My Lyft driver is winding up the hills of Bel Air, the area of Los Angeles that still signifies old-school glamour.
Movie biz royalty set up their residences here during the Golden Age of Hollywood and the ’40s-’50s-’60s mansions abut the road as we make our way up to an unusually posh version of the fabled “porn houses” in the Valley.
My vision is to blend my style of erotic storytelling with Dorcel’s very sexy, chic, elegant look and feel, and create a tantalizing and sophisticated feast of flesh for them.
As we approach the nondescript address in a cul-de-sac overlooking the sprawling majesty of Los Angeles, my driver notices that there are many cars lined up outside this house. Too many cars, definitely, for a Friday around 1 p.m.
“Is this a party?” the driver asks.
“Yup,” I reply, withholding the detail that I am here to cover a high-budget, 10-person orgy film organized by French producers and featuring some of the most desired men and women in the world of adult entertainment.
“So, what do you do?” the driver asks me.
“I write about parties,” I reply before exiting the vehicle.
The driver watches me walk past some crew members unloading top-level cameras and lights before I disappear into the Mid-Century modern home — which is where Angela White, Avi Love, India Summer, Britney Amber, Whitney Wright and Jane Wilde are about to have mind-blowing group sex with Ryan Driller, Seth Gamble, Codey Steele and Eric Masterson, for international powerhouse studio Marc Dorcel, under the direction of Kay Brandt.
“Being asked by Dorcel to direct this very special scene is a tremendous honor,” Brandt tells me after taking a short break from the endless logistical decisions involved in corralling 10 major porn stars and running them through stills, rehearsal, dialogue, blocking and, hours later, the main event.
“I love the Dorcel brand and the company and it is such a pleasure to work with them,” Brandt continues, before introducing me to “the Dorcel people,” a very French group of execs, producers, social media experts and BTS crew that are overseeing the shoot with the same care that mainstream Hollywood film backers display when visiting the creative team on set.
Brandt is particularly excited about having Gregory Dorcel involved as mastermind of the project. Gregory is the son, heir and main engine of Marc Dorcel, the Paris-based adult content empire started by his father, the legendary Marc Dorcel, back in the disco era.
This all-stops-pulled-out, big-star orgy extravaganza also serves as the 40th-anniversary celebration for the Dorcel studio. Back in 1979, before even the heyday of the VHS era, Marc Dorcel envisioned a sophisticated French porn operation that would take over from both the 1970s high-quality film eroticism of explicit studio Alpha France and medium-core sex fantasies like “Emmanuelle,” with a nod to the works of surreal horror pioneer Jean Rollin.
Right behind us, photographer Nigel Dictator, a hulking, ribald Viking with enough tattoos to fill a skin-art Louvre, shoots pinups of six top-tier performers wearing the height of French lingerie fashion. It is a rare sight to see a classic beauty like Avi Love — one of the leads — backdropped by the Julius Shulman-worthy combination of Southern California modernism and the panoramic vistas.
Brandt describes the production to me as “the perfect marriage between France and Los Angeles, kicked off by a glorious mega-orgy.”
“After months of working behind the scenes on this incredible project with Dorcel’s executives, we’re finally ready to make it a reality,” she gushes. This 10-person all-star orgy marks Dorcel’s first time hiring an all-American cast, crew and director and filming entirely in Los Angeles.
The hectic shoot, which will go deep into the night, is the culmination of discussions Brandt and Gregory Dorcel have had over the past couple of years. “We knew we wanted to collaborate on a project but it wasn’t until this past January that we decided to go forward with a feature,” Brandt explains. “Then the topic of Dorcel’s 40th anniversary came up and they offered me the opportunity to direct a special scene for the celebration, which happens in September, and I jumped at the chance.”
Dorcel executives were involved in every step of pre-production, requesting the crème de la crème of what the U.S.-based adult industry has to offer. “I pitched them an idea with Angela White in the lead role of the story and they loved it,” says Brandt. “From there, we built the cast, throwing ideas and suggestions back and forth until we came up with the players for the 10-person orgy.”
The plot (yes, there’s a plot) is based on “The Joy Club,” an original erotic story written by Brandt, who is equally renowned as both a pornographer and an erotica author. “It’s about a special, private membership club owned by Angela White, where sexual fantasies are explored, consensually and discreetly,” the director tells me. “Avi Love and Ryan Driller play a married couple seeking Angela’s expertise in making their own fantasies come true. Once they've been formally invited into the club, Angela slowly introduces the couple to the benefits of membership by arranging an intimate evening for a decadent orgy to take place.”
“It’s chaotic good!” says the ebullient Jane Wilde of the buzzing energy on set. Wilde, one of the most in-demand, driven starlets in the business, plays White’s assistant and protégé, helping the Joy Club’s owner induct naive young marrieds Driller and Love into what used to be quaintly called “certain ‘European’ customs.”
The youthful Wilde confesses she’s amazed to be part of the Marc Dorcel 40th-anniversary orgy along with so many amazing performers. “This is a unique scene that I never thought I would get to shoot,” Wilde tells me, vibrating with anticipation. “I’m glad I’m doing it for a company that exemplifies cosmopolitan class and elegance.”
The cast is “like a dream come true” for Brandt. “I mean, look at them! To watch these ladies is like witnessing pure magic. I’m taking in every second. Also, Dorcel is going all-out and we get to spend the day in the most beautiful location I’ve ever filmed an adult movie in.”
While the girls get turned into gorgeous pinups by Dictator, Ryan Driller and Seth Gamble glance at the beauties they will be pleasuring in a few hours.
“I love the story building into the scene,” Driller tells me, “with the exploration that Avi and I are seeking, with the help of Angela … makes this a much more enjoyable orgy scenario than just ‘show up and join the cluster.’ Kay really connects you into the orgy with these characters.”
Driller has the lead and is groomed and costumed to French fashion standards. Gamble, who’s won awards for his multifaceted talents, just like Driller, teases him.
“Ryan is the man, look at him, all handsome,” he says.
“I’m Old Hollywood handsome,” retorts Driller. “Seth has a more boyish charm.”
Everyone laughs. “Old Hollywood! Look at Cary Grant over there,” a crew member fires at Driller, who blushes at the attention.
Through the banter, Angela White — impeccably disarming and cool — is rehearsing her seduction (a.k.a., consensual corruption) of the stunning Avi Love. Their unavoidable chemistry would be enough for a killer scene by itself, but here it’s just the appetizer.
Eventually, the clock keeps ticking and it’s time to tackle the reason everyone is here. Turns out, no big surprise, that shooting an orgy is no simple task.
First, the lingerie beauties need to be rounded up. Whitney Wright is Instagramming and Snapchatting everything (literally, everything). It’s the week when Snapchat has unveiled the gender-swapping and babyface filters, and Wright — the bringer of Aubrey Plaza-style surreal, deadpan humor — is capturing strangely mutated portraits of cast, crew and even reporters.
“Where’s my Red Bull?” demands a mock-bratty Wilde. “I need Red Bull if we’re gonna do this.” India Summer is nowhere to be found, but right on cue she emerges from an unknown room (the house is huge) ready to start shooting. Britney Amber chats warmly with everyone and offers treats from the lavish snack table. “Shrimp and cookies!” she tells the group with delight.
David Lord, the ace cinematographer who lenses many of Brandt’s projects, is in charge of one of the most difficult jobs of the day: choreographing the orgy.
“All right, gang,” he tells the cast after everyone has been shushed and they are all assembled. “We’re gonna do this Mike Quasar-style,” he says, name-checking the industry director known for his efficiency and prodigious output.
“We’re gonna have two groups and then we’ll break it up, do some stills and do the second half switching the groups. Be mindful of everyone else. Stay together, stay close. Now, this is very important — porn viewers don’t like male butt. The camera is here, so while you’re in the middle of it, be aware that we don’t want too much male butt, so position you and your partner accordingly.”
Everyone laughs.
“OK — you guys in this section will play together for 30 minutes. We’ll tell you when it’s time to switch. Now, volume — we don’t want everyone to be too loud. You can’t hear anything if that happens. If top screaming is a 10, we try to keep the sound at a 7 for everyone. And, of course, don’t start at a 7! Work up to it.”
“All right,” says Lord, sounding exactly like a general instructing troops before a crucial battle, with Brandt behind him smiling bemusedly. “We’ll bang this up — it will be rock ’n’ roll!”
The orgy goes (more or less) as planned. The monitor gets disconnected at some point. Cramps force some of the talent to sneak in and out. The volume issue is definitely a thing. At some point, Britney Amber seems to completely forget where she is and starts screaming, “You’re gonna make me me cum!” like she’s trying to wake up the neighbors.
Kay tries to get her attention with frantic “Tone it down” hand gestures, but the irrepressible blonde is off to the races.
“Britney!” Brandt finally yells, with the crew and the Dorcel team chuckling. The sound will have to be fixed in post.
Amber takes the directorial note and goes back to a post-orgasmic 7/10.
When all is said and everyone’s done — and Avi Love has taken the facials that induct her, officially, into the Dorcel Joy Club — everyone claps.
“First times are always special,” Brandt reflects a few days later. “For me, this is the first time directing for a European company, so, in that way, it’s totally new and different. It’s similar because I’m working with my same crew and an all-American cast. Dorcel’s production process and my own are very similar, and it’s been exciting seeing this scene come together.
“My vision is to blend my style of erotic storytelling with Dorcel’s very sexy, chic, elegant look and feel,” she notes, “and create a tantalizing and sophisticated feast of flesh for them.”
