# Another AMA for the (not so) Amateur Porn Director **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2015, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795 "2015-02-16T05:41:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/21 "2015-02-17T20:14:41Z")
Is the actors pay increasing or decreasing? What does the future look like for people who want to earn a living as performers? Make your prediction, will live porn survive once CGI gets realistic enough? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/22 "2015-02-17T20:59:47Z")
If we (me, any of us, all of us), submitted a script, would you consider shooting it? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/23 "2015-02-17T21:24:53Z")
> [@MikeSouth](#): > > true amateur is almost none. and when i do get it I am very suspicious of it. In order to get any response from me it must include the IDs of everyone involved as well as a model release…way too many teens with cell phone cameras these days. Do you get a lot of technically-child-porn sent to you as audition tapes?? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/24 "2015-02-17T22:16:09Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Is “revenge porn” an actual thing or just a marketing technique. Both? Neither? People leak private videos all the time, but I wouldn’t call that “porn” per se. There exists a genre of “fake revenge porn” and it is very obvious when you see it, especially considering it involves established adult actors. Then there’s the “fake leak” sector, like that Teen Mom did or like Paris Hilton et al. were accused of. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/25 "2015-02-18T02:26:22Z")
Where to begin? 1. What are the top agencies in the Los Angeles area to submit photos in case one is interested in potentially becoming an adult film actor? Also say the agency is interested in the person, do you have to audition and how does that work exactly? 2. Can one bypass an agency and just contact a company such as Brazzers and submit photos and information? ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/26 "2015-02-18T02:27:55Z")
This question is not as in need of answering as the previous two, but what are some factors in your opinion that explain why porn stars now look much better than in the 1970’s and 1980’s? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/27 "2015-02-19T16:23:31Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > This question is not as in need of answering as the previous two, but what are some factors in your opinion that explain why porn stars now look much better than in the 1970’s and 1980’s? Huh? Personally, porn stars of today may be better groomed and made-up, but personally I think that is because most of them are not, under all the make-up, all that attractive to start with. There is attractive and there is “glamorous”, and porn stars tend towards the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/28 "2015-02-19T16:42:53Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Huh? Personally, porn stars of today may be better groomed and made-up, but personally I think that is because most of them are not, under all the make-up, all that attractive to start with. There is attractive and there is “glamorous”, and porn stars tend towards the latter. I would have said the 70s/80s porn stars are the ones who more typically seem to be more “glamorous” than attractive, with their giant hair and giant smiles (and giant breasts…) Contemporary mainstream porn stars seem more generally to be less “glamorous” and more attractive. Having said that, you’re right about the make-up. There’s a page on the web somewhere that has a bunch of before-and-after shots of porn stars with and without makeup, the pictures having been taken for the express purpose of putting these shots together. The results are sometimes shocking. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/29 "2015-02-19T17:08:32Z")
> [@MikeSouth](#): > > I actually get asked that a lot…that she has done a commercial porn is pretty low, that she has or will do it in the privacy of her home with a husband/boyfriend/girlfriend…pretty high…Id say better than 50% It’s disturbing (especially to a numbers guy like me) that so little is known about the profession. Even prostitution has a variety of studies looking at who goes into it, the problems they have, and the aftermath. With all the talk now of pictures haunting people, women especially, from ordinary sexting to revenge porn to leaked selfies to actual porn participation leading to teachers getting fired and every other possible variant, how many people are potentially affected is a big issue. It used to be said that once you were in porn you were marked for life, unable to shake that past for “respectable” lives. I’ve always doubted how true that was except for the easily recognizable superstars but that was the stigma. I once thought our culture had gotten past that, but too many stories have appeared calling out women who have ever shown their bodies to a camera to see much progress. That’s why I wonder about numbers and the future. Once the percentage goes high enough - and high may be 2% - it gets too big to be brushed aside. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/30 "2015-02-20T16:03:52Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Is “revenge porn” an actual thing or just a marketing technique. This might be interesting: [Revenge porn site operator Hunter Moore pleads guilty to hacking, ID theft - Ars Technica](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/revenge-porn-site-operator-hunter-moore-pleads-guilty-to-hacking-id-theft/) The creator of one “revenge porn” site pleaded guilty to paying a co-conspirator to steal nude photos from victims. The guy stealing the images used social engineering tactics to get into people’s email accounts and eventually grab explicit images, which he passed on to the site operator. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/31 "2015-02-20T16:19:05Z")
Catering to the niche market; can we put in requests? 🙂 I’ll ask one of the most obvious questions possible from a male. Do the girls enjoy it? How much unwanted legislation do the authorities hinder your industry with? As I understand it California’s red tape on porn production has lead to some companies moving outside the state. Is the industry really moving location? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/32 "2015-02-20T18:48:24Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > This might be interesting: [Revenge porn site operator Hunter Moore pleads guilty to hacking, ID theft - Ars Technica](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/revenge-porn-site-operator-hunter-moore-pleads-guilty-to-hacking-id-theft/) > > The creator of one “revenge porn” site pleaded guilty to paying a co-conspirator to steal nude photos from victims. The guy stealing the images used social engineering tactics to get into people’s email accounts and eventually grab explicit images, which he passed on to the site operator. If you google him, you’ll find he looks exactly as you might suspect. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/33 "2015-02-20T18:58:01Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I would have said the 70s/80s porn stars are the ones who more typically seem to be more “glamorous” than attractive, with their giant hair and giant smiles (and giant breasts…) > > Contemporary mainstream porn stars seem more generally to be less “glamorous” and more attractive. > > Having said that, you’re right about the make-up. There’s a page on the web somewhere that has a bunch of before-and-after shots of porn stars with and without makeup, the pictures having been taken for the express purpose of putting these shots together. The results are sometimes shocking. I’m sure makeup is a factor, but I have the impression that in the 70s and 80s the producers had their choice of far fewer women who were willing to have sex on camera. On the flip side it seems as if a lot more mainstream actresses were willing to perform nude than they are now. There’s an old joke about the actresses saying they’d do the nude scenes if it was part of the story and not just gratuitous. Producer: In this part of the story the character takes off her clothes. Actress: Ok, that’s fine as long it’s part of the story. ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/34 "2015-02-26T01:42:06Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Is “revenge porn” an actual thing or just a marketing technique. Its a thing but it isnt a “porn” thing its what the media these days calls it when a guy posts nekkid/sex/embarrassing photos of an ex in an attempt to shame her (or vice versa) There are porn sites that cater to this niche but its fantasy mostly because in porn we have to have IDs, model releases and all that kind of stuff otherwise we get a nice orange jumpsuit to wear for the next 5 or so years ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/35 "2015-02-26T01:48:34Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Recent trends in porn - spitting and slapping - have caused me to retreat to “classic” and “golden age” porn where violent and (to my tastes) degrading acts were limited to “roughies”. Hey, it’s fine for those who are seeking it, but those things have become the default behavior and are seemingly unavoidable today. Even my favorite “friendly gonzo” producer Ben Dover has started doing that. > > Is this stuff the choice of the director or the actors? Is your average porn starlet genuinely into that, or is it just the style? first I dont think you are alone, I have found that even I dont like the current trends of seeing how many different and new ways we can degrade the actress. At its very core even it strikes me as being completely against what we as porners should be trying to accomplish and that is sell a fantasy…I think that very few have that fantasy but I have said many times that this industry is destined to attract two types of men, those who love women and those who hate them, of late we seem to be innundated with the ones that hate them. As for the girls my experience has been that they will go way out of their way to try to please the director, I coach the ones that come into the biz through me to never do anything that makes you uncomfortable, even if I ask you to, you should simply say no Im not comfy with that. If I do ask it would be a mistake I always explain the scene to her up front, everything that is expected and ask is she comfy with everything and if not what do I need to change…It works better that way…I get better scenes and I get girls who like working for me. ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/36 "2015-02-26T01:51:00Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > Is there an explicit attempt to be more “timeless” now? > > By that I mean in the old days, it probably didn’t matter so much if something done in the 80s looked like it was from the 80s because the videos are only going to be on the shelf for a certain amount of time. > > But nowadays, costs to have older videos/picture sets/whatever available to download are pretty trivial, so I’m curious if there is any thought to make things more style-neutral to make things seem less obviously dated a decade down the line (other than technical things like resolution) yes and no, I dont go out of my way, for example to try to make things look a certain way so that they will still be useable 10 or 20 years from now but what I have gotten away from is dating things explicitly for example copyright 2015 watermark has given way to copyright Mike South. ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/37 "2015-02-26T01:53:14Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > That would be a shame. I remember reading something, possibly on Salon, about a university interior design department with a large collection of classic porn that they used as reference material for what homes actually looked like. Hollywood has always presented a fantasy environment, while porn producers simply didn’t have a budget for sets and decoration and shot anywhere they could. > > If you want to see the true horror that was early seventies interior decor, you need to look at the _Swedish Erotica_ films, not old copies of _Home and Garden_. true dat brudda…think back to the days of porn on loops (8mm film) everyone remembers the guys with black socks and the girls almost always wore black nylons…well there was a reason for that…the sound stages were filthy and resulted in filthy feet…the socks and stockings hid that… ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/38 "2015-02-26T01:55:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Plus, does anybody ever say “I want people to still be able to enjoy this porn 50 years from now”? In all honesty people in this industry tend to think no more than 30 days out because thats the point at which the video or the website post or whatever drops in value, it will make 90% of its gross in 30 days. ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/39 "2015-02-26T02:05:51Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Is the actors pay increasing or decreasing? What does the future look like for people who want to earn a living as performers? > > Make your prediction, will live porn survive once CGI gets realistic enough? up to a few years ago the actors pay started increasing dramatically. When I started in the biz a top guy was pulling about 200 bucks a scene or 400 a day for two scenes and dialogue (this was the early 90s and a lot of porn was at least loosely story driven) around 2000 that started changing and in some cases the guys made more than the girls did guys like Peter North, and Lexington Steel could make 1000 dollars a scene or more…That led to better looking guys coming into the biz but the downside of that is that most were coming from gay porn and using caverject or whatever to get an erection…That opened up a whole new can of problems and in my opinion started the downfall of porn in general. The audience, which is and always will be primarily male generally doesnt want to see pretty boys, specially not ones that look gay or come from the gay side of the biz. the fantasy is that he, the viewer could be the guy with this girl so you need average guys that average guys can relate to, thats why i was popular, also Ron jeremy and countless others…even Ed Powers. fast forward to current day and now the demand for adult product on DVD is at best 25% of what it was in 2005, pay is falling for everyone but mostly for the guys. As for CGI I dont see it working well for the simple reason that guys want to fantasize that they could be the one having sex with this girl and if the girl is just an animation of an imaginary girl, i don’t see it translating well into that fantasy…I could be wrong and I could certainly see celebrity sex tapes using CGI generated lookalikes but I wouldnt want to be the guy that has to fight that legal battle. ---
**Author:** ![MikeSouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MikeSouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeSouth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795/40 "2015-02-26T02:14:32Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > If we (me, any of us, all of us), submitted a script, would you consider shooting it? Im being totally honest with you here…story driven porn is only a very small percentage of the business these days and most directors write the script themselves, its the primary reason why you dont see good story driven porn like “The Opening of Misty Beethoven” or “Dixie Ray Hollywood Star” (which was later released as an R rated mainstream film called “It’s called Murder Baby” the first hardcore film ever to be released without sex as a mainstream theatrical release. In all honesty if your script is good register it with the screen writers guild and try to get it made into a real movie. If its basically a porn fantasy youd like to see brought to life Id be happy to take a look at it and forward it to my friends Stormy Daniels or Brad Armstrong who both make story driven releases for Wicked Pictures. (It would end up on cable TV as well) my email is mikesouth at mikesouth dot com [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ama-for-the-not-so-amateur-porn-director/712795.md?page=3)