Moxie posts on XPT:
Can someone explain the basics of porn Economics to me. For a business where girls get into it for the sake of money, it does not seem like the money outweighs the negatives (exposure to STD’s, having a shot out gaping snatch and Ahole by 25, being in diapers by 30, mental issues from being a whore driving you to drugs, creating a record a debasement that will travel with you for the rest of your life.)
If a new porn whore makes $500-$1000 per scene and shoots 12 scenes a month, thats somewhere in the neiborhood of $70-140K a year. Thats crap for a business that basically ruins you and in which you have an average carreer of 2-3 years. Even double that is crap. Granted more than working in Walmart, but crap nonetheless.
So please clarify so I can get a better understanding of whether I am wrong on the economics :
1. Average performer fee per scene.
2. Average Director Fee.
3. Average gross per film.
4. Where is the money in this supposed multi billion dollar business going?
Darth posts:
Female talent $800-$1500 depending on double anal, double vag, oral, girl girl.
male talent $600-$800
location – varies
lighting – $400
sound – $400
cameraman – $500/day
photographer – $250/day
It fluctuates so much it is hard to narrow down to what one movie can cost. How many group scenes are in the video. How many anal. How many scenes total.
The economics have changed a lot really. It used to be $22k would do a nice feature with a solid feature performer like Asia or Brianna. $16k a respectable gonzo. Now a reasonable feature can be shot for $18k and a reasonable gonzo $12k-$14k.Costs are always being driven down. What the director gets varies. If they are freelance on a per project rate, they get the worst deals $1500 – $3000 isn’t too far off for an average director. If they own the product, they do much better.
Yes there are exceptions to this. There are girls who get paid $3k-$5k for their first anal. There are directors who might make $4k freelancing a project. There are cameramen who might get a grand.
When you get into the distribution logistics, that can be all over the map. Do you have a low end distributor? Are you with Evil Angel? It ranges really from maybe $8 – $20 a DVD. Out the door 2000 domestic is a nice number. The upper end might do 3000. The lower end 800. Obviously Vivid or Wicked can do much higher or any time you factor in catalog sales you might kick ass on reorders. You have to factor in overseas sales which a really good deal would be 1000 pieces in Europe.
Again it is nice to pay for your product out the door or even make a bit extra. Reorders are where the money is at. It’s similar to the Internet world and rebills. If you finish out a project with 5k pieces you are really patting yourself on the back these days. It’s fairly uncommon for the middle of the road companies these days though.
Then you have to factor in other things like cable sales. Then there is the online streaming distribution which is taking over.
It used to be that DVD’s alone could make someone money. Today, almost all of us are supplementing our DVD sales with Internet or small chump change cable deals. Make no mistake that it is still a profitable business, it just isn’t as easy anymore.
