Chapter 23 -- One Porn Persona
Several of us sat in a comfortable conversation circle on the patio. Allison's private porn video was playing on the outdoor television, although the bright daytime sunlight tended to wash out some of the colors and details. We had the volume off. Kim watched for a bit, and I thought it was more out of curiosity than for arousal.
Crystal was explaining in detail about the video, private porn, and the small leap that could be made by any of her clients to put their video up on the Internet on one of the public sites.
"You can always post them for free on dozens of sites, but you don't make any money that way. When I sold Allison Kirby's video the first time, I made $4,000. Since then, we've licensed the vid to six other websites and made another $20,000. She also has her own porn name now: Trixie Twaite. Her husband is really into her new career, too.
"Sheri Rawls sold her video with Ross, first for $3,000 and since then has placed it on four more sites, making more money. Her porn name is Sheri Sexxx -- with three X's. Cute, huh? She's really into it, and is going to the AVN conference in Las Vegas in January to a 'booth girl' for one of the sites that she's displayed on. She wants to do something more serious than just the one video."
Kim asked questions about the effort to do a professional video, including planning, videoing, editing, marketing, sales, and such. She summed it up, "So, I conclude that sex sells, as usual, and makes money. No wonder so many people are wrapped up in the adult porn business. It's damn near a license to print money without much effort."
Crystal said, "If you have the contacts you make money. I'm developing them. I'd love to go to the AVN event in January and talk to some of the producers about the front-end of doing a video -- storylines, filming, and editing, and then I want to explore the distribution channels for this stuff. Unfortunately, I've already booked Crystal Blue Photography business that week and weekend. Besides, I won't have time to do any homework ahead of that."
I asked her, "What would you do for homework?"
"I need some top-quality scenes on a demo DVD that I can leave behind. I definitely want to be asked to put my work with them, rather than end up positioned trying to push my work on them."
I chuckled, "You need some top-notch entertainers then. For instance, I may be all right as a private porn star, but you probably need to get some stud whose muscles have muscles for your vids." I added, "Besides that, couldn't Carol and I handle your business that week?"
Crystal shook her head, "Well, to your first point, no, right now, realism is in. They'd like any of the videos we've done, and I could mine those for a few scenes, but I do want some new work that's fully in my control and aimed for a demo video. I DO want you to be one of my main men on screen. On your second point about taking over to allow me to go to Vegas, I'll think about it."
Kim said, "Women? Other men?"
Julie said, "If your friends and neighbors don't want to be involved, I run that modeling agency in town, with an annex up in Tampa. I've got about ten-thousand model cards from women on my list along with about a thousand men. You could almost take your pick -- all sizes, shapes, ages, hair color, and just about anything else you want to consider. Some are even eager for 'adult' work. I've had some models do what are called 'Art Shoots' where, basically, a bunch of dirty old men hire a nude model, and then take thousands of pictures of her in lewd poses."
Kim nodded and Crystal looked intrigued. Kim then said, "I meant what I said yesterday. I'll be doing a video as soon as I can get scheduled in with Crystal Blue Photography." She pointed at me, "You're my co-star." She laughed.
Crystal said to her, "You're a special case. We'll fit you in whenever you want to be on camera."
Kim thought a moment and said, "Next weekend? Will Saturday afternoon work?"
Crystal said, "Yes, let's do it. That'll give me some time to get ready, too. If I may ask, are you willing to have some of this go public, for instance, on my demo DVD?"
Kim thought again and said, "Sure. I'm the one with what everyone wants in my business, so it won't create problems in a way that would drive away business. A little scandal in the business world is always good for the soul. I also subscribe to the adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity, although temporarily the skies may get cloudy."
Crystal was busy the following week. We had a long discussion one evening about the genres of pornography that she could portray in a demonstration DVD to handout at the AVN conference in Las Vegas in a few months. She knew immediately that she didn't want to do BDSM, and then we made a list.
I suggested that she give out business cards with a URL on them instead of a physical DVD. This would help the word spread, plus the link could be seen on cellphones, which would not play a DVD. She got the message about being more aware about the potentials of technology in her business.
I also suggested to Crystal that Crystal Blue Photography might want a subsidiary named Crystal Blue Pornography. That didn't fly.
I did suggest that she be prepared to talk about the kind of scenes that she wouldn't film.
"What wouldn't I film?" she asked.
"Rape? Assault sex that's nonconsensual? Snuff videos?"
"Oh, no!" she exclaimed. "I see what you mean. I'll add that to the list."