I thought CNBC’s Porn: Business of Pleasure was a pretty fair docu on the adult industry. Show host Melissa Lee (who could’ve been a pornstar herself, in my eyes) had about an hour to profile the industry, so the whole thing was of course very “soundbite-y” in nature.
KINGS AND QUEENS
The show had industry honchos like Steven Hirsch (Vivid), Joy King (Wicked Pictures) as well as Max Hardcore, Digital Playground contract star Jesse Jane, and others discuss some of the problems the industry faces, the biggest one of course being that free porn is pretty much anywhere you go now so there’s much less of an incentive for consumers to actually spend money on it.
Yet Hirsch hasn’t really managed to maximize his online presence. Sure, Vivid has its sites and a (surprisingly outdated) affiliate program, Vividcash, – but it’s all kind of half-assed.
Digital Playground, for as technologically sophisticated they are, isn’t doing all that much better in terms of online presence. Both Vivid and DP are still primarily playing in the brick and mortar market and that’s just not where the money is now. They say so themselves. But I digress…
GOOD PORN, BAD PORN
They threw in the obligatory “porn is an addiction, and here’s a guy who struggled with it”- segment which I think just gets a laugh these days. (Hey buddy, Ben and Jerry’s ic cream is addicting too. Guess what, nobody forces you to eat it.)
A short segment on Max Hardcore’s prison sentence, and a nod in the direction of the Department of Justice and the legal status of pornography in the United States rounded up the anti-porn portion of the show. Good, because I don’t think most consumers have a problem with porn these days.
Actually – I know they don’t. I live and breathe this industry every day and see the numbers, read the forums, and study the consumer and trends. Yep, porn’s not a big deal anymore. And that’s both good and bad.
“We” are everywhere now. “We” now sell cheap site memberships, pay-per-view minutes – and allow thieves to upload our stuff to the tube sites so everybody can have our stuff for free, and we don’t do shit about it.
“We” shot ourselves in the foot. But it’s all a matter of adapting to the changes, be they brought on by us or someone else. This time the music industry seems to actually be adapting faster than we are. But wait, big things are coming…
POWER GIRLS
I was happy to see CNBC mention and show a little bit of some folks who I think are rocking the industry right now, like Joanna Angel; and Sasha Grey, who just did the mainstream movie The Girlfriend Experience with director Steven Soderbergh;
Joanna Angel, and Belladonna, in particular, have been impressing me a lot lately. Those girls are a huge force in the industry. Where Jenna Jameson was one of the first leading ladies to really bring porn to mainstream, Joanna and Bella, among others, have been taking this to a whole ‘nother level.
The fact that women like Samantha Lewis and Joy King are in the ruling class of the adult industry (and there are many, many more) is a great silencer for those who still think the adult industry exploits women and is ran by sleazy old guys in bath robes. (Hi Hef. Fuck you, Sir.)
TABOO? Phhht…
It was stressed how porn, once a taboo subject, is now pretty much talked about and seen anywhere, all the time. This, of course, is a big reason profits are down – stuff just sells at a much higher markup if it is hard to come by. The days when you had to walk into a porn store and fork over fifty bucks for a VHS tape are over.
BIG PRODUCTIONS
It was amusing to watch the show and see a bunch of girls I’ve worked with in the past. I even recognized some of the shooting locations I’ve been to. Like the one in the screenshot to the left here – I swear, I shot there more times than I can count. House on a hill. One story. Pool in the back. Owner has a thick accent and makes an amazing espresso. Good times.
When they talked about “Max Hardcore and his girlfriend” I knew they were talking about Layla Rivera, who I shot way back for Aziani. Super sweet girl. Didn’t know she was Max Hardcore’s girl until after the shoot.
Porn: Business of Pleasure showcased Digital Playground quite a bit, and went into some detail about its Pirates movies (the most expensive adult productions ever made…so far.). I enjoyed watching little snippets of video guys hauling RED cameras around, and wielding boom microphones. Of course the majority of porn isn’t shot with expensive pro gear like the RED ONE, or even just boom mics.
Watching these cut-ins could let someone to believe that all porn productions require big money, which of course is not true. But it was fun to watch nevertheless.
(Reminds me- I wanted to get myself a RED ONE. Still holding out for the Scarlet series though.)
WHAT’S MISSING
Of course there was a lot that wasn’t covered. I didn’t expect this to be all-inclusive show about everything related to the industry though. But there was practically nothing about the incredibly huge Amateur or Pro-Am part of the industry. More understandably, there was no profiling of the technology or marketing side of online porn (yes, what I do), which is a big part of it.
Our arch enemies, the tube sites, got plenty of honorable mention though. Not in an entirely positive light but also not nearly as honest as I would have liked. They are, after all, one major reason a lot of adult outfits are now struggling, or have already gone completely out of business. (And don’t tell me they don’t – I work with people affected by them every day.)
I would have loved to have seen something on people like Buzz and Rachel from Aziani /RachelAziani.com (of course), Rob from FTV Girls, or the folks behind Nubiles or Lightspeed because these folks have had quite some impact on the online adult industry over the past few years. But they’re usually playing under the radar and are pretty quiet about their influence so it’s not a big surprise they didn’t get mentioned on the show. Besides, the big California porn studios that still make DVDs are just so much cooler to profile on TV, right?
If you missed CNBC’s Porn: Business of Pleasure, check out a summary and some additional stuff about some of the peeps profiled on CNBC’s web site.
Tags: adult industry, cnbc porn, digital playground, jesse jane, joanna angel, joy king, layla rivera, max hardcore, melissa lee, money in porn, porn:business of pleasure, samantha lewis, sasha grey, steven hirsch, vivid
