If you want to understand this thread, you need to read the thread, "Frantic fucking ... unsexy, uncool". It has a lot of good, interesting, insightful comments about what's wrong with a lot of porn today.
Rather than trying to change anyone who is making that kind of porn, the goal of this thread is to let people know that a quiet effort is getting started, to try to come up with some "treatments" (narrative descriptions, 2 to 3 pages long, with no dialog, summarizing a plot, the main characters, etc.) that can be presented to some actors, directors, and producers, for some better adult videos.
At some point, the treatments themselves might get posted on one or more websites, such as in this board. However, for now, that's not going to happen. Instead, all we want to do is begin identifying people who might be willing to try to help (depending, of course, on how things evolve).
And, we want to begin the early behind-the-scenes work of putting together a collection of a dozen or so well-honed treatments. So, if you've got an idea for an adult video that you think would be better than anything you've seen lately, start writing it up, in narrative form, no dialog, with a 2-page limit. We'll try to figure out, later, what to do with it. Hopefully, we'll do it as a team; that's the goal here. However, if this project doesn't come together and get started as a group effort, we may end up helping you figure out who to send it to.
Quick note: under the US copyright laws, you have an inherent ownership right in anything you create, even if you don't put a copyright notice on it. However, you'll be safer, and better protected, if you do put a copyright notice on anything you write, if you hope gets made into a video, some day.
To try to jump-start this thread, I'm going to give an example. To me, the idea below seems so clear and easy yet flexible and useful, I can't figure out why no one has done it. But, apparently, no one ever has.
The starting point is this: a guy graduates from college, and moves to a big city. Or, he gets transferred by his employer, or whatever. So, now he's got to meet some new ladies, and start dating. Once he gets to that new big city (say, LA, SF, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, NYC, Boston, DC, Atlanta, Miami, etc.), where does he go, what kinds of lines does he use to start conversations, and who does he meet?
The title of the series? "Learning to Love [insert name of city]". For each city, weave in landmarks, popular attractions, the hottest bars and dance clubs, etc.
And, give the guy a real dilemma, to drive the plot. The big problem: out of four different ladies he meets -- all of whom are beautiful, sexy, intelligent, and absolutely delighted to have met this guy -- which one does he choose? And why?
Each series in any city could stretch out into 3 or 4 episodes. And, anyone who watches adult videos, and who already lives in that city, would be a ready-made customer. So would anyone else who's planning to visit that city, or even just thinking about it and trying to decide where to go on vacation.
See how easy, and yet logical and flexible, it can be? And yet, apparently, nobody's done it. In complete seriousness, if any industry insiders read this post, I'd like them to start thinking about where they would take this idea, and how they'd treat it.
And, if something like this actually gets going in the adult industry, bear in mind that it might become a crossover, into cable and maybe even broadcast TV. It could be a multi-part progression, showing a really nice love story with attractive and intelligent people, with (1) the G-rated stuff on a major network, (2) the R-rated stuff on HBO or Showtime, (3) the X-rated stuff on DVD's and digital-only cable, and (4) the musical parts on VH1 or MTV.
Okay, here's my copyright notice: Copyright (c) 2007 by Woody Dooit (obviously a pen name; don't worry, if the need ever arises, my lawyer knows how to find me). I want a writer's credit (presumably one of several), if it ever gets done.
I agree that this could be an interesting approach. I hafta admit I'd probably like our main man to be a little more experimental and end up in a few threeways and a gang bang at some point... But I think the problem here, and a problem with a lot of good porn ideas, is that you have to find talent who can carry it. Can you name a current male porn star who could act the central character in this for three or four movies? Do you move him on to each new city, or get a new guy each time, and if the second how are you going to get a new guy each time?
The idea is interesting, it's the execution that's a problem. People think there's no shortage of guys who will fuck on film. Maybe, but there's few who can look good doing it, appeal to the audience enough that they want to see more of him than his equipment, and can act well enough to substantiate claims of characterisation and plot. Seriously, where will the talent come from?
There were some great comments in the "Frantic fucking" thread, but -- weirdly -- it got locked, apparently because a nasty asshole-related comment got posted in it (which apparently was completely by accident; it had nothing whatever to do with any prior posts in that thread). So, that might turn out to be be a convenient way to force this discussion over to this heading, instead. And, I'd much rather keep it here than go to the "Features" area, because this area gets 20 times as much traffic (thanks anyway, threesomebody).
Without wanting to seem like a glib motivational speaker, every problem that someone pointed out, while entirely real, valid, and needing attention, can be overcome somehow. As two quick examples:
1. instead of trying to show off the hottest nightclubs, the story could weave in some lesser-known clubs that would like some attention, along the lines of product placement;
2. instead of trying to get inside some major attractions, you shoot outside of landmarks (when was the last time anyone with a video camera got stopped form shooting, on some beacjes, near the Griffith Observatory, etc? That just doesn't happen, and the courts recognize that nearly public landmarks can be filmed by anyone with a video camera.
So, if those kinds of objections are what has prevented anyone from actually taking on this kind of challenge, then those factors can become part of what would make this type of effort new, different, and worth attention.
Beyond that, that was just a single example of the type of approach that someone should at least begin to consider, in the adult film industry.
And Kimi, none of this has to be at a "behind the cameras" level. Before any cameras are ever brought in, there's pre-production planning and work that needs to be done. I still remember reading an article, years ago, pointing out that Steven Spielberg was so successful, in getting his ideas actually put onto film in amazingly convincing ways, because he and a team of collaborators were careful to keep discussing, planning, and thinking about what they wuold do, and how to make it work right, before they ever started spending any significant money on getting the resources actually put together.
On a different scale, and in a different league, that's what this set of postings is about. Before anyone has to spend a dime, how would a skilled and thoughtful person --or better yet, a team of people with a balanced set of different skills -- write up a 2-page treatment, with a story summary that would convince a producer to sink a few thousand dollars into a video that might have serious potential?
