All Forums > The Porn Pool > The Porn Pool Forum Page 475 > How hard it is to write a porn film?
AuthorPost
editrix
Member

10 Posts
10/07
Posted - Nov 9 2007 : 6:04PM
I incorrectly posted this in StarCrossed, but here's a funny article about trying to write a porn movie.
http://www.thenaughtyamerican.com/2007/News/Sex/11/09/Porno-Writers-Discuss-Their-Craft-648.html
Kensington Chapp
Senior Citizen

Mine is the biggest.
610 Posts
7/07
Posted - Nov 9 2007 : 6:57PM
Let's not kid ourselves here, it should take less than 5 minutes.
Pagoda
Senior Member

Thread Killer
1747 Posts
10/05
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 5:26AM
If I were to write a porn film, I'd keep the screenplay simple. Since my actors would only have a few hours or so to study the script, I'd keep dialogue to a minimum. I'd try to make each line count with as few words as possible. I'd also write the characterizations very shallow. No use trying to develop character arcs when the actors only have a day in which to shoot. It would have to be situational or plot-driven.
In the case that I were writing for specific pre-committed actors, I could strive for more depth. No pun intended.
Kensington Chapp
Senior Citizen

Mine is the biggest.
610 Posts
7/07
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 6:38AM
I see what you mean here, Pag.
But are pornstars that bothered with scripts/screenplays?
I mean I thought they were pretty fickle and couldn't be bothered learning lines etc when they could get the same pay for literally an hour of their time with some gonzo.
HarryWild
Member

Make me believe
622 Posts
2/05
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 7:23AM
That if you are really slow. Most producers take 1 minute to write it; and 5 minutes to think it up!
 
Kensington Chapp
Senior Citizen

Mine is the biggest.
610 Posts
7/07
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 7:29AM
Quit nitpicking. You know what I meant!
XXXTACEE
Member

7 Posts
10/07
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 10:14AM
Funny thread -- and a question I've often pondered.
RFrog
Member

396 Posts
10/07
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 4:43PM
I'd like to see more scripted or plot-driven porn... for men.
Unfortunately, a few directors have responded to my emails saying "Sorry, but story doesn't sell to guys."
I've seen patterns in porn scripts for women. The cast usually consists of very good-looking men and women. The wardrobe is very good (well-dressed men and women). There can be a sense of "mystery" to the plot. The men may have exciting or dangerous careers (police detective, private investigator, etc). Sometimes, the characters live in expensive million dollar homes and drive expensive cars. And remember that smoke-filled dream sequence (mystery). And don't forget the cool jazz music playing in the background.
I'd prefer scripts that play on male fantasies. Guys getting it on with cheerleaders. Or the patient who scores with a hot dental hygenist. Or the young guy who scores with the neighborhood milf. Or the divorced wife who goes out clubbing for the first time in 10 years and gets fucked by a swinging couple.
I'd spend days working on such a script. Spend 5 or 10 pages setting up the scenario, then deliver the sex.
Ever see Raising Arizona? The first 10 minutes or so was a well-written and well-directed backstory. It sets up the audience for the movie they're about to see. Watch it again. You can establish a good situation with good editing in a few minutes. Ya just gotta be clever.
CL
Member

108 Posts
8/07
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 4:46PM
About as hard as it was to write this post.
the unknown pervert
Deactivated User

I'd like to stay but I've got a plane to catch.
3243 Posts
5/06
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 8:13PM
Writing it is easy. Getting someone to look at the script is the hard part, especially if it contains complicated stuff like props, sets, and wardrobes.
cobalt60
Knuckle Dragger

2046 Posts
2/03
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 8:17PM
Write a porn script?????

Thanks, I needed that.
Shagdog
Member

Houston
626 Posts
1/07
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 9:49PM
In an industry that lacks creativity, imagination, and the motivation to be creative and imaginative it's impossible.
Let me see if I can write one
For the standard porn movie
Show me your tits, show me your ass, bend over pull down your panties. suck his dick.
For the elites that demand a story with porn movie
Your dog turn over my garbage again. I'm sorry can I suck your dick to make up for it.
There you go. Put this months "new girl" in it and last months "new girl" then 3 long timers and you got a classic.
The standard porn formula
All in under 5 minutes
Draxxx
Senior Member

3831 Posts
2/07
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 11:18PM
Personally, I'm not big on feature writing in porn. I prefer just a bit of a set up then on to the sex.
I do think that some porn may be a challenge to write. I would imagine CORRUPTION for example might've been tough to write based on what I saw as I fastforwarded through it. PIRATES supposedly works without the sex scenes so that was probably a task to write.
A typical VIVID movie probably isn't quite as tough but it can be tricky to actually write a story that makes sense and has to stop to do a sex scene so often.
Typically it seems with with most stuff that falls between "gonzo" and "feature" is simply ideas outlined and the thrust of the scene is explained so the stars can improvise their own lines.
Billy Brown
Deactivated User

if I find out you go near my locker, I swear to God I'll give you a karate chop right in the head
68 Posts
11/07
Posted - Nov 11 2007 : 1:17AM
if the people in porn actually realized that sex scenes are better when people are invested in the actually story then maybe porn could transend what it has become today.
Kensington Chapp
Senior Citizen

Mine is the biggest.
610 Posts
7/07
Posted - Nov 11 2007 : 4:37AM
In an industry of men thinking through their cocks, I doubt this is going to happen.
 
Tristram
Member

80 Posts
2/06
Posted - Nov 11 2007 : 6:47AM
Hmm, that was an amusing article. Who knew that the were writing teams in porn? I especially liked the sentence "Writing porn is a lot harder than watching it." Now, speaking for myself, I have certainly seen quite a few scenes that were harder to watch than they could have been to write...
On a more serious note, I would say that good porn writing is very difficult. By good writing I mean a script that manages in a very brief time to establish a believable situation for people to have sex in. I think the fact that you rarely see that is not just that most porn consumers don't care about the situation in which the sex happens, but that it actually takes some skill to do it.
Dan
Senior Member

2056 Posts
6/07
Posted - Nov 11 2007 : 1:22PM
It doesn't take long to write a formula script that looks just like any other. But to write a script that builds tension, surprises, excites, and entertains the viewer is not that easy. And only talented script writers can do it well.
I think that many of Rocco Siffredi's scenes are so outstanding because of their good scripts. Many of his scenes start out slowly with some hints of a lot harder sex to come. This builds up the viewer's desire to see the hints of hard sex come true. And then suddenly, something happens in the scene that fulfills and exceeds the viewer's desires and expectations.
The award-winning gang-bang in Animal Trainer #5 is like that. A group of guys and a good looking gal go out on a boat. They all have a drink together. Then the lady and Rocco go to a private room and have sex for some time. And just when you think that this is about as much sex as this pretty lady is going to get, the other guys suddenly walk in on them. "Please, please, please, please can we join" beg the sex-starving guys. And it's a one hot no holes barred gang-bang from five hungry guys all trying to get their good share of this pretty lady.
If you cut out the first part of the scene and start it with a straight gang-bang on the lady with all of the guys present right from the beginning. Then perhaps this scene wouldn't be so exciting and hot anymore.
A good script builds up the viewer's desires and expectations to a feverish pitch. And just when the viewer gets impatient and wants to see his wishes come true. A sudden development in the action does make it all come true and then some.
Many porn scripts start out with hard action without trying to build up the viewer's expectations and desires. And this often leaves the viewer trying to catch up with the action in terms of his feelings and desires.
It's like putting the cart before the horse. The action fulfils the viewer's desires that the viewer does not yet feel at the moment. And the viewer doesn't get as much satisfaction out of watching the scene as he could've.
The trick of a good script is to build up a strong expectation and a focused desire in the viewer first. Wait a little to make that desire grow to a breaking point. And when the viewer is about to get impatient and exasperated, then fulfill this desire completely and utterly.
Edited by - Dan on 11/11/2007 5:57:36 PM
Christopher256
Member

146 Posts
8/05
Posted - Nov 11 2007 : 2:35PM
I don't ask that the script in a porn movie be any more intelligent than that of a typical B horror film, but I do wish there was more originality. We get the same situations over and over again. I used to watch almost all feature films, but I've gravitated to more Gonzo stuff because I don't need to see that same storyline I've seen dozens of times before.
Kensington Chapp
Senior Citizen

Mine is the biggest.
610 Posts
7/07
Posted - Nov 11 2007 : 5:54PM
Dan for President
BlackSix All-Star Supporter
All-Star Member

pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world
12377 Posts
9/07
Posted - Nov 11 2007 : 6:56PM
Christopher, the best features from the 70s tended to have more original storylines than anything you see today, check them out.
Tristram
Member

80 Posts
2/06
Posted - Nov 12 2007 : 7:55AM
Yes, but even gonzo can have storylines, it's just that the camera is acknowledged as actually being there. If you take early Buttman videos and some of Rocco's stuff (as so eloquently described by Dan), there is clearly some thought behind the build-ups (even though they are done to look spontaneous).
Personally I'm rather bored by most present-day gonzo becuase the situation is almost always the same: girl in slutty outfit shows off her tits, ass, and legs to the camera, then proceeds to have sex, first oral, then vaginal, then anal (with some oral thrown in) on a couch, the floor, or both. There are exceptions to this, but they are rare, just as rare as creative feature-porn directors. Both genres have grown stale.
BigLou
Member

57 Posts
11/05
Posted - Nov 12 2007 : 5:38PM
I think it's easy, since the most difficult part of any writing assignment is the resolution. The toughest part is finding out where the story is going; once you know that, a story writes itself. In a porn film, you always know where you are going (or cumming, as it were.)
BlackSix All-Star Supporter
All-Star Member

pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world
12377 Posts
9/07
Posted - Nov 12 2007 : 9:47PM
BigLou, have you worked in porn? Some of my favorite porn ends in a downer, not the traditional 'everyone fucks and everything if great' wind-up, although those can be great too.
Tristram
Member

80 Posts
2/06
Posted - Nov 13 2007 : 6:27AM
That's the problem, stories really don't write themselves, at least not in a good way, even if you know where you're going. Of course, if you do know, and in porn people usually do, you're obviously going to get there eventually, but good writing is about getting there efficiently. In a lot of porn dialogue, there is really no interesting story or character development and still it can go on for what seems like forever. It's more like intermissions between the sex than build-ups to the sex.
night_lick
Member

196 Posts
7/06
Posted - Nov 13 2007 : 1:27PM
Someone told me to make a porn feature all you need is a good editor and porn actors who don't freak out about every little thing. When I asked about writing he laughed so hard milk came out of his nose.
 
Tristram
Member

80 Posts
2/06
Posted - Nov 13 2007 : 2:42PM
To just make a porn feature you'll hardly even need that. (Are there really good editors in porn? I must have missed something.)
To make a good porn feature you need a lot more. Hmm, maybe this is why there are so few good porn features?
RFrog
Member

396 Posts
10/07
Posted - Nov 14 2007 : 12:00AM
As for plot ideas, I guess I'd start with people's fantasies. What do people fantasize about these days? Do people fantasize anymore?
Do young guys dream (fantasize) about screwing their algebra teachers?
Do men fantasize about receiving head from a dental assistant?
Do single fathers fantasize about fucking the female softball coach of their daughters team?
Or maybe people don't fantasize anymore. Sex is on the internet. Who needs fantasies? Who need stories? : /
RFrog
Member

396 Posts
10/07
Posted - Nov 14 2007 : 12:10AM
I guess, if I directed porn, I would try to make the viewer feel empathy for the character in the video.
Hence, if the actor in the video is feeling strong feelings of lust, I'd want the viewer to feel that way also.
However, some producers may say, "Naked bodies. That's how you instill Lust in the viewer. End of story."
Is there a way to get the audience horny (hard/wet) before the clothes come off? That would take talent!
Larry Olsson
Member

Florida
17 Posts
6/06
Posted - Nov 14 2007 : 4:30AM
I have never had a script turned into a movie, nor have I even really tried. But I am a published author (magazine articles and short fiction) and I do know the bare minimum about what makes a good story. I currently have seven completed adult scripts I've written collecting dust on a shelf. I'll get an idea and it will nag at me until I actually write it down and get it out of my system. One in particular I'm especially proud of, and I have to chuckle every time I think about it. For all I know, they may sit there until the sun burns out. Who can say? However the question was, "How long does it take?" For me personally, when I have a concept I keep a sheet of paper handy and cluster ideas on it as they pop up, usually giving this a day to get everything out. Then I organize all the clustered thoughts into their related groups, 20 to 30 minutes for this stage. At this point I actually write the script. For the sex, I use minimalist description for obvious reason unless a specific sex act is needed for story continuity. Basically it's just the dialogue. The one I'm most proud of took 90 minutes at this stage because the clustering/organization has set the foundation and the rest flows out really quickly. Then I put it aside for a day or so, after which I read it out loud to myself. This makes any structural or grammar mistakes jump out and easy to fix. I make one final read with the intent of cutting out anything that won't be missed, cleaning and streamlining it. This is the same process I follow when writing anything, and I find it works for me, ymmv.
And it was a funny article editrix
Bird Watcher
Member

8 Posts
11/07
Posted - Dec 22 2007 : 8:08AM
Lesbian Noir: Into the Fire
I got a job working as a pool cleaner. It was the only job I could get after prison. But it wasn’t just cleaning pools; I offered other services to these rich bitches: sometimes a little lez action, hooking them up with a rent-a-stud, but mostly dealing. The boss gave me the stuff and I got commission on what I sold. I had my own habit which I couldn’t pay for, so I’d skim a little off here and there, figuring that no-one would notice. Well, someone noticed.
I had a big order for some Hollywood types who were throwing a big party. I thought I’d have a little pick-me-up in the morning before delivering the stuff. I’m in the shower and suddenly I’m convulsing and something erupts inside my guts and I start puking up I don’t know how many times. I call my boss and tell him I can’t make it and he says he’ll come round himself. I leave the door open for him and crawl back to bed with a bucket.
He comes round and asks how I am? I tell him I feel like I’m dying. He comes to the bed, gets on top of me, grabs me by the throat and takes out a knife “Next time you will die, if you try to rip me off again, you fucking bitch!” The bastard had cut the stuff with some rat poison and I’d taken the bait. Now I owed even more money and I’d have to sell double what I’d done before. I’d have to find new customers, and lots of them.
It was the second or third day knocking on doors that I came to her house. The maid answered and left me hanging around outside where I finished a cigarette before she came back and showed me into the backyard. And there she was climbing out of the pool and walking towards me. She stopped right in front of me and pushed back her wet hair with both hands, looking like a girl in a swimsuit calendar. She said I could start right away and then walked off into the house fiddling with her bikini bottoms. She turned round to make sure I was checking out her ass. I was.
The first few times she didn’t say anything to me, but she was always there, lying out in the sun. She’d call the maid out to rub sun oil all over her body, and they’d put on a little lez show. Then the maid would giggle and whisper something and they’d go into the house. I’d see them at the bedroom window, where she’d undress the maid and they’d kiss for the longest time.
After a while she loosened up and would fix me a drink after I done the pool, and she’d ask me a lot of questions like I was the most interesting person she’d ever met. I gradually picked up bits about her. She was the girlfriend of some high-powered businesswoman who’s company was worth 18 million. She started giving me other little jobs, so I was coming there 2, 3 times a week. I needed to start selling stuff. She’s asking me about my other clients and what they ask for? I say I all sorts of things. Like what? I tell her I fill in their prescriptions. Do you want anything? She slapped my face. “Don’t talk to me about that! See the maid”. She was very careful. It all had to be through the maid so her hands were clean.
Next time I came she said forget about the jobs, she was going to take me out shopping. She felt bad about last time – I don’t think she’d ever felt guilty about anything in her life. So we’d had a girly morning and when we got home I tried on all the stuff again, in her room, because stuff always looks different in shops. As I changed she fussed around me, smoothing down the clothes and feeling me up, and then breathing in my ear how much she wanted me. We made love for about two hours.
After that I spent as much time with her as I could. No cleaning the pool, just sexing it the whole afternoon. I’d been hooked on half a dozen things before, but I’d never had it as bad as I had it for her. The worst was I could never spend the night with her, so I’d be all alone at home drinking and watching lez porn, or if I got real horny go to a lez club and pick up the prettiest girl I could find. But none were as good as her.
Then the girlfriend went on a business trip so I’d get to spend the night there. Just us two, with the maid having the day off. We fucked, then lay there smoking, drinking and talking, and then start fucking again. I was getting drowsy with all the heat and the booze and the smoking. She talked about how she only wanted to be with me, and how perfect everything would be if her girlfriend was out of the picture. I know what she was getting at, but I didn’t say much, just lay there smoking and watching her walk around the room in her slip pretending she hadn’t thought about killing her girlfriend a million times before and had only just now come up with the idea. She only wanted to be with me. Me and the 18 million. Only three’s a crowd, and someday she want to get rid of me so it was just her and the 18 mill. I said she wouldn’t get away with it, the cops are pretty dumb but when they don’t find anyone after the first few months they start suspecting the nearest and dearest.
We slept, but when I woke up in the dark she was gone. I opened the door and saw a light downstairs and heard them talking. Just her and her girlfriend. She was playing wifey. I went back in the bedroom and wondered how the hell I was going to get out of there? Looked like out the window was the only way, but the light was shining downstairs. I heard someone coming up the stairs. Her. The girlfriend was still downstairs. She saw me
and pulled me into another room. Their room, where she changed into some lingerie. The trip was cancelled, no planes were flying out. I told her I had to get out of there, she said No, her girlfriend was drunk already and she’d be out cold soon. The girlfriend was coming up the stairs, so I was bundled into a closet.
It was the first time I’d seen the girlfriend. She was a good-looking woman, sexy elegant. She didn’t look drunk. The kissed long and hard and then made love, if that’s what you can call it. I saw what a great actress she was and she teased and surrendered to her girlfriend. I had to watch it all. And watching them I knew I had to kill one of them.
Of course it was all planned. She’d probably put something in my drink to make me sleep, and knew that making me jealous was the only way. And she was right. Why didn’t I get the message? The signals were there from the very beginning – they’re always there.
The girlfriend liked to pick up girls on the Internet now and again, so we figured I could meet her that way somewhere. I joined one of the sites and started sending her messages. She knew her girlfriends password and would delete all the other messages, and dictate my replies to her, all weird psychological shit, and took some kinky photos, all stuff she knew would push all the right buttons. Sure enough she was hooked and wanted to meet up.
We met at a crowded lez club on a Friday night. I’d tried to make myself look as different as I could, just in case something went wrong. I was high and she bought lots of drinks. We were making out right there at the bar, and she was so horny we went down on each other in the toilets. After dancing sweaty and close for about an hour we went to a shitty hotel. It was the roughest sex I’d ever had – with a guy or a girl. I had opportunities, but couldn’t do it. She had opportunities too, I wondered if she was a psycho who picked up girls and left them for dead. She left me half-dead, having to make that call. “I’m couldn’t do it, baby, I couldn’t go through with it”.
She was still angry when I rang her the next morning. She said not to phone or come to the house for a while, it was too risky. Only come now and again, at special times. Then it was snatched conversations and quick visits. I’d see her and the maid huddling together. Sometimes she’d ask me to come over and the maid would tell me she wasn’t in. I didn’t realise that she was setting me up, telling the maid I was obsessed with her and wouldn’t leave her alone.
Then one night, about one in the morning she called me, telling me to come quick, something had happened. She couldn’t talk on the phone. I got to the house and she took me upstairs, and there was her girlfriend lying dead on the bed. I looked at her eyes, she’d OD’d. I could figure out what she’d done, she’d spiked her. The stupid bitch! No, she wasn’t stupid, she was smart. When this came out in the papers someone would blab, and who would be in the frame? The local neighbourhood pusher and pool cleaner. Of course she denied it, and I wasn’t going to be able to shake the truth out of her. And it didn’t matter anyway; I had to get out of there. But I needed money, so I got her to open the safe. There was 20 grand in there, easy, and a gun. She gave me the gun as well. There was someone at the door. It’s 2 o’clock in the morning. Someone gets it – the maid. It’s the cops. It’s the cops and I’m standing there with 20 grand in one hand and a gun in the other, and a dead body upstairs. She backs away and puts her hands up. I raise the gun, just to see her face. “You wouldn’t do it”. Wouldn’t I, baby…?
Kensington Chapp
Senior Citizen

Mine is the biggest.
610 Posts
7/07
Posted - Dec 22 2007 : 10:27AM
^^^
What's that got to do with writing a porn script?
Bird Watcher
Member

8 Posts
11/07
Posted - Dec 22 2007 : 1:04PM
Just to show that you can come up with a good story within the limitations of porn.
Have a Merry Christmas you miserable git!
Kensington Chapp
Senior Citizen

Mine is the biggest.
610 Posts
7/07
Posted - Dec 22 2007 : 1:27PM
Bah, humbug.
RFrog
Member

396 Posts
10/07
Posted - Dec 22 2007 : 1:50PM
Bird Watcher, you lost me after rich bitches. But that's ok. :)
I've never been to prison. I've never been a handy-man or a pool guy. First job I ever had was with a courier company. So I can't "relate." But that's ok.
A story won't appeal to everybody. Try to please everyone and it leads to mediocrity, I think.
I can't relate to gangsta movies; I didn't grow up around that environment. But I can relate to The Breakfast Club.
Keep writing. :)
RFrog
Member

396 Posts
10/07
Posted - Dec 22 2007 : 2:08PM
I read the NaughtyAmerican article again.
Let me quote: "Many fans regard the films and videos like Kleenex: Use it once and throw it away."
Some porn producers may try to write a good porn script, but it also takes good wardrobe, set design, camera work and good acting. In other words, a bigger budget.
But if many fans regard porn as cheap throw away items, then I doubt there will be a huge wave of well-written porn.
Darn.
 
caroline-NL
Member

543 Posts
3/07
Posted - Dec 24 2007 : 9:40AM
Writing a very good script, that isnt using the
typical "daydreams", "scenes written in a diary" etc. construction, is very difficult.
You have to write a coherent story, that
has 4-7 sex scenes, that still makes sense
and isnt looking artificial. Thats very difficult. Damiano had the ability to do this.
( Excluding "Deep Throat" which looks like a parody ) But there arent many writers who can write a good script. And even if, there are less than a half dozen companies, who even would look at your storyboard. Company xyz, who is only producing gonzo stuff, isnt interested in this. As long as they sell their superficial
fucking without sense, why should they ?



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