I know the people in the business don't make Tera Patrick or Jenna money, buy what does your "average" porn star make. I'm sure they create a lot of business from personal appearances, and the websites. I would imagine a few hundred thousand a year. Could be way off.? I'm sure there are some starlets on here who would know more then me. I don't need a specific number just curious.
This is something I've always wondered. I know there are "mom and pop" (LOL!) production companies in most average cities that pay peanuts (a few hundred for a scene), but what about a starlet represented by an agent, doing a scene for a known production company (Devil's Films, Metro, et. al.) in Porn Valley? Would $1500 for a BJ-Vaginal-pop-in-the-mouth scene be reasonable, whether it's for video or internet release?
Okay, take 15-20% off the top for the agent (any comment on that, Mr. Spiegler?) that leaves $1200 (approx). Say you do 3 scenes like that a week...hmm...$3,600. Say 3 weeks in a month (a week off for "that time of the month" -- altho, according to Dr. Mitch, she's TIRED of getting sponges out of girls...)...that's $10,800 per month (Good GRIEF! Is it too late for a sex change???) Now multiply that by 12 and you get...$129,600 gross...
Of course, you COULD work more than 3 scenes a week. And there are -- I assume -- extra fees for creampies (anal and vaginal) and for more than one guy (hmmm...does the producer get a price break in gangbangs?) and so on.
Of course there would be necessary expenses (blood tests, tanning salon/gym membership...or would all that be tax deductible?)
Damn! If my stepdaughter weren't so damn modest, she might have done better in porn than getting a master's in business and working at the University!
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Haze Deactivated User
769 Posts 7/04
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 5:02PM
If I was a porn star I'd only do like two scenes a week.
This is of course the most intriguing quesiton of all. I'm pretty sure Jenna Jameson is one of the person who's making the most out of it because of her clubjenna website, all her appearances, magazines photoshots, movie sales, rental, video stores appearances, dancing show, indecent proposals (and Im sure there are many of them) and all the residual revenues. I would think she's making over $100,000 a year to say the least. Man, what a lucrative career. And Jenna, you really really played your cards right! what an intelligent woman you are. Congratulations! I'm so proud of you :)
depends alot first on whether you are male of female, however the males kind of balance cause their careers in the industry can last alot longer, also depends on the nature of the scene, some starlets tend to be consistent with what acts they do in a scene, maybe occasionally getting paid abit more for a threesome or more. Stars like taylor rain and gauge make around 1500 for a dp scene, and they would have averaged at least a few scenes a week, so if they were consistent each week they would end up with a decent amount at the end of the financial year, with a hellish amount of tax paid.
I'm sure Jenna does a bit better than 100K a year. Presume 10,000 paying members at $30?/month is 3.6 mil per year. Don't think she has 10k members? Maybe yes, maybe no.
With her own cash incentive program and lots of sites feeding traffic, she may have even more than 10K members.
Add merchandising and she could be doing very well for herself indeed- even after costs.
I think that as an average, that amount, for that scene, would be very high. I'm sure that there are some that make that for a straight B/G scene, but I think that is far more than the average performer can expect to make for that scene.
Whoa! Actually I really DID think that $1500 was the norm. For a "Teen-Tryout" kind of thing. If it's under $1,000 than I think these Young Women are selling themselves short.
On the other hand, there are a lot of Eastern European women who would "do it" for a Hershey Bar...and $999.00
Porn stars do not get salaries, they get paid by the scene if they are not under contract. So how much they make is dependant on how many scenes they do. After the new car smell wears away, how popular they are becomes a large factor. Working the other angles successfully can also increase how much they make.
Well, in most jobs that don't require education or special skills you get paid much less. Given the girl has no large fanbase, given the scene doesn't include circus acts, my guess is, she gets 500 - 900 dollars. But I don't have first-hand information.
BTW, "gia jordan wrote: My parents taught me that it's ill mannered to ask ppl how much money they make. Besides, talking about money is, like, so eighties." Exactly the same my parents taught me.
you don't think so? I know women who are dancers and a few models who don't even make the kind of money you're suggesting and they're propositioned all the time. don't get me wrong they're beautiful women, but if you think some of the highest ranking adult stars in the business don't get million dolloar proposals for a night of sex you're living in a dream world!
About 7 or 8 years ago I "dated" a porn actress; it was $300 for 1/2 hour. She told me at that time the common "day rate" for journeywomen porn actresses was $3,000. I am sure some got much more and newer less attractive or less appealing ones got less.
In that same time frame ,a real knockout I met working at the O'Farrell in San Fran told me she could not afford to do porn; just too much work for too little pay for her.
Clearly the pay beats the hell out or working at Burger King, but at the same time, for some girls, it seems that it may be a labor of love in addition to the pay.
Let's just say if Jenna replied and said "i don't accept indecent proposals though i do get plent of them because i love my husband. Same as i only work with him on in porn" i would not be suprised/amazed. Im sure some other pornstars do of course.
I wasn't talking about Jenna. she can and will do whatever she feels like. but I mean women who aren't even the five star, high-roller types still get those types of proposals, and if the money is right I'm sure they take it. why do you think they actually maed the film by the same name?
I hear what you are saying DVD wishes my brother...but you are dangerously close to that age old question "Are porn stars whores or not?", then it will be 17 pages of "duck season, rabbit season" Staying to the on screen pay suffice to say I would think they obviously do okay and live comfortable even make a bundle if in high demand but unless you reach that superstar/ mid superstar level. It is only a short time (2-3 years) career. This leads me to my favorite question what do 90% of the girls do when their porn career ends? (I know this has a bunch of threads but it never gets more than one or two legit answers)
All porn talent pays taxes. Some companies take out taxes, but most 1099 you at the end of the year. Talent can be independant contractors, incorporated, or LLC. Either way, there's no getting around paying taxes.
Cwians, that's definately not an acceptable industry rate.
As much as I love getting fucked and feel fortunate to be in this business because of the sex, the great friends that I've made, and the basic quench of my thirst for cum, I cannot accept a rate that is below industry standard because that would undercut my fellow performers.
The girls can and do earn more through escorting. A shoot can take any amount of time and they receive only their flat rate plus maybe some lunch or dinner. With escorting they're paid by the hour with no shortage of clients in a big city. Touring is very lucrative.
Hmm. I understand that some get paid depending on the scene but I thought if your a contract star, you are contracted to do a certain amount of movies, and there is a base pay??
Did your mother also teach you that it's OK to slap and choke girls, and fuck their mouths till they vomit? I guess people kind of expect that porn stars lay their bodies bare for us all, so they should also open up the rest of their lives too...
A buddy of mine is a agent and I asked him the same question. He told me that the average is $500-1000 a scene, depending on what acts are done in the scene. I'm so surprised by how much these girls don't get paid. He said most of the girls do feature dancing at strip clubs and that's where the real money is.
Most of the things I've read indicates that this is true. A lot of girls get into porn and do movies so that they can make a name and reputation for themselves and then command a high price when they feature dance. But as I've never actually spoken to or met a porn star, I can't say whether this is true or not.
These are good approx. numbers for pay scale. They make their real money doing privates or going feature dancing. The more boxcovers they're in and more famous they get, the higher their rates. Most do privates, aka escorting. It's par for the course for the girls to inflate their rates when talking to the media, and to always deny they escort. What would you do?
Of course the rates slide up and down depending on the actress and how badly she needs money at the moment.
"Here are some of the AVERAGE rates we pay and have heard are industry standards and they vary based on the performer.
Again these are GENERAL. I am sure the rates vary based on location and talent.
Like a girl shooting in Mt. Pleasant Michigan might top out at the lower end of the scale for the same scenes etc.
Janay - BKProductions
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Ejac Deactivated User
851 Posts 9/04
Posted - Aug 15 2005 : 10:02PM
I'm wondering, taking into account whatever the average rate might be, why not throw a huge bonus in there to someone just entering the business? As an incentive.
Producers/directors routinely squeeze the girls to get every ounce of performance out of them for the least amount, getting them to perform more for less money. It's just the nature of the beast.
A girl would have to be really special to get a bonus.
Edited by - johnny1290 on 8/15/2005 10:22:50 PM
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Ejac Deactivated User
851 Posts 9/04
Posted - Aug 15 2005 : 10:22PM
I wasn't referring to contract girls, but ones contemplating entering the business. Seems if they're a little unsure, throwing in an extra grand could be the deal maker. It could be explained that after a couple of appearances, standard rates would apply. Just seems like good business sense.
Edited to add - scenario such as GirlinDC suggested, and that I don't mean to derail the thread.
I hear what you're saying, but with the gorgeous talent available (eastern euro girls for example), a girl would about have to about have two heads to get bonus money like that. I'm just talking out my A**, since I've never heard of bonus money except for doing additional scenes, more guys, etc. Maybe it happens and I just don't know about it. I'm not a producer or anything, I just know (way too many) people involved in the adult industry, in print and video.
Now that you mention it, I could see it happening in gay porn, they pay the guys a lot more money than the girls in str8 porn make.
Edited to mention i'm not a know it all expert ;-)
Edited by - johnny1290 on 8/15/2005 10:32:21 PM
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Ejac Deactivated User
851 Posts 9/04
Posted - Aug 15 2005 : 10:32PM
I'd like to hear from some industry experts concerning this. Couldn't hurt posting it here. Hell, maybe it would influence a new potential.
well I'll chime in and say the rates posted are low. no chick working for me has left with under a grand. The risk about posting rates is that they vary quite a bit and they also change based on factors like location or director and payment type.
to Ejacs point one particular guy pays crazy rates to first timers and then these girls think they are always going to get these rates, grr
to GirlinDC you typically do get more for your first anything assumong anyone cares about it.
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dvddude Deactivated User
45 Posts 3/05
Posted - Aug 16 2005 : 3:33AM
Thinking of what you said as a business owner, it makes no sense what so ever. There's so much talent coming into the business without having to do this, it would not need to be done.
In my opinion, I think that the girls are grossly underpaid and that studios are taking advantage of the situation. Think about it, the girl shoots for a couple of hours, where video is shot and usually stills as well. The studios not only use the video to produce a dvd or VHS, but they throw it on the internet and sometimes on cable. Plus, they could use that video and put it into comps forever. On top of all that, stills were shot to. All the ways these guys make money off of a grand or so for a girl is obscene. If the girls were smart, they would form a union of somekind and squeeze their fair share from studios and restrict what can be done with video and stills that are shot.
Someone that actually caught on to this is Jenna Jameson. She probably saw these guys making a killing off her performance and decided that she was going to take control of it all and started her own gig. Now she's not only the best known porn star (probably one of a few actual stars I might add), but she's also the richest. If there's anyone in the business that's actually smarter then her, let me know.
the thing is not every scene is gold. The producer puts all this money on the front end more than the average American makes in a year and there are hundreds of pornos that don't even get distribution. There is no guarentee the movie will do anything. I have in fact scrapped two scenes because they sucked. I didnt see any performer offering me a refund. The performer assumes no financial risk and is in and out with no commitment. I think established performers who want to and can afford to should produce their own product so they own something at the end of the day but I don't think any producer should be required to give a performer a percent on the back end. The sales clerk at Gap does not get a percent of the till at the end of the night (assuming she isn't a stock holder)Gap could not run without sales clerks and they are the face of the company to the consumer but they come they work they leave.
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dvddude Deactivated User
45 Posts 3/05
Posted - Aug 16 2005 : 5:56AM
Come on now, more than the average American income for one movie. Looking at the average porn, it can't cost more than 10-15 grand. So I don't buy that argument.
As far as your Gap comparison, that's just flat out in two separate ball parks. In the adult industry the girls are the porn! The majority of porn consumers can care less about who produced or directed it, they want to see the chicks, period. That's why the girls are plastered naked all over them. As for the Gap sales clerk, they don't design the stuff they're selling and they aren't that big of a face of the company. Get real, if you have a snobby check out clerk at the Gap, that's not going to make you stop buying that cute outfit you liked. Bottom line, if it wasn't for the girls, there would be no porn (except gay porn).
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about making money and don't care how well or not well you pay your employees. I'm simply pointing out that the girls are grossly underpaid in comparison to what the industry makes. I'm sorry you don't see it that way and in my opinion it's sad that these girls don't see that they're the backbone of the business and don't demand what they deserve.
Introducing Natasha Carter
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 11:26AM
