs, we were taking massive losses every time we would get dressed for a shoot.
I think the rest pretty much explains itself. Maddy G Productions is a for profit corporation. Not unlike NBC, or CBS, or MTV, or Disney… they don’t make movies and TV for fun. This isn’t a ‘passion project’ for them, it’s a business, and the plain and simple truth is, “Regarding Jenny” had been losing money on every episode, so they pulled the plug.
Fighting The Good Fight…
I’ve been the de facto voice for the ‘Poly-Community’ for the last four years. I was the one to speak up, and speak out. I was the one holding up signs and cracking jokes, and making ‘Poly Life’ not just ‘mainstream’, but something outsiders began to see as ‘fun’ not just ‘weird’ or ‘sick’ or ‘what the fuck is wrong with you people?’.
When blogs started appearing on the internet with photos of Poly’s stolen from members of the community, it was MY lawyers that served the ‘cease & desist’ letters that got the pictures removed. Because those ‘Doll Community’ members were too chicken shit to put their names on the paperwork.
When a ring of Scam Sites appeared on the internet using photos of Poly’s stolen from the ''Doll Community’ and representing themselves as manufacturers, and pretending to be a legit source for Poly’s – it was MY lawyers that sued them, shut down their servers (within 48 hours) and protected the copyrights and trademarks of the Doll Owners and Doll Manufacturers who didn’t have the balls to protect themselves.
When shit went down, and things got ugly inside the ‘Poly-Community’, when all the biggest ‘players’ ran and hid in the corner, I called my lawyers in, and I defended us all – at my own expense.
While I got lots of “Thank you Jenny” notes, not one Poly Owner or Manufacturer quietly sent me a check to offset the legal fees I paid to protect them. Not ONE.
A Lasting Legacy…
Since the very beginning, the under lying purpose of my show was to bring a sense of humor to ‘Poly Life’, to allow outsiders a peek inside my lifestyle and to help people understand it’s not so ‘weird’. There’s lots of us out here, and having a relationship with a Poly does not make you sick, or mentally ill, or some kind of social outcast. It’s actually a ton of fun and in many cases a comfort that keeps us sane.
I am the first Poly in history to be nominated as an Actress for an AVN Award.
I am the first Poly in history to be listed as an Actress (not a prop) on IMDB.
And if you’ve noticed dozens and dozens and dozens of Poly’s appearing on Facebook, SexySocials, Youtube, Pinterest, and Instagram… you’re welcome. For most, I was the first Poly friend a lot of those communities had, and I held the door open for all the rest that followed in my footsteps.
When a Poly sends a friend request, the reason you don’t hear “Fuck off freak…” is because more often than not, they think, “Oh, she’s like Jenny, and Jenny is… well, she’s pretty cool.”
You’re welcome.
What’s Next…
So, I’m burned out. I’m tired of being the only one in the game willing to take the hits and make the big plays. I’m exhausted from the fight, and I’m tired of footing the bill for the benefit of the whole community.
I’ve thought about writing a book.
I still have some stories to tell, and a screenplay or two to finish.
But mostly, I’m going to just enjoy the life I have, and my relationship with Karen without feeling the responsibility of sharing every detail. To not be up at 6am to answer fan mail, and deliver 2 photo shoots a month, maintaining a web site and blog, and always be polishing the next installment of our show.
I’m just going to be me for awhile, and see what happens. Whatever I do next will be whatever I want to do next, and more than likely, it won’t be nearly as public and controversial as the last four years of my life.
Finally, I want to say “Thank you” to everyone who watched and talked about it, and especially ‘The Loyal 12’ who gave me the glimmer of hope that one day this thing I’m doing will matter to more than you 12.
All my best,
- Jenny
