They produce as many as 15 films a month with flicks ranging from a few hundred bucks to tens of thousands of dollars – and say they receive at least a script a day outlining a fetish they’ve never heard of before. Anatomik Media, a Los-Angeles based company run by a married couple who go by Dan and Rhiannon, churns out custom, kinky content. Not only are performers refocusing their approach, now entire production companies are turning their sights on this kind of porn. (For the hyper-niche stuff Carter doesn’t expect to resell well – like the Looney Tunes shtick – she might charge more upfront.)
“I’ve filmed a custom film in Crocs before because that’s what turned the guy on!” Adds Sterling, “For hardcore fetish guys, they need to see that one thing to get off.” If the premise isn’t too bizarre, some porn stars and producers, like Carter, will retain the rights to custom flicks so they can resell them down the road at a discounted rate by way of a clips store or members-only subscription site. “Whether it’s friggin’ French nails or latex, everyone’s got a fetish,” says Carter.
It’s one of the biggest drivers behind the custom film trend. super-specific, oddball stuff that isn’t on Pornhub. Where are the jobs? Niche and fetish porn, a.k.a. There’s just no more money in mainstream porn.” (She concedes that there are fewer gigs for her age group, too: “Right now I’m stuck between the teen and MILF categories and there just aren’t the same jobs for me anymore,” she says.) Six months ago I got hired to do another feature for the same company and I had to do my own makeup and they fed us McDonald’s at the end of the day. “I remember my first month in the biz I was hired to shoot a big feature, and on set we had craft services, wardrobe, hair, makeup – even manicurists. “Meanwhile I get to create something they love and be my own boss at the same time.” Calvert began her career back in 2011 booking mainstream gigs, but zeroed in on customs after the big studio jobs started drying up. “These guys are usually big fans and now they get the chance to tell me what turns them on, or how they want their name said,” she says. “It’s an pricey, private hobby.”Ĭasey Calvert – a 27-year-old porn star who produces her own custom flicks for anywhere from a few hundred bucks to upwards of $10,000 – says her fan base forks over premium prices for customs because they open the door to interact with her directly.
“It’s not like I’m out at a bar telling my friends about the porno I’ve just commissioned,” he says. Yet it’s one that he likes to keep to himself. (Though this endeavor had the blessing of his wife, he asked to have his name changed for privacy.) “Developing a custom is exhilarating – yeah it’s kind of smutty and odd but it’s also a rewarding creative process,” says Joel.
“Yes, there’s all this free content, but it’s like watching too much comedy – you become jaded or nothing feels new or different,” says a 36-year old man we’ll call Joel, who recently dropped $2,000 to bring a 20-page script about a crazy scientist and his sex-act-inducing potion to life. “Customs evolved because we had to start fulfilling a specific fantasy not available on those free tube sites.”ĭespite the massive free market, a small, cash-flush contingent of fans, fatigued by the watered-down or repetitive quality of mainstream porn, are choosing to throw their coin into the bespoke experience. “The Internet’s done nothing but shoot holes in mainstream porn, not unlike what happened back in the day with Napster and the music industry,” says Carter’s producer, Nick Sterling. As journalist Jon Ronson documented in his Audible podcast The Butterfly Effect, the custom adult film trend has emerged as a way to bring life back into a biz that nearly bled to death from rampant film pirating and the rise of free sites like Youporn, RedTube, and – the Mecca – Pornhub, which sees a staggering 75 million viewers a day.