Tough times in the porn industry

[tj2001]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-porn10-2009aug10,0,4788614.story

On a recent Saturday night, Savannah Stern earned $300 to hang out for seven hours at a party in Santa Monica wearing nothing but a feather boa. The veteran of more than 350 hard-core pornography productions took the job to earn extra cash and to network. But the word at the 35th anniversary party for Hustler magazine was not heartening, especially among the roughly 75 other women working there.

"At least five girls I haven't seen in a while came up to me and said, 'Savannah, are you working?' " said Stern, who started in the industry four years ago and, like most adult performers, uses a stage name. "I had to say, 'No, not really,' and they all said, 'Yeah, I'm not either.' "

The adult entertainment business, centered in the San Fernando Valley, has weathered several recessions since it took off with the advent of home video in the 1980s. But this time the industry is not dealing with just a weakened economy. A growing abundance of free content on the Internet is undercutting consumers' willingness to pay for porn, and with it the ability of many workers to earn a living in the business.

For Stern, 23, the rapid decline of job opportunities in the porn business over the last year has been dramatic. She has gone from working four or five days a week to one and now has employers pressuring her to do male-female sex scenes for $700, a 30% discount from the $1,000 fee that used to be the industry standard. Less than two years ago, Stern earned close to $150,000 annually, sometimes turned down work and drove a Mercedes-Benz CLK 350. Now she's aggressively reaching out for jobs and making closer to $50,000 a year...

[Deja Q]

1. $300/7 hours = almost $43/hr. Boo fucking hoo.

[DontTreadOnMe]

2. lmao!

First that this is published in the LATimes... and secondly... a "salary" drop from 150K to 50K... due to "consumers' willingness to pay for porn".

All these porn stars having to get second jobs to pay for their Mercedes is heartbreaking.

[ejpoeta]

9. but just imagine what their healthcare costs must be!!

[billyoc]

3. Outsourcing.

[meegbear]

4. It can be a hard industry to work in

[MineralMan]

5. Trouble is that the amateurs are doing it for free.

It's the new hot item out there in PornLand. College girls, housewives, etc., all doing the deed on camera. How's a professional porn star to compete with that?

[MindPilot]

12. Like H1B visas to the IT industry n/t

[GrantDem]

6. Sounds like they're getting stiffed.

[Dr. Strange]

7. Seriously, what moran wrote this headline?

It clearly should have been, "Hard times in the porn industry." Jeez, journalism today. :eyes:

[stopbush]

16. Or, "Porn Salaries Taking It Up The Wazoo."

[Gidney N Cloyd]

8. Job market is soft everywhere.

[BlooInBloo]

10. Maybe people just aren't that into her?

[gatorboy]

11. "Porn Industry Suffers Shrinkage"

[scheming daemons]

13. The porn industry is getting fucked

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. The porn industry has had financial misfortune during this economic crisis. Penises.

Dammit! I'm not good at puns!

[redqueen]

17. ...

:rofl:

[mitchum]

15. Pity that they don't sell cocaine at Costco or Sam's Club

[Pryderi]

18. Softening demand for porn...

[flvegan]

19. Where is this "free content on the internet" they speak of?

I demand proof of this "free content" so I can research this article. Fact checking is a dirty job, but someone's got to do it!

[redqueen]

21. ...

redtube.com

[Dr. Strange]

23. -->

www.MrCoffeesMom.com

[proteus_lives]

20. Another reason to hate Bushco.

Their policies ruined the Porn Industry!

Look for this title: "Debbie gets Bailed-Out."

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

22. to my eternal disgust and shame I have family in the porn industry

They specialize in the stupid girl from Kansas getting sodomized in a motel room genre and things are getting pretty tough for them as royalties from pay-per-view and online subscriptions have smashed through the floor at incredible velocity, they are paid practically nothing in royalties but have always had incredible volume, it turns out with the abundance of free porn out there it is pretty easy to cut pay-per-view and buying videos out of your budget.

And if your unemployed sitting at home all day, you probably aren't buying much of anything - let alone porn.

[nc4bo]

24. Just like the restaurant industry people are saving money. There's nothing like homemade ;) nt

[jakeXT]

25. Oversupply and overproduction, plus competition with old and free content