It was suggested that I start this thread so i figured why not.
My name is Mike South and I have been shooting adult since the days of VHS, I started in 1992 and I have won many awards for my work including a few of our industry’s version of an Oscar, the AVN Award.
I have been writing an eponymous blog about the industry since 2000
I personally know pretty much everyone in the biz, as do most who have been in it for 20+ years. I live and shoot in Atlanta, Georgia
I am a published photographer and writer on both adult and non adult topics and publications.
Ok thats my mini bio without doing any shameless whoring.
I will answer all questions here, should be fun…have at it.
What are the criteria for an AVN award? Like, what distinguishes great porn from good porn from shitty porn? (I’m sure we all have our own answers to this but I’m interested to know what the industry standards are.)
What’s the most popular type of porn that you produce?
How has the industry changed in the 20 years since you got started?
I’m definitely going to think of more, but those are a start.
When people work at a coffee place, they get to the point where they have little to no interest in coffee during work hours. When people have been working on porno shoots for a while, does it feel like that during a shoot?
Do you recruit most actresses from strippers eager to increase their stripping earnings? How does the “do you want to do porn?” conversation go about?
And of course, any funny/interesting anecdotes will be more than welcome.
What are the criteria for an AVN award? Like, what distinguishes great porn from good porn from shitty porn? (I’m sure we all have our own answers to this but I’m interested to know what the industry standards are.)
OK AVN says it has to have been released between Oct 1st and sept 30 of a given year ( the 2012 avn awards cover oct 1 2011 - sept 30, 2012)
If you ask people in the industry the main criteria is that you spend money on advertising with AVN, the more you spend the better your odds…History does kind of bear that out but I have LOTS of nominations and a few wins and I did very little advertising.
The reviewers at AVN determine who makes the nominations list and ultimately who wins.
What’s the most popular type of porn that you produce?
Hands down my bukkake site followed by a plain old vanilla amateur site. The reason the bukkake does well is because it is a niche that isn’t overly exploited and its difficult to find a lot that type of content for free. That’s why in the adult webmaster world we coined the phrase there’s riches in niches.
How has the industry changed in the 20 years since you got started?
Wow that ones long I could write a book. In short the industry has become less innovative in terms of content delivery and marketing. The industry has become more and more misogynistic and more of a freak show. I know that sounds strange coming from a guy with a bukkake site but what I mean to say is that performer safety is at an all time low despite our testing protocols, choking, anal to mouth sex things like that we would never have done in 1992 (nor will I do them now) but now days violence and unsafe practices are ubiquitous in Porn Vally (The San Fernando Valley where most porn is produced.)
I’m definitely going to think of more, but those are a start.
That is surprising. I thought the entire pro US industry was in the San Fernando Valley. Is your location better or worse for casting?
Do you go back to the days before Viagra? Has it been a positive or negative?
Personally, I’m annoyed by the fact that every guy masturbates to finish. The woman in the scene should get the guy(s) off. If I want to see a man jerking off, all I have to do is look down.
Every shoot is different really I have been a performer as well as behind the camera and even after 20 years sometimes it is indescribably hot, there seems to be an element of chemistry involved. In mainstream porn 90% of the time it’s just going through the motions, what we in the biz call 3 Ps and a pop ie three positions and a pop shot. I shoot almost exclusively first timers and there is a big difference because the girl is usually very excited, nervous…It’s a lot like riding that roller coaster up the first big hill…you are scared but in a good way. I interview the girls who shoot for me very carefully I try to be responsible in that I won’t shoot a girl who is doing it out of desperation, coercion, addiction etc. I don’t want her coming back to me a week later begging me to take it down.
I do get a lot of strippers but easily half the girls I shoot aren’t strippers and very few are “escorts” most are just normal girls looking to make some extra money and have a unique experience, I find that in many ways it validates that they are pretty and that is the main motivation. At first I started by recruiting strippers but these days almost all of the girls I shoot come to me either from referrals from girls I have shot or someone else who knows me and what I do here in Atlanta.
I could write a book of nothing but interviews but my first question is always how old are you? The second question after some idle chit chat is why does a nice girl like you want to do something like this…her reaction and answer to that question will be the single biggest factor in whether or not I shoot her. My best answer came from a 19 year old girl who was wearing expensive designer clothes, Tiffany jewelry and drove a Mercedes convertible…She clearly wasn’t doing it for the money…it isn’t that much believe me.
Her answer… “Because I’m a freak”
She never even cashed the checks I gave her and she started hanging out at all the shoots because to her it was fun…I even taught her camerawork and basic photography.
That depends on many things, a penthouse pet for example brings something to the table… a fan base so she is worth more to me, but generally speaking 500-1K per scene is about right scenes take less than 2 hrs start to finish. Girls in Porn Valley can make a bit more and will shoot a lot more but most of the girls I shoot aren’t doing it just for the money, if they were they wouldn’t get past my screening most likely.
How much do male performer’s make?
In straight porn not much…200 per scene is about average. At one time when porn was flourishing some male actors got 1k or more but those days are long gone now.
How long does it take to do a scene?
a simple BJ scene 20 mins, a bukkake an hour, a boy girl scene 90 mins. On a feature set you can be on set for 14-16 hrs
What are your production costs for a scene? that varies widely assuming you leave out the capital expenditures for equipment you have the girl, a makeup artist, a cameraman and a still photographer and the guy, generally speaking so you are looking at about 2K or so per scene.
How much different are salaries now compared to 20 years ago?
for the performers they are about double now
Is there a future for mainstream porno production or is it all amateur in the future?
There will always be a market for both. It got saturated but recently there has been a shakeout, a bubble burst if you will and I think the survivors will be profitable on both ends.
That is surprising. I thought the entire pro US industry was in the San Fernando Valley. Is your location better or worse for casting?
In LA I can choose from any number of casting agencies…here in Atlanta I can’t but the advatage to that is I shoot girls that nobody else can touch because they dont want to go to LA and be pornstars, they want to do it for fun and a little money thats it, so that what sets me apart from almost everyone else who mostly shoot the same girls in L.A>
Do you go back to the days before Viagra? Has it been a positive or negative?
I go back to pre Viagra for sure when it came about I always maintained that if you need viagra to work in this biz you need to find another job. I dont allow it or any other drug on my sets. In my opinion it has been negative for that reason.
Personally, I’m annoyed by the fact that every guy masturbates to finish. The woman in the scene should get the guy(s) off. If I want to see a man jerking off, all I have to do is look down.
I hear that a lot and I understand the sentiment on the other hand I find it much easier for certain niches like facials…inevitably the girl will cause him to miss if she does I end up with a scene that the guys who like my niche will hate. The real key is in the editing…keep it hot, usually brief and follow the action. It also helps because it minimizes the time it takes him to deliver the money shot.
On the other hand the few females that I do have as members seem to like it, particularly if it builds in anticipation.
Ever had an angry dad, boyfriend or husband come after you or threaten you with legal action?
Do you think the girls are actually doing the same kind of stuff behind closed doors in their personal lives as they are on camera, or is it pretty vanilla at home, and freaky at work?
Are you a film school grad / have any formal training, or did you start out as a perv with a camcorder and go from there?
We know the censorship-related reasons for bukkake’s invention but why do you think it’s become popular as a porn genre outside Japan?
You mentioned that women who like porn tend to like it down and dirty; what do the female audience members particularly like about that genre, more specifically than it being down and dirty?
Do the actresses know before applying what your specialty is? You mention the reason why they apply and I can see how bukkake would attract someone looking to have a unique experience and validate that they’re pretty. What do they feel about it during and after the shoot?
Ever had an angry dad, boyfriend or husband come after you or threaten you with legal action?
Do you think the girls are actually doing the same kind of stuff behind closed doors in their personal lives as they are on camera, or is it pretty vanilla at home, and freaky at work?
Are you a film school grad / have any formal training, or did you start out as a perv with a camcorder and go from there?
Never had an angry spouse, boyfriend, dad or other threaten me in any way (knocking on wood) oddly I have become friends with many of them…I was best man at the wedding of a girl I shot years ago, her boyfriend and I became best friends as a result…
I know for sure some of the girls are doing it for a thrill they aren’t getting at home and it makes sense…lets say she does a girl/girl guy for me… she prolly isnt going to ask her boyfriend for that for all the reasons you can imagine, but with me she can do it, live her fantasy and go home without being judged, without running the risk of boyfriend getting stupid over it one way or the other. (he might get stupid if he finds out but thats not the point here) So generally speaking yes they will do things in front of the camera that they dont do at home…However in the interview I ALWAYS tell them, if you wouldn’t do it in real life, dont do it on film. the difference is a fine but marked distinction…just because she doesn’t do it at home doesn’t mean she wouldn’t so the bottom line is if its is something you dont want to do, dont do it, for any amount of money.
I don have some formal training in both photography and videography/ film production. That kind of thing is very helpful with the technical aspects of shooting porn but worthless in the porn aspect
I’m guessing that’s going to be a no, but I would think a link to your wiki page that I just ran across wouldn’t be a problem (especially if it’s in your profile instead of your sig). The wiki page has the link to your official website.
Wait, is your website your name dot com, because that doesn’t appear to be all that NSFW except for a few lightly clad girls running down the side…wait, I see it, it’s probably the link underneath them. Maybe you could have someone add that to the wiki page and be good to go. I’m not sure the mods would be cool with that website on in your sig. [Clicks on it] Yeah, no, explicit porn has always been banned, even with the two click rule. But I think, either linking to wiki and/or adjusting the wiki page so SB.com is your official website would be ok. Would wiki let you use that as your official website? I don’t know their rules on that.
Does that make sense or am I rambling?
**We know the censorship-related reasons for bukkake’s invention but why do you think it’s become popular as a porn genre outside Japan? **
Fetishes fascinate me, because I simply cannot explain them even though I have been trying for 20 years to understand them. I really don’t have an answer for this question. I know what the answer isn’t, it isn’t unilateral, some people may get off on the degrading aspect of it but I find that to be rare, most of the members of my site want the girl to have fun with it, they want her to be an active participant. I think one of my models put it best “Guys just naturally like to make a mess” You mentioned that women who like porn tend to like it down and dirty; what do the female audience members particularly like about that genre, more specifically than it being down and dirty?
I think the ones who watch it project themselves into the scene and to some degree make the performer a surrogate same as the guys do. (the guys project onto the male performer which explains why they don’t want to see they guys face, it reminds them that it isnt them.) Several of my models feel empowered by the bukkake shoots they “like being in control of all these cocks” I find that to be an interesting aspect.
**
Do the actresses know before applying what your specialty is? You mention the reason why they apply and I can see how bukkake would attract someone looking to have a unique experience and validate that they’re pretty. What do they feel about it during and after the shoot?**
Before we shoot anything she is told EXACTLY what will happen, start to finish so she is fully informed. I also make sure that we stay in a particular girls comfort zone, some girls want to be talked dirty to some girls dont, I always make sure beforehand that I know what is good and what isnt and I make sure that she knows that she can always say dont do that and it will be respected.
During the shoot they are trying to please me, as the director at first but they usually get lost in the situation, the fact that over 90% of the girls I shoot will tell their friends and even bring me other girls to shoot says more about how they feel about it than I could. I try to wweed out the ones that will regret it beforehand…I have more girls that want to shoot than I can shoot so I’m in a good situation to do that.
