Joone is an American Iranian

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

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, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...

s, he won

AVN Award The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') annually to honor achievements in the global Sex industry, adult entertainment industry. ...

twice. In 1993, Joone founded American pornographic movie studio

Digital Playground Digital Playground Inc. is an American independent 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 th ...

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

Manwin Aylo is a Canadian multinational pornographic conglomerate owned by Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners. It is primarily involved in internet pornography, operating a number of video sharing websites (including platforms such ...

in 2012.

Career

He founded the Digital Playground company in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

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 computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

computer game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, mo ...

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, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-larg ...

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 valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

'' 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 German businessman who was the founder and managing partner of the Internet pornography conglomerate Manwin (now Aylo). In October 2013, he sold his stake in the company, which was at the time the larges ...

to sell the company to

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

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

, 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 blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, Jalisco, Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands (''Los Altos (Jal ...

, with

Jesse Jane Cynthia Ann Howell (July 16, 1980 – January 24, 2024), known professionally as Jesse Jane, was an American pornographic film actress. She became one of the few adult film performers of the 2000s to make the transition into mainstream film an ...

and her husband Rich.

Partial filmography

As director

* ''

'' * '' Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge'' * '' Island Fever'' 1, 2, 3 & 4 * ''Forbidden Tales'' * ''

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

'' 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 film actor, pornographic actress who was the ''Penthouse (magazine), Penthouse'' Pet of the Month for February 2000 and is an inductee of the NightMoves H ...

'' ** ''Virtual Sex with

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

'' * ''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 m ...

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. Cro ...

'') * 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 film award in the adult film industry presented by German magazine ''eLine'' (established as ''EAN'').

winner - Best U.S. Director * 2009 Hot d'Or Award winner - Best American Screenplay (''Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge'' - Digital Playground)Paul Fishbein
"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