Ticks on the 15 minute stopwatch
April 1, 1973
April Fool! Joe Francis, future creator of Girls Gone Wild, is born. Elapsed time: 15 seconds
June 1995
Francis graduates from USC, majoring in Business and Film & Television Elapsed time: 1:24
September, 1998
At age 24, Francis forms Mantra Films, and produces his first Girls Gone Wild DVD collection of boozed-up college girls flashing their breasts for the camera. It’s a mail-order hit with the post-adolescent set, and Mantra tosses off dozens of GGW collections over the next eight years (including a co-production with rapper Snoop Dog). Francis builds a fortune estimated at just south of $100 million. Elapsed time: 5:30
May 23, 2003
Francis is jailed in Florida and charged on 71 separate counts of racketeering, drug trafficking, and child pornography, when the parents of a 16-year-old girl claimed that their daughter had been coerced by Francis into appearing topless on video. The trafficking charges have since been dismissed, but Francis still potentially faces 30 years in prison if convicted. Elapsed time: 6:45
October 3, 2003
Snoop Dogg announces he’s dropping out of any future Girls Gone Wild ‘Doggy Style’ projects with Francis. “If you notice, there hasn't been no girls [of color] at all on none of those tapes,” he told Associated Press. “White girls ain’t the only ho’s that get wild.” Elapsed time: 7:20
Dec 17, 2003
Responding to hundreds of consumer complaints, the Federal Trade Commission charges Francis’ Mantra Films with deceptive marketing practices, for their habit of charging consumers’ credit and debit cards without their consent, for videos they never ordered. Elapsed time: 8:00
Jan. 22, 2004
Francis Goes Wild! Joe Francis’ home is invaded by a freelance critic named Darnell Riley carrying a pistol and a video camera. He forces Francis at gunpoint to make a humiliating video confessing a predilection for anal sex, among other things, and over the following weeks attempts to blackmail Francis by threatening to release the tape to the media. Elapsed time: 10:10
A Texas college student charges that Francis drugged and raped her in his hotel room in Miami. Francis claims in response not only that the sex had been consensual, but that the student ordered lunch from room service. Charges are dropped, and Francis sues the student for $25,000,036 — $36 being the price of the lunch. Elapsed time: 11:25
The first ‘Girls Gone Wild Canada Tour’. “The footage from that tour had some of the hottest girls we've ever seen, doing some of the wildest things we've ever witnessed” Francis gushes, “so we created Girls Gone Wild Canada." Elapsed time: 11:40
15 months after the home invasion, police finally arrest Darnell Riley, reportedly on a tip from Paris Hilton, whose house he’d likely also burgled. Elapsed time: 12:00
August 23, 2005
Girls Gone Wild Canada video released. GGW Canada scouting head Bill McCoy notes that “It's a much younger crowd up here because your drinking age is lower, so the girls are much more attractive." Elapsed time: 12:15
September 2005
Follow-up GGW Canada tour faces protests at several Canadian universities, forcing organizers to drop several from their schedule. Elapsed time: 12:45
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Wendell Mortimer grants class action status to the lawsuit against Francis’ Mantra Films for illegally charging customer credit cards for Girls Gone Wild DVD’s. Francis faces potential fines of $11,000 for each of what are possibly thousands of cases. Elapsed time: 13:00
November 3, 2005
Paris Hilton is subpoenaed by police and denies ever being Joe Francis’ girlfriend. Et tu, Paris? Elapsed time: 13:16
November 7, 2005
Francis is dumped by between-engagements girlfriend and Hilton confidant Kimberly Stewart. Elapsed time: 13:38
Dec 19, 2005
Preliminary hearing for Darnel Riley begins with Francis’ credibility being questioned in the light both of Paris Hilton’s St. Peter-like testimony, and the 47 charges still pending against him in Florida. Francis is accused of “fabricating information when it suits him”. Elapsed time: 13:55
Dec. 27, 2005
Girls Gone Wild: Girls Who Like Girls released—order yours today! Elapsed time: 14:10.
February 7, 2006
Darnell Riley cops a plea for attempted extortion and robbery, and is sentenced to 10 years. Making the case against him airtight is a collection of raw Girls Gone Wild footage from Francis’ home found in Riley’s possession. Another dissatisfied customer! Elapsed Time: 15 minutes—That’s all, folks!
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