Dear Jack,
I can want to be a raw pig bottom porn star, how would i go about this?
greggoryy7
Notice how the good shot has the subject filling the frame. The background is plain and
illuminated, allowing the subject's features to be shown off. The lighting is good... neither
harsh nor under-lit. Skin tones appear natural.
Too much attention is given to the background in a bad shot, and the subject is too far from the camera and fully clothed.
The good shot shows off the subject to its best advantage. Here again, skin tones are natural, the
subject is in focus, and the lighting on the subject is relatively even.
In this bad shot, the subject fills the frame too much, and the framing itself is sloppy. The flash was too close to the subject,
washing out the skin tones and creating a bright burn in the image. It is better to illuminate the
room brightly than to rely on a flash for a close-up.
MORE: after reading your question, pornstar Erik Mann submitted his hints and tips on breaking into the porn
industry from his personal experiences in the skin flick business:
Hello Jack,
I enjoy reading your columns greatly.
Here are a couple of points (my opinion only based on my 6 year and 40+ video experiences, not carved in stone):
1. Bareback studios willing to cover travel expenses for out of town models. Only one that I know of (having worked for 5): Hot Desert Knights has a budget big enough to consistently do that. A second studio I worked for, Oh Man Studio’s bareback offshoot, Street Corner Studios, did cover flight and 1 night hotel, but I had to half the modeling fee to make up for it. The rest typically pay between 300 and 500 with no room in their budget for travel. So don’t be afraid to negotiate an arrangement. If they’ve shown an interest in you, they are willing to meet you half way.
Yes, bareback sells, but unfortunately not as well as Falcon. If you’re going to travel on your own dime and count the modeling fee as a subsidized vacation, co-ordination is pretty easy. They plan shoots at least 2-3 months in advance, so you should be able to plan your vacation to meet their shooting schedule rather than the other way around. As you pointed out, once they’ve shown an interest in you, keep following up to let them know you’re interested when their shooting schedule and your vacation schedule coincides. My last video last summer for Zyloco was 1 year in the planning waiting for their shooting schedule and my vacation schedule to come together. They will wait if you can’t meet their first time slot (but not forever).
2. Photo’s to submit to studios. There are 3 basic shots (remember, the director is looking at literally hundreds of emailed and snail mailed applications a month, keep it brief or yours will end up in the bottom of the big pile on his desk: Butt shot, Full Frontal soft, Full Frontal Hard. Always nude. Jockstraps and boots may be hot, but they want to see every square inch of you without the props. Always with your head attached and looking straight into the camera. (Make love to the camera, baby!). It’s pretty easy to find examples, just buy any Adams Gay XXX showcase which will have an endless supply of excellent print shots to model your poses after. I would say, don’t get your best friend with his $200 digital camera to do the shots. Spend a little money and find a professional physique photographer in your town to do the shots. Many of them are also experienced with make up and will do a little concealer to hide any blemishes and powder to reduce oil and lighting glare. The directors looking at your application will see the photo’s FIRST before they even decide whether or not to read the application, so make them the best they can be.
3. The 3 attributes in mainstream porn are: Face, Body, and Big Dick. 1 out of 3, no way, 2 out of 3, you’re in, all 3 and you’re almost a sure bet. Bareback porn often times don’t follow that formula from what I’ve seen (hey, you get what you pay for in models as with anything else), but when they do, the video’s really stand out on the hot scale.
4. "Screen Test"? Well, I’ve never been asked to do one, but anything’s possible. I image that’s for first timers before they have a body of work to judge you by. In my case, Josh Eliot of Catalina had a great way of dealing with out of town first timers like me. And kudos’ to him, he was one of the few directors willing to take a chance on out of town first timers. He used 3 cameras instead of just one. 3 cameras shooting for 4 hours = 720 minutes of footage. No matter how bad you think your first scene went (and you will!), they can always find 20 good minutes to edit together from 720.
5. Drugs on the set. Jack, you are bang on. Showing up on the set stoned or drunk is a big NO, NO. Some observant readers might point out that some video’s (especially involving fisting, etc.) the models look a bit “glassy eyed”. IF it is done - a discrete “bathroom” break would be called for. And IF that rule is bent, it is the exception and best left to established Porn Stars who have gotten the lay of the land vis-à-vis the type of scene and the studio and the director they are shooting for. For a first timer, your advice holds true: absolutely do not do it! You will never get a second chance. Porn is run by a very small circle of directors who all talk to each other. Once you’ve established a bad reputation, you don’t get the chance to correct it.
So, there’s my grain of wisdom for what it’s worth.
Keep up the good work, Jack!
Erik Mann, www.erikmann.com
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Hi Greggoryy7,
So ya wanna be a pornstar, eh?
Well, getting to be a pornstar is really fairly easy. No. Let me rephrase that. Getting to act
in porn is fairly easy. Becoming an actual porn STAR is another thing. Unfortunately many
porn actors in West Hollywood don't seem to know the difference.
Let me give you an example. I've been in a porn video. But I wouldn't call myself a star. Nope.
My phone isn't ringing off the hook with offers from the studios. People rarely come up to me
in a bar or on the street and say, "Hey, aren't you Bareback Jack, the big porn star?"
Thankfully I am humble enough to admit that, while I did appear in a fairly popular bareback
porn video (and even had top billing), I'm not a porn star. Porn stars differ from porn actors
in that they stay busy in the field, people recognize them, and studios call them to be in more
fuck films. It's like being a Hollywood star and getting paid to fuck.
Okay. Now that we have that cleared up... you want to be in porn videos. As I said, that's a fairly
easy thing to do. There are ever-growing numbers of studios making bareback videos these days.
Why? Because bareback videos SELL. So there is an ever-increasing market for guys who want to
fuck on video. But like any other job pursuit, it takes a certain amount of effort on your part
to land your first job.
Start by getting some decent photos of yourself. If you don't have a digital camera of your own,
find someone who does. I say "digital" because you won't have the headache of getting
photos developed discreetly by a photo lab. Arrange to have someone take the photos of you.
Get yourself buck-ass naked and pose. Make sure the area you'll be shooting in is well lit and
the background is nice. If you're shooting outdoors, try to stay in a nicely lit area, out of
shadows, but also try to stay out of direct sunlight as direct sun can cast ugly shadows on your
body. Make sure your photographer fills at least 75% of the frame with you, and not the background.
Flora and fauna make a nice backdrop, but the wall of a building or even a nice open yard will
look good behind you. Looking good is your main objective.
If you're shooting indoors, keep the room well-lit and even point a light at the background.
Try to keep the background as plain as possible. A blank wall or a plain bedsheet hung over
a wall would work fine. Avoid dark or cluttered spaces behind you. You're trying to show off
your body, not your housekeeping. "Artsy" shots might look nice for artsy pix, but
oftentimes such shots obscure parts of your body. The studios will be shooting you in good
light. They want to see how you look under such conditions.
Make sure you show yourself from a few different angles. Get clear shots of your face, your torso,
your dick and your butt. A couple of full body shots are worth taking. Get a hardon for a few shots
even if your forte is being on bottom. All in all, have your photographer take about 20 photos
so you'll have a good selection to choose from. And SMILE!
Next, pick no more than a half-dozen of the best shots and have them sized for easy e-mailing.
Generally 480 X 640 is a good size. Bigger and they take up too much space, and smaller may
give the talent scouts eye strain trying to see what you look like. Now you're ready to start
applying.
Start by visiting the websites of all the bareback porn studios. Most have a section where you
can apply to be in their videos. But before going there, check out their current actors and
their video stills and see if you fit the "type" they seem to be hiring. Whereas once
upon a time all you needed was a dick and the desire to have sex in front of a camera, now the studios
are getting more specific about they types they hire. There is still a wide spectrum of types
being used, but you'll do best with the companies that appear to like your type.
Now, go to their application page and fill in the required info. BE HONEST. I can't stress that
enough. If you're 40, but nature has been kind and you look 30 on camera, they'll take that
into consideration. If you're 30 and you look 40, they'll consider that too. Age is not always
a negative, but you should be realistic in accepting how you look to the outside world through
the lens of a camera.
You can apply at every studio if you desire... sometimes they might need someone that doesn't fit
their "usual" type for a specific project. Other times they might just want interested
guys willing to shed it all for a hot scene to shoot. Unless you're GQ material, be prepared for
some rejection.
Now, here's something VERY important. Find out where the studio is in relation to yourself. If
you live in Iowa, or Canada, or anywhere else far away from a studio, you may find that
your usefulness will be extremely limited. The studios are still largely on the coasts (Florida,
New York, California), and unless you're outstanding they may not care to fly you in for a shoot...
especially with no previous experience. Plan on traveling to them. If you can't go at a moment's
notice, then plan a vacation to their city and let them know you're coming. They may try to
schedule something around your trip if they like you enough. Your best bet is keeping in touch
with studios that show an interest in using you. Don't just pop into their town unannounced and
expect they'll get their cameras rolling. Let them know you're coming, and how long you'll be staying.
Be prepared to do a screen test. Screen tests may be as simple as shucking your shorts and
whacking off in front of a camera, or as involved as putting your ass up for a good plowing.
No doubt it will be in front of the producers and cameramen. They'll want to see how you react
to having sex with fully-clothed people watching and the camera rolling. And don't show up to
either a screen test or a shoot fucked up on drugs or alcohol. Most studios won't put you in
front of a camera if you're not sober.
You can find more about the requirements for being a pornstar in the Archive section of
my Bareback Jack Perspective column, at:
http://www.barebackjack.com/perspective.html
Best of luck to you, and I hope we'll be seeing you pig out on video soon!
~Bareback Jack.
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