Westport porn mogul dead at 29

According to AVN, a pornography trade website, Westport native Mike Kulich, 29, was found dead in his living room on Sept. 24 after his fiancee called a friend concerned she had not been able to reach Kulich for a day. less According to AVN, a pornography trade website, Westport native Mike Kulich, 29, was found dead in his living room on Sept. 24 after his fiancee called a friend concerned she had not been able to reach Kulich ... more Photo: / Photo: / Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Westport porn mogul dead at 29 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

WESTPORT — A town native who got his start in the adult film industry selling Playboy magazines out of the trunk of his car to classmates at Staples High School was found dead Saturday at his home in Los Angeles.

Mike Kulich, 29, founder of the adult entertainment company Monarchy Distribution, was found in his living room, the pornography trade website Adult Video News reported.

Kulich left behind a young son who recently received treatment for leukemia. A Give Forward webpage (https://pages.giveforward.com/other/page-dythwh6/) set up to help support Kulich’s son has raised $10,519 as of Sept. 29.

“We put a lot of work and a lot of love into our movies,” Kulich said in a 2013 interview. “From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to produce great stuff and I’ve been very fortunate. There is a lot of opportunity and a lot of money to be made in this business.”

Kulich, who was set to be married this month, got his start in the industry in Westport where he graduated from Staples High School.

With a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Kulich’s entry into the industry was forged at a young age when he found himself in hot water selling his father’s Playboy magazines out of the trunk of his car at Staples High School.

After a faculty member joked that he should be in the industry, the wheels in Kulich’s mind started turning. Although tempting, Kulich strayed from his passion and briefly attended John Jay College in New York with the goal of becoming a police officer. He soon realized it was not the path he was intended to take.

Packing up his bags, Kulich moved out to Los Angeles with his sights originally set on a long-distance relationship, but instead, ended up with a change in careers. He landed his first job with International Video Distributors (IVD) making cold calls and generating sales, went on to work for a male enhancement company, which he despised, and ended up returning to the video world.

“I started a company called DVD Makers, contacted all of the studios and got them to replicate their videos with us,” Kulich said in 2013. “Eventually, the company was bought out and became DVD Factory.”

Money garnered from the sale prompted Kulich to start his own studio, which in turn led to Levine, the king pin who once gave Kulich the cold shoulder, to now work for the young impresario.

“Monarchy Distribution is the main company with 150 studios contracted through me,” Kulich said. “Assence has more of the name brand girls and regular, good ol’ fashioned porn, with OGEE having more of a niche market. I generally write the scripts and do the casting, have some people do editing and artists do the box covers, but we really don’t outsource anything.”

Through his marked success, Kulich decided to give back to the community and reached out to the National Education Association’s “Read Across America” program with the intention to donate 10 percent of all proceeds from a title with actress Sasha Grey. The donation was rejected and eventually snatched up by the University of California Davis.

Kulich was also known for doing public relations for “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli and client xHamster.com. Shkreli is auctioning off the chance to punch or slap him in the face in order to raise money for the family of Kulich.

No official cause of death has yet been issued.