Will Covid-19 Forever Change the Way Porn Is Made?

Some states around the US have begun to reopen businesses and public areas, even as the national death toll from the new coronavirus continues to rise. In the midst of all this uncertainty, it’s unclear when the porn industry will be able to get back to business as usual. A production hold issued by the FSC back in mid-March remains in place, leaving studio productions in the lurch and performers to fend for themselves on direct-to-consumer platforms like OnlyFans, joined by thousands of newbies who are trying their hand at sex work for the first time while they’re stuck at home, laid off, and in need of cash. 

Nobody knows what will happen in the next few months, but some are beginning to speculate that this new face of adult content-making may be a glimpse into the future of the porn industry.

“Behind the industry’s resilient facade, porn stars and academics who study the industry say the pandemic has accelerated major changes in the way porn is produced and distributed,” wrote Otillia Steadman for Buzzfeed News earlier this week. “While traditional porn studios are learning to work from home, some performers say they are making tens of thousands of dollars each month without ever setting foot on set.” 

But the studios who used to run those sets aren’t giving up the ghost. Lockdown has prevented them from shooting as they normally do, and, “In many cases, this has meant studios asking performers to film at home,” wrote Steadman at Buzzfeed. “But the content they can make now depends on whether a porn star has roommates to film with and if they’re any good at lighting the shot.”

Lance Hart of Sweet Femdom and Man Up Films told Buzzfeed that he’s been letting his performers shoot their own scenes. “It’s risky because the content I get could be subpar because I wasn’t there.” But, he says, “So far it’s been good. Parts of it are way better than anything I would have shot because it’s new, and you know, ‘I didn’t think of doing it that way. That’s cool!’”

Meanwhile, Vixen has pledged $250K to teaching their contracted performers how to make new studio-level content from home—even sending them the high-end equipment they’ll need to pull it off. They’re calling the new series, featuring performers at home, “Intimates,” and “plans to keep the Intimates series going beyond the pandemic and will include the series as part of its other brands going forward.”

“Porn has been moving in this direction for a long time,” wrote Steadman. “In many cases, the distinction between professional and amateur content is now more of an aesthetic judgment than a meaningful description of how the work was produced, but with studios starting to work from home, those lines are becoming even blurrier.”

After the financial crisis of 2008 decimated big adult studios and streaming sites rose to prominence, Steadman wrote, performer-based content like webcams and amateur clip sites “provided a way to combat piracy with something unique. Performers could interact directly with their audience or create custom clips, providing a more personal experience that could not be replicated by simply watching a pirated video.”

More recently, a tenuous balance between old-fashioned studio porn and performer-created content has been struck, “with performers making extra money selling behind-the-scenes clips that promoted their studio work, and studios functioning as a launchpad for stars, driving attention and traffic to their personal accounts.”

But now, amidst the devastation of the coronavirus epidemic, said Steadman, “That balance has shifted. Amateur sites are growing rapidly, and with millions of people now stuck at home and out of work, starting an account on an amateur porn site has begun to cross over into mainstream culture.”

As we’ve noted here on YNOT before, performer-created content platforms like OnlyFans have seen a surge in model sign-ups and customers. OnlyFans, especially, has gotten “massively popular, with subscriptions up 50% in April” after Beyoncé added the platform to a lyric in a recent Megan Thee Stallion song. “[OnlyFans’s] chief operating officer Thomas Stokely told BuzzFeed News the site is seeing about 200,000 new users every 24 hours and 7,000 to 8,000 new creators joining every day” according to Buzzfeed. As of early may, said Stokely, the site is up to 30 million users, with subscriptions up over 50% in April.

“[Traditional] subscription sites are doing well, but not having the leaps and bounds growth of the individual cam producers,” said Cathy Beardsley, CEO of SegPay, who reported to Buzzfeed that revenue for “adult clients” has grown by around 10 percent overall in the last two months…with cam sites blowing up  by 32 percent.

Adrian Stoneman, vice president of ImLive, told Buzzfeed their site “is seeing so much traffic that they’re adding features, and have begun searching for a sportscaster to narrate some of the cams for people who are blind.”

With the balance of power falling to cam sites and performers, the question seems to loom: Will studio porn be a thing of the past when lockdown ends?

Mike Stabile, spokesperson for the FSC, told Buzzfeed that although he does see that the industry is becoming more focused on performers, he doesn’t see the end of studio-produced porn in the future. “I don’t think this is the end. I don’t think this is a meteorite with some dinosaurs,” he said. “I think it’s a really interesting time for the industry, where the entire industry rethinks things and decides to become more creative.”