• Louis Theroux on porn: The decline of an industry
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Source: [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18352421#FBM104081[/url] [quote] On a movie set in an industrial area of Las Vegas, Tommy Gunn, one of America's top porn stars, was describing his ideal woman: "Self-sacrificing and caring and nurturing and wants to have children. Honestly, I'm not going to find her in this business." In the eight years he's been working in porn, Tommy's done something like 1,200 scenes. Muscular, faintly Latin-looking, with a slight touch of Robert De Niro, he's built a reputation as dependable in an industry where reliability is a man's most highly-prized professional asset. You can get some idea of the nature of Tommy's films from the titles. Addicted 2 Sin, Call of Booty, Fleshdance. A few days earlier, at his rented ranch house in the countryside north of Los Angeles, Tommy had showed me the small army of statuettes he'd won for his performances - the porn equivalent of Oscars. In his garage, amid the collection of motorbikes testifying to his past life as a mechanic, he'd taken down a few of his DVDs from a high shelf. Continue reading the main story Find out more Today's shoot was for a scene for an internet site. Tommy was playing a "secret shopper" checking out the customer service at a video store. Tommy's "love interest", if that's the right phrase, was the store manager, played by 23-year-old Tasha Reign. Tommy told me he'd been single for four years. He'd struggled to find a lasting relationship with someone who was willing to put up with his lifestyle - or possibly he found it difficult to love someone who was willing to put up with it. "It's not normal leaving somebody you love to go and have sex with someone you don't," he said. Then, emphatically, he repeated: "That's not normal." To the millions of consumers who look at pornography, the lives of the male performers might seem in certain ways like a fantasy. Being paid to have sex with beautiful women five or six times a week? What's not to like? For those who live the life, the reality is quite different. For one thing, the wages aren't much - $150 (£97) per scene. You can forget about pensions and health insurance. Not to mention that the act of coition on demand, with lights on and cameras rolling, is not a skill every man is capable of. Or, given the shame and embarrassment and the toll it takes on one's relationships, would want to be capable of. The job is tough at the best of times - and these are far from the best of times. The porn industry is in crisis, its profits decimated by the impact of the illegal downloading of pirated content from YouTube-style sites and also amateurs uploading their own sex scenes on paid-for sites. Fifteen years ago, when I did my first reporting on the porn business in Los Angeles, it was a very different picture. Back then, porn companies were making millions. The big story then was the massive profits of a hidden industry that seemed as though it might be on the brink of being acknowledged by the mainstream. A few porn performers were becoming celebrities: Traci Lords, Jenna Jameson, Ron Jeremy (aka "the hedgehog", because of his profuse body hair). Shelves of pornography DVDs Free internet porn threatens DVD sales One of the top male performers went by the porn name Jon Dough. So prized a performer was he that one of the high-end production companies, Vivid Video, put him on contract to work exclusively for them. I interviewed him on-set around this time. He was starring in a remake of the adult "classic" Debbie Does Dallas, directed by an ex-performer called Paul Thomas. Jon Dough killed himself nine years after that conversation, at the age of 43. Most of the industry put it down the pressures of the business and the difficulties of making a living in a market that was saturated with free product. Several people blamed his death on declining DVD sales. Jon Dough was married to a fellow performer, Monique DeMoan, who is now retired and living 800 miles from Los Angeles. She said her husband killed himself because of drug addictions. Still, it says something about the industry that so many were ready link the suicide to the plight of DVDs. The decline of the porn industry is part of a general trend affecting music, print journalism and mainstream movies. The many ways of getting content for free have slashed the profits of the professionals in their respective fields. But where moviegoers and music fans may feel a loyalty to, say, Pixar or U2, and understand they need to pay for the fruits of their labour, the consumers of porn have less compunction about stealing the product. Many feel it's more moral not to pay for adult content. Female performers have been resourceful about finding other outlets for their work. Kagney Linn Karter Porn star Kagney Linn Karter boosts her income with webcam work I spent a surreal evening at the home of a top porn performer, Kagney Linn Karter, while she did a live web show in her bedroom. Webcam work is one of the few kinds of content that can't be pirated, since it's live and interactive. While Kagney stripped on her bed in front of her laptop, I hid out in the kitchen with her boyfriend Monte. Many female performers also work as prostitutes for extra cash. Where a female performer might make $600 to $800 (£388 to £518) for a straight sex scene in a movie, she can get double that - for less work - by "doing a private". For many performers, the movies are now a sideline and a kind of advertising for their main business of prostitution. While the wages stagnate, and the jobs dry up, the pressure on the performers continues. During my visit, Monte expressed his unhappiness about a scene Kagney had just been booked for, involving a sex act so outlandish it can't really be described in a mainstream news forum. The male performers' options are even more circumscribed. No prostitution for them, no webcam shows, and lower pay. The top echelons of the profession, people like Tommy Gunn, still get regular work. But he still struggles with a sense of loneliness and the strange combination of stigma and fame that his very peculiar profession brings with it. After his scene in Las Vegas wrapped, I joined him in his unglamorous motel on an unfashionable stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard. I complimented him on the solid performance he'd just turned in. I was aware it was a strange thing to say, but I also wanted to acknowledge how much he'd had militating against him - the people, the length of the scene, the apparent lack of interest of his partner. "That's my job," he said. For a moment, there seemed something both sad but also oddly heroic in his ability to discharge the strange responsibility he'd taken on. But for how much longer the job will exist is unclear. [/quote] Interesting article. Just wanted to share. I am sure most people here can relate.
So a male performer makes 150 bucks a scene and a female can make at least 600 per scene even though the latter is probably in much higher supply to put it bluntly? That sounds fair, right?
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;36252630]So a male performer makes 150 bucks a scene and a female can make at least 600 per scene even though the latter is probably in much higher supply to put it bluntly? That sounds fair, right?[/QUOTE] Depends on how famous you are and who you work for. Howard Stern has a lot on his show that are rich as fuck.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;36252630]So a male performer makes 150 bucks a scene and a female can make at least 600 per scene even though the latter is probably in much higher supply to put it bluntly? That sounds fair, right?[/QUOTE] i don't see why women would be higher in supply, if anything men would be easier to find because there's less of a stigma and there's almost never more women than men in a video
[QUOTE=Kopimi;36252751]i don't see why women would be higher in supply, if anything men would be easier to find because there's less of a stigma and there's almost never more women than men in a video[/QUOTE] Are you sure about that? I mean 2 girl 1 guy threesomes are very popular, as well as lesbian scenes. Also, I don't think women need as much skill as men in pornography. Women need special skills, of course. Men, however, need almost insane stamina and control over their body. I don't know, any generalizations are probably going to be somewhat inaccurate. However, I think women getting paid more has more to do with the fact the people watch porn "for the women". They want to watch their favorite girls get fucked, and aren't as concerned about the men. [editline]8th June 2012[/editline] And I've never seen much of a stigma around women in porn. That might be just for my region, but it seems like women aren't very judgemental about other women doing porn. It's a bigger deal to watch porn, ironically.
I've personally never enjoyed a professionally produced porno movie. Seen plenty, just never found them interesting or arousing. It all feels incredibly fake. I'm surprised to see the average wages for the actors are that low though. I had imagined it as a better-than-average paying job. Nothing hugely better, just above average.
Professional fetish porn is quite hilarious. One of my favorites is the, "Pretty Sloppy" series. Tons of sick shit in that. Toothpaste in ass fetish in one scene.
[QUOTE=Nikota;36252999]Professional fetish porn is quite hilarious. One of my favorites is the, "Pretty Sloppy" series. Tons of sick shit in that. Toothpaste in ass fetish in one scene.[/QUOTE] Yeah, a lot of it is just fucking hilarious. Kinda interesting how people actually get off to that.
[QUOTE=faze;36253060]Yeah, a lot of it is just fucking hilarious. Kinda interesting how people actually get off to that.[/QUOTE] That shit is nothing compared to so called 'alternative hentai'. Don't ask me how I know this-
I think cracked or some such site ran an article a couple years ago called ~"10 reasons why being a male pornstar isn't all it's cracked up to be" poor wages, unnatural effects on your body, ruins personal relationships and sex...
[QUOTE=Kalibos;36253214]I think cracked or some such site ran an article a couple years ago called ~"10 reasons why being a male pornstar isn't all it's cracked up to be" poor wages, unnatural effects on your body, ruins personal relationships and sex...[/QUOTE] Yeah I'd never do it. Fuck that.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;36252806]Are you sure about that? I mean 2 girl 1 guy threesomes are very popular, as well as lesbian scenes.[/QUOTE] Gay porn is a lot more popular for straight men, strangely. I read a statistic somewhere that said that almost all gay porn stars were actually heterosexual, a good number even having female spouses.
[QUOTE=Paramud;36253240]Gay porn is a lot more popular for straight men, strangely. I read a statistic somewhere that said that almost all gay porn stars were actually heterosexual, a good number even having female spouses.[/QUOTE] Same for women too. Every girl I've been with up to and including my wife like girl on girl. It's the sensualness.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;36252630]So a male performer makes 150 bucks a scene and a female can make at least 600 per scene even though the latter is probably in much higher supply to put it bluntly? That sounds fair, right?[/QUOTE] Women always make more than the dudes in porno. Makes sense, considering how sexualized they are in society.
By the way, the documentary of this comes out on the 10th, will probably end up being posted online somewhere. I quite enjoy Louis' docs.
[QUOTE=Lambeth;36253399]Women always make more than the dudes in porno. Makes sense, considering how sexualized they are in society.[/QUOTE] Not to mention if you're searching for a porno, you're not searching for the name of the actor in the video, you're searching the name of the actress
Also on the topic of being a porn star, I wouldn't mind doing it for a little while (who wouldn't?). It sure as hell wouldn't be a fulfilling career though.
Let's keep in mind that we have a very different view on porn than most people.
louis theroux always makes very interesting documentaries.
Louis wrote a similar article with a couple different details in this weeks Radio Times, I can't find it online unfortunately.
Has no-one ever laughed that his name is "Tommy Gunn"?
Of course the porn industry is in decline. Ever since the advent of the internet, porn was destined to become free, available, and abundant.
[QUOTE=Paramud;36253240]Gay porn is a lot more popular for straight men, strangely. I read a statistic somewhere that said that almost all gay porn stars were actually heterosexual, a good number even having female spouses.[/QUOTE] That is... Creepy. Do they even get paid enough to do that?
[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;36254416]That is... Creepy. Do they even get paid enough to do that?[/QUOTE] Yes, they call it going "gay for pay". That's not a joke.
i just go to youjizz
[QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;36254664]i just go to youjizz[/QUOTE] A man of good tastes
[QUOTE=goldenbuttocks;36254284]Has no-one ever laughed that his name is "Tommy Gunn"?[/QUOTE] Pretty much every male porn star I've ever seen work for the big companies, like Brazzers (which, I believe, is a popular one for Tommy Gunn) have dumb names like that. Coincidentally, most of the male porn stars who work for those companies are annoying as fuck, too. Gunn isn't excluded from this. Though this article really does put a light on the life of a male porn star in a way that some, myself included, never really considered. To be honest, I don't much thought on it though. You kind of have to feel sorry for them, really.
[QUOTE=ruarai;36255341]X-Art is the only good professionally made porn that doesn't feel fake, because it doesn't try to make a back story, i guess.[/QUOTE] orgasms.xxx is the same kind of thing
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;36252630]So a male performer makes 150 bucks a scene and a female can make at least 600 per scene even though the latter is probably in much higher supply to put it bluntly? That sounds fair, right?[/QUOTE] The majority of porn is made for men so it makes sense that more emphasis is placed upon the woman
[quote=ruarai]X-Art is the only good professionally made porn that doesn't feel fake, because it doesn't try to make a back story, i guess.[/quote] I don't think it's so much the fact that some porn studios try to make a back story to their productions that makes them seem fake, but more the fact that the monkeys they [b]do[/b] have write said back stories fucking suck at writing. I mean, granted, there are virtually zero porn scenes that can happen in reality without a really wide stretch of the imagination, but that's no excuse for the abominable writing that some of the major studios out there display. The perfect example of this crime against literature is pretty much any of the studios that work under the Brazzers brand (the "sites" you gain access to, I have no idea if they're sub-departments or separate studios or something like that though). I dare anyone to find me even three Brazzers productions that have any writing that's beyond a level of mediocrity that a hormone-driven thirteen-year-old who never valued school highly could write, because I could easily argue that's exactly what their writers are. Not only are the scenes completely unrealistic and almost as artificial as the breasts of 95% of Brazzers' crew of female actresses, but the dialog is so immature it's laughable. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a survey that reported that a good percentage of the people who watch Brazzers productions turn the sound off to just to save their ears and brains from starting to hemorrhage from the horrible dialog - and I'll guarantee you there's a vast majority that don't watch past the first 30 seconds of any production and just skip around until some action begins because the writing is completely and utterly dull. Obviously, if you go into watching pornographic films expecting some deeply introspective and paradigm-shifting philosophical insights, then you should probably consider reprioritizing your life, but I believe there's a simple rule of thumb that these studios should use:If you [b]can't[/b] write a damn story, then [b]don't[/b] write a damn story. There's absolutely no shame in having porn films that are literally nothing [b]but[/b] sex, with absolutely no story, history, or background. There is absolutely nothing wrong in that. But if a studio [b]insists[/b] on having some semblance of a story, no matter how small and insignificant it may be, then they should at least exert the effort to write it well. If they can't write a good story themselves, they should reach out and find someone who can: I'm positive there are some incredibly competent writers - English and literature majors even - who not only enjoy watching porn, but would be envious at the chance to write their own screenplay, or at the very least some damn story and dialog. I mean, chances are, they do it anyways, at least in their own time - expanding on fantasies is exactly what a writer does, after all. I'm not saying that all major porn studios are terrible at writing stories - though I dare say I've yet to find one that's any good at it - or that all porn studios need to have a crack team of writers in the calibre of Robert Jordan or George R. R. Martin, but simply that these studios should focus on what they're good at, and eschew everything else. It's better to simply lack something then to do something badly - lacking something simply does not add value, whilst doing something badly actively detracts value. So yeah, in summary: I don't think it's the fact studios try to add a back story that makes porn feel fake, but more the fact they just fucking [b]suck[/b] at writing them. Oh, and a pro-tip to any future pornographic story or dialog writers that may be reading this: having your actors and actresses spew nothing but filth (words like "slut," "ass," "pussy," and especially the word "fuck") does not make your work of a "mature" calibre. It may make the product "adult," but it is one of the most immature things you can have them say. And may lightning strike any of who choose to make 90% of an actor's or actress's vocabulary consist of such smut. Honestly, I think one of the most annoying things in the world is when performers, male or female, never shut up about how their or their partners are such sluts and asking how much said partner likes getting fucked. I think it's safe to say that Brazzers is one of the worst culprits when it comes to terrible writing, though. Even other major studios, like RealityKings, at least try to put some effort into their writing, to make it seem at least a [b]bit[/b] believable.
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