I Spent a Day on an Australian Porn Set and Ate Sushi

You might not associate Australia with porn, but we do our bit. A small handful of production companies and independents run a bunch of local websites, all without the budgets or industry framework of the US. The reason for this comes down to censorship. Local laws around sex come in equal measures of strict and inconsistent, which means some producers pretend to make "art" just to fly under the radar. This was the situation I wrote about earlier this year, but I didn't touch on the handful of guys who blatantly make hard-core and don't pretend otherwise.

I met David and Billy, co-founders of Adult Casting Network, at a big house in a safe Liberal seat of Melbourne. The place wasn't theirs, they'd just borrowed it for the day. Unlike most of the Australian porn producers I've spoken to, Billy and David didn't seem concerned about censorship. They said it wasn't really a problem if their porn was on the net, which is a bit like keeping your stash in international waters. But they did concede that making porn here gives the process a particularly DIY vibe, as I was about to see.

I arrived at lunch break. It was a Tuesday and Billy and David had spent the morning shooting solo scenes with an almost-first-time actress named Jasmine Jensen. "I've been a nude model for about seven years," she explained as Billy handed out plates of sushi. "It was just for artistic stuff but everyone kept asking me if I'd ever get into porn. Finally I thought fuck it, why not?" She told me she'd applied via email and shot her first scene the day before. "I was really nervous but then I got into it. Most guys can't keep up with my sex drive."

For me, the idea that pornstars are often just women who love sex is what makes it enjoyable. I sometimes worry this is a bit like eating caged eggs and thinking chickens like cages, but Jasmine seemed sincere. "I've had relationships that didn't work because the guy couldn't keep up with me," she announced proudly, between bites of her California roll.

This seemed the theme for everyone. David told a story about how he went to the trouble of going to film school only to get into porn accidentally, but he made a lot of American Pie-style jokes that made me suspect it wasn't a complete accident. As for Billy, his entry into porn was rap.

"I'm a rapper," explained Billy, "And I was looking for someone to help me make a video." David helped him wrangle some girls in bikinis and the two guys discovered they lived on the same street. This resulted in more clips themed around bikinis, and eventually, porn. Today Adult Casting Network does everything from talent recruitment, to production, editing, as well as building personal sites and marketing. Presumably inviting me along was part of their marketing.

After lunch we relocated to a sort of downstairs lounge room overlooking a pool. The two male actors showered while Jasmine readied herself in the bathroom. The first guy was a 27 year-old tradie who got into porn via Melbourne's swinging scene. The second was a 40-something year-old public servant who quietly admitted that his boss thought he was sick.

Neither of the guys wanted their faces in the article, which David suggested was indicative of a bigger problem—that it's hard to find guys who will do porn. "Finding girls is easy," he explained. "There are heaps of them modeling and hooking and that sort of thing, but the guys are all talk." He described how men cancel at the last minute or sometimes don't show up. "It's hard to find guys who will actually do it."

I didn't blame those guys for bailing. As Billy clunked around with extension leads, the two guys shifted around the couches, stretching their arms, and sighing loudly. The room felt tense.

David seemed cheerful though. He mimed his way around the couch choreographing the scene and Jasmine nodded, turning down a jokey request for anal. Then everyone gathered at the door outside and David called action.

You'd think watching real porn might be hot. But the logistics of filmmaking and the bio machinery of penetration creates something that's actually quite weird. I sat in a chair three meters from the performance and experienced a bunch of emotions spanning from arousal to claustrophobia. When we started there was a nice bit of dance music to take the edge off, but then the music stopped and there was only the sound of flesh high-fiving itself.

David and Billy crab-walked around the room with a couple of 5Ds and Jasmine and the younger guy slogged it out, but the older guy struggled. About halfway through he stood back with his wilted junk and resorted to jerking off. The shoot carried on without him. Despite this he kept saying things like "that's it you dirty girl," and "take it" from the sidelines. I'm not knocking the guy. He was braver than I'll ever be.

After about 45 minutes David called cum-shot and everyone did and it was a wrap. The two guys swaggered outside to stand in the sun. Jasmine put on a dress and looked flushed. David and Billy seemed happy.

As I left David jokingly asked if I'd like to get into porn. A 16-year-old version of me was thrilled, but then I heard myself say "no." Sex with strangers is stressful enough as it is. And then there's the fact that making porn in Australia is a lot like making films in Australia—there isn't much money and result isn't slick. In both cases you get the feeling it's done for the love.

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