LA Times: Tough times in the porn industry; Girls Admit They're Not Working

Well someone should contact them and send them all these articles asap. Might help i dunno.

Amen. Sad part is though in most of those instances your offer probably never even reached her and the decision was made to say no by someone else....when her rent was due. Damn.

When was that ? 10 freakin' years ago if not more? lol ...

tia

$600 is what has been paid for years. I can give you a list of companies that paid $600 for a bg shoot. Think about it this way, do you want to do a scene that is payroll for $900. After they take out around $200-$250 in taxes from your $900. Your now down to $700-$650, then you have to pay your 10% to your agent, or more if you don't have a car.

You are now down to $540 for a bg scene, you just lost $60. If you can hold to your prices do so, but when the bills are due, the decision should be up to you to decide.

yes an agent would rather see a model sit at home than come in under some imagined value

those were the rates in 2001-2004

Partially true .... but I rarely use an agent anymore for one(i do have a car ... lol ) ,and two not too many companies take out payroll regardless of what you may think .... new sensations comes to mind and a few others .... but not many .... and i've been in the biz for about 3 years now .... never once have i done a b/g scene for 600 bucks nor will I ... probably because I don't really need to ... some girls may need to .... either way I've never heard of many successful companies paying 600 for a b/g scene .... until recently that is .... I'm glad I'm on my way out of the LA scene or paid shooting scene in general ... mostly concentrating on stuff for my site now ....

tia

Really? well I guess I came in right after the boom then .... but either way .... not something I'd be willing to do for 5 or 600 bucks .... but thats just me ...

tia

thats fine.. there are other girls turning 18 every day

Halelujah....And that's why I'm STILL shooting in the ghetto.....

I'm on a shooting RAMPAGE....I can sit on my ass and not shoot for the next three and a half months and have updates....I'm hoarding content like a Squirrel hoardes nuts before winter.

Exactly....There's always another young snatch that's young, dumb, and full of cum.....Why even bother with an old seasoned broad that will scoff at 600 when you can get something young and fresh for even cheaper??

You're an idiot

You know what .... I know most of this is going to fall on deaf ears .... but i'm going to state a few obvious points ....

First of all .... all of you keyboard warriors with 20000 posts that sit here saying the girls don't deserve the money, the girls couldn't do anything else, who cares that they're getting paid less .... bla bla bla would probably give your left nut to have many of them as your significant other and probably jerk off to them nightly ... regardless of whether they're 18 or 35 ....

Secondly ..... for those of you that say 5 or 600 is a fair rate and a girl doesn't deserve the rate she's being paid have obviously never shot a scene or considered the risks involved with shooting. Now ... I'm not saying a girl charging 2000 or 3000 for b/g is a fair rate .... I'm talking about the avg or norm of 900 to 1000 for b/g . A girl shooting a scene doesn't just walk in the front door fuck for an hour and leave .... the positions are often very uncomfortable, you're often their all day for an LA scene, there's almost always hang ups regarding someone in the crew or talent, You're putting your face out there for all to see including friends and family, and probably most important you're putting your health at risk. Testing my ass .... everyone knows that plenty of people in the industry are simply unsafe by fucking without protection off set , the tests don't pick up herpes, HPV, or even Hep .... not to mention that someone can pick up something that is tested for by being irresponsible as mentioned earlier. Yes, we all know these risks and kowones crying about it ... however, for you to say that the rate is not deserved givin all these factors ... you're being cheap in my opinion. Everything above isn't even taking into consideration if the girl is from out of town .... such as me .... which is a whole different story. At 5 to 600 bucks a scene , shooting one scene a day for 7 days straight wouldn't hardly even make the trip worth it after airfare, testing, room, board, etc .... and that's assuming every single day was booked and you sat on your ass all week and never went out...... which is usually what i do ... lol ....

Will there always be a young , nieve 18 year old chick that you can jack for a cheap scene that doesn't know any better .... yeah ... probably .... but she'll wise up and then say you're a piece of shit for taking advantage of her before she knew any better .... if you want that kind of rep, I suppose it's an option for you.

And Thirdly, for those of you that think its as simple as dropping your rate to 5 or 600 bucks for boy girl scene in order to get work .... I'm sorry .... but it wouldn't make that much of a difference. Yes .... it would pick you up a few more scenes maybe .... but I know plenty of girls that are willing to drop their rate and it's not doing them much good either. I know brand new girls .... very pretty and sexy that go to LA for 3 weeks and shoot 3 scenes. It's not as simple as dropping your rate .... many companies aren't shooting at all .... dropping your rate isn't going to help that. Until someone gets the free porn of the net .... I don't care what you do .... always going to be issues effecting everyone. I find my content jacked all the time .... sometimes i get them to take it down ... sometimes not.

My two cents .... I'm sure many disagree .... but some of you need to keep in mind that without the girls .... you all better go find something else to do , simple as that .... and right now it's simply not worth it to be in adult for a girl. Maybe for part time extra cash .... but not as a career ...

Tia

Since you live in Ohio, New Sensations is violating California law. If the model lives out of state, they are supposed to withhold 20% of your earnings and turn it over to the state.

don't make assumptions... i've made the mistake of dating porn girls.. the kinds on the box covers, not just a scene here and there and i tell them they get paid too much and i've fucked plenty of other porn chicks

but hey, trannys like you usually do get paid more per scene than normal girls.. more power to you

i still think $1k to for 4-5 hours of work is too much and it looks like I'm not in the minority. now the market is catching up and with too many girls and not enough work the rates get lower

and anyone who books you to work in l.a. and pays for your ticket is breaking the mann act.

Not comical my friend...it's a fucking lie.

No one wants to really admit how much sales are down.

Hallelujah, back at ya!

I started off shooting in the ghetto in Cincinnati, worked my way to the ghettos of Colombia and Venezuela (almost got killed a few times in these south American ghettos), then moved across the big pond to the ghettos of Asia. The ghetto is where it's at!

Wow .... you're a real super studd .... I guess we should all be impressed .... I mean ... it takes lot of class to sit on a computer and degrade the people you hire to keep your livelihood going .... calling me a tranny is a perfect example .... If you have your opinion that we get paid too much ... fine ... you're entitled to it .... and i'm entitled to disagree ... and i don't doubt that most here will disagree because most here haven't been in our role .... so it's easy for you to simply try to insult me and dismiss the points i've made .... also pretty unprofessional but I guess unprofessionalism is another reason the industry is in the state it's in ... but feel free to call names all you like but it's probably only because you're one of those guys sitting behind your computer all night jerking off ....

Normal girls do get paid what i get paid , 900 to 1000 is still the norm rate .... 5 - 600 is a lowball rate .... I still get work for my rate because i put out a good scene, I show up on time, and i'm easy to work with .... anyone that's worked with me knows this ....

It cracks me up that everyones so quick to chop what they pay the girl and then wonder why they get some messed up crackhead that would take anything for her next fix on set , gets a shit scene , and ends up bitching and moaning about it .... hmmmm ....

I never stated anyone pays my way to LA ... not sure what you're talking about .... I get my rate if i choose to go out there .... but you're still missing the fundamental point that the industry isn't fucked because there's too many girls charging a higher rate .... it 's because there's free fucking porn everywhere ... Is it that difficult to understand? It's not catching up to the girls .... it's catching up to everyone ... I have a site, I have free sites and tgps, they've all decreased but why would anyone pay for anything at this point? A girl lowering their rate is not going to combat that .... I don't think you get that part .... but whatever ... I'm wasting my breath ...

Tia

I meant new sensations is one of the companies that do take out payroll ... but i'm not sure what the percentage is .... there's a few others , as well but really not that many .... most of them ... even bigger companies .... just write you a hand written check ... very rarely have i gotten a payroll check other than a select few companies ....

tia

It's bad. I just took a $500 pay cut per scene from my biggest client. I still make a good profit because of where I shoot but losing $500 is losing $500, no matter how you try to spin it.

I've also watched my own DVDs not only drop dramatically in sales over the past 12 months, but it's much harder to collect on the money that is owed to you. People are being sued, companies are closing down, invoices are not getting paid anywhere near on time... it's fucking bad.

If 50% of the DVD world is still around within 16 - 18 months, I will be shocked. I also expect a good portion of the online community to be gone as well. The recession is going to get MUCH worse, regardless of what the media is telling us now. In fact, it's going to be a full blown depression. Unemployed is now at 9.4 but real unemployment is 20%+ and will also rise. Keep in mind, they only count you as unemployed if you are collecting unemployment and you can only do that for so many weeks. The US dollar is losing value, gas is rising again, and serious inflation is right around the corner. And that's not even touching the piracy and free porn issue.

I hate to be Mr. Gloom and Doom, but shit's about to get real hard for a lot of people.

i always find it funny that porn producers attack their talent when they choose to disagree with their oppinion

your not whining about the rate being to low you simple said you would not accept that and choose to shoot for your own site

that understandable and admirable too, you realize that $60/ month in residual income is worth more then $600 in one lump sum.

building up the inventory of your own site make perfect sense for someone who is smart.

I agree. There are companies in porn valley that can?t break the 1,000 piece barrier on a new release anymore. Let?s do the math; 5 scenes at an average cost of $2,000.00 per scene, editing, artwork, and replication. With a new release average price of $10 per piece combined with the aforementioned expenses, this means that on street date, they are already in the red on a DVD release. Why do they still produce? So they may collect on outstanding invoices. It?s common practice that if the distributor does not get any new releases, they don?t pay previous invoices. There are distributors that are over 365 days in arrears and the producers want their money.

A number of companies have stopped shooting and are now releasing comps as new releases or simply buying content to put on DVD. They can?t afford to shoot anymore.

The good news is that some of these companies are now doing other things to supplement their income.

Thank you ... I appreciate that ! Tia

They are going to license it all to web content stores, it's going to end up on every pay site, and if that company had any chance of survival, they can kiss it good-bye.

Hey DWB ....

I've noticed this with alot of my stuff that I shot a while back for DVD .... stuff is EVERYWHERE !

Tia

I agree.

been doing that for almost 2 years

I'm smart enough to know a snooty old broad when I see one...Don't get mad because I called it like I saw it.

All the reasons you give about $500/600 scenes not being worth it, and the "avg or norm" being $900-1000 are completely irrelevant.

There's a reason that b/g scenes went from $500-600 to $800-1000--because more companies started shooting porn in the boom period of 2000-2005 or so. And there's a reason why rates are coming down now--there are too many models chasing too few jobs.

Whatever your reasons are for pricing your services, the most important factor in determining what the "standard" b/g rate is the basic law of economics: supply and demand.

I was in Cincinnati last weekend .... Over-the-Rhine area. (still a ghetto)


.

No matter what these "women" say... at the end of the day THEY MADE THE CHOICE to be in Adult. So fucking live with it or stay home...

I'm snooty because I won't drop my rate ... that makes sense ... and just because I said you're an idiot doesn't mean i'm mad ... just means i called it like i saw it ....

you're calling me an old broad ... lol .... all the chicks you shoot are fat and look like they're 80 ... did you pick them up on a corner or what? That's why they'll shoot for $2 ... trust me you should spend some more time on those shitty ass sites of yours mr black vagina finder instead of trying to call anything .... and lord help you if that's you shooting with them ... best of luck to you with your clips store ... lol ...

I am on the front lines of recruiting and working with a lot of those fresh 18 year olds and trust me porn is not the allure of easy money it once was. The advent of social media has allowed the truth to come shining through. Girls come to me a lot more savvy to the ins and outs of being "sold the dream of $10k a month".

I am not saying the faucet will be turned off, but it is getting harder to woo them into adult work. Girls talk and now that everyone is a friend request away, they are finding out that the gold rush in LA is over.

As a shooter I would rather work with a veteran over a complete newbie any day of the week. Especially one that puts on the caliber of performance that Tia brings, and brings to every scene. I would imagine those that pay her rates know this and the proof is in the product she moves.

Sinclair

I agree with this ... it's just up to the model whether she'll accept the lower rates or not. I can afford to shoot once in a while for my rate .... where others may not be able to afford that ... I don't know .... but def true .... way too many models chasing too few jobs

Thank you Mr Sinclair ! You've always been one of the classiest dudes in the biz .... Thanks to you I have some great images like the one i'm using for my avatar !

coudn't have said it better myself

The rates for shemale models now in Brazil is going up since the shemale boom started.

You realize that "tia" is actually a guy pretending to be his gf, right? He/she has been outted before I believe. Tia does not post on here.

Bingo! This is exactly how it works.

You have no idea what you're talking about ... the only one that's outed me on this here before is you on another thread .... I post under this id and my husband posts under another sig ... I've made this very clear and so has he ... please do not post shit that you have no knowledge of ... tia

Well I don't know if that's how it works .... but I will agree that this is a pretty crazy rate to ask for .... although I know some do ask for it and still get it on occassion ... tia

When we came here the Krown was around 25 CZK to the $. The average monthly wage was in then was 10,000 ($400). The cost of HC was anything from 5,000 CZK ($200) a day to 10,000 CZK ($400) a scene for good girls.

Then the Internet shooters arrived and started to act like the big boys on the block and were paying $1000 (25000 CZK) a HC scene some paid even more. Some solo girl sites were paying $900 a day. The plus side was it got rid of a lot of the cowboys and cheap skates. The agents were suddenly making very big money and telling the girls these rates were normal. The big studios like Private had always paid well,bt he girls looked on that as a bonus.

Now the CZK is 18 to the $ and those rates are beyond companies budgets and they switched to paying in Euros and some stuck to the $.

Today girls will negotiate if the work is there and especially people based here and key to give more than 1 day or 1 scene's work. But the work is not there unless its idiots filling there sites with cheap Russian/Ukraine or similar places $500 a scene. The work is often bad and sometimes awful. Documents can be questionable. They claim to only able to afford this price. I suspect probably because their sites don't convert or retain and don't keep affiliates long.

So back to models.

I have worked in porn since 1977 and endured 3 major recessions, not that porn was ever effected before by recessions. Through all these recessions the number of phone calls from new girls trebled or even quadrupled. The girls were willing to do nearly anything to earn money and would work for less, I still paid the same. I was mostly finding girls direct as agents were not very good and only advertised where I did. The phone never stopped ringing.

Today we are seeing less girls than we have ever seen, it's gone from 2-3 a day to 2-3 a week. They are also very careful what they will do. Most who come to castings will do solo and lesbian, very few new girls will do boy-girl unless its with their boyfriend. Totally different from previous recessions. The reason is AIDS, STDs, and the odds on their friends seeing them having sex on the Internet.

Now think of it, would you risk the above for AIDS, STDs, and friends finding out for cheap rates?

My advice is to advertise for girls direct and tell them what you pay on a "Take it or leave it" basis. If the girl is drop dead gorgeous you can offer more, plain you can offer the norm or less. My advice is to send the plain ones home unless they will give a great performance of massive real orgasms. Today we need girls who will convert and retain, not just fill a site. Then you might be able to pay more.

The good thing about shooting for 30 years is the experience it gives you. Most situations you have handled before, rightly and wrongly. So now they are easier to deal with.

cheap bastards

Someone that finally makes sense .... B

Fucking newbie

That's why we do castings and can usually tell if a girl is willing or not. Girls that charge that kind of price today, and get it, should be girls with star status.

15 to 20 years ago when the rate was $500 to $600 a scene for normal BG, girls were getting 10 scenes a weeks. $5,000 made it worthwhile. Today the girls know if thier price did drop to that there would be little more work. If a company can't afford $400 extra for the model after paying all the other costs of a scene this I doubt if dropping the over all budget $400 is not going to mean a lot more more work.

And many are steering clear of the business. They have heard of girls who got HIV, STDs, and exposed for doing porn. For $5000 a week it's tempting, the girls that turn up at casting who think porn is a job paying that much after the first few months are getting very few. Loads of girls come into the business starting at solo girl and often lesbian. They soon learn the amount of work to be had even in BG and decide it's not worth it.

This guy makes the most sense of any posts i've read so far .... yeeeeaaaahhhh .... someone that finally understands ... lol ... Tia

Your basis argument is right, many todauy are not shooting because they are not selling. Where you're wrong is the cost of releasing a DVD. $1,500 per scene might just cover the cost of the models, shooters, lighting, sound, make up, location, other costs take it way over $2,000 jhust to shoot the film. Then editing, packaging, duplicating and promotion is more costs. Also I believe that unless the movie is that level they will be getting more like $5. The good movies try to cover all costs with US DVD sales, then there is mobile, Internet, Cable, Hotels and overseas licenses. This is where the profit is made. EU is the same. Just EU sales instead of US sales.

Produce a movie for $10,000 and the danger is it will not sell in many of these markets and consumer loyalty will suck as well after a few editions.

Some DVD companies realised that and many did not. That was the biggest reason for drop in sales once the consumer did not have to buy.