Behind the Scenes of 2017 AVN Awards Ad Campaign

CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Aspen Rae and Riley Reid took different paths to today’s high-stakes shoot, but now they’re working as a team in more ways than one. Rae made a name for herself as one of the most bankable live-cam models on the internet, cutting the ribbon to open the 2016 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in January; Reid, meanwhile, carved her place in porn history with a record haul at the 2016 AVN Awards, where she won Female Performer of the Year among other honors. But even though they only met a few weeks ago, they’re warming up to each other on this steamy afternoon in the San Fernando Valley as they shoot the national ad campaign for the 2017 AVN Awards Show sponsored by Chaturbate and MyFreeCams. The pair will co-host the 34th annual ceremony that has become the biggest night in adult entertainment on Jan. 21 at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. Rae, who modeled for the 2016 AEE ad campaign, also tasted the AVN Awards spotlight as a presenter at this year’s show. “I was up there for 30 seconds to give one of the awards out and I was so nervous,” Rae recalls. “I was like, 'oh my god this is huge,' and then next year I’m hosting it. It’s going to be really fun.” Veteran photographer Keith Munyan is working closely with the campaign’s creative director, Gavin Antill, on the look and feel of the shoot, which will feature the girls in lacy black lingerie juxtaposed with glittering gold and sultry red backdrops. “I want it to be glamorous but at the same time feel more personal,”Antill tells me as the girls do some test shots for Munyan, the go-to photographer for AVN’s ad campaigns whose adult industry resume includes numerous feature box covers for Wicked Pictures’ award-winning movies. “I’ve worked with him many a times,” says Reid, the 25-year-old native of Miami Beach who started her career in 2011 and has performed in more than 400 movies en route to reaching the pinnacle of the profession in January. “I’ve shot at his house a bunch. I feel like I know him more on a personal level. I love him. He’s so great the way he motivates you and gives you really good direction.” Reid in January won seven AVN Awards, four of which came from her career performance in Being Riley, the remarkable showcase produced and directed by Greg Lansky for his Tushy imprint distributed by Jules Jordan. In addition to Female Performer of the Year, she won Best Girl/Girl Sex Scene, Best Anal Sex Scene, Best Star Showcase and Best DP Sex Scene as well as fan-voted awards for Favorite Female Performer and Social Media Star. She and Rae look sensational together moving slowly to the progressive house music filling the new studio space at AVN’s Chatsworth headquarters, while Munyan snaps away and the pro behind-the-scenes crew documents the action. Just a couple days ago Rae was flying a helicopter as she continues her training to be a pilot. These days the 25-year-old is either practicing her aerial skills, web-camming or staked out in the gym, where she is training for her next bodybuilding competition in October, when she will debut in the figure category. “Those are like my three things in life—helicopters, gym and either porn or web-camming,” says Rae, who debuted on MyFreeCams in March 2010 and was crowned Miss MFC in October of that year. Her live shows now often draw 2,000-4,000 viewers as one of the top models on the platform. In addition to her cam persona, she diversified her repertoire with girl/girl porn scenes in recent years, doing about 20 so far, including more than a dozen for Girlfriends Films, which released a showcase called The Aspen Rae Experience in 2015. Rae says she met Reid at the first ever AVN House Party on June 9, when they were announced as hosts. “We’ve kind of been flirting online,” Rae admits. “She did an interview and was asked what girls do you want to work with and she was like, ‘I know Aspen Rae wants to work with me.’ So we’ve been like just waiting for our moment to happen. We still haven’t had sex yet, so hopefully that’s just around the corner, too.” Rae shot mostly for Twistys for her first year-and-a-half as a girl/girl performer and then gradually started shooting for select others. “And I just did my first light bondage for FM Concepts. So I’m starting to do different things and expand a little bit,” she says. Several looks and set design changes later, Munyan, Antill & Co. declare the day a wrap. To no one’s surprise, the shoot flowed into a few unanticipated directions—and the results were sizzling. “That was unexpected,” Antill concludes. “It was really amazing. The magic happened. I think it was the best one yet.” “It was such a great day,” Rae tells me. “The hours flew by. It was just chill. We got everything done and it’s still light outside. I think the shoot was fantastic.” She adds, “With Riley things are just easy. I think we’re going to be able to build an actual friendship and we’re going to have that real chemistry that is so important on stage.”  Reid agrees. “I got to see some of the photos pulled up on the computer and I got to see some of the behind-the-scenes photos and it looks beautiful and epic and gorgeous,” Reid says with a smile.  And her rapport with Rae couldn’t have been better. “We both read each other’s body language,” Reid reveals. “We were both very considerate and aware of each other’s body not wanting to cover too much of each other.  “Neither of us are like the star of the show. We’re both playing it very equally which is really nice. Just her energy is incredible. She’s chill, down to earth, not like a diva. She just made it feel like we’ve done this a million times.”