alt.sex.movies FAQ v5.65 Part 3 of 12 How To Break In to Porn =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sections marked with [updated] were updated since the last revision Sections marked with [new] were added since the last revision This FAQ is Copyright 1994-6 by Jeff Knapp, and is made available as a service to the Internet community. It may not be sold in any medium, including electronic, CD-ROM, or database, packaged with any commercial product, or published in print, without the explicit, written permission of Jeff Knapp. Send comments to director@gti.net =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= TABLE OF CONTENTS 19 How to Make a Porn Flick 19.1 How can I become a porn star? 19.1.1 That's not very encouraging... I really want to do it. Tell me how. 19.2 What's all this talk about licensed agents? 19.2.1 So, who are the agents? 19.2.2 Do you think I need an agent? 19.3 OK... How about getting into gay porn? [new] 19.3.1 Are there any secrets to gay porn success? [updated] 19.4 How much do porn stars make? 19.5 How much do porn directors make? 19.6 What I really want to do is direct! 19.7 So, maybe mainstream is not where I want to be... would you tell me about amateur? 19.7.1 What kind of budgets to amateur productions have? 19.7.2 What kind of equipment do I need? 19.7.3 What about editing? 19.8 Okay, so maybe directing is not the thing to do... who writes the songs that those people fuck to? 19.9 Are there any books I can read about the subject of porn production? [updated] 19.10 How much can I make if I write adult movie scripts? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 19 How to Make a Porn Flick 19.1 How can I become a porn star? Zeno makes these observations... Being a good masturbator is more important than being a stud. Why do you think so few males star for so long? It's the surest way to ruin your enjoyment of sex... and that's assuming THAT you ever get in. (Pun intended) Second: If you REALLY still think you can do it (and I've seen so many male egos implode during 'their big shot' -- it isn't pretty! -- that I can only ask you to reread the above) your best shot right now is to find someone who's making amateur tapes. You'll have to bring your own girlfriend, and you'll both be paid peanuts, but that's the way it's done these days. There are ads in the backs of many magazines, personals, etc. But, you will have a better chance in LA than NY. May God have mercy on your pole... Tim Evanson tells us that: Many gay studios and producers advertise for models and video performers in local gay newspapers such as the NEW YORK NATIVE and LA's newspaper FRONTIERS. The biweekly magazine ADVOCATE CLASSIFIED also contains many ads. Many low-budget studios and independent directors find their casts this way. Several gay porn agents often visit local clubs or special parties in their home towns and distribute their cards, which is a way in which several recent gay porn actors (Derek Cruise, Rick Bolton, Phil Bradley) were discovered. Having an agent doesn't seem to matter; gay porn stars have said in interviews in MANSHOTS magazine that sometimes just being smart is good enough, while others say agents are useful in screening out the crappy scripts and identifying bad directors/studios. Remember: Most scenes that last 15 minutes on film take from 4 to 6 hours to film, and during that time the actor MUST remain erect. Also, most gay porn is very stop-and-go as positions change, lighting changes, and camera angles change. Performers often must have sex in front of anywhere from 4 to 15 people (many of them also masturbating or otherwise aroused). Days often begin at 6 AM and continue for 18 hours or more. Sets are filthy, cold, and location shoots in homes and outdoors hard to find and often very distant from where the star lives. Few studios pay your airfare into town, your hotel room, your rental car, or food bills and rarely provide food or drinks on a set. Pressure to use drugs and alcohol is strong on a set, and sex with your co-actors after a shoot nonexistent. 19.1.1 That's not very encouraging... I really want to do it. Tell me how. It is considerably easier for females. Jim South at World Modelling is one of only two licensed agencies in the business. The other one is sort of in/out of it as I write. Long ago (late 60s, I think) two licenses were issued for this sort of talent agency, and no more will ever be (at least the Powers That Be Have So Decreed). According to people in the know, the current way to get into the biz for a female (always much easier than gents) is to first: Answer that ad in the Classifieds of most LA papers sending you to WMA. But, secondly, through amateur videos. They don't pay squat, and they now seem to comprise the "minor leagues" with the Owners looking at promising new talent. Prayer is always good. The male "stud" is the rarest of creatures. Everyone thinks that he can be one, and every producer has heard it so often that he tends to tune it right out. But, if this still does not dissuade you, let me mention the qualifications: 1. Dick size is not THAT important. The camera (and your imagination) makes them all look larger than life. But, underhung can truly be a disadvantage. Somebody named Dave Cannon made a career for himself by being the only gent that his girlfriend, Bridgette Monet -- a big star at the time -- would screw. This was his entrance (and exit, it's a 2-edged sword). The classic way in is by bringing a porn mega-babe with you. It worked for Ken (Seka's ex) and for Bud (Hypatia's hubby). 2. Also (though down the same road) through amateur shoots. But, again, the demand for males is negligible (approved plumbing is a MUST, and hard to find), and the demand for females -- while not as insatiable as in the 70's(when any girl who wanted to could) and the 80's (when any reasonably good-looking girl etc.), the business is always on the look for fresh meat. Now, I realize that you may believe your destiny is to be a porn stud, and I don't want to dissuade you, but I offer this advice: What is most necessary in the porn stud is the ability to jerk himself off (so as to come on cue). The ones I've known have privately bemoaned the hamburger it's made of their sex lives, and the fact that they're now trapped from here to eternity: always wondering if someone will see their movies. The social crap you'll take is quite a bit more hostile than that the ex-porn-kitten takes. A great trick is to find a girl to bring with you. If they drool over her, they'll accept you -- if SHE insists. But watch it... she has a way of forgetting who got her into the biz in the first place. Brandy Alexandre sez: It pays to hang out and chat in the agent's office every few days for MONTHS until he gets to know you and knows you aren't a pervert, rapist or law enforcement. Or get to know someone in the business who may eventually recommend you. Bill Majors concurs: When I moved from NYC to LA 10 years ago I tried to find talent. It wasn't until a friend actually took me to several agents and vouched for me that I was able to get talent lined up. While I guess it might be possible to break through it is much easier just to find someone in the business and ask them to give you a hand. In spite of all of our competition we are basically a friendly bunch. In the end, getting into the adult video business is really no different than going to Universal and telling them you want to star with Tom Hanks in their next feature. :-) 19.2 What's all this talk about licensed agents? Nick Long (NICKLONG@delphi.com) says: "Agents are licensed in California by the Department of Labor. Others in the biz are classed and represent themselves as managers and/or business managers, and any other associated description. An 'agent' is treated under Calif law as if they were an employment agency and have specific reporting and record-keeping requirements, as well as needing an annually renewable license and a bond. This allows an agent to collect fees for talent, deduct their fee, and pass the money along. In 'practice' it doesn't work that way. Virtually *all* talent is paid directly by the company and the agent 'bills' for his part of the service." "As in any 'licensed' status, there is no problem until the state receives a complaint about an individual, and then they will perform an investigation and proceed accordingly against an 'unlicensed' individual/company, just as they would on a complaint against an unlicensed building contractor, etc." 19.2.1 So, who are the agents? Nick Long provides us with this easy to use chart. The determinations are his own, as I don't know these people... Phone numbers you can get on your own ;-) Rank Name Agency +------------+-------------+-----------------------------------+ 1 Jim South World Modeling +------------+-------------+-----------------------------------+ 2 Reb Sowitz Pretty Girl International +------------+-------------+-----------------------------------+ 3* Regan Senter Beautiful Models International Regan is also somehow currently affiliated with National Productions. Regan has been around for almost 2 years now and does actually do some 'footwork' in getting work for his talent. He is *not* a licensed agent and has received attention in AVN during the past year+ in a negative tone, for many valid reasons. Regan actually tries to represent himself as a 'casting director' to avoid the implication of needing a license. +------------+-------------+-----------------------------------+ 3(tie) Lucky Smith I don't believe Lucky is a licensed agent, but rather a 'manager' or 'business manager' for which a license is also not required. Lucky has a far better reputation and handles talent selectively, usually affiliated with top names in the biz. +------------+-------------+-----------------------------------+ 4 Hal G Hollywood office. Hal is an elderly, widely respected agent who handles primarily 'B' movie gals (the screamers) and he harbors a certain disdain for adult hardcore, but a few of his gals do work both sides, not to his particular liking. +------------+-------------+-----------------------------------+ * A word on Regan Senter. Peter van Aarle tells me that "the reports in AVN that I remember make the guy seem like a complete sleazebag. His latest ploy seems to be having girls who want to get into the business to shoot a 'screen test' with him. This means he (or 'director' Randi Detroit) fucks them on camera, and he uses the footage in his Hollywood Starlets Adventures series." 19.2.2 Do you think I need an agent? Not necessarily, but it doesn't hurt. Nick Long tells me that "many of the managers deal with Reb and/or Jim, and they can also cut deals directly with the producers and companies. Can't speak for Lucky specifically, but I know Lucky has worked with Jim in the past. I'm sure he also deals direct." "There are also a few companies who will *not* deal with *any* agent. If they hire the gal direct through there own contacts, they will not pay any agent a fee, manager, agent, or otherwise. A lot of the gals act as 'independents' and get their own work. No, they don't get 'extra' for not being with an agent, they just prefer to make their own deals." 19.3 OK... How about getting into gay porn? [new] This is what Tim Evanson has to tell me... Becoming a gay porn star is easy. Go to any big gay porn city; DC is one, too, cause Bob Jones Productions is here. But any big city will do, if it has a big gay population, lots of gay dance clubs or bars, and (better yet) gay strip clubs (doesn't have to be nude, just g-string will do). The key is to get to a place where someone close to the industry can find you. Many gay porn stars (like Dave York or Brad Stone, my friends in the industry) were once strippers, so it's useful if you can strip or do exotic dancing. That way, people can see what kind of dick you have, and what kind of body. And they can tell that you have ZERO problems flashing it in front of 100 people. My friend Todd tried to do porn with his 11" cock, and he couldn't. He took FOREVER to get hard (bigger guys do -- I know, my bf is 9"), and he couldn't keep it there because he was uncomfortable being watched by 10 people and having a cameraman thrust the camera into private areas of his body and having to start and stop the sex all the time so they could adjust sound, light, angle, etc. Anyway, if you strip or dance, and if you go to EVERY event where gay porn stars show (like gay pride, gay marches, gay rallies, special book signing events, AIDS fundraisers, "porn star night" at strip clubs, etc.) you will get auditioned at any rate. TALK TO THE PORN STARS! My friend Dave York got in only because he just pushed EVERYONE aside one day and talked to Blade Thompson when Blade (who is also from Montana, like me, but not from Great Falls) was stripping here in DC two years ago. The other way is to go to New York or LA and audition. Get the gay Los Angeles newspaper "Frontiers." Most B.Daltons and Crown Books and some Brentano's and Barnes & Noble bookstores will carry it, although I'm not sure if they do in Boise! :) In Frontiers, the gay porn studios advertise ALL THE TIME in the yellow "sex" pages. Go audition. It's that simple. Once you get an audition, it's common for the industry insider to ask you to come to some apartment, go into the other room, strip, come out naked, get a hard on, and masturbate to orgasm. They want to see if you can do it in front of a total stranger, for one thing. They want to see your body, what you look like naked, if you are embarrassed being naked, what your cock looks like hard, and how you cum (fast, is there a lot, does it shoot far, etc.). Then they'll tell you to clean up and get dressed. You will be interviewed as to tastes in sex (will you rim? will you bottom? will you top? will you do enemas? will you do leather? will you suck cock?) and ability to have sex and experience having sex. Then it's "see ya later!" and they will call if they like you. The infamous "casting couch" is not common in the gay porn industry, although some second- or third-rate producers will do that. (Robert Prion, anyone?) If the guy DOES want to have sex with you, it will be as himself and NOT as the industry rep. It's as simple as that. 19.3.1 Are there any secrets to gay porn success? [updated] Tim Evanson tells me that gay porn is caught up by fads. In the early 1980s it was the muscular gym rat. In the mid 1980s, blond twinks. In the late 1980s, natural frat boy types. But almost all gay porn actors have to have a few tools: 1. Be a top and a bottom on film. Although a few actors such as Ryan Idol and Joey Stefano have made careers out of being one or the other, directors want versatility and the chance to make chemistry work between actors who've just met. That means being versatile in bed. 2. Have a dick that looks at least 7" to 8" long. Most men, of course, have cocks only 6"-6.5" long, but since the average height of gay porn stars is only 5'8", a 6.5" cock will look 7.5" long. Being uncut can help in the 1990s, but this is a fad for the most part. 3. Have 5% body fat and work out regularly to achieve extensive definition. Although many gay porn stars are VERY muscular (Tom Katt or Ryan Idol) and some still have their baby fat (Jeff Browning and Joey Stefano), for the most part gay porn stars need strongly defined and often large pectoral muscles, highly developed abdominal muscles, and strongly muscled legs. 4. Shave your body. If you are hairy, shave the hair off. If you are smooth, keep it that way. Shave your balls and shave your ass. 5. Get a strong tan. 6. Learn to moan and scream. 7. Learn to get an erection on command and to orgasm on command. The look of most gay porn stars is often the same, so don't try to stand out. Tatoos, non-standard haircuts, body piercings (even earrings), moles or birthmarks, and scars are decidedly unwelcome. You have to learn to have sex with anyone they put in bed with you, under horrible conditions, and with maybe 5 minutes to get acquainted and learn your lines. Gay porn is not pretty! It just looks that way on screen. 19.4 How much do porn stars make? Jerry Butler in his book "Raw Talent" discussed the inequity of pay for porn actors versus actresses. He claimed that actresses made in the $1000-1500 range as their day rate, which the male actors made about a third of that, $300-500 a day. Of course, considerations for number of scenes and star power were made for the women. Rumors had Savannah making $10,000 per film and Seka allegedly wants $100,000 to do another film. Neither of these figures have been verified. Frontline's 198? documentary of the Shauna Grant suicide, "Death of a Porn Queen" mentions that actresses got as much as $1,000 a day for making videos. Brandy Alexandre says Video performers are only paid the day they shoot the video. There are no royalties for sales or rentals, and there are no extra payments when footage is used in another feature like compilations of facial shots, or "Best of..." titles. Most movies are shot in a single day. Most of the time they are shot in twos - two movies in two days - to cut down on equipment rental costs. The men are paid between $250 and $400 a day and women are paid $300 to $700 a day. The variations depend on what is called for in the individual scenes and how many scenes you will be doing that day. Girls make much more money on the road dancing. A great number of actresses today are doing movies just to enhance their marketability as strippers. I do not have plans to go on any dance tours. I wish I could just come to your area and sign autographs at a book store or do those "chat booth" things. Those are a lot of fun. :) It's probably safe to say that there is no set pay scale and you get what you negotiate. Tim Evanson passes this along: In gay porn, actors usually make more money than their male hetero porn counter parts. According to statements made by gay porn stars in Dave Kinnick's SORRY I ASKED, the average gay porn star makes about $500-800 per film, whether it's one scene or several. Some gay porn stars, such as Joey Stefano and Ryan Idol and Jeff Stryker, have claimed to make up to $1,500 per picture due to their star drawing power. Newcomer gay porn star Dave York says that salaries for newbies to gay porn now run around $1,000 per picture, and the Adam Film World Gay Video 1995 Directory says that Ryan Idol commands upwards of $10,000 per movie now.] 19.5 How much do porn directors make? This is a tough call, and no tried and true answer holds. From what I've read, a director is given a certain amount of money to make a movie with and whatever is left over is his salary. While I would imagine he needs a minimal amount as a salary just to take the job, it probably isn't an unusual practice. 19.6 What I really want to do is direct! S. Andrew Roberts (shamu@kbbsnet.com), our editor behind-the- scenes, offers this perspective: It's really rather easy. Just convince a company that you can produce and direct a movie that will make them money. Get a promise that they will buy it from you when you're done. Then...hire the talent and crew. Book a location. Get a script. Actually, don't bother with a script because the talent doesn't bother learning lines much prior to the time they sit down at the make-up table. Hope to hell everybody shows up within four hours of the call time. Pray the males will get wood, keep it for an hour AND pop on cue. Then hire an editor to cut the movie and a composer to supply music for 15 minute long sex scenes. Hope to God the cameraman has actually shot SOME softcore footage or you may have a problem getting the company to accept only one version. Then... sit back and count the profits. Oh... BTW, the company will only pay you $10,000 when you deliver. If you deliver. Did I happen to mention that they want it shot and edited on Betacam SP? Think I'm pulling your leg? Think again! I had another phone call yesterday from a typical porn producer asking if I'll cut a full-length, five scene feature for $850 bucks (maybe a grand!). I've got $100,000 tied up in equipment and he's trying to convince me to work for peanuts. Want some real advice? Here it is: Forget about "directing movies." Doesn't happen in this business. A "director" is somebody who can deliver a finished movie (and I use that term loosely) on time and for a pre-determined price. Actual "directing" only gets in the way of being a hard-nosed producer capable of making impossible decisions. Start out by shooting an "amateur" and see if you can make a profit. Then try increasingly bigger projects if you find yourself liking it. Good luck! Let us know what nom de porn you will be using so we can look up the reviews in AVN! 19.7 So, maybe mainstream is not where I want to be... would you tell me about amateur? Amateur is a stepping stone for actors more than directors, but that is not to say that you're work will go unnoticed. Most jobs in the video/film industry (except at the highest echelons) are done by showing off your "reel" which is a bunch of stuff you have edited together to show yourself off -- a video resume if you will. You could use some amateur stuff to show off how well you could capture performers having sex. 19.7.1 What kind of budgets to amateur productions have? I believe the average pro video has a budget in the 12-15,000 range. Amateur productions are MUCH less, often done on no budget and then paid $1000 or so by a company for the rights to distribute their tape. The actors and actresses usually go unpaid or get a pittance for their work. 19.7.2 What kind of equipment do I need? As far as equipment goes, a Hi-8 camera is probably best. You can buy one for under $2000. The pros use Betacam SP and one of those camera goes for about $10,000+ so you're better off going Hi-8 :-) You could also look in your Yellow Pages under Video Services and see if you could find a freelance cameraman to shoot the scene for you. However, be prepared for up to $250/day plus expenses for a pro, plus make sure you discuss UP FRONT the fact that you'll be shooting explicit sex. That may be a dealbreaker. 19.7.3 What about editing? When I was editing my post-college short vid on 3/4" U-Matic SP (cheaper than Beta) various houses wanted anywhere from $50/hr to $125/hr for an editing suite, no operator. Add another 30-50/hr for an operator who will work the dials for you. I ended up renting the equipment and assembling an edit suite in my basement. With some haggling and creative scheduling (no charge for weekends, pick up on Friday, drop off on Monday after 2nd weekend = 7 days charged for 10 days possess) I got the stuff for around $2,000. However, I have editing experience; but even with that experience, it took my the better part of those 10 days to cut 30 minutes. Of course, the project was dialog heavy and that took quite a bit of time, and I would imagine that cutting sex has to be a little more forgiving. If you look at most of the amateur stuff that is shot in someone's house, there aren't many cuts, and what cuts there are almost seem to have been done "in camera." 19.8 Okay, so maybe directing is not the thing to do... who writes the songs that those people fuck to? Brandy sez: It's usually friends of people in the industry that have a keyboard and stuff. They get probably $300 and the music is used over and over and over (and most of the time doesn't even suit the scene.) John Stagliano and I have another person we like to use who will originally score the video. He costs a lot but I think it's worth it. We have re-used the music from time to time but only bits and pieces and we give him a few dollars more. Tim Evanson points out: Costello Presley, a mainstay in the gay porn arena, once did an interview in MANSHOTS magazine that proved highly instructive. Presley, a long-time LA studio musician, noted that most composers get about $250 per film because the director knows that the score will probably only be a rehash of themes and music heard previously in other porn films. Top-notch studios will pay more, say $500, if they have a guarantee of a totally new composition. But Presley noted that the reason why most starving artists do gay porn is that they are beginners who fiddle with themes and music and beats, and their experiments litter gay porn. It should be pointed out that most composers are keyboardists; full bands need not apply. Composers should not think that they are indispensable; producers are perfectly willing to dump a composer and just rip off some techno music. 19.9 Are there any books I can read about the subject of porn production? [updated] There are few books written about the porn industry and its product. Most of the list can be found the asm Web site, so I will not redouble the list here (Instructions on how to access the Web via mail are available elsewhere in this FAQ). Some notable "academic" studies of porn follow: David Austin pointed me to the following books: Robert Stoller and I. S. Levine, COMING ATTRACTIONS: THE MAKING OF AN X-RATED MOVIE, Yale University Press, June 1993, ISBN 0-300- 05654-0, text ed., $30.00 which is an ethnographic study of the making of the video "Stairway to Paradise", and then to watch the video itself. On subsequent viewings, refer back to relevant parts of the book. Also useful is: Robert Stoller, PORN, Yale University Press, 1991, ISBN 0-300- 05092-5, $30.00 (available in many public and university libraries) Stoller, a psychiatrist and prominent gender theorist, offers chapter-length interviews with several people involved in the industry, including William Margold, Kay Parker, Nina Hartley, Merlin the S/M King and Jim Holliday. Also, check out: Annie Sprinkle's Post-Modern Pin-Ups, Pleasure Activist, ISBN 0- 9638129-3-9, Publisher : Gates of Heck 19.10 How much can I make if I write adult movie scripts? According to Brandy Alexandre, 99% of the director's write their own scripts and if they are so inclined to buy one, they rarely pay more that $100 (if that). I have heard from some other sources that Paul Thomas paid $250 for a treatment and then botched the script. The quote that sticks out the most in my mind is "... there's no money in it. You put up with exactly the same bullshit as the 'straight' industry, but for peanuts. Fuck that shit." Back in the just-post-golden age, Zeno wrote scripts for porn- Hollywood. Here's what he has to say.... When I began writing them, a script went to 30 whole pages (way down from the 80-100 page scripts of the film days) for $500, down to 13 pages (for $300), down to 10 or 11 pages (for, maybe, $200 or $150). The more I sold, the less I made, and I began to hear complaints that it was TOO LONG at that length. And, very quickly, directors' girlfriends began rewriting us, and, finally writing them without needing actual writers. I can only assume that when they broke up with their girlfriends, they just wrote them themselves, or, as J.D. used to say: "Like anybody's gonna fucking care if the boom is in the shot!" Tim Evanson says that gay porn director/producer Jerry Douglas noted in MANSHOTS magazine in 1993 that most gay porn scripts are at most 5-7 pages long. Many directors use in-laws or friends to write scripts, or do it themselves. Some low-budget studios only use outlines, and improvise dialogue or cut it out entirely in favor of "mimed" action story-telling. *** END PART 3 ***