My friend Sardonica Mars (great name, right?) over at Sex Life Canada interviewed me about the economics of porn. Here’s what she came up with:
If you’ve got a taste for homegrown porn and you haven’t heard of Camille Crimson, you may have only just discovered the Internet. This sassy redhead has won hearts and hard-ons with her website The Art of Blowjob. The Feminist Porn Award-winning site hosts a collection of cinematic blowjob films that put the emphasis on obtaining mutual pleasure from an act that is often traditionally portrayed as being very one-sided.
If you do know of Camille and her talents, it’s at least partially through the tireless efforts of Sophie Delancey. An equally sassy brunette, Sophie is the PR/marketing consultant for The Art of Blowjob. A strong believer in porn’s deep-seated potential for genuine beauty, her title puts her in the unique position of being able to witness firsthand the challenge of balancing aesthetics and advertising. That being said, she does believe that one often leads to the other: “Like any other art form or industry, homegrown porn is only as unique as the people making it. The reason that there’s a higher concentration of unique content is because a lot of homegrown porn is focused on the people making it, who are often more involved in several facets of the porn-making procedure and put a little more into it than someone just paid to come in for the day. Also, they’re often in a relationship or at least very connected with each other, so a lot of natural feeling emerges. Finally, a good amount of people who are drawn to making their own porn have passion for filmmaking and the arts, so the results are sometimes especially beautiful.”
Like any individual dedicated to optimal quality, Sophie is well aware that while pretty aesthetics can hook people’s initial attention, providing the whole package is what reels people in and captures their loyalty. Substance is the basis of a solid relationship, whether the relationship is between sex partners, romantic relationships or supplier-client interactions. Behind the scenes, Sophie, Camille and her boyfriend Mike Flirt all take on the responsibilities of creating The Art of Blowjob, which include shooting, editing, coding and designing. Technical skills give many performers a financial edge; being able to cut production costs means that the performers are more likely to earn a stable living off of their work. The uniquely autonomous nature of their company also gives them control over exactly what gets promoted and how it gets distributed. Sophie attributes much of the company’s success to this well-roundedness, “It’s a good mix of having people with really developed skills in all the necessary fields of building a website, having really high quality content and focusing on branding the company in a way that’s entirely based on being themselves.”
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When sites like Uncommon Appetites and The Art of the Blowjob barrel out of the gates, shoot to fame and give us entirely new ways to think about porn and sexuality, its difficult to see beyond their successes. In truth, homegrown porn can be a risky venture. Many have tried their hand at it and many more have failed. In addition to this, there will always be those who believe that “going corporate” is the way to make easy money. Corporate sites will always exist, churning out hundreds of scenes and raking in millions of dollars, but we cannot deny the average porn consumer’s constant hunger for variety.
Sophie sees this hunger as the homegrown site’s path to success, “I think you just really need something genuinely special. If you’re just making a boring website with amateurish content and unoriginal sex, you probably won’t succeed. But if you’ve got a stellar site doing something different (even a new take on an old classic) you can do very well as long as you market yourself effectively, stay abreast (no pun intended) of industry changes and ultimately stay true to yourself and your vision.”
Go read the rest of the article on Sex Life Canada… Then come to me for porn economics advice. I has it!