So you want to know how to become a male porn star? Well, that’s a lot easier said than done. Now the good news is, if you are black, then you’ll be happy to know that Greg Lansky from Blacked.com is looking for the next top male porn star.
This opportunity is open to all black men over 18 years of age. This is an open casting call. If you think you have what it takes simply email casting@blacked.com.
Despite popular belief, not just anyone can be a porn star. The adult industry is about making money and they have found that typically the most attractive males and females make the most money.
So yes, like it or not, you will be judged by what you look like. However that being said, beauty standards in porn are significantly different than in Hollywood. Some of the most famous and successful porn stars who make a ton of money every year, would probably never be given a second glance in mainstream. I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t judge yourself to harshly.
If you don’t submit a picture when you apply, you won’t be considered. Your application will automatically be deleted.
If you don’t liven in the United States, your application will automatically be deleted. As I said like oh 200 times all throughout this site, the law prohibits anyone from working in the adult industry without a valid work permit and the government will never issue a work permit to someone who wants to come to the US to do porn. Sorry, it’s just not going to happen.
If you submit fake or edited photos and you are initially given interest by an agent, he (or she) will eventually find out you lied and what you really look like and drop you. You’ll never earn a dime so why waste your time and ours? USE REAL UNEDITED PHOTOS. Seriously, be honest on your application.
We aren’t stupid. We know about apps like photoshop, Instagram filters and apps like Facetune. Using these apps won’t help you when you show up on a set and look nothing like your photos. This is why before an agent will ever consider working with you, after getting your initial application and photos, you will be required to skype or facetime the agent. This is when you’ll get caught. You can’t fake live video. They will know right away that you edited your photos and won’t consider working with you as a result.
If you are a male and don’t live in the LA area, you will not be given consideration. Unlike females, agents don’t tend to waste time with a male talent who doesn’t live in LA where porn is made.
People love to say how mainstream porn is becoming. But you only really have to look at the performers themselves to know that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Any mainstream actor or actress who wants to take their career serious knows they must have an agent, publicist and manager and keep an entertainment lawyer on retainer to handle the contracts for any deals that come their way. Once they get a little famous and some money in their pocket, some even add on a stylist and hair and makeup lady.
In porn, our performers sometimes have an agent, sometimes they don’t. Less than 10% have a publicist and probably less than half a percent (if even that) have a manager (a legit one not a suitcase pimp / boyfriend) and let’s be real, nobody keeps an entertainment lawyer on retainer. LOL
I can see not doing that, but what about agents, managers and publicists? Why are porn actors do different than their mainstream counterparts?
In mainstream these group of people work hand and hand for the betterment of the actors career. In porn, HELL NO. It’s a battle royale to the death. Nobody works together. People in porn are so quick to talk shit about one another. It’s really sad.
I’m not going to name any names because that’s not what this article is about. I’m speaking here in general terms not at any one person specifically. So let’s look at how it should go using some random name I’ll just make up pretending she’s real for example purposes.
Fake Suzy wants to be a porn star so gets an agent – let’s say LA Direct Models. Now her agent has one job to do, get her booked in scenes. LA Direct Models is well known as a solid, reputable agent. So Fake Suzy has begun her career in porn in the right direction.
Now that Fake Suzy has been in a few scenes, she hires a publicist, let’s say The Rub PR. Erica Icon, her publicist takes on the job on getting this girl exposure. This means she will send out a press release every time Fake Suzy appears in a movie. She’ll work to get her nominated for both AVN and XBIZ awards and if Fake Suzy is nominated, she’ll send out press releases for that. She’ll prep Fake Suzy for red carpet events and make sure her name is always on the list of special industry specific functions like the AVN Halloween party, or other similar events that happen throughout the year and make sure that Fake Suzy gets her picture taken and the media knows she was at that event because she gets copies of those pictures of her client at that event and blasts them out everywhere.
A publicist also works with news and media outlets including radio stations, large affiliate websites and gets you interviews or a feature on relevant websites – all in the name of getting you more exposure.
In the mean time things are going great for Fake Suzy. Her agent is booking her more work, her publicist is promoting her, and her twitter followers have skyrocketed.
So now she hires a manager. A manager is not the same as an agent.
The manager will work in conjunction with both her agent and her publicist. He will look for special opportunities for Fake Suzy that will allow her to take her career to the next level.
There are TONS of managers in mainstream Hollywood but not so much in porn so in the case of Fake Suzy we are just going to pretend she got lucky and found a good one.
Fake Suzy’s new manager will look for special big projects, like say a big budget movie that some studio is working on and will work to get you an audition. They don’t book you any actual work – that is the sole job of your agent. A manager however does know lots of products and directors and they use those friendships with those people to get you noticed. They bring you to private parties these producers and directors may be holding. They get you exposure but in a different way than your publicist does. A manager is all about relationships and building relationships that helps further his clients career.
Managers can give a porn star an extra push, getting you those face to face meetings with the right people so that when your agent calls to book you with said producer, they already know who you are and want to work with you. They can also leverage their relationships with the right people to get you box covers and things like that which you might not have otherwise been considered for.
A manager also looks for unusual projects like walk-on or bit parts on TV shows or in mainstream movies. When you get to be part of some mainstream TV show or movie, or heck even appear for 5 minutes on some random reality TV show then you publicist takes advantage of that and puts out a press release or maybe even gets you to appear on a radio show to talk about the time time you met someone famous when you were on the set of some music video.
Because these kind of projects are about exposure or building your brand more than actually making you much money (you might make $300 to $500 for the day on something like this), so that’s why it is something your manager finds for you instead of your agent. Your agent wants to book you legit porn work because it is where you’ll make the most money. But a manager is all about building your brand. So while you not make as much money that day working on that project, you will probably gain some new fans from it.
And then again it helps you in porn because next time you are up for a big project in porn you can be like well I will be on an episode of (insert some random TV show here) this season and that might convince the porn producer to want to book you for his next movie instead of someone else because you’ll have more exposure. The more famous you are, the more likely his movie is to sell and that means the more money he’ll make. See how that works?
A manager will also look for unique opportunities for you within porn like trying to get you to be the next Penthouse Pet of the next Vixen.com Vixen of the month or the next Twistys Treat of the Month. They may also negotiate a sex toy deal for you or even a 3 month exclusive contract for some camming website where for the next 3 months you’ll agree to appear on their live cam every Friday for 2 hours. Maybe they’ll even get you a deal where you will be paid to promote a brand of t-shirts.
Again, something to keep in mind is that an agent is not a manager and a manager can’t be an agent (legally speaking).
Agents are legally bound to seek work for you. They have larger client lists and act somewhat like brokers with you as the product they are brokering. Their only job is to book you work, as much work as they can possibly get you. The more work they get you the more money you make and the more money they make.
Managers generally represent a smaller group of performers which allows them to have more time to focus just on you and have far more leeway to oversee and coordinate all aspects of your career. A good manager will be focused not only on getting work for their clients but also on trying to elevating the actor’s career.
A manager can’t legally book scenes for you. The law prohibits it. Only agents can book you work. Anyone can act as a manager, but only someone licensed and bonded can be an agent.
While all of this may sound great, it’s also not free. A porn agent may take up to 15% of every job they book you. Most legit agents in porn charge about 10% but if you don’t have a driver then you pay 15%, that extra 5% pays for your driver. So let’s say they book you 10 boy/girl scenes a month at $1,000 each.
$10,000 sounds great but gets taken away quickly when you have a big staff working for you. Your agent will get $150 per scene or $1,500 total (15% of $1,000 * 10). So now that $10,000 you earned is $8,500.
Your publicist will charge you a minimum of $500 per month, and that means your down to $8,000.
Now you have to throw in another $250 per month for your manager. So in the end that $10,000 you made is now only $7,750.
However keep in mind, the theory is, if you are spending all this extra money you are getting more work so if you wouldn’t have spent the money on the PR and manager, would you have had so many bookings in the first place. A good publicist, and manager pay for themselves simply because the amount of extra work and deals they get you more than make up for what it is they charge you per month.
Some publicists will charge $500 to $1,500 depending on who you use and what specifically you need done. Some managers will work for $250 to $1000 per month. There aren’t really a lot of legit “managers” in porn, but if you ask around you’ll find there are a few. In mainstream they work on percentages – agents usually get 10% while managers get 15%. In porn we don’t have a lot of these managers / deal makers but if there was one who was good and I mean REALLY good I would say he might be worth giving 10% but 15%? I don’t know. That seems like a lot. He would have to be damn good for me to give him that much. The theory is a good manager will elevate your career to a level that your talent agent can barely keep up with all the requests for work. So does that mean he deserves 5% more than your paying your agent? I guess if you had a really good manager. But honestly I’ve never seen that in porn before.
Most of the “managers” out there are really nothing more than suitcase pimps or shady boyfriends or sometimes male talent who can’t get enough work for themselves so they latch on to a girl and try and get a free ride off of her.
Then again, a well known male talent might actually be a good manager if he’s not a horrible drug addict or something like that because then he’ll have a lot of good connections already with producers. Just be careful if you do decide to work with a male talent as a manager that you go into it with your eyes wide open. You don’t need some guy with a bad reputation as a male talent, latching on to you trying to be your manager and ending up only bringing you down because of his own bad rep.
That’s not to say there aren’t some good managers out there, what you have to do is shop around, ASK FRIENDS and find out exactly what they are willing to do for you in exchange for the fee they are charging you.
If someone on your team isn’t doing your job, then you have to ask yourself, what exactly are you paying for in the first place? That’s why it is your job to stay on top of your people.
If you want to be a star and I mean a REAL star, that makes the highest rate per scene, gets to work on all the best projects, is always on the box cover and graces the covers of magazines, you need a good team to make it happen. It won’t just magically fall in your lap.
People refer to being the next “Jenna Jameson” but in reality what they don’t tell you is that Jenna Jameson didn’t start out super famous and she damn sure didn’t fall into it either. She worked her ass off. She used to put on a fake British accent and pretend to be her own assistant, calling radio stations all over the US booking interview for herself.
She said in an interview once that she would spend 8 hours a day, two or three days a week doing nothing but those kind of promo work. In the end, it obviously paid off for her. No porn star today is getting paid $25,000 to $50,000 a movie – that’s for damn sure. But people were willing to pay her those kind of numbers because when she appeared in a movie, that movie always sold out.
If you want that kind of fame, you are going to have tow work with a team and make it happen. Can it be done? Perhaps.
It has been done again since Jenna Jameson. Her name is Sunny Leone – she too was a former Vivid contract girl and Penthouse Pet of the Year. Today she’s one of the highest paid mainstream actresses in Bollywood (India) and has several lucrative contracts with mobile companies, a perfume deal and yes, she hosts things like the MTV awards India, was invited to walk the runway during New York’s fashion week this year and has now been in so many mainstream magazines I couldn’t even begin to count.
Long story short, this former porn star is now a multi-millionaire. She’s a mainstream actress who is rich beyond her wildest dreams.
Can you be a star at that level?
I don’t know, maybe. Anything is possible. But one thing you need to understand is that you need a great team to make it happen. It won’t happen on its own.
The question isn’t can you afford a publicist or manager. It’s really can you afford not to have one?
So you want to be a porn star? That’s great! But before you jump into it, you’ll want to do your research and that is what this website is about. This page in particular covers the most frequently asked questions about being in porn.
That is really up to you. Most porn stars set a number of days in a month they will work – for example August 1st – 10th. Then they have their agents book all of their scenes in those set days for the month. Some girls however will only work on Monday’s and some girls will work every day of the week Monday through Friday but won’t work weekends. When you want to work is totally up to you. You set your own days with your agent in advance and you can change them at any time just by picking up the phone and calling your agent.
If you are over 18 you can fill out our online application and after reviewing it, if we think you have real potential we will set you up with an agent. We work with several agents in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Florida, one in New York and one in Virginia. You can pick which specific region of the country you wish to work in.
No. While it is true most scenes are shot in LA, not all of them are. There are active producers in Las Vegas, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New York, San Francisco, some parts of Virginia and Arizona and a few different places in Canada.
Not every porn star live in LA. I would say about half of them do, but the other half travel. Porn isn’t a full time job. People typically work 10 days a month, at which time they fly out to LA to work, then after go back home. So if you don’t want to live in LA, don’t worry – you don’t have to. You can come out and stay in a model house during your time in LA, Las Vegas or Florida (depending on where you are working) and then fly back to your real home and live a normal life the rest of the month.
There are no rules for this however 6 to 9 inches is typical. Some people think bigger is better, but ask any female porn star who has to have sex with some guy with a huge cock and she’ll tell you she prefers the smaller guys because it hurts less the next day.
No. Anyone who tells you that is probably trying to sell you some or has a friend who does them and wants to help his buddy make some money. You do not need professional head shots to get into porn. You will need some photos, but you can just take them of yourself (selfies) or have others take them of you – like a friend.
No. Only the person who wants to perform can get themselves into porn. You can’t do it for them. It has to be something they do on their own, of their own free will and by putting forth the effort on their own.
Oh heavens no. While it is true a lot of porn stars have big fake boobs, not all of them do. There are fans that like all kinds. If you happen to have big, natural boobs then you will probably find yourself book a lot of work. There is a big call for girls who have large real tits.
You don’t _HAVE_ to do anything and that most especially includes who you work with. There are things called a “no” list which a performer can specify who she won’t work with. She doesn’t even have to give a reason. All a porn star has to do is add a name to her list, give it to her agent and her agent will know not to ever book her in a scene with anyone on her list.
No. A lot of porn stars don’t go on the road and tour strip clubs. Don’t get me wrong, it’s extremely profitable if you do, but dancing isn’t for everyone.
Hell no! In fact it’s illegal to do it in most cases so it’s best if you don’t get involved in such risky activity. No doubt you will be asked, MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY times during the span of your career, but you don’t ever have to do anything you don’t want to. And quite honestly, I would advise against it. Being an escort not only opens up a whole can of legal worms, but it also puts you at much higher risk for contracting STDs.
No. You are not their employee, you are a contractor paid a daily or per scene rate to do one job. At the end of that day your relationship with the porn company in question is over. As a self-employed contractor, you’ll be responsible for paying your own taxes and getting your own health coverage.
Porn stars are not employees of a given company. They are paid to do a single job and then given that pay at the end of the day – or in some cases the money is paid directly to their agent and their agent will gather all the money the porn star makes while they are in town and then pay them on the day they leave. Typically porn stars work out that arrangement with their agent in advance.
The only exception to this is if you are awarded with a “contract” with a company. While rare, certain studios do still offer performance contracts and in some cases the salary is given out as if you were a typical employee – such as a weekly paycheck. Those type of things your agent can help you work out when it comes time to signing your contract.
A go see simply means you are sent to “go see” a producer or director so they may see if you are right for the movie or movies they are currently casting for. If you are going to work in LA you can expect to go on many go see’s. The reason for this is because so many people send fake or edited pictures, yet when they show up and don’t look anything like this photos, it costs the entire production as they have to send you home and cast someone else.
So as a result most production companies in LA just make it a policy that a person must do a go see before being hired to be in a scene.
So what exactly happens on a go see? You simply show up, and verify you do in fact look like your photos but this often requires you to get naked in front of one or more people from the production company in question.
This does not mean you have sex or perform any sexual act. If you have sex, you get paid. This is a real business, not some fake casting couch bullshit.
You basically show up, smile, remove your clothes, turn around showing them your front, back and side and then put your clothes back on and leave.
It takes all of 5 minutes. You are in and out. They will call your agent later on and confirm or not if they will book you for 1 or more scenes. Remember to smile and be nice and look good! This short meeting can mean the difference between getting work and not getting it.
There are a few exceptions to the typical go see process. Sometimes you might have to read for a part, if you are being considered for an acting part. Basically they will hand you a script and ask you to read a few lines.
When they were casting for the movie Deeper Throat – a modern day remake of the infamous Deep Throat (including the documentary ‘The Making of Deeper Throat’ which appeared on Showtime), the go see process was simple … a girl would be given a time to show up. She would come in, and get her photo taken (just of her face). Next she would remove her clothes and they would take a full body shot.
Next the girl would get dressed and she had to read a few lines from the script for about 5 people. If they thought the girl had potential she had to prove she could deep throat (as that was the theme of the movie), so the girl would have to deep throat a dildo to prove how far she could deep throat.
In the end the part was eventually awarded to Sasha Grey but many girls tried out. I heard hundreds tried out. I’m not sure the total count though.
Those other girls might not have gotten the part as the lead in the movie but as a result of doing well for that go see they were hired for other scenes for Vivid.
So remember when you do a go see, put your best foot forward. Show up looking fabulous and have a big smile and a great attitude. It really really really matters.
That’s a great question. Being new in the industry it’s nearly impossible to get work without having an agent. But how do you know what agent is right for you? While the obvious thing to look for is if they are licensed and bonded, that doesn’t make them good or right for you.
Some agents specialize in MILFs, and if you aren’t a MILF, will they really do well for you? Part of my job is to find you the agent that will work best for you but it’s not an exact science.
While my 19 years of experience in the business does help, I’m not perfect. There has been a time or two (albeit rare) that I placed a girl with an agent that just flat out couldn’t get them work. In that case now what is the girl going to do?
Well the law basically says that if you sign with an agent, any agent and they can’t get you work in 3 to 4 months time, then they have to let you out of their contract.
But what about before then? Well most agents (not all but most) are willing to be cool about it as long as they haven’t spent any money on you yet. If they haven’t been able to get you any work, simply ask them to release you from your contact so you can try and book work on your own. As soon as they do that, then you can go to another agent.
Most legitimate agents are businessmen (and women) and they don’t want to be dicks. They want to see everyone succeed and they don’t want to make enemies or have you shit talk their agency so it’s typically just easier to let you out of your contact if they couldn’t book you work than to go through that. So long story short, in the extremely rare case that does happen, just ask.
But in the end it is rare because these agents know what they are doing and typically only sign people in the first place that they know they can book work for.
I’m going to be honest with you. If your intention is to come to the United States and work in porn, that just isn’t possible at this time. You must have a valid work visa to work in the United States of America and they won’t approve you to come to the US to do porn. It’s just not going to happen. Some people try and come over on a tourist visa thinking they can get away with that, but the industry has tightened regulations. You must have a valid work visa or they can’t film you. In doing so they risk never being able to distribute the scene they filmed of you through proper channels. So I’m sorry to say but you must find your own way to the United States and get a valid work visa. If you can do that on your own, then we can talk but until then, I’m sorry but there is nothing I can do for you.
How to Pick a Porn Star Name? Well it isn’t an easy decision, but with these helpful tips and guidelines you’ll absolutely be on the right track to picking the best name possible.
Your name is more than just your identity. As a porn star it will become your brand and your brand is what will make you money. Your brand is everything. Your name – your face – your body – your smile – it’s your brand and again it all starts with your name.
That’s why it is so important you don’t make a critical misstep and give yourself the wrong name.
A common mistake people make is to name themselves after celebrities, celebrity kids or even well known brand names like cars. ie: Lexus, or Mercedes.
With celebs you want to avoid kids names like Blue Ivy or Jaden James (Brittney Spear’s kid). And don’t use similar names either like Mariah Carey – Mary Carey. That will get you sued too!
This is a huge mistake that so many people make and some people won’t even book you for work as a result out of fear of getting sued for trademark infringement.
Beyond losing out on jobs, you could get sued yourself. It’s not uncommon for celebrities and established companies to sue the hell out of porn stars who try and infringe on their trademark. It’s happened many times in the past and will continue to happen as long as people keep doing it.
Long story short – don’t name yourself after someone or something.
Plus, the whole point is to build up YOUR brand. You want YOUR brand to be unique and identifiable only with you. The bigger your brand, the more money you will make. If your brand is to much like someone else’s it could cause confusion and in the end, cost you money or fame.
The lesson here is, you want your name to be uniquely yours.
I’m sure by now you have a name in mind. If you do, that’s great. Let’s Google it. What comes up? Anyone famous? If not then that’s good. Again you don’t want to name yourself after anyone famous or their kids.
Now Google your selected name with the words Porn Star in front of it. For example if your picked name is Kelli Roberts then Google Porn Star Kelli Roberts. Does anything come up? If so then you don’t want to pick that name. If there isn’t anyone in the adult industry with that name then so far so good!
Now obviously since my name is Kelli Roberts you don’t want to pick that one. But you get the point. 🙂
Next go to the website www.IAFD.com and search your selected name. Anything come up there? If not then you are pretty good. That website has a database of pretty much every porn star for the last 30 years.
Now what if you just flat out can’t come up with anything? I like the site Character Name Generator. It basically is a massive database of all kinds of names. Maybe if you visit that site you’ll get some ideas.
Now when you find a name I want you to remember the rules of marketing – KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID! (KISS)
What that means is, you don’t want to go out of your way to confuse people, now do you?
So when it comes to your name, you want to pick something easy and use the common spelling. For example, if you like the name Amy, then use the most common spelling – AMY. Don’t spell it Ami or Aimee. That will only confuse the hell out of people and that’s a bad thing. You want your fans to find you when they Google you, don’t you?
You’d be surprised how something as simple as the way you spell your name can really hurt your brand.
Even worse, if your name is complicated, you can bet that studios will spell it wrong on the box covers of movies you are in. Trust me, that happens more than you know. Just ask someone like Mckenzee Miles. Her name is misspelled all the time.
