The Economics of Porn, Part Three: High-Priced Hooking
I had a very enlightening conversation last night with Mark Spiegler, long-time agent in the skin business, where we talked about the declining revenues for performers and producers.
Spiegler hipped me to the fact that many adult performers - both current and retired, but by the looks of it, mostly retired, or at least much more well-known for their past work - have chosen to take their talents to the general public.
The best-known site for porn star escorts is bodymiracle.com, where stars like Devon, Chasey Lain, Nikita Denise, Savannah Stern, and Nina Hartley list their prices for pleasure time.
“Porn’s not paying as much as it once did,” said Spielger. “Companies are shooting less. And while the women I represent generally don’t escort, because I advise them not to, many do. In fact, I think some women get into porn to build their name up, so they can make more as an escort.”
never understood the bad reputation that escorting has when compared to porn work in the adult video world. less time, more money, more time to pursue other interests, and likely less physically hazardous. i’d love to see/hear some sam benjamin interviews with pornstars who prefer escorting, and why.
good idea, libby!
i’ll try to get on it. it’s super interesting that the presence of a camera makes something feel more legit and more “hollywood” - it IS more artistic, in the narrowest sense of the word, since it’s preserved and meant to be shown to others; that accounts for the “star” sensibiity - when hooking’s actually so close to porno.
shame sucks; and some pretty hot porn has very little of it (again, i think the performative aspect of it helps to remove soem stigma). the removal of shame from hooking would make for way better paid-for sex . . .
Porn gives the girl in front of the camera her idea of a total power-trip, even though she’s (literally) sometimes getting shit on screen.
Escorting is just a little more fashionable than whoring on the street, just more cleaner sheets and better pay.
BTW - Nina Hartley breezed through town here a few months back, tried to contact her about a “session” with her, was willing to actually pay top dollar (even though anyone who lives in Chicago knows that for kind of cash can you get you a twofer here pretty much anywhere) and I was rudely snubbed.
I guess I have to be a L.A. douchebag with a hi-def camera and a big black guy named Maurice to get nina to bend over now, since all she’s doing lately is interracial and guys under 25.
I just wanted to say I laid her, just like I can say I laid Vanessa Del Rio.
Guess she viewed my invite as being no better than a drunk asshole on a slow Tuesday night at the strip club by the airport… she’d hop in the back seat in a millisecond for that kind of $$$.