The XSIV Guide to Your First Month in Porn

Many dream of a career in porn, but it’s not all getting paid for pleasure. The average Adult industry career is short and, especially after the pandemic popularized platforms like OnlyFans, there’s lots of competition. Not dissuaded yet but still don’t know where to start? Here’s everything you need to know in your first month in porn. Follow this advice from some of the most successful performers like Riley Reid and Codey Steele and you’ll be well on your way to pornstardom…

#1 Do Your Research

Good news, you’re already doing step one! Research is very important to starting any new career, especially one as misunderstood as Adult film. (And, no, just watching porn doesn’t count!). What niche are you likely to fill? What rates can you expect in that niche? What will your day to day schedule look like? What skills will be expected from you? Which companies are most likely to work with you, and which should be avoided at all costs? Will you need to move to get closer to the industry? What does the cost of living look like in the place you’re hoping to move? What work environment can you expect and will it match your needs?

The answers to all these questions and more will look very different depending on who you are and what you’re interested in doing, so I can’t answer them all here. Still, some of the biggest names in porn like Sasha Grey and Charlotte Sins famously did lots of research before even dipping their toes into the Adult industry, so it’s a step you really shouldn’t skip. Lucky for you, there’s a fair amount of resources available from podcasts like Holly Randall Unfiltered and the Adult Time Podcast with Bree Mills to blogs like XSIV Mag!

Codey Steele talks Adult success on Holly Randall Unfiltered Podcast

#2 Have Plenty Of Time & Money

This step’s overlooked by many. After all, porn’s a great way to make a quick buck, right? Well, if you’re already living in LA or Miami that might be the case…if you’re a woman…and you just had a spa day…and you have reliable transportation…and you’re lucky. The thing is, if you really want to do relatively safe, above the board sex work you need to be financially secure. As Codey Steele points out, if you’re interested in shooting studio porn “You’ve got to get yourself to LA, which is one of the most expensive cities. [...] When you first start you’re making next to nothing with a rent that’s just insane.” It’s not just rent. Even if you’re starting slow independently you’ll need to invest in camera equipment, lights, a microphone, and good wifi if you’re streaming.

You might want to get some professional photos done to send to agents and studios. Plus a nice fresh hair cut, manipedi, skincare, and whatever else you might need to look your best for this very visual industry.

That’s not to mention basic expenses like reliable transportation and a working cell phone with a good camera. It can add up quick, but it’s important if you want to stay comfortable while you shoot your shot (no pun intended). In fact, being financially unstable as you enter porn can be dangerous for more than the obvious reasons. As Lena Paul points out, the more desperate you are, the more likely it is that you’ll ignore your own boundaries and make choices you might regret. Money “gives you the autonomy to say ‘no’” and never be “dependent on a booking.”

#3 Make Some Friends!

This is great advice for breaking into any field. As important as research is, there are some things you just can’t learn from books, podcasts, or even XSIV Mag. Many successful stars like Luna Star and Riley Reid got into the business through friends and acquaintances. Connections can clue you into important information you might not get anywhere else. “I thought I knew a bunch of shit because I was listening to podcasts and reading stuff online” says Charlotte Sins

Holly Randall chats with Charlotte Sins on HRU

“You can think you know everything. You don’t.”

Knowing the pros and cons of different studios, how much you should be getting paid, and who’s a creep who’s better off avoided are all essential and difficult without friends who are already working in the industry. Plus, your connections can introduce you to agents, recommend you for gigs, collaborate to build your visibility, and act as a great support network. Not everyone accepts let alone really understands sex work, so making connections who do is vital.

Allie Eve Knox, one of many victims of financial discrimination in the Adult industry

#4 Brace Yourself & Tell Your Mom

A lot of folks enter the Adult industry hoping to make sure their mom won’t find out…she will. Yes, even if she doesn’t watch porn. Yes, even if she’s never even heard of OnlyFans. Besides a few outlier cases, every successful adult performer (and many unsuccessful ones) ends up outed to their family and friends. It’s stupid and terrible, but the Adult industry bears a massive load of cultural prejudice and bias. You could be disowned. Your ex could use it as an excuse to threaten your custody of your children. You could lose your day job. As Allie Eve Knox knows well, you could even lose your ability to have a bank account or get loans.

None of these are super rare, either. Unfortunately, they’re widespread realities you need to be prepared for going into the Adult industry. There are some forms of sex work that can be slightly more anonymous. For example, stripping in a city where you don’t know anyone or camming with a geoblocker on. The thing is, even those are far from safely anonymous. If you want to work in this industry, you need to be prepared for all the BS that comes with it. Especially if you’re not comfortable telling your loved ones in advance, you need to take a breath and ask yourself: is this really worth it for you?

#5 Try It Out At Home First

Lena Paul practices what she preaches, connecting with fans on a myriad of social media platforms and never letting herself depend on studio shoots

This isn’t the 00s anymore. Especially since the COVID19 pandemic, you really can’t just do studio porn. Plus, trying to jump into big budget shoots when you’ve never been naked on camera before is…well, a bold choice. Good luck, babe.

The awesome thing about DIY content is how relatively accessible it is. Sure, you need some time, wifi, and basic video equipment, but most people can dip their toes into independent internet porn production without too much hassle (or moving across the country). The bad news is, you’ll be taking on a lot of competition and work (filming, editing, advertising, etc). Still, you can set your own hours and see how comfortable you really feel. Snapchat, OnlyFans, ManyVids, Pornhub, XSweet and more all provide ways to distribute your content without any major industry gatekeepers.

Codey Steele mentions how independent work has more room for body diversity, too, as you can find your audience and your niche without needing to prove to a major studio that you’re broadly marketable. As Charlotte Sins mentioned, it lets you learn what angles of yours look best and what you actually enjoy shooting. Not only does it help you find your niche and test your skills, Lena Paul even calls it a “form of self care” because of the financial freedom that can come with it. Plus, if you build up an audience and a portfolio first, finding studio work should be easier and more lucrative. Millie Morgan entered studio work with a hefty backlog of camming experience and she was even able to make her first shoot a bit of a passion project, incorporating her hobby of Super 8 film. That sort of artistic freedom is much less accessible when you try to get into the game as a noname.

#6 Find An Agent You Trust

Reputable Adult industry agent Mark Spiegler with some of his “Spiegler Girls” on the cover of documentary Mark Spiegler: Patron Of The Tarts (2019)

Alright, so you did your research, saved up money, built up an independent portfolio and even told your whole family at Thanksgiving dinner that you’re making porn. You want to start doing studio shoots, but how? Well, Demi Sutra and Violet Myers say: don’t be like them!

Don’t go on craigslist or other sketchy sites. Don’t be like Charlotte Sins and try to self book scenes, either. Even if you avoid the really scary dudes with cameras in motels who call themselves “producers,” you still won’t know how to find the good gigs.

Unfortunately, not all agents are made equal. There’s some really awful, exploitative ones out there, like Kimmy Kimm’s first agent who screamed at her and shamed her for…being injured on set and needing to take time off due to an infection.

Exploitative agents especially look for young, vulnerable folks who are just starting in the industry and don’t have much experience. It’s best to use the connections you’ve already made to find a few seemingly trustworthy agents and reach out to them with a portfolio, established audience, and good pictures.

Make it clear you have a pretty open schedule, since they’d probably be using you mostly as a substitute at first. If they’re sketching you out or treating you poorly, leave! Either you’ll find someone better or realize studio porn isn’t for you. Both of those options are much better than putting yourself through exploitation and potential trauma for cash. 

#7 Avoid Sketchy Shoots

This tip goes hand-in-hand with finding a good agent. While it’s true that the mainstream perception of Adult as some sort of disease ridden sleaze fest isn’t correct, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any sketchy people out there trying to film you having sex. When Violet Myers was first getting into Adult she almost went to a prospective shoot before looking up the address and realizing it was some guy’s storage unit. Yikes! She’s so glad she held out for a Reality Kings shoot where everyone involved on set was “very professional” and “made sure [she] was okay.” While plenty of now successful and non-murdered stars like Aubrey Kate and Demi Sutra got their start in less-than-professional environments, you really never know what could happen unless you go with a trusted brand.

As Riley Reid mentioned, she felt “comfortable from the beginning” because she was always working on big-budget shoots. Not only are they safer and generally better paid, major studios have the budget to take on paid extras. Both Riley Reid and Luna Star got their starts this way, with Riley working her way into Adult slowly by being an extra around five times before ever starring in a film. It’s a fun way to sus out the vibe and see if you’re interested before jumping head first into a scene.

#8 Show Up On Time & Ready To Work

Porn. Is. A. Job. It’s a cold, hard truth, but it is what it is. This means a few things. The most obvious is: show up on time and be sober.

You might have picked up stereotypes about sex workers being intoxicated 24/7, but it’s just as inappropriate to be drunk or high on a porn set as it is at any other job. In fact, it’s arguably more inappropriate. No one wants to pick between losing work and having sex with someone clearly not fully lucid. You will be asked to leave and inconvenience all your coworkers.

The same goes if you waited too long to get your STI tests done or haven’t properly prepared your personal hygiene (including prepping for anal if it’s relevant to the scene). If you’re struggling with substance dependance or an unstable living environment that makes you unreliable, studio porn is not the career for you at this time. Flakiness is a big issue in the industry, and adding to that problem harms everyone involved. When a performer doesn’t show up that can mean extra long delays or cancelled shoots. The nice thing is, since it’s so common for performers to flake out, you’ll be doing yourself a big favor by showing that you’re one of the reliable ones. 

The massively successful Riley Reid giving it to us straight with Holly Randall

#9 Act Professional, It’s A Job!

Another side of professionalism might be a harder pill to swallow: it’s really not about your pleasure. You might get turned on on set, but your arousal isn’t the goal. You might have fun, but you’re here to work. Being a porn performer often involves having sex you wouldn’t want to do for fun with people you don’t have natural chemistry with. “Performance in mainstream is a performance,” Violet Myers reminds us: it’s not a documentary about real pleasure and intimacy. As Riley Reid bluntly puts it

“A job is a job and sometime’s you’ve got to fucking do shit that you don’t want to do. [...] Sometime’s you’ve gotta bite the bullet and suck a fucking dick that you don’t want to suck.” 

It’s not just that you might not be into your co-star. Porn also involves situations where you’re very attracted to them but still have a specific job to complete in a specific way, not just access to another hot pornstar’s body for the day. 

“You can’t just show up on set and expect your co-star to be available to you sexually” says Kira Noir. “You can’t just come up and grab them. You can’t get to do every position you want to do.”

People outside of the industry will complain about how “unrealistic” porn sex is, but it’s for good reason: mainstream Adult films are built around the viewer’s pleasure, not the performers. Each sex position has to be well lit and visible to the camera. Penises have to be uncommonly large to let penetration be captured visually from every angle without slipping out too much. As Codey Steele puts it “It’s not about you.” It’s practical media made for a purpose, so if the idea of fully performative sex is uncomfortable to you, you might want to stick to jobs that don’t require that.

Kira Noir gives advice to aspiring male Adult performers with Holly Randall

#10 Be Smart With Your Money

Since the industry tends to attract a lot of younger people, it’s a well-known phenomena that new stars can be quite bad with money. Especially for women, it’s not uncommon to be flushed with cash at first in a way that might not continue as you get deeper into your career. Hopefully diversifying your income and making good strategic career decisions can mitigate this issue a bit, but it’s still best to be prepared for the worse. Your first month (really year) in the industry is not the time to buy a new fancy car or start partying hard every weekend.

Take it slow, build up savings, and (if you can) live within your previous means. The money you get from your first scene might feel overwhelmingly exciting if you’ve never had a job like this before (especially if you’re not male talent, sorry guys). Keep in mind, though, that it’s capital that needs to be reinvested into your career through cosmetics, marketing and more, not just personal income. 

Charlotte Sins recommends chatting with friends and coworkers in the industry to make sure you’re being offered fair rates. Even if pay looks great compared to your old mall job, you don’t want to settle for anything less than what you’re worth. It can be nerve wracking to negotiate, but especially if you’ve already built yourself an audience or reputation, it’s worthwhile. Emma rose, for example, haggled hard before her first scene. “I was very nervous, but I was also very stubborn about what I was gonna get” And it worked out! Here she is five years later already sporting a legacy most can only dream of. 

Allie Eve Knox, popular findom and frequent sufferer of financial discrimination including increased scrutiny and auditing

Oh, and one final piece of advice: pay your taxes! Make sure you’re setting aside a big chunk of every paycheck to pay your taxes and then, yknow, actually do it. It’s important for everyone to remember to do their taxes, but for sex workers it’s crucial. Especially those as visible to the public as Adult stars tend to experience a lot of harassment and contacting the IRS is a popular method.

As Allie Eve Knox knows intimately, folks in the Adult industry are under increased financial scrutiny compared to the average person even without internet trolls sending the IRS after them. The last thing you want to do is get in legal trouble because you forgot about taxes.

The Free Speech Coalition even occasionally hosts events walking performers through the process of filing their taxes and giving other helpful tips to manage money, check them out!

#11 Look Out For Yourself

This is the most important piece of advice and applies to pretty much all of life, not just porn. If you want to stay safe, it’s extremely important to check in with yourself about your own boundaries and uphold them even when it’s uncomfortable.

Contrary to what your opinionated aunt might think, working in the mainstream Adult industry is almost definitely not going to result in you being kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Like in any industry, though, you’ll be asked to do things you don’t want to do and you might end up working with people who make you uncomfortable.

Riley Reid was repeatedly asked to star in scenes she only wanted to be an extra for in her first months, but she knew to set her boundaries and listen to herself instead of jumping in before she was ready “They asked, I said no, and that was that.” Going into Adult, it’s your right and responsibility to set and uphold the boundaries you need to keep yourself happy and healthy.

Yes, as Riley Reid and Kira Noir mentioned, porn is a job and it’s not about your own pleasure or attraction. That being said, there’s a line between “ugh I don’t want to go to work today” and “the idea of having sex right now makes my soul leave my body.” No job is worth traumatizing or torturing yourself over.

Holly Randall and Codey Steele cadidly discuss the pain of performers working when they’re not truly comfortable with the job

Yes, cancelling on short notice or revoking consent mid scene is inconvenient, but your safety is worth it. You might think “white knuckling through” painful or distressing scenes (as Kimmy Kimm put it) is an act of selflessness, but it harms more people than just yourself. Even on a totally practical level, when Kimmy ignored her body shouting for her to stop during one scene, the injury she’d suffered ballooned into a much longer term problem that disrupted more than one shoot. If she’d found the bravery to speak up immediately, that would have been less inconvenient for others, not more. Beyond the surface level, though, ignoring your own boundaries can harm your coworkers emotionally, too. Codey Steele has been open about the pain he went through early in his career when he could tell his co-stars weren’t truly comfortable having sex with him but didn’t himself feel he had room to speak up. “To look at someone and really understand that they don’t want to be doing this, something as intimate as having sex” he says “It affects me mentally.” As Holly puts it,

“We [directors] understand. We don’t want them in that position. It’s not good for anybody and it’s not worth the money.”

Unfortunately, not everyone is as understanding as Holly or Codey. Even after Kimmy Kimm put herself through horrifically painful shoots and ignored her body so much she needed to be hospitalized, her then manager screamed at her over the phone and insisted she needed to work despite her worsening medical condition. If you do decide to enter the industry and end up facing this kind of treatment, it’s not your fault and I’m so sorry. You can never perfectly prepare and it’s easier than it sounds to end up in a bad situation. Still, I urge you to do what you can to speak up and get away from anyone who tries to guilt (let alone berate) you into doing things that harm you. Everyone has some shitty bosses or bad days at work, but you deserve safety, compassion, understanding, and coworkers who respect your bodily autonomy. No job is worth trauma, so if a shoot, a manager, or even your whole career isn’t working out, you can always leave. As Codey says

“You really gotta take care of yourself first and foremost.”

Go Eat Kick Ass!

Well, you made it all the way through this article, seems like you’re well on your way to stardom! Stay tuned to XSIV Mag and maybe one day you’ll be telling interviewers how you’d never have made it without us ;) Good luck!