As XBIZ surveyed the production landscape for this month’s special report, a pervasive wariness was detectable among indie and large studio producers alike. Even as the industry continues to emerge and rebound from pandemic lockdowns, directors, producers and execs still have yet to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Yet from Las Vegas to Barcelona, London to Los Angeles, those going about the business of adult production also share a clear sense of optimism and a feeling of anticipatory excitement. Chalk it up to the forced pause-and-reset of the past 2 1/2 years. Standard production schedules, backup plans — and backup plans for the backup plans — were shredded. Everyone was forced to pivot to new ideas and fresh concepts.
At the same time, however, the industry also reaffirmed long-held tenets. Having to rethink so many aspects of the business sparked overdue conversations about the efficacy of industry practices regarding consent, performer health and safety, and mental and emotional well-being. The need to look out for performers as well as production crews took on a reinvigorated sense of immediacy.
Industry players gathered various lessons from this period of unpredictability, and deployed various strategies to deal with it.
“Even in hard times we managed to provide our audience with quality entertainment,” said Erika Lust. “Acquiring new protocols has helped us to be more responsible when it comes to the health and medical situation of the performers. It is essential to take care of their condition before shooting a movie.”
According to Nubiles affiliate manager Belinda, her company became aware of a need among its members for “comfort food,” so to speak, and decided the best way to address this need would be to “bring the star power.” The Nubiles team scanned comments on the company’s forums to gauge who needed to be a part of its production schedule, and soon lined up heavy hitters from Lexi Luna, Bridgette B and Cory Chase to Natasha Nice, Jessica White and Katie Morgan for their own network spotlights.
The challenges of the past several years seem to have accelerated the pace of fundamental changes to adult production. Veteran director Jules Jordan praised performers’ hardiness in the face of such rapid shifts.
“The talent pool has been amazing this year, and the crossover from content creator to film starlet has been pretty remarkable,” he said. “All of the creator platforms are making it even more ‘mainstream’ for talent to open up their comfort level as sex workers.”
Here’s a snapshot of where things stand today, and of what we might expect as the industry gets its groove back.
SLOWLY REGAINING MOMENTUM
During the pandemic, Dick Bush instituted rigorous health and safety protocols, which still remain in place with production teams for Digital Playground and Brazzers. Everyone from crew to performers is still required to undergo a COVID test on the day of production, and each morning starts with a production meeting that includes a detailed consent form itemizing each model’s do’s and don’ts.
“Our models are deeply involved in this meeting and we let them know they are completely in control of the day,” Bush said. “We’ve found communication is key and having every member of the crew knowing what each model finds acceptable adds to a very safe working environment.”
That environment, he noted, includes a talent coordinator on set at all times, who makes sure the models are looked after and have everything they need. COVID prevention is now simply another part of the company’s regular routine, and it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, some in the industry have identified the rapid rise of monkeypox as a pressing health concern.
“As COVID seems to be dwindling in the industry, monkeypox is definitely something I’m monitoring,” said Jules Jordan. “Screening of talent seems to be very important for this new issue.”
Independent producer Ariel X of EvolvedFights and EvolvedFightsLez, who shoots content centered around wrestling, noted that COVID “really changed the landscape.”
“I came from a background of fighting against condom bills because our industry testing was so reliable, but moved to ‘err on the side of caution’ when it came to COVID,” Ariel said. “I had to be very creative to keep up with consumer demand while everything was shut down — without guidance — during the pandemic’s infancy.”
Like other producers, Ariel purchased content from couples who were quarantining together, and still largely shoots only models who request to work together. Quickly pivoting to a lean production machine proved to be a bracing challenge.
“The only people on set would be the performers and myself — the director, videographer, gaffer. Basically all hats,” Ariel recalled.
Jeremy Babcock, CCO for Alpha Studio Group, reported that the studios he oversees, which include Next Door Studios, were shut down completely for more than four months, wiping out dozens of planned shoots. The studio has only just begun to regain its pre-COVID momentum.
San Diego-based Next Door began requiring performers to test one week before a shoot and then again within the 48 hours prior to stepping onto the set. Those rules still stand.
“Sometimes we’ll even do a rapid test on the day of the shoot,” Babcock said, noting that the strict protocol led to some difficult months. “August of 2020 was one of the terrible ones. And then January of 2021, when another wave came through. That was the last really bad month.”
During such months, over half of Next Door’s talent pool might test positive for COVID. It became a real battle just to get content shot.
“We needed tons of content because we had basically gone down to zero,” he said. “At first, we would only shoot California models who could just drive over to us, so no airline travel was involved. We just tried to adapt and learn as we went along.”
When restrictions began to be lifted, Next Door began to shoot as much as possible and developed backup plans for its backup plans.
“We had to dig deep,” Babcock said. “We generally have a replacement model or two for every shoot, waiting at home, and even then we might end up burning through them too. We cast a wide net and ask, ‘Who is tested and in the area who could drive over if we need them and save the scene?’”
This led to a lot of content planning getting thrown out the window over the past two years.
“Scripts change, pairings change — a lot more than usual right now,” Babcock said. “You have to be really, really, really flexible in order to not lose content. It can get crazy expensive with the price of travel right now. And with last-minute flights and rapid tests that can cost up to $300, it adds up.”
Erika Lust’s Barcelona-based Erika Lust Films has built a brand-new safety protocol based on European Film Commission guidelines, and has adapted it to the nature of its productions.
After the Spanish government began to ease pandemic restrictions and businesses began to enact the first phase of a reopening plan, Lust and her team created a comprehensive guide of best practices to safeguard talent and crew on set, based on local legislation as well as official recommendations by government agencies and health authorities around the world.
“At first, we focused on selecting local cast and crew to avoid travel across regions or countries,” Lust said. “We then gradually returned to selecting cast from abroad as the situation calmed down.”
By being transparent about health procedures, her company has created a safe environment on set, where performers can feel confident that their safety is a priority.
Co-founded by Bree Mills, Disruptive Films launched during the COVID lockdown and the ongoing reopening process for adult. Jessica Jasmin has since assumed the day-to-day responsibilities of running the nascent brand.
“COVID is not what it used to be, but that doesn’t mean we’ve become less vigilant,” Jasmin said. “By continuing testing protocols, we keep the risk of infection as low as possible. We’re also focused on keeping our models safe in light of the recent monkeypox outbreaks.”
Disruptive conducts on-set visual inspections for symptoms of monkeypox. Jasmin also lauded the efforts of Pride Studios director Gio Caruso, who became the first industry figure to take preventative measures against the virus by arranging for over 40 models in South Florida to receive the monkeypox vaccine.
Another priority for Disruptive is consent, which Jasmin emphasized is of “the utmost importance,” especially considering the ever-increasing market for taboo and fetish stories.
“We are looking for chemistry, something that is still going to stimulate you somewhere without crossing the line,” she added. “I think Disruptive reaches so many people because we approach taboo in a different way. Watching Disruptive is like watching a movie where character matters and characters’ backgrounds do too.”
With a focus on craft, Jasmin said, Disruptive hires models who enjoy developing a character and having the opportunity to add to the storyline. She echoed the sentiments of many of her colleagues in noting that fans crave rich and specific storylines.
Acknowledging the heavy psychic load of the past two-plus years, Jasmin discussed how Disruptive attends to the overall health of performers and crew.
“Their mental health is imperative, too,” she stated. “Our mission is to support our performers in any way we can.”
To ensure the talent feels comfortable on set, Disruptive’s pre-shoot prep includes a three-step consent process which covers disclosing scene partners and the full script, “scenario and sexual act consent” and “group discussions of consent to keep boundaries respected by all stakeholders.” Performers and crew are then brought up to speed on set so everyone understands what acts are permitted and what acts are a hard “no.”
Jasmin noted that “mood and tone” are paramount when balancing storylines that feature taboo elements with real-world concerns about mental well-being.
“Our creative team roots our storylines in realistic scenarios,” said Jasmin. “Whether it’s something we experienced or heard from a friend, we want to tell authentic stories with a twist. But there’s a responsibility that comes with telling taboo stories, and at Disruptive Films, we take that seriously.”
She highlighted a crucial step in the company’s production process: a post-shoot follow-up with all performers to verify that everything went well and that boundaries were respected.
Lust cited the growing importance of utilizing an intimacy coordinator — a growing profession in Hollywood, but still a niche almost everywhere else, especially in Europe, and even more so on adult film sets.
While her studio has always required talent minders on set to take care of performers throughout the shoot, Lust sees the need for more.
“Given the nature of our shoots, it’s essential to have someone on set whose sole role is to constantly check in with performers and ensure they affirmatively consent to the key shots the director wishes them to do,” said Lust. “The intimacy coordinator works alongside the director in managing the sex scenes and conversations around sexual intimacy, boundaries, sexual health, protections and so on.”
In Lust’s view, intimacy coordinators and talent managers are essential in that they are in charge of different aspects of performers’ on-set well-being and safety. Talent managers take care of practical matters such as checking call times, managing transportation and seeing if performers need food, water or anything else. The intimacy coordinator, meanwhile, ensures that performers feel safe enough to explore their sexuality — alone or with one another — in a comfortable and relaxed way, and provides them with mental and sexual health support if needed.
Lust noted that every person filling this position goes through an approval process to ensure they are someone the performers trust.
Legrand Wolf of Carnal Media echoed his colleagues’ views on doubling down when it comes to monitoring both the physical and mental health of performers.
“When people come to shoot with us, it’s a very special, intimate setting,” he said. “People come to our Carnal Media headquarters, stay in my house, eat catered, homemade meals together, sleep under the same roof, laugh a lot and get excited for the production.”
He noted that the process has been nicknamed “sex summer camp.”
“While we strive to make sure everyone is having fun, the work is always taken seriously by the crew and talent,” he added. “For many individuals, adult film work is their primary source of income and they take great pride in the work they do. Everyone from the production assistant to the models to the director wants to feel good about their part.”
To ensure that, Wolf explained, every shoot “starts with consent. Not just the concept of it, but the active engagement of it.” There is also no drinking or drug use allowed on set in order to ensure all participants are clear-headed and capable of giving informed consent, and that their partners are capable of receiving it. Wolf’s production team continues to follow a strict COVID safety protocol to limit the risk of exposure, in addition to its standard battery of STI testing. Wolf sees that as even more important now that monkeypox has come to public notice, with gay and bisexual men disproportionately becoming infected.
“It’s all become part of the routine booking process,” he said. “Our goal when people arrive on set is simple: don’t worry about anything other than having a sexy, good time and making great content. I’m very proud of my crew and the culture we’ve established.”
LOOKING AHEAD BY LOOKING BACK
For some companies, COVID, its aftermath and other recent factors have also impacted creative focus. At Nubiles, according to affiliate manager Belinda, the current direction of its production unit can be summed up succinctly in one word: “MILFs.”
Belinda recalled how A-listers like Jenna Jameson led the MILF charge in the early 2000s. “Then Lisa Ann made the genre a proper thing — and a label — in 2005,” she said.
As source material for erotic fantasy, mature and sexually confident women have proven “a huge draw.” The genre has continued to grow exponentially year after year, prompting Nubiles to launch MomLover.com, an entirely new network dedicated to MILFs.
“Our members can’t get enough of MILF content,” Belinda said. “Obviously, the formula of ‘hot moms,’ star power and emerging MILF talent is working, so we’re going to keep making more content along these lines. Yes, other studios are doing similar types of content, but not to the degree we are.”
Nubiles is keeping a close eye on market and industry trends, particularly within the MILF genre, and has honed its production unit to be able to pivot quickly as needed, Belinda noted. She also revealed that in recent months, the studio has even begun looking into the psychology behind MILF adult content, investigating why members are drawn to the genre and how to keep them engaged.
She added that Nubiles hired new script writers to “keep our game fresh and come up with storylines that will make our members anxiously wait for the next scene on all the sites in the network.”
In addition to hiring both top MILF talent and newcomers to the genre, Nubiles has begun actively seeking out performers who started out in adult in their late teens and early 20s but who have now “come into their own as MILFs.”
While Nubiles is pivoting to MILF content and exploring the psychological underpinnings of the genre to set itself apart, Adult Time Marketing Director Frank Stacy noted that the streaming service has similarly begun digging into an array of new and different concepts, leading it to release a series of new pilot episodes.
The two most popular — “By far!” noted Stacy — turned out to be “Accidental Gangbang” and “FreeUse Industries.” Both feature large casts and scenes of multiple people engaging in “somewhat public” sex acts. In fact, over the past year, Adult Time has identified a resurgence in the popularity of group sex.
“I believe there are many reasons for this,” said Stacy. “First, after months of being locked away and socially distancing during the COVID pandemic, some folks are hungry for social gathering and group activities. Second, the on-set restrictions in the last two years made this type of content offering scarce. Lastly, at a time when self-distribution platforms and amateur content are omnipresent, large-group sex is still something that big studio sites can uniquely offer.”
Over the coming months, Adult Time will be releasing monthly “Accidental Gangbang” episodes that begin with a small number of people who are slowly joined by more and more participants, as well as a “reverse-gangbang, all-MILF pilot” and various takes on the freewheeling anytime-anywhere “free use” concept, which involves implicit consent.
An additional concept Adult Time has begun exploring is “cross-viewership” as the company ramps up its gay programming.
“While we did get our feet wet with producing gay scenes in the last few months — primarily through our all-inclusive new studio, Modern-Day Sins — and we do have a few partner channels available on our site, what we have planned for the upcoming months is a lot more ambitious,” Stacy revealed.
One gay Modern-Day Sins episode will be released each month alongside a new series, “Jerk Buddies,” centered on straight guys masturbating together — “the most straight activity there is!” said Stacy — and “Daddy’s Boy,” a guy-on-guy version of its fan-favorite “Mommy’s Girl” MILF role-play series.
Adult Time plans to keep experimenting with new series pilot concepts.
“Gamma Entertainment is proud to have a very big portfolio of gay sites we manage, including some huge names such as Next Door Studios and Falcon Studios,” Stacy said. “With our roster of sites, we have a very strong finger on the pulse of the gay market, which will help us create content that will hopefully appeal to new and longtime consumers.”
When it comes to various sexual preferences, Adult Time sees greater open-mindedness among porn fans in 2022.
“With adult content being so widely available, and mainstream entertainment being so progressive in Western culture, people are not confined into silos anymore,” Stacy shared. “Adding gay content as part of our offerings on Adult Time will most likely encourage cross-viewership and bring an added value to existing members, many of whom are showing more and more curiosity towards M/M/F bisexual threesomes and trans content. I expect to see more and more gender-bending trends in the upcoming years, and an increase in straight viewers occasionally enjoying gay porn and vice versa.”
Veteran director Mike Quasar has learned to embrace — albeit with some initial, grumpy reluctance — another recent trend.
“You’ve seen the GIFs and the banners all over the tube sites where in a span of about 14 seconds, the highlights of an entire scene play out. You may also have noticed that the moments featured in those 14 seconds are usually over-the-top and completely ridiculous. This is by design,” Quasar noted.
Call it the “Home Alone Face,” or more recently the “Brazzers Face” — an over-the-top display of faux shock and dismay by one or more participants in the erotic shenanigans on display.
“Every talent, male and female, knows exactly what I mean when I instruct them to do this,” Quasar said. “But the more interesting the ad, the more clicks it gets and the more opportunity to convert to a paying customer.”
With three decades in adult, Quasar has seen many trends come and go. At one time, plotlines were often determined by sales reports from adult bookstores and the success or failure of a particular movie was often determined by “the ability of a salesperson to get their customer drunk enough to order X amount of pieces at a discount based on volume,” Quasar drily observed.
“Everything changed almost overnight,” he said. “Initially, I was very hesitant to shoot ads; I saw it as a threat to my independence as a director. But as I began to see the reality of where the business was now and the strategies employed to convert traffic to dollars, I realized I was clinging too hard to how things used to be.”
Quasar is on the front lines of production trends and has taken note of “a fascinating ecosystem in the business now where everything feeds everything else in some way.” A successful ad drives traffic to a site and raises the profile of the talent featured in the ad, which in turn enables them to make more money on their fan site platforms — and ultimately, keep jobbing directors like Quasar gainfully employed.
“The hierarchy of the porn food chain has changed dramatically, but I’m grateful, after 30 years behind the camera, that I still have a place in it,” he said.
Jules Jordan described the current state of production as quickly evolving into “a DIY type of situation.” He and his creative team have become more comfortable collaborating with models — particularly those outside of the traditional industry — and hope to break what he described as an industry stigma against content creators. Collaborating with indie creators, whether as a performer or producer, also allows Jordan to create the “amateur” style currently popular on fan sites and break out of a regular production cycle.
“It’s kind of fun to be able to shoot content with iPhones,” he said. “The image processing on these devices is incredible.”
“We’ve been pretty content shooting in 4K for the past few years; it doesn’t seem that consumers are hunting for much higher resolution, and in fact we are still selling DVDs every day,” Jordan noted. “Of course, we are always on the lookout for new tech, to make the users’ viewing experience even more satisfying.”
Dick Bush noted that the rapturous response to Digital Playground’s recent feature, “Deeper Space” — a sci-fi extravaganza laden with special-effects makeup and computer-generated effects — reinforced the company’s efforts to continue amping up production values to provide a more impressive visual feast.
“I think viewers are always happy to see a lot of effort being put into productions,” he observed.
From a tech standpoint, Bush praised the “incredible versatility” of the RED digital camera, but going forward Digital Playground will be revisiting tried-and-true techniques, such as capturing certain angles during a sex scene with a camera on a small jib crane, and classic dolly tracking shots.
“For the shoots I do with individual models for their OnlyFans, I use my personal Blackmagic Pocket 4K camera,” he said. “It’s still incredible that I can shoot raw on that and edit those raw files directly on Premiere Pro. Everything is so quick! And with my schedule, I need to get things done and ready as soon as possible.”
The versatility of their equipment allows Digital Playground and Brazzers crews to innovate with their locations, and Bush is eager to continue exploring the possibilities.
“We recently shot a movie in Spain for Digital Playground. We had an incredible location and managed to use every single bit of it to make it seem like we were on a desert island,” he recalled.
The confluence of nimble technology and a desire to reinterpret the visual language of adult filmmaking has Bush excited for what’s around the corner. He firmly believes that sense of exploration carries through to the final product.
“I feel privileged to be working with Danny D’s production company,” he said. “The crew we have is like a family and every project feels like a collaboration, not only between the crew but the models, too. When everyone is enjoying themselves on set, I think that comes across on screen.”
Like Jules Jordan, Dick Bush and Danny D, Ricky Greenwood and his production team have been pushing themselves to explore the visual possibilities for adult production with a mix of current and new equipment, including the RED Komodo digital camera.
Greenwood employed an array of visual techniques to create a more intense, immediate feel for his recent Adult Time feature, “Grinders,” set in Southern California’s skater culture, and he has continued to expand his bag of production tricks. He is currently enamored with the possibilities of camera-mounted drones, beyond just landscape shots.
“I just got a new drone,” he revealed with no small amount of delight. “My producer, David Lord, still talks about how you’d have to rent a helicopter back in the day to get those kinds of shots. But I think we can open up the visual look of a regular scene with the drone. We can bring it down low and move it around the locations in new ways. We’re trying that now.”
He recalled that using cameras like the RED Komodo initially caused problems because it was a Hollywood-style camera and not “porn-friendly.”
“Now, today, we are trying to hack them so it can be more adaptable to our type of shooting,” he said. “We are always attaching new gears to them and trying new lenses. I don’t want to make it so heavy that I need a focus-puller. We want to keep it the same user-friendly, one-man operation for mobility, but with a new cinematic quality adapted for our own needs.”
Greenwood has absorbed feedback from adult fans about his now-famous predilection for having his camera pull in for tight, close shots. “I don’t give you a lot of wide shots,” he said. “I don’t want you to be able to look around at other things. I want to force you to look at what I want you to look at.”
He favors this technique as a way to give the viewer an almost immersive experience and more value for their money, and intends to continue turning these camera techniques inside-out. Market research by the companies that employ Greenwood clearly shows that fans hunger for more intimacy with the models they admire — a desire stoked, no doubt, by the very personalized experience of camming, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic.
Greenwood has also noted an increasing preference among consumers for vignette-style storytelling with high production values, and looks forward to discovering its inherent possibilities. It’s not a new concept, of course, but the pandemic has prompted producers and directors to re-examine what has worked in the past and add a modern twist.
Vignette-style storytelling, Greenwood explained, allows him to craft recurring characters and scenarios with just enough spice to hook an audience and allow them to either binge or come and go as they please.
“If the audience doesn’t like one story or scene, they can move on to the next one without thinking they’re missing something important,” the director said. “I like features and telling one long story, but if your audience doesn’t get into it, they’re not going to stick around for another four or five scenes. They’re going to keep moving. I can see more of this kind of storytelling happening in the near future.”
Greenwood also reflected on how the COVID lockdowns and the industry’s step-by-step re-emergence unexpectedly created a new sense of creative freedom.
“Now is the time to explore things,” he said.
Our survey of the state of production should make one thing explicitly clear: the adult community is nimble, forward-thinking and can pivot like an Olympic skater. Time and again, adult has demonstrated its ability to roll with the punches and this hardiness has never been more apparent than in the closing months of 2022.
For example, when XBIZ initiated this special report, monkeypox had not yet inspired significant concern — but once a threat was perceived, industry advocates sprang into action, determined not to allow the talent pool to be caught without guidance or support.
If our survey is to be any guide, adult industry producers, directors and execs are finding their way forward by revisiting what has worked for them before. This is not about retreat, however; the COVID reset of 2020 seems to have opened up the landscape to make room for new twists on protocols and production techniques that proved effective in the past.
This month’s collection of anecdotes and advice from the far-flung corners of adult entertainment should serve as a guide for where this road is leading. There are challenging times ahead, but the future is still very, very sexy.
