Originally Posted by Jim_Gunn

Back in the 1990s and early 2000's when I was shooting adult feature movies on Beta SP for broadcast & VHS/DVD distribution, I would set up these big encampments every other month around NY & NJ and sometimes down in FL with a whole crew and 10-20 performers and produce two (2) five or six scene movies on location at mansions, boats, nudist camps, strip clubs and other neat locations in the space of three looong days. The combined budgets for both movies ranged from $24,000-$32,000 depending on who the star was and whether it was two boy-girl features (soft/hard) or two lesbian dildo extravaganzas with large casts and orgy scenes like my " Strap-On Sally' movies. The last two feature DVD movies I shot as recently as 2009 cost about $25,000 for both, so that hasn't changed much.

On alternate months I used to also take a three-day long weekend out of the office to travel all over the eastern U.S. and Canada recruiting strippers for my 4-5 scene "pro-am" series like "East Coast Sluts" and "Canadian Beaver Hunt" that were shot with no crew at all on Hi-8mm one scene at a time in motels and rented apartments for budgets around $5,000-$7,500. I really paid my dues on those trips and those were some of the most interesting experiences of my life.

Things sure have changed a lot since then in terms of technology with high definition video and in terms of current production styles as well. Mostly it's about internet content of course and DVD is an afterthought for many companies. The real trick no matter which end of the business that you came up in is to produce quality content that will sell in every medium. In 2011 you will have to love porn and respect the end customer to really succeed as a producer,a studio or a program.

I shoot a lot more often and in a completely diffferent style nowadays than I ever did back in the old days. Being in the production trenches for so long and also having been the in-house producer as well as Director of Operations for one of the bigest adult studios in the 90's and seeing all the numbers of units that we manufactured and shipped certainly gives me a lot of perspective on both the production and marketing end of the biz then and now.