If you produce adult content, then you know distribution channels for your work are limited — if not in number, then certainly in variety. Restrictions on when, where and how sexually explicit content can be displayed, disseminated and sold present a lot of hoops to jump through, when they permit it at all. Over the last few years, though, I’ve had success finding mainstream distribution for two of my films, and footage originally shot for Sssh.com has been used in a number of Netflix shows.
Along the way, I’ve learned a lot about what mainstream platforms and distribution channels expect and require. Much of this was learned on the fly, the hard way — in other words, by trial and error. I’m hoping that by passing along some of what I learned here, I can spare other directors and content creators a few headaches, should they choose to create content for similar mainstream platforms.
I put a lot of work and energy into making my films and I want them to reach as large an audience as possible.
Unfortunately, just as every film is different, the precise challenges you’ll face as you submit content to mainstream platforms will vary, not only from platform to platform, but even from one submission to the next. That’s why my goal here is to “spare you a few headaches” and not something loftier; I can’t possibly anticipate every manner of stumbling block you might run up against.
That said, what follows is a list of common considerations you’ll need to be mindful of as you set out to create SFW erotic content for potential distribution through mainstream platforms.
Your Movie Needs to be a Movie
While mainstream platforms like Netflix and Amazon do allow nudity and simulated sex, obviously they don’t carry “hardcore” porn. A less obvious point is that they don’t want movies which are primarily vehicles for simulated sex (or heavily edited actual sex).
Your film needs to have elements like a story, plot and character development — things that we don’t see much of in “gonzo” porn or other kinds of titles that offer wall-to-wall sex. So, don’t look at these platforms as a place to distribute heavily edited versions of your existing hardcore library; think of them as a potential place for your feature content and story-driven movies.
Art and Graphic Assets
One of the trickiest aspects of complying with the requirements of the mainstream platforms our team has worked with was providing all the necessary art and graphics.
The precise specs will vary for each platform, but you can save yourself some time on the front end by thinking ahead about the need for things like box covers and other promotional images to be rendered at a variety of sizes. You also need to be aware that some platforms, like Amazon, will not allow stretched or narrowed images, so separate art is required for each different aspect ratio — 16:9, 4:3, 3:4 and so on.
This is an ‘Iterative Process’
For some platforms, you will only know whether you’ve submitted something problematic after the fact. And while the customer support offered by the platforms is generally quite good, every time you fix an error and re-submit, you’re essentially restarting the review period. So, in addition to everything else you’ll need as you go through the submission process, a healthy supply of patience and persistence is good to have on hand, too.
Working With Producers vs. Platforms
In contrast to the often-frustrating process of submitting a form, waiting for feedback, fixing problems and resubmitting the form, working with producers has been very straightforward. Both the Netflix series producers and major film studios we’ve worked with (I can’t say which until after the film/show has been released) simply provided us with detailed specifications and we created or provided footage accordingly.
Closed-Captioning Requirements
Providing a file which satisfied the platforms’ closed-captioning requirements was one of the biggest (and least anticipated) challenges we faced in submitting to mainstream platforms.
The entire script of the film had to be written out, formatted and put into an .srt file. It also had to be matched up very precisely with the on-screen dialogue and timed to begin at the very start of the film, not just matched up with the beginning of audible dialogue.
Of all the places where we spent more time than expected in this process, getting the closed captioning elements into compliance was one of the more cumbersome, simple as it may sound on its face.
Visual/Audio Encoding and Other Considerations
For the most recent of my films submitted to a mainstream platform, the movie was finished in Rec. 709, the standard for television. For web distribution, the color space was then changed to sRGB, the standard for computer monitors. And as HDR computer screens and televisions become more common, stepping things up to BT.2020 color space is right around the corner.
For this film, video was shot at 5K and 6K resolution on RED Digital Cinema cameras and the movie was mastered in 4K at a 16x9 aspect ratio. It was then uploaded to the streaming platform in HD resolution (1920x1080) using ProRes 422 HQ.
Shooting the film in 16- and 12-bit raw enabled us to keep a high-quality production all the way through to rendering and uploading in ProRes 422 HQ. We like to upload at the highest possible quality (ProRes instead of .MP4) if the platform in question tends to render into its own codec, which Netflix, Amazon and many others do.
Audio for the film was stereo right and left, and uploaded with the video at PCM 48 kHz. Video editing was done in Premiere Pro while audio editing was done in Adobe Audition, iZotope RX. Visual effects were rendered with After Effects, Mocha Pro and Photoshop. The film was graded in DaVinci Resolve.
Truthfully, I’ve just scratched the surface of everything that’s involved in submitting a film for distribution on a mainstream platform. As I mentioned earlier, the process varies a lot depending on the platform and some bumps in the road may be unique to the film you’ve made. Hopefully, I’ve at least given you an idea of what you’re up against.
If this all sounds like a pain in the butt that has you wondering “Why bother?” — my answer as a filmmaker is straightforward: I put a lot of work and energy into making my films and I want them to reach as large an audience as possible. So, even if they can be a bit difficult to work with, mainstream platforms have user bases that number in the tens of millions — many of whom don’t surf porn sites, making services like Amazon and Netflix my best bet for reaching them.
