This weekend, I saw the effects of being young, naive and new to the world of Adult. A young girl came to me after being taken by someone known to take advantage of and prey on brand new girls. Sadly, girls enter the industry unprepared and don’t get the result they were looking for—the girl from the little town in the middle of nowhere comes to Chatsworth (AKA the Porn Capital of the World) to make it big in Adult. You need to be smart, do your research and be “in the know” when you’re the new girl in porn. Here are a few topics to consider:
Why You’re Getting into Porn
Are you getting into porn to make a quick buck? Making good money can take some time. Newcomers tend to make less per scene than more established performers. If you come to Chatsworth to follow your dream, come with more than a few dollars in your pocket. You don’t want to be desperate and do things you will regret later on. This way you come on your own terms and will feel a sense of accomplishment when you do make it. Also realize that if you are a MILF, you’re going to work less than a 19-year old girl. Take that into account financially.
Are you looking to make career? The average span of a typical porn girl’s career is 3 to 6 months. If you want to last longer you need a plan, which should a great agent/agency and/or manager, publicist and maybe even a lawyer. Make a list of what you will and won’t do on film and stick to it. Write your goals down and how long you’d like to take to achieve them. Do you want to direct, do you want to get into mainstream and/or do you want a long career in front on the camera—these are all things to think about. Treat it like any other business. It’s also good to have a back-up plan like taking a few college classes to get yourself closer to a degree, so you can have something to fall back on.
There’s No Going Back
Once you dip your toe in the water and film even just one scene, you’re in the biz. Anyone can found out you’ve made a porn whether you do 1 scene or 100. Of course, it won’t be all over the news like Kim Kardashian, but anyone can find you. Even if you choose a porn name that’s nowhere near your real name, people could still recognize you. Your family and friends could find out and so could a future employer in the civilian world. You can be open and honest and tell everyone or you can keep it a deep, dark secret—either way, it’s going to come out. It could keep you from working a normal job in the civilian world, if the porn thing doesn’t pan out. I’ve seen quite a few stories about teachers being outted and losing their jobs, along with police officers, government officials and more.
Do I Really Need an Agent?
An agent can do a lot of things you probably can’t do—they have connections and that means they know all the studios, directors and performers. They won’t send you to a random set with a director they have never heard of. They aren’t just trying to get their 10 or 15 percent. They want you to be safe and have a good experience. The job you do on set reflects on them and all their other girls. If you are considering one or more agencies, talk to some of the girls on their roster and find out if they like the agency, if they are working and any other questions you may have.
Many girls have tried to go it on their own. If you have been in the biz for a while and have made some connections, this might work for you. But if you are brand new, you could put doing yourself a disservice. I have known performers to show up on what they thought was a reputable set and either get raped, not paid or worse. If you really want to rep yourself, ask other performers if they have heard of the director or studio and do someone research online—Google the company and see if there’s anything on them. Go on industry forums and on sites like XBIZ and AVN. And if you do get work on your own, always bring someone along, preferably a male friend you know well.
Another route is to get a manager. This can be tricky too, because some “managers” are nothing more than suitcase pimps who want to make their living off you and aren’t looking out for you and your best interests. Some will try and get you to escort, whether you want to or not. Again, do you homework and find out what kind of reputation this person has. It can be very hard to get away from a situation like this. Many managers are fine people who have clients who are thriving in the industry—you just need to find the good ones.
Safety & Common Sense
One of my friends was saying how common sense isn’t really all that common. And you know what…she’s right. If a guy you don’t know offers you a free plane ticket halfway across the country and a place to stay, there’s going to be strings attached, whether you know them upfront or not. Again, do your homework. The correct scenario would be you coming out here on your own—that means paying for your own plane ticket and hotel (or model house if you sign with an agency). This way you are here on your own terms and don’t owe anybody anything. However, in the random chance that a major studio like Vivid or Digital Playground offers you this type of deal, take it—just make sure they are legit. You might just want to come out once or twice and check it out before moving here, and see if you like living in L.A.
Getting known in the Adult industry means going out to parties and other events where there’s alcohol. Being drugged by GHB isn’t something that just happens in bars with random strangers. Although this isn’t common in the industry, it sometimes happens. Always watch your drink. If you leave it sitting somewhere and aren’t watching it, get another drink. Make sure to bring a friend to events with you so you have someone watching out for you.
If you have sex while not on set, use a condom. Most diseases in the industry come from the outside. Whether you’re with a guy or girl you’ve been seeing regularly or you decide to escort, play it safe and use condoms, unless you know they’re tested, too—and, you need to see paperwork for that. Antibiotics can cure most STDs, but some are forever. Don’t take chances.
Another thing that should go without saying is that the ladies should be on some form of birth control. This could be the pill, the Depo Vera shot or even an IUD. Pick on and take it regularly. Many young girls do scenes without being on birth control and they get pregnant. I was shocked to hear of how many girls do creampies without being on some form of birth control. Getting pregnant is serious stuff and isn’t good for your career. If you decide to get an abortion, you will lose weeks of work, so it’s not good financially either. When you go get your next test, ask them there or head to Planned Parenthood or your doctor.
The Business Side of Porn
Earlier, I talked about making Adult a career in regards to finding an agent, manager and/or publicist. Another person you want on your team is a lawyer. After you choose your porn name, make sure to buy the domains for your sites, and right away. If your porn name is Betty Page, you would want to buy at the very least these combinations:
BettyPage.com
BettyPage.net
BettyPageXXX.com
Just buy the domains whether you are ready to use them or not. Then, when you want to build your website you have them. A client of mine had two of these three combinations taken—someone had bought them and wanted to charge her $20,000 for one domain. If she had bought them in the first place, she wouldn’t have to pay to get what should have been her own site back. Most domains for $10-15 a year (on average) and that’s a small price to pay.
Another thing that’s important is to trademark your name. If your name is trademarked and someone buys BettyPage.com, BettyPage.net and/or
BettyPageXXX.com, they have to give you your site (or sites) and not charge you. You own the name. Another reason this is a good idea is because you won’t have another porn girl coming out in the next few months, years or beyond with a name very similar to yours. Some girl could be Betty Paige. Wow, that’s just an “E” added at the end and the names are quite similar. She could be trying to get some of your fame or their could be confusion on the set when the director thinks he’s getting a blonde, short girl, but a dark-haired very tall girl shows up. This is also a good idea for future merchandising opportunities like toys, clothing, etc.
When picking out your name, find something you can stick with. Think about it for a week or so and see if you can live with it. Again, do your research and go online and make sure the name hasn’t already been used. I know a girl who was blonde and surfed every day. She retired from porn a few years ago and another girl came along who was a dark-haired BBW with the same name, only spelled differently. I pointed this out to her, but she didn’t seem to care. This will confuse the fans in Google searches that don’t know how to spell her name correctly.
Final Thoughts
This is all just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making good choices when entering Adult. I have worked in the industry for over 7 years and most people are pretty cool. But like in any industry, there can be a few bad apples. Besides doing your homework, the most important thing is to follow your gut. If you have a bad feeling or your gut is telling you no, go with it—better safe than sorry. If you are new to the industry and have questions, hit me up. And, good luck!