Joone is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and producer. For directing

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...

s, he won

AVN Award The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and m ...

twice. In 1993, Joone founded American pornographic movie studio

Digital Playground Digital Playground Inc. is an American pornographic film studio, headquartered in Burbank, California. It has been called one of the five biggest porn studios and, in 2006, was described by Reuters as one of the handful of studios that dominat ...

and was a co-owner of the company until it was acquired by

Manwin MindGeek (formerly Manwin) is a Luxembourg-based, privately held company with Canada as its center of operations that primarily focuses on pornography. It is owned by Feras Antoon, Bernd Bergmair (Bernard Bergemar), David Marmorstein, and — mo ...

in 2012.

Career

He founded the Digital Playground company in 1993 when he was 25 and still a student, initially making adult

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

s. Commenting on the transition of the pornography industry from the underground economy to mainstream corporate acceptance, the company's founder said: "I look at the porn business where

Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and gambling was in the 70's… Vegas was still mob-owned and they were making the transition between these small groups of people to being corporate owned… I feel the same exact thing is going to happen with adult". Joone has directed the pornographic films ''

Pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

'' and '' Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge''. In January 2012, alongside his ex-wife Samantha Lewis—who was co-owner, CEO and President of

—he reached an agreement with

Fabian Thylmann Fabian Thylmann (born 5 June 1978) is a businessman from Germany who was founder and managing partner of the Internet pornography conglomerate Manwin (now MindGeek). In October 2013, he sold his stake in the company, which was at the time the la ...

to sell the company to

. On the acquisition, Joone commented: "To me this deal is no different than the acquisition of

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, The consumer is going to see more blockbusters, big-budget productions, and it's our goal to create the next genre of adult entertainment. This acquisition is a marriage between two industry leaders. Adult entertainment is changing and

has a lead on technology." The price or terms of the deal was not disclosed, but it was announced that Lewis and Joone will "continue to oversee the studio"; however, it was reported in March that Manwin had released Lewis and some other employees.

Other ventures

Joone is co-owner of "Diosa Spirits"

tequila Tequila (; ) is a liquor, distilled beverage made from the Agave tequilana, blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, Jalisco, Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands ...

Jesse Jane Cindy Taylor (born July 16, 1980) is an American retired pornographic actress and model best known by her stage name Jesse Jane. She is the recipient of numerous awards and nominations over her career in the adult industry, including induction i ...

and her husband Rich.

Partial filmography

As director

* ''

'' * '' Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge'' * ''

Island Fever Rock fever and island fever are colloquial terms for a form of mental distress said to mainly inflict mainlanders who move to isolated islands, especially any of the Hawaiian islands or Guam. It is not a medical term or classification and has not ...

'' 1, 2, 3 & 4 * ''Forbidden Tales'' * ''

Virtual Sex Virtual sex is sexual activity where two or more people (or one person and a virtual character) gather together via some form of communications equipment to arouse each other, often by the means of transmitting sexually explicit messages. Virtual ...

'' line of DVDs: ** ''Virtual Sex with

'' ** ''Virtual Sex with Taylor Hayes'' ** ''Virtual Sex with

Tera Patrick Tera Patrick (born Linda Ann Hopkins; July 25, 1976) is an American former pornographic actress and model who was the '' Penthouse'' Pet of the Month for February 2000 and is an inductee of the NightMoves, AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. She is ...

'' ** ''Virtual Sex with

Jenna Jameson Jenna Marie Massoli (born April 9, 1974), known professionally as Jenna Jameson (), is an American model, former pornographic film actress, businesswoman, and television personality. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainme ...

'' * ''Rocki Roads' Wet Dreams''

Awards and nominations

* 2006

– Best Director, Video (''

'') * 2006

XRCO Award The XRCO Awards are given by the American X-Rated Critics Organization annually to people working in adult entertainment and it is the only adult industry awards show reserved exclusively for industry members. Once every calendar year, XRCO ...

winner - Best Director * 2009 AVN Award winner – Best Director, Feature (''

Pirates II ''Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge'' is a 2008 American pornographic action-adventure film and sequel to the 2005 film ''Pirates''. Produced by Digital Playground, and written and directed by Joone, it stars Jesse Jane, Evan Stone, Steven St. C ...

'') * 2009 AVN Award winner – Best Screenplay (''Pirates II'') shared with Max Massimo * 2009 AVN Award winner – Best Videography (''Pirates II'') shared with Oliver Henry * 2009

Eroticline Awards The Erotixxx Award (''eLine Award'' or ''Eroticline Award'' until 2008) is a prize awarded in the adult film industry by German magazine ''eLine'' (established as ''EAN''),

winner - Best U.S. Director * 2009

Hot d'Or Hot d'Or ( en, Golden Hot) was an adult film industry pornographic award, awarded annually from 1992 to 2001 in Cannes, France "Pirates II, Evil Angel Big Winners at 2009 Hot d’Or Awards"
AVN.com. Retrieved June 6, 2012. * 2009 Hot d'Or Award winner - Best American Movie (''Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge'' - Digital Playground)

References

External links

* *
Adult Film Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joone Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American pornographic film directors American photographers American sex industry businesspeople University of Southern California alumni American film producers American people of Iranian descent