Ask the pornographer (solo and GG stuff, no hetro, sorry)

[Prome843]

I did some googling to back up what I “heard”.

http://www.oflc.gov.au/resource.html?resource=62&filename=62.pdf [Warning PDF]
This is from the Office of Film and Literature Classification. Page 17 lists the prohibited fetishes I was taking about.

http://www.aba.gov.au/internet/overview/regulation.shtml#prohib
http://www.aba.gov.au/contentreg/complaints/internet/content.shtml#prohibited
These two references from the Australian Broadcasting Association seem to state that real depictions of actual sexual activity are banned on the internet in Australia. :eek:

Doesn’t this seem to prohibit real pornography from being hosted on the internet in Australia? It sounds like all it would take is someone to report you and the site would have to be taken down. I assume that isn’t true? What is the reality of the legal issue?

[CC]

Ok, what’s the over/under on the number of questions above that Abby answers in her next post? This is obviously a fascinating topic - for lots of reasons. Abby should consider writing a book of Q&A. Another source of profits? I also want to say that her site is by far the best thing I’ve seen, and her approach to the biz is something that even my wife would appreciate, and that’s saying something.
xo, C.

[Lakai]

@abby

It’s *a *problem, not a huge one. Our customers tend to be very loyal, so let us know when they see our stuff elsewhere. We have a few guys we employ who chase down copyright violators. The really tough ones we send to a lawyer to deal with.

What are some big problems that come with running your site? What is the biggest problem?

Do you think HD video is a threat to the industry, because it might show some girls in a more unflattering light than regular video?

[Beware_of_Doug]

@Prome843

I’m sure I’ve heard that fetishes like that—and hot wax, fisting, schoolgirl motifs, Max Hardcore-style humiliation, etc.–are supposed to be ‘refused classification’ (i.e. effectively banned/ not even given an X-rating) when it comes to video porn in Australia.

Is foot fetish content covered under that? Or is there some other reason that a gal showing everything generally has her feet out of focus?

[Operation_Ripper]

Welp, I can’t say I’m familiar with everything you’ve produced, but from what I have seen I have to agree with all the above accolades, great work! Accordingly, the premise of my question may be incorrect, but my perception is that there is never any penetrative anal sex in your shoots, other than some occasional anilingus. Is it prohibited, or am I simply mistaken?

[si_blakely]

Originally Posted by Quartz
Forgot to add: could your business run without you for an extended period?

@abby

hm, should I be scared? You imply youhave a hit out on me!!

Not a hit, initially. But all the surgery to convert Quartz into abby will take a while, and the surgeons will need something to work off…

Si

[si_blakely]

@Beware of Doug

Is foot fetish content covered under that? Or is there some other reason that a gal showing everything generally has her feet out of focus?

Thats just a Depth of Field (photographic term) issue - you can’t keep it all in focus, and if the feet are, the rest isn’t going to be worth looking at - unless you are a foot fetishist.

Si

[CC]

@Operation Ripper

Accordingly, the premise of my question may be incorrect, but my perception is that there is never any penetrative anal sex in your shoots, other than some occasional anilingus. Is it prohibited, or am I simply mistaken?

Clearly, not certified to speak for the boss, but enough reading of her site and here leads me to believe that she films things that are, excuse the expression, more to her taste. Hence, no “lame” hetero stuff (fully agree, by the way). And I would guess that may explain why some things are there and some aren’t. Clearly, she is carving out a niche that is a bit different. The behaviors referenced are certainly available elsewhere, which is why many of us appear to be drawn to Abby’s site. xo, C.

[GuanoLad]

How many of you guys are, or have been, members of our site? I’m finding that amazing in itself.

[Operation_Ripper]

Has the pornographer left the building?

[CC]

@GuanoLad

How many of you guys are, or have been, members of our site? I’m finding that amazing in itself.

Are you associated with Abby’s site? I didn’t get that. I haven’t become a member, but I might. It appears to be a great site. If you get bored by that, that’s a real downside to your work.
xo, C.

[Miller]

@GuanoLad

How many of you guys are, or have been, members of our site? I’m finding that amazing in itself.

I was, but I’ve since let my sub lapse. I’ll probably re-up in a few months, though, once I’ve gotten sick of the all the porn I’ve got right now.

[Nawth_Chucka]

I can’t think of ten STD’s. I’m 37 years old. All those I know about I can count on one hand. :o :eek:

Ahem, what STD’s do the models get screened for? Are there some in Oz the States don’t have yet?

[CC]

@Nawth Chucka

All those I know about I can count on one hand. :o :eek:

From this can we deduce where your diseases came from?

[abby]

@Shirley Ujest

Is there any kind of retirement package or bonuses offered in a contract?

No. This strikes me as a strange question.

We don’t really have exclusive models, or “star” models - the whole business is based around the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, so we don’t need to have models on contracts.

That being said, every shoot a model does, she signs a contract for that specific shoot, which covers what she gets paid, and how we can use the media we captured of her.

[abby]

@Prome843

Regarding Australian legislation:That surprises me.
I thought Australian internet laws were supposed to be pretty tough.

They are, but they only apply to sites *hosted *in Australia (we host in the US).

like most governments it seems, the Australian Government is laughably out of touch with the internet.

[abby]

@Lakai

What are some big problems that come with running your site? What is the biggest problem?

It’s boring stuff: finding and keeping good staff, asset management, management structure, systems development.

(again) without putting tickets on ourselves, we do what we do pretty well. Producing porn is easy. The hard stuff is not the porn, but managing the business behind it. I have little management skills and no training, and so frequently make mistakes that more experienced managers find amusing.

So I am on a mission to employ as many people as possible who are better than me in every way.

Do you think HD video is a threat to the industry, because it might show some girls in a more unflattering light than regular video?

Maybe it’s a threat to some genres of the industry, but not a serious one. For us, it’s good - we’re all about the “warts and all” reality of our models, and higher def video allows us to show that better than before.

I think that whole premise is a bit of a media beat-up - one model complained to one director that her breast augmentation scars were visible, and now it’s all “HD is evil!” (I don’t proclaim to have done exhaustive reading on mainstream porns problems with image quality, tho)

[abby]

@Beware of Doug

Is foot fetish content covered under that? Or is there some other reason that a gal showing everything generally has her feet out of focus?

As others have mentioned, that’s a depth of field issue. Where possible, we shoot in natural light. That’s fitting with our “show it how it is” mentality, real people, real homes, real light.

(Doug, please don’t take offence, I am not sure how much you know about photography, so I am going to use the lowest-common-denominator explanation)

Unfortunately, there’s seldom as much light as we’d like inside someone’s home, so we need to set the camera to be extra-sensitive to light to achieve a correct exposure (a large aperture of f2.8, say). The trade off for this, is a decreased DoF (depth of field, how much is in focus at any one time).

So, if a model is sitting on a sofa, we focus on her face, her face will be in focus, but her breasts, closer to the camera, will be out of focus (and her groin, and knees will be even more out of focus).

The alternative is, we bring in more high powered lights, and blast the set with light, shoot at f11 or f16 allowing a much greater DoF, and all of the model in focus (as well as the background). Most of our competition do it that way, and plenty of people dig it.

We reckon that the reality-based aspects (including lighting, and DoF) are integral to the paradigm - just as critical as natural pubic hair or no-breast-augmentation of no make up. Our shooters are aware of this criticism, and shoot models to get maximum coverage, different focal points (including feet), to give viewers the option.

[abby]

@Operation Ripper

Welp, I can’t say I’m familiar with everything you’ve produced, but from what I have seen I have to agree with all the above accolades, great work! Accordingly, the premise of my question may be incorrect, but my perception is that there is never any penetrative anal sex in your shoots, other than some occasional anilingus. Is it prohibited, or am I simply mistaken?

Thanks for the compliments.

We do it sometimes in GG shoots, but it’s kinda fetishistic, which by definition means not a lot of people are into it. Our models are regular people, not necessarily into doing THE MOST EXXXTREME things possible. We have a strict policy of only asking models to do what they feel comfortable doing.

[Kalhoun]

@abby

Correct.
We don’t have a problem finding models. Melbourne has a population of 3.7million people.

We’re lucky in that Aussie men generally do not like our stuff, which means the chance of being busted is lower. For these reasons, we do not advertise in Australian media.
Some models, I guess around a third, are quite happy to be busted, and in fact will go around telling people proudly (inclding their parents and employer). Sometimes, that does not work out so well - we always advise models to keep it on the lamb.

A few of our models have been busted in a bad way, but we go to significant lengths in the audition to tell them about the risks, so we tend to loose models at that stage, rather than after the fact. For example, we ask them how they’d feel if their boss found out - would they loose their job? What if their parents found out - would the be dis-owned? If the answer is yes, we recommend they do not do modelling.

I’m not following you…is porn illegal there?

What is the average age of one of your models? Are they trained before they hit the camera or are they naturally just saucy little slutlettes? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)