Robby D Director Interview
2002-11-19 16:32:09
I spoke to Digital Playground director Robby
D Tuesday afternoon, 11/19/02, by telephone.
Luke: "How did you get into the industry?"
Robby: "I used to shoot a lot of stockpile footage for skateboard
and surfboard companies. That led me into shooting underground
fight scenes similar to the UFC stuff (Ultimate Fighting Championship).
Many local fighters are my friends because I've trained extensively
in jujitsu since I was 15. I had a good eye for composition and
lighting. I was a huge fan of Stagliano. I found myself watching
compilations more than anything else. I thought I could do better.
"In 1997, I made a business card in one day. I called Jim South.
I financed one of my own little independent Stagliano-like Buttman-style
productions with my friends. I wound up at Sunshine.
"Ron Sullivan was one of the first persons in the industry who
treated me with any respect. I respect his sons Jason and Nathan.
Ron had called me up. I said my favorite director was Henri Pachard,
not realizing that was Ron Sullivan. I showed him some of my rough
footage. It wasn't fetish enough for LBO. He said I needed to
go over to Sunshine because I shoot like this guy Seymore Butts.
"I walked into Sunshine with my footage. They bought it and gave
me money for more that day. I did two in a month, low-budget gonzo
things. An editor there named Madison said, 'You shouldn't be
here.' She made one phone call. I had a meeting with Vivid and
I shot for them for the next four years.
"I started shooting gonzo. I always tried to add more flare to
it. The reviews always showed it. Nine out of ten reviews would
mention my work, my cinematography, my unique approach as opposed
to 'April does another great facial.' That was flattering.
"Then I moved into vignettes. Then they started me in features."
Luke: "How did you grow as a porn director?"
Robby: "Gosh, I just became more open to learning. If you want
to grow, you can. You go to film school. You go to UCLA extension
film courses. You read technical books instead of porno mags.
You become aggressive to learn cutting edge techniques to express
your visualizations. If you're only about money, you should just
stick with gonzo. But if it's more about expressing something,
you might have a future to go someplace else."
Luke: "How did you come to Digital Playground?"
Robby: "My friend Nic Andrews left New Sensations for Digital.
We'd hang out. I'd visit him at Digital. I met Joone and Samantha
Lewis. I spent a couple of days on the set of Nic's movie Strip
and the next thing I know, I'm thinking about leaving Vivid. We
all sat down [in February 2002] and talked and watched movies
together. Joone's amazing to be around because of his ambition
and inspiration to be a true filmmaker makes you feel that that
is where you belong.
"They are so demanding here that it makes it difficult to make
a quality product. They're trying to break the mold."
Luke: "Tell me about what you have to do to get a movie started?"
Robby: "You spend time coming up with concepts. As a writer, you
know that doesn't just fall into your head all the time. You can
stare at a wall for weeks. I'll write synopses of movies and if
Joone chooses one out of 20, I'm lucky. If he finds one he likes,
I'll do a heavier outline. I'll break it down into step-outlines.
I'll either write it myself or I will hire a writer to fill in
the blanks for me. We'll go through three or four rewrites and
then I'll go into the character profiles. After it's all approved,
I'll do my storyboards which I will break down into a shot list.
The production manager does her job."
Luke: "Does anybody else do as much preparation as you and Nic?"
Robby: "Nobody that I've seen. I never did it at Vivid.
"A film should be shot in pre-production. It should be done before
you ever turn a camera on. You should have every shot outlined.
I believe with Hitchcock and them, finish it before you even get
out on a set."
Luke: "Adella tells me you're creating a new genre she calls 'arthouse
porn'."
Robby: "Damn! I'm just trying to do something new and different.
I don't approach the raincoater. I don't really approach the couples.
I try to expose the emotions. If I shoot a scene and I know it
is boring and loving and the reviewer says it is, then I've hit
my mark."
Luke: "I notice all the girls in your first Digital release, Sweet
101, are natural breasted."
Robby: "We didn't plan that. After this film, we have some girls
you don't normally see - Angel Cassidy, Laurie Wallice, Monica
Mendez..."
Luke: "How do you get your talent?"
Robby: "We go to the same people as everyone else - Cam Smith,
Roy Garcia. Talent comes to us daily. Our production manager here
from Playboy, Amy Kahn, schedules girls coming in all day every
day."
Luke: "Do you go to the conventions and meet fans?"
Robby: "Oh yeah. It's funny and embarrassing. I get shy when people
come up, 'Dude, you're Robby D. You rock.' And you're thinking,
'It's just porn. I don't really rock.' They have you sign their
t-shirts. It's flattering but really embarrassing. Half the time
I'm looking over my shoulder to see if someone like you, or one
of my buddies, put them up to it.
"I'm just doing a job and having fun at it. If someone likes it,
then cool."
Luke: "What do you love and hate about your job?"
Robby: "I love the challenge of trying to please Joone. I love
the technical filmmaking side. What do I hate about it? Not much.
You see a lot of the issues that people carry, but they are the
same issues as regular people. I hate the jerks in the industry.
I'd like some more money."
Luke: "How long do you plan to stay in the industry?"
Robby: "If I go in a different direction, one I'm more comfortable
with, I'll stay. I believe that things come full circle. If we
get out of the just bend 'em over and pound them routine, and
someone creates a new genre that all people will accept, which
I'm trying to do, then I'll stick around. As long as I keep being
challenged, I'll stick around."
Luke: "Adella mentioned that you looked forward to the challenge
of shooting a gay line?"
Robby: "Very funny. Wash My Ass. It will star your first boy-boy
scene. You're a top, right?"
Luke: "Could you shoot man on man stuff?"
Robby: "I could do it. I've never done it. It's just a job. I
stare at a postage stamp for 15-hours a day through that viewfinder.
You don't even feel like you are connected to the people. I wouldn't
be creative enough to give a viewer something he would like with
that. It's like a gay director shooting straight porno."
Luke: "There are some."
Robby: "What do most of the reviews say? They're tired of looking
at the guy."
Luke: "Do women you date give you a hard time about working in
this industry?"
Robby: "Absolutely. It's murder. It puts you into a category where
you get locked out of civilians. I don't date talent. Where am
I supposed to go? You end up spending a lot of time with strippers."
Luke: "How about friends from childhood?"
Robby: "You lose them all. When you start, they think it is your
job to get them laid. You're thinking like a professional, about
your responsibilities to companies and to the talent. You lose
them all. Or their girlfriends don't want them hanging out with
you."
Luke: "I experienced the same thing."
Robby: "It's like if your friend is a drug dealer, he's supposed
to hook you up? They think you are supposed to get them all laid.
And you're trying to achieve a professional level of respect with
the talent. But your friends are constantly putting them down.
It's too difficult. You have to start all over."
Luke: "Your family? Do they know?"
Robby: "They know. No hard time."
Luke: "Do AVN awards mean anything to you?"
Robby: "What's that saying everyone says, 'If I get an award,
they were right on the money. If I don't, it's because it's political'.
Recognition is cool but I'm not doing it for them or for the viewer,
I do it for me."
Luke: "What do you do on a typical non-shooting day at Digital
Playground?"
Robby: "I come into the office around 10AM. Look at a few naked
girls. Plug in the laptop and start writing scripts. My production
manager brings scripts to me or editor's reels or pictures of
girls. Then you go online and start looking up new camera lenses.
You'll run over to a camera shop and see what kind of new gear
is out. You'll listen to the rumors. You're constantly thinking
about what you will do next. You're constantly looking at chromes
and boxcovers and writing synopses, keeping up with the paperwork.
Digital is no place for slackers."
Duc emailed director James DiGiorgio of www.simplyjimmyd.com to
get his opinon on the preparation Robby D makes before shooting
his movies. Does JimmyD prepare the same way?
Director James DiGiorgio replies: If Robby D goes through that
much pre-production, he must be (should be) making the best movies
in the business; either that or joone consistently picks the worst
ideas for him to shoot.
I generally have an outline...sometimes a script, but I'll admit
that there's been times it simply existed in my head, or i shot
the whole thing as an excercise in improvisational porn-moviemaking.
i don't do storyboards. i don't do character profiles. i've rarely
had to have anyone approve anything before i shoot it, except
maybe in its most conceptual form, and even that's been more the
exception to the rule. i guess i've been spoiled. perhaps since
usually i'm both the shooter and the editor on my own stuff, i'm
able to shoot a little more from the hip. it's all basically a
jigsaw puzzle. in production you create all the little sound and
picture pieces that will make up the puzzle. in editing you put
the puzzle together. after you've created and assembled enough
puzzles, a lot of it is automatic. it's not to say creativity
doesn't play a role. but like most things, the 80/20 rule applies:
it's 80% automatic once you've done it often enough, and maybe
20% inspiration (assuming anything in porn can qualify as being
'inspired').
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