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Writing Porn Is Easy, But the Pay Stinks

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 10, 2009 4:47 PM CDT

(Newser) – In many ways, the life of a porn screenwriter is a breeze compared to Hollywood, Christopher Beam writes for Slate. “Your average 90-minute porn film will have between five and seven sex scenes,” he explains. “At five to 10 minutes each, that leaves only about a half-hour for dialogue,” and porn writers tend not to script the sex scenes. Of course, they get paid accordingly: only about $1,000, “even for big productions.”

Unlike in Hollywood scripts, in which writers often indicate camera angles, “porn cinematography is left up to the director,” Beam writes. Naturally, “in the porn industry, the director and the screenwriter are often the same person.” A writer might get more involved if the sex actually moves the story along. “If the movie is about a woman who has never had anal sex, the type of sex in the scene is a relevant plot point.” Also, bring your thinking cap. You might have to come up with a clever title like This Ain’t Star Trek XXX.

Porn stars perform during a news conference.
Porn stars perform during a news conference.   (AP Photo)
Amateur models are photographed by artist and adult filmmaker Irvin Bomb, center, before shooting a pornographic video.
Amateur models are photographed by artist and adult filmmaker Irvin Bomb, center, before shooting a pornographic video.   (Getty Images)
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Since adult films usually have low budgets—a few thousand dollars—writers can't compose scenes that would be expensive to shoot, like fighting sequences atop a moving train. They try to limit the action to the rooms of a house. - Christopher Beam

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 10 comments
brawne
Jul 11, 2009 12:23 PM CDT
Really Kookey. You'd think that that would switch to Romance novels. They seem to be thriving in this economy. Men are visual but women prefer reading about an engorged organ rather than seeing one. Go to any Barnes and Noble and hit the new Romance shelf. It's porn that would make your hair curl. The strangest part is that all the engorged organs are on vampires, wolfs or dragons. If men were writing this and it were not Romance, I don't think they could sell it.
Hip
Jul 11, 2009 10:37 AM CDT
deebles, you lost me at "drop of a panty"...
2-bits
Jul 11, 2009 6:47 AM CDT
"Know this simple fact and you can be happy forever." Quoted for truth.

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