Women in the adult industry have literally come a very long way. From the days where they had no input to what was going on during the filming on set where they had no voice in the matter, today we have a larger amount of women out there in all aspect of the adult industry including directing and producing adult titles for the major companies and under there own companies. Some want more soft-core or better storylines, others like a succession of hardcore sex scenes. In addition, some women just like the same porn men do. With the couples market not as neglect as in prior years , there has been an increase to women directing adult films. Women today have slowly been taking over what used to be a "mans world".When we speak of 'women and porn', we usually think of 'women in porn', but it is so important for more of us to be behind the camera than in front of it. It is one of the few areas of the film industry where female directors are becoming just as common as men. Many female performers often find second careers directing films and are very successful at it. Candida Royalle, Nina Hartley, Tristan Taormino, Veronica Hart, just to mention a few , have all taken turns behind the camera after successful careers as porn stars. In addition, women make more money than male performers do and have bigger star power. As more and more women enter the field, the content will change and women will begin consuming porn more and more, creating a market especially for them. In this series of articles, , you will be reading about the roles several women play in the many aspects of the adult industry from directing to sales and performers, Director and Producer Melissa Monet, Adella O'Neal Publicist from Digital Playground, Director Kelly Holland, Syren De Mer and a few other as well as several new comers to the adult industry. I will start the series with my interview with Melissa Monet who is currently working with Naughty America. Melissa has had her hands in every aspect of the adult industry from her beginning when she lived in New York.
Born in Staten Island in 1964, Melissa "Mindy" Monet went back and forth between "normal" jobs and the sex industry. She started in 1983 as a sex surrogate in NY, became a call girl and a NYC taxi driver. She then ran a few escort services, (including one for a hardcore pimp), went on to be a high class call girl before becoming a madam. She took a long vacation when Giuliani was cleaning up the city and went to Hawaii before coming to LA to be a porn star. She was in front of the camera for a couple of years but started directing right away because all the girls were a lot younger than her. She had just turned 30 and there were no MILF scenes yet. She did everything on set, from a PA, art director, writer, producer, director, and wardrobe. Over the years she has also done a lot in the mainstream world. She has directed and produced titles for theatrical release and on Cinemax and Showtime. Currently she trying to start a company to give back to the sex industry by helping people make the transition from porn to back to the realities of a mainstream lifestyle and writing a book. Mindy is also finishing her script which is based on her comic book.
Her adult career began in July of 1994, starting out as an actress she has appeared in over 100 adult movies, DVDs and CD-ROM games. She has had the opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in porn and has proved that she can out fuck the best of them. She has starred in many hardcore features and S&M videos that she is extremely proud of. In the fall of 1994, she wrote, produced, and directed one of the first CD-ROM games made specifically for the adult market which was nominated for 5 AVN awards in 1995. She subsequently went on to write and produce movies and CD-Rom games for the next two years before she broke into directing on a more frequent basis. Melissa was nominated by AVN for best screenplay for a comedy in 1997 and all of the CD-ROM games she has written have been nominated for AVN awards. She is featured in her own comic book Melissa Monet which has gone on to spawn a sequel, and two spin offs. She became the first person to produce and directs movies made exclusively for the Spice Channel. She has completed a mainstream documentary on the people in the adult industry titled, "Porn. It's a Living" and has directed three mainstream films currently available on DVD.
Melissa has produced four 35mm independent feature length films and two live pay-per-view events. Her recent AVN nominations range from scripts to art direction, and to mention as a performer. At this time with Naughty America, she produces 20 scenes a week on two set simultaneously with a good crew working with her. She describes working at Naughty America as being old school porn with new faces and old world values. Melissa cleared up a lot of the old stereo types about porn and how people still see the performers. From what she said its not what it seems to be. Melissa did make it a point to let me in on the new line from Naughty America which she will be working on from different sets. Melissa is a very dedicated and hard working woman , who after speaking to her for almost four hours showed me a different side to industry and just how many good people and performers she has come across. We spoke about her time with Playgirl and a piece she did with Director Nando Vega that can be found on her myspace page , and about the performers she has enjoyed working with. We spoke about what it takes to be a performer and how hard it is for both men and woman. She went on to mention that there are three types of performers out there, one that is in it just for the paycheck, one that is making a career out if it and then you have the ones that don't belong in the business. Which she admits to sending a few home. Melissa was kind enough to answer a few questions about her background and her expertise as both Director and Producer. I do hope you enjoy reading the interview; I had a great time talking to her and look forward to meeting her in January.
1-What stage name did you use when you were in front of the cameras as a performer and At that time how many scenes did you do and who did you work with? Melissa Monet. Hard to say, but I did over 100 movies averaging about two scenes a day. Not a lot by today's standards. I worked with all the top guys at the time, but I worked a lot with Steve Drake, Alex Sanders, Jonathan Morgan, Gerry Pike, Marc Wallice and for the girls, Tricia Yen, Patricia Kennedy, Laura Palmer, Kym Wild (S&M), Careena Collins (S&M), so many more.
2-What are you doing currently? What have you done mainstream and how big of a difference is that from straight porn? I'm the Unit Production Manager for Naughty America when I'm not writing my book, starting a new website or doing something on the mainstream side. I did a great little film called "Sex and a Girl" which was a coming of age story, I did my own documentary "Porn, It's a Living" and I just finished another fairly big film that I don't know what my credit is going to be on it yet, just to name a few. It's different in the way that I have bigger budgets, people with bigger dreams and bigger toys to play with. Otherwise it's the same cluster fuck if not more of one with a mainstream show. Anytime you have more people and those people only do their specific jobs, you're bound to have a lot more on your hands. In porn, everyone chips in no matter what you were hired to do because there are so few of us. In addition, we work together every day and it's almost like family here, so we have more respect for each other and the roles we play at work then the mainstream does.
3-What do you feel you can give back to the sex industry? I have a lot to offer, but mainly I want to and am trying to help the people here move on to the next level. Whether they want to stay here or go to the outside world, I can help them do that. But I don't want it to just be for porn, I want to help anyone in the sex industry because it's an easy thing to fall into, but not so easy to get out of.
4-As one of the many female directors today what obstacles did you have to overcome? It was harder 10 years ago than it is now. A girl today can easily start her own line with a good company, but back then they only offered that to the guys. The hardest obstacle though was trying to gain the respect of your crew when yesterday they saw you with a cock in your mouth and now you're trying to tell them what to do. I think that line has been blurred over the years and no one cares anymore. Also, the crew is younger now, more open minded, before there were a lot of the old guard and they weren't that open to taking orders from any woman.
5-What have you done with Cinemax and are there any projects in the works? I've done about 4-5 films that have been on Cinemax (you'd have to look up the names as they are different then when I shot them). It was a great experience, but I got a weeks pay there for what I made here directing porn for a day. There are no future projects in the works, I did it then to say I can do it...and I did it well, but it doesn't pay the bills.
6-You mentioned "old guard" still around.. can you be a bit more specific? Old guard can mean anything from "classic" actors/actresses to the directors that have not changed their styles, lifestyles or opinions.
7-What changes can be made to better the adult industry from a women's POV if possible? I think that it's hard to portray women the way women should be portrayed when you have mainly girls portraying them and men planning the whole thing out. Do women like to have their faces slapped? Sure, some do, and they like to be degraded and tied up too, but they like that more in fantasy then in reality. It's pretty fucking brutal when you see it, but I accept that it can be part of what one girl here and there enjoys, but not the majority of them. And unless the girl having it done to them is getting off on it, I personally don't want to watch it, but then there's the other spectator that gets off on watching an innocent brutalized. It's fine for the viewer, I think "different strokes for different folks" but I don't want to see a girl truly miserable...that's not sexy. Then you have the other end of the spectrum where the fantasy stuff is so soft it's boring. If there were changes to be made it would have to come from an erotic writer, a sexy director and talent that have compatibility...but it's hard to find that, especially when invisible people are throwing random individuals together with writers that are writing in the dark on spec and directors that are just collecting a pay check. As a woman, I personally am sick and tired of seeing porn that consists of dispassionate people trying to show me their idea of great sex.
8-How do you feel about having the male talent using condoms on set? Do you think they take away from the heat of the scene? There are only one or two male talent that are condom only, it's usually the girl or the company that decides on condom use. No, I don't think it takes away from the heat of the scene anymore than it does in real life. If there's chemistry, there's chemistry, but as an industry we should be promoting condom use.
9-I did some searching on Adult DVD Empire and found an old interview you did with them, you were once a reviewer for them? Yes, I mainly did interviews with other talent though, I didn't really review too many movies. I did review for AVN though.
10-How does being the Unit Production Manager for Naughty America compare to other things you have done? It's a sweet gig and fairly easy. I'm surrounded by good people that are always looking to improve the material and they take pride in what they do, but I wouldn't compare it to any other job. I learn so much each time I take on a new challenge, so for me it's just about being a sponge. I've been one of the luckiest people, not just in porn, but I truly feel blessed. I've worked for and with some of the best people in this business (and a few clunkers too) but I'm grateful for every day I can spend money on biscuits for my pup.
11-Can you tell us a bit about your book? After being in the sex industry for 24 years I figured I can spew a few metaphors and anecdotes that might amuse people that are still interested in what happens on the other side of the tracks. Seriously, it's just about what I've done and where I've been and where I want to go. About how wonderful this business can be if you let it, and also about how I denied who and what I was, struggling with the pressures of society and what I thought I was supposed to be when I grew up. I would like people to know it's okay to embrace being "different", but still be a productive member of society; I'm proud to say I am both.
12-In your opinion how does porn differ today and back when you were performing? When I first came in, women dictated everything about the scenes they did, who they would perform with, how much money they wanted to make, now it's dictated (and I do mean dictated) by the agents. There were only two agents and one manager when I first came in, they didn't take your money, they were paid by the companies that employed you, now the agents double dip...one from side A and one from side B. The real problem with this is the girl's rates have not changed at all in the 10 + years I've been here. For instance, if I made $700 a scene, that's what I walked away with, if a girl now makes $900 a scene, after she pays the agent a percentage and pays for her driver (because most of them do not drive themselves), they're pretty much getting less than I did 13 years ago...and that's just wrong. The other huge problem today is that this industry has not internally evolved at all. Brand new girls still have to go through trial by fire. No one tells them how to douche or when, or how to enema, or what staph looks like, nothing. They just send them off to get a VD/AIDS test and that's it...now mind you, that would be fine if we weren't talking about women that have not had time to develop their own sexuality, or had already gone to the school of hard knocks, but they haven't. These are relatively "nice" girls that are looking for an easy way out and this ain't it, but that doesn't mean they should be thrown to the wolves.
Ravyn
