Review of Shooting Porn

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REVIEW OF SHOOTING PORN

A film directed by Ronnie Larsen, (c) 1997

Shooting Porn is a fascinating and sympathetic look inside today's gay porn industry. It follows a small set of actors and technicians throughout several shoots, all with the same director (Chi Chi LaRue), and it sheds light on most aspects of the business. Overall, I was most struck by the sense of cooperation, and often friendship, that seemed to exist between everyone involved in the film shoots.

All of the people interviewed or featured in this documentary seemed genuine, and seemed to be speaking honestly about the industry, themselves, and about how their work has impacted their lives.

Although the specific video company they worked for was never identified, it was implied several times that it was one of the largest, if not the largest.

My criticisms are relatively minor: I wish this film had shed more light on the financial side of this industry (i.e. what it's like above the level of the director), and I also wish it had commented a bit more on how the gay porn industry is perceived within the straight porn industry.

Here's what I learned from watching this film, in no particular order:

• Particularly if you're a technician on the shoot, your day starts early, maybe at 7am.
• In the interest of getting the best performance during filming, actors are urged not to ejaculate the night before a shoot.
• The makeup artist is responsible for any necessary butthole shaving, and will also artistically shave any hair near the penis to make it look bigger :)
• A lot of the script writing goes on minutes before the shoot.
• One issue that actors and directors frequently have to deal with is erectile difficulties (i.e. an actor having trouble getting an erection for their scene). This was discussed at length by both the director and many of the actors. Apparently, it is most commonly an issue with new talent: new actors, on their first shoot, have trouble getting an erection about half the time. Experienced actors tend to be able to call up personal fantasies more easily (which is almost certainly easier to do the less self-conscious you feel).
• While a scene is being filmed, the director tends to give PLENTY of explicit and specific direction to the actors; these behind-the-scenes glimpses of the industry were particularly fascinating (actually, they were pretty hot...)
• Using "stunt dicks" is not a good idea for the actors: if word gets out that a stunt dick was used for an actor's scenes, for whatever reason, and word gets around the industry it can hinder their career.
• Another topic which was discussed at length was the issue of straight men in the gay porn industry (i.e. "gay for pay"). One of the featured actors self-identified as straight, as apparently do many others actors in the industry (it's apparently not unheard of to film a sex scene where all of the actors involved personally identify as straight). Many of the gay actors in Shooting Porn had mixed feelings about what "straight" really means in this context, and one was pretty skeptical that any gay porn actors are REALLY straight. His frank summary of the matter: "I don't buy it at all - I've worked with so many guys who claim they're striaght, and stress they're straight, and frankly they're the best cocksuckers around."
• Apparently, as a male actor, you're treated much better in gay porn than in straight porn. You're also paid much better (there was complete concensus on this).
• It didn't seem uncommon for the actors on the set to help each other get an erection before an upcoming scene, even when the cameras weren't rolling (the industry term for this is "fluffing"). There was a sense of practicality about this, and it wasn't treated as any big deal. On this subject, I have to say that it was fun watching the star who identified as staight go off with his co-star for a blow-job, despite the fact that as far as I could tell they had plenty of time before their next scene :)
• There was quite a bit of discussion on the issue of coming out to your parents about your work. Consensus seemed to be that it's better to be honest whenever you can.
• I probably found this to be the most fascinating part of the film... Apparently, at least for this particular company, guidelines for the director are very strict as to what the actors can or cannot do. Specifically, they were working under many company rules that were designed to prevent anything that might look even remotely non-consensual from making it into the finished film, including "giving orders", holding the back of someone's head while they're giving you a blow-job, etc. One director shared that he couldn't have the actors say (for example) "Eat my butt!", because that would be too close to giving an order. Instead, the actors had to phrase this as: "Would you like to eat my butt?" The actors also couldn't use four-letter words or slap another actor's ass, out of fear of this looking like abuse. There were also rules against using religious terminology.
• At least for this particular company, all the films are reviewed by a psychologist after they're finished.
• One director interviewed in this film also directed straight porn, and shared his shocking opinion that standards for fellatio in in gay porn are apparently much higher than in straight porn :)
• Orgasms are sometimes faked :)
• The actors are paid per come shot ($500-$1000 each, perhaps two per day over a film shoot that might take two days). However, no actors have gotten fabulously wealthy from the industry, though they indicated it's certainly possible to earn a comfortable living.
• The shift from theatres to video rental meant that more attention started being paid to the box art, sometimes more so than to the film itself. The consensus seemed to be that consumers only care about the box, and whether they recognize the company name; they don't care whether the film has (for example) won awards or gotten positive reviews.
• Nobody who was interviewed in Shooting Porn had ever seen drugs tolerated on the set.
• Condoms are always used. Actually, this is an issue that I wish had been discussed more in Shooting Porn. I find it just amazing that, apparently, actors can be stigmatized in the straight porn industry (as being an HIV risk) if they've done gay porn, even though (unlike most straight porn) the sex in gay porn is always safer sex.
• Many of the actors (perhaps most) also do escort work, which they characterize as being MUCH more lucrative than the movies. Also, several commented that making it in movies means you can make lots more money on the strip circuit.
• There was a VERY touching part at end of this film, concerning fan mail to the actors. Apparently, the actors don't always realize how much they mean to some people, particularly closeted guys for whom watching gay porn may be as far out of the closet as they get.