[n00b help] How To Sell A Professional Feature-Length HD Adult Film?

[JailBot]

tl;dr: If I owned a 120 minute movie at 1080p about an orgy in a victorian mansion, and it was professionally put together, how much (ball park range) could that be sold for outright (for complete ownership of the film), and who would buy such a piece of work?
Complete explanation:

Hello everyone,

I'm contemplating giving the adult film world a shot, but I have a few questions before I get started if you don't mind giving me a little insight. I've done my fair share of googling for my questions, but I still have a few that were not answered. Most of the time it was because the searches were flooded with "START YOUR OWN PAY SITE NOW" bs, so I figured I'd stop lurking and ask you guys.

A few of my friends and I are debating filming a two hour HD orgy (4 females, 2 males) at a victorian mansion we have access to. We've never done anything like this before, and it sounds entertaining at the least. I am a film student and my friend is a very skilled audio technician. I have access to high end equipment, and I know my way around the camera and software like adobe premiere/after effects pro very well. At the end of this fiasco, if we decide to go through with it, we'll have a 120 minute, well lit, high def, edited, audio corrected, color corrected, victorian mansion orgy film with somewhat of a story/script. As far as the actors and actresses go, they're all very pleasing people to look at, even more so naked. I hate to "rate" them, but for making the point, they're all 8/10-10/10s.

Here's the question... What the hell do we do once we have the film all put together if we want to make money, and make it all at once? Also, what should such a piece of work be worth, only based on what I've said (all legal work/release forms would come with it)? We'd really like to sell the rights to the entire film outright, take the lump sum and never have to deal with this again. We simply refuse to go through all the promotion and patience associated with a paysite. Is there a well known content broker that is looking for stuff like this, like lionsgate looks for promising low budget indie films, etc?

Thank you for reading, and I eagerly await any and all of your responses. We were gonna throw in a few slow-mo orgasms too lol. This was also my first post... been a lurker for so long. Feels good to talk.

PS: If all goes, I'll post some of the project when/if it's done.

[Love Sex]

if dont you know, porn is free these days!

Its worth what someone is willing to pay. Call some studios and see what they want to buy instead of guessing.

an orgy needs more then 6 people.

[Jim_Gunn]

Why even bother if you just want to do one movie shoot with no follow through other than the initial production itself and then never deal with it again? You aren't exactly going to be going into this for the best reason, nor will you be negotiating from a position of strength that way even if you don't manage to lose your shirt in the process.

[BV]

this thread is useless without pics

[JustDaveXxx]

Welcome to GFY,


This business is cut throat. Where I live everyone is skilled and everyone has a name. Just knowing your way around a camera and sound gear isn't good enough.


My little brother graduated from film school and knows his way around a camera too, but he watches me work and he is blown away with how much he really doesn't know. Furthermore directing sex isn't as easy as it looks or seems.


People don't just show up and start fucking. The director lists the positions, the times in those positions and maneuvers the camera in the proper porn angles that are needed to get the shots people want to see.


Keep in mind a director in porn generally hold the camera. And hold the camera without shake(takes a long time to get down).


In short my recommendation as i always recommend to everyone is, to go to a porn set and watch porn get shot before you loose your money or even worse someone else's money.

I cant tell you how many film students have contacted me on Myspace and told me they had 60K to shoot a porn and ended up having footage that was useless and unusable.


I was contacted after they did not believe me or the advice i gave and went on and tried to shoot their porn films anyways. "Dave i didn't believe you and i thought that you were afraid of the competition from the top film team in my school. We went ahead anyways and 60K later learned that you were right".


I about peed on myself!! This one guy in particular was from some top Australian film school that he was top dog at. They also thought that they could fix it in editing. They also learned all because a guy "says" he can fuck on film, doesn't mean that he can. They also learned that Viagra doesn't guarantee a hard on. They also learned that the girls that they hired didn't make noise like the girls in american porn movies.


Man this list of bad pitfalls went on and on for about 2 pages. I laughed my ass off and wrote back; Its OK Porn is the business people love to loose their money in. You are not the 1st and you wont be the last.



I can go on and on and you will still do what you want everyone does and people always come back and tell me that i was right.


Not trying to be funny or a Dick, just giving it to you straight. Most people wont, I will.



Lastly, lets say that everything goes great and the footage is pretty good, the fact that you and your buddies have no name and adult reputation and you guys are nobodies with one film, nobody will take it to distribute it.

One worse than that, it gets taken and they sell it and they tell you it did not sell and you never recoup you investment.




Man I can go on and on, this business really sucks ass like that and in many ways you couldn't even imagine.

Feel free to ICQ me or SKYPE me, I will answer all of your questions that you got.

[GARY LEE]

You might try to get it out to an adult content provider. He can sell it over and over again as non-exclusive content to many webmasters for a lower price.
Like it or not I have to agree with justdavexxx. I don't care if you're the shit in film school its gonna come off with lots of problems and looking very amateurish. Sorry but thats just the facts man.
If you have the talent and the script you might want to hook up with someone currently shooting content in adult. I know I made a deal with a group one time where we used their talent and scrip along with my editors and crew. The movie was "co-produced" so we could use it on all of our websites and they could use it (including sales) for themselves. It was a good deal for all.
Find a studio in your area and propose the same sort of deal.

[SDA CASH - Banned for Life AGAIN]

I am full of ego I will tell you everything to keep you from succeeding.

I will do my very best to discourage you due to my ego.


That is as cut throat as it get's

[Peter Romero]

I agree with Dave 100%. There's nothing to teach you in film school about losing your own money and not recouping a cent. But if you are in this for the money and not the adventure then hire me to do it for you for half your budget and keep the rest to market it. You can produce it, take notes, take credit, help with the casting, film the BTS and put "Produced by you" on the box. Come to the set every day: I'll lock you in the bathroom with a monitor and your checkbook and put duct tape on your mouth if you speak. Unless you wanna loose every cent and waste your all your time for nothing just to prove me, Dave, and anyone else telling you the truth wrong. BTW - I could make you 6 full movies & a website for $60k. See sig.

[Paul Markham]

Porn has very little to do with camera, audio to photography. Those things are dead easy to control and use.

Compared to models. Unless you know them you're pretty well screwed by them and not in the sexual term. And yes you will need pro model guys so they get wood, keep wood and don't cum until required. Amateur girls might get away with it, but don't be sure of it.

Then there's positions, angles and a ton of other things.

If Wicked made the movie they would spend many $1,000s and return a profit. If you shoot it you'll lose money.

I've been in this business as a producer for over 30 decades and worked at the top of my field. See sig. Don't you think most men want to do what I do, shoot naked women, and get paid a lot of money for it?

Of course they did and they mostly failed. It's not as easy as some think.

Your best bet is to start producing amateur porn and selling it to amateur sites. They pay from $500 to $1,000 a scene.

[SDA CASH - Banned for Life AGAIN]

Watch this video and listen closely.... you can anything you set your mind to

https://youtube.com/watch?v=atGBKuCJ-Jc

[fris]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Porn has very little to do with camera, audio to photography. Those things are dead easy to control and use.

Compared to models. Unless you know them you're pretty well screwed by them and not in the sexual term. And yes you will need pro model guys so they get wood, keep wood and don't cum until required. Amateur girls might get away with it, but don't be sure of it.

Then there's positions, angles and a ton of other things.

If Wicked made the movie they would spend many $1,000s and return a profit. If you shoot it you'll lose money.

I've been in this business as a producer for over 30 decades and worked at the top of my field. See sig. Don't you think most men want to do what I do, shoot naked women, and get paid a lot of money for it?

Of course they did and they mostly failed. It's not as easy as some think.

Your best bet is to start producing amateur porn and selling it to amateur sites. They pay from $500 to $1,000 a scene.

you do realize 30 decades is 300 years.

didnt think you were that old :p

[Peter Romero]

Originally Posted by fris

you do realize 30 decades is 300 years.

didnt think you were that old :p

LOL! He is!!!

[SDA CASH - Banned for Life AGAIN]

Originally Posted by fris

you do realize 30 decades is 300 years.

didnt think you were that old :p

Funny Stuff

[Cherry7]

If this was a normal Feature Film, you would not shoot it without having a distributor.

Shooting pron is very conservative form of film making, and most shooters here think there is only one way to do it.

The will often brag that they don't read books or have studied, or know film making or watch films...

The success here has been selling very cheaply made short unedited sex scenes, the harder the better in a race to shock and low standards.

I think they are wrong but I am in a very small minority.

As you will not be able to market a feature film before of after making, it would be better to make short films and sell them to VOD, slowly learning and improving your films....

Talk to a friendly male model and ask his advice, talk to your models about what they feel happy about doing.

Making films is easy compared to selling them....

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Cherry7

If this was a normal Feature Film, you would not shoot it without having a distributor.

Shooting pron is very conservative form of film making, and most shooters here think there is only one way to do it.

The will often brag that they don't read books or have studied, or know film making or watch films...

There are no books to read, or places to study porn. Film making is 20% of all porn and what films do you watch, one by Wicked or one by me? Shooting porn from Playboy end to Ex GF is more about handling people than handling a camera.

The success here has been selling very cheaply made short unedited sex scenes, the harder the better in a race to shock and low standards.

Most of these people here couldn't sell to a higher paying porn market. That's why the''re shooting online porn.

As you will not be able to market a feature film before of after making, it would be better to make short films and sell them to VOD, slowly learning and improving your films....

Or clips 4 Sale.

Talk to a friendly male model and ask his advice, talk to your models about what they feel happy about doing.

You're assuming he knows one who has an opinion or advice.

Talk to consumers, not the actors.

Sorry about the 30 decades thing.

Making films is easy compared to selling them....

[Cherry7]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

There are no books to read, or places to study porn. Film making is 20% of all porn and what films do you watch, one by Wicked or one by me? Shooting porn from Playboy end to Ex GF is more about handling people than handling a camera.
....

Again I beg to differ, the erotic is not another planet separate from all other human experience... In fact you can trace the nude from religous paintings, to modern art, to commercials, to men's mags, to internet...

There is a language of film, use of CU, MS, WS with editing to compress and expand time to tell a visual story...Whether you are filming a pop video, feature film or erotic movie...

I have suggested an interesting film to watch " Closely Observed Trains" by Jiri Menzel a Czech film so I thought it would be of interest. I am interested to see if you enjoy it...

I watch normal porn like WIcked or yours to learn what NOT to do.

I would learn from Ang Lee's "Lust Caution", or "Girl with the pearle Earring"...

Films during the Hay's code are interesting too, just look how they kissed ....

The exihibition at the Tate modern of Gaugain was very interesting, his use of colour, I bought a purple boa straight off

The reason I suggested talking to models is that 1) people very rarely value them and ask them their opinion 2) They have more experience than most shooters. 3) The problems there are are practical and the models can suggest how to solve them.

[Love Sex]

30 decades of porn by Paul Markham. lolol

Before electricity he carved the scenes out on stone.

[Agent 488]

300 years of paul markham derailing another interesting thread with his twaddle.

[JailBot]

Thank you for all of your responses! Very insightful.

Originally Posted by Cherry7

sell them to VOD

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Or clips 4 Sale.

Specifically, thank you for this info. Will use. This is what I was really after. While it may involve a bit more of a wait, at least it's a way to get it out there without having to "know somebody".

I will post a decent preview when we finish, and you guys can decide if I'm a wannabe with a camera, or an adult film genius lol... even I have no clue, so it's probably the first one, but I'm not going to let that deter me from having, what I would consider, an insane night.

Again, thank you all!

[JustDaveXxx]

Originally Posted by JailBot

Thank you for all of your responses! Very insightful.


I will post a decent preview when we finish, and you guys can decide if I'm a wannabe with a camera, or an adult film genius lol... even I have no clue, so it's probably the first one, but I'm not going to let that deter me from having, what I would consider, an insane night.

Again, thank you all!

These are the answers i always get.


As if we in adult all suck because we didn't go to film school.



Please do keep us informed and I will let Vivid and Wicked know that you are a film student and will be shooting your 1st porn movie so they can open up their distro channels for you.

[Peter Romero]

Originally Posted by JustDaveXxx

These are the answers i always get.


As if we in adult all suck because we didn't go to film school.



Please do keep us informed and I will let Vivid and Wicked know that you are a film student and will be shooting your 1st porn movie so they can open up their distro channels for you.

Like I said... there's nothing like loosing all your money that teaches you. Life is a self fullfilled prophecy. Hey, at least we offered to help. At least that's what I tell myself to justify the 10 minutes I wasted reading & typing. Too bad for him that he didn't realize what qualified help was offered to him. And I can get almost ANYTHING I shoot distributed. Oh well...

[babymaker]

I don't think he said he had to pay them, sounds like friends, so might as well shoot it, sd cards are cheap :D