Update (7/1/20): COVID cases are on the rise in the three main hubs of porn production: Los Angeles, Miami, and Las Vegas. Yesterday morning, the Los Angeles County health department called the rise in transmission ‘alarming,’ and estimated that 1 in 140 residents carries the virus and does not know it. In South Florida’s Miami-Dade region, more than 1 in 5 people are testing positive for the coronavirus. In Las Vegas this weekend, cases of COVID-19 were triple their previous peak. FSC is not calling for a production hold at this time, but suggests that, given the spike in cases, performers should refrain from shooting outside their home or household for the immediate future.
Update (6/29/20): Since the research and writing of this article, Talent Testing Service (TSS) withdrew from the PASS system, after PASS permitted performers to use free and insurance-covered COVID testing as part of the new protocols. This may impact performers’ and studios’ ability to adhere to the guidelines. More information can be found here. We will continue to report on this story as it unfolds.
In March, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) called for a voluntary shutdown of the porn industry. “When we called for the production hold, it was in alignment with the state of CA orders to close all non-essential businesses,” Michelle L. LeBlanc, FSC’s executive director told Peepshow. “At that point in time, the industry was already being very cautious and uncomfortable with the situation. Once there was an order in one of our main hubs, Los Angeles, we called the production hold for the industry as a whole.”
COVID-19 still remains an active pandemic, with the rate of new infections growing in some regions of the country. Most studios and performers have, so far, complied with FSC’s shutdown request. In recent weeks, however, many cities and states have begun to relax social distancing measures in response to CDC data suggesting that the nationwide rate of new infections peaked in April.
As of June 12th, many counties in California (still the largest hub of adult industry production) began allowing “higher-risk” businesses to reopen; this includes movie productions of all sorts. Economic pressure to resume adult production was mounting. LeBlanc said, “As this progressed people were asking us constantly, on a daily basis, when we were going to lift the hold.”
Dr. Heather Berg, assistant professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Washington University in St. Louis told Peepshow, “Like other gig workers, porn performers have had no support from employers during the shut down. This is in spite of the reality that studios can still make money off of old scenes during a shutdown. Performers get no royalties.”
Moreover, due to adult industry exemptions explicitly written into some laws, performers are often denied access to government assistance programs, including those specifically designated for COVID relief. Berg commented, “Some performers have been able to access government relief as individuals (rather than as small businesses, as they were excluded from that aid). But a lot of people find filing independent contractor taxes prohibitively expensive, and so may be working under the radar. And, as banking discrimination has gotten more intense, some people have lost access to the accounts that might have received aid.”
Many studios are also feeling the economic strain. Berg explained that “while performers have continued to be able to produce their own content safely at home, this isn’t an option for producers and directors who aren’t also sex workers.”
The economic pressures are particularly acute for small studios. LeBlanc explained, “The larger the studio the less pressure. They have more of a cushion, and they have more of a backlog of content and more security. They also have a much larger liability and are responsible for more people.”
For these reasons, LeBlanc said large studios are more willing to “just be patient.”
As a voluntary trade organization and advocacy group, LeBlanc explained that “FSC is not in the position to continue to have the production hold in place. We are doing what all the other businesses and industries are doing.”
“Does this mean it is safe to shoot? The answer is no.”
Michelle LeBlanc, FSC executive director
“Does this mean it is safe to shoot? The answer is no,” LeBlanc said. “The safest thing you can do is to produce content alone or with the people who live in your house.”
However, accepting the inevitability that some performers and studios will, in fact, resume production, FSC has issued guidelines on how to minimize risk of infection on set. These guidelines, developed in conjunction with Citadel EHS, aim to “reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection and transmission on production sets where filming activities take place.”
FSC already has experience developing measures to limit infection; they have been administering the Performer Availability Scheduling Services (PASS) system—a service to provide industry producers and performers with a reliable protocol and database for STI testing since 2010 (though the industry adopted its first iteration of the standardized protocols that would become PASS as early as 1998). As a part of these new guidelines, FSC has incorporated COVID testing into the PASS system.
Mike Stabile, communications director at the Free Speech Coalition, warns performers and producers not to derive a false sense of security from COVID testing being part of PASS. While the industry standard is to do PASS STI testing every two weeks, this time frame is less applicable to COVID, which can easily be transmitted by coming into proximity with an infected person. Stabile told Peepshow that, with COVID testing, “People aren’t good for 2 weeks.”
LeBlanc added that, while COVID testing may be a necessary part of harm reduction, it is not sufficient to keep performers safe: “COVID testing is the smallest part. All that a test does is tell you if you had an active infection at the time of your test. All it would do is catch an asymptomatic person and prevent them from being on set.”
LeBlanc explained further, “The things that are much more important [than COVID testing] are: how many people, what type of sex, what precautions are you taking, how are you cleaning and disinfecting your set, what is the PPE [Personal Protective Equipment] you are providing for everyone, and are you doing a comprehensive health screening?”
While the guidelines were written with studios in mind, the explosion of cam sites, subscriptions services, and independent clip sales platforms means that the conditions in which pornography is produced are more varied and more decentralized than ever before. The FSC guidelines may be interpreted differently in these shooting environments than on a traditional porn set. “These are tools, not rules,” Stabile said. “We know that they will be applicable to an indy situation in different ways.”
Of course, the COVID pandemic is not limited to the US. Similar to what the guidelines the FSC has developed, Europe-based indie pornographer Erika Lust told Peepshow, “We have built a brand new safety protocol that is based on European Film Commission guidelines, and adapted it to the nature of our shootings. This ‘best practices guide’ was created according to local legislations and official recommendations put forth by government agencies and health authorities around the world in order to safeguard both talent and crew on set. It’s crucial for us in this first phase to select cast and crew on a local basis to not encourage travels between regions, or even countries.”
Industry Responses to the Shutdown and Reopening
Some performers publicly criticized FSC’s initial call for an industry-wide shutdown, and there are unconfirmed rumors that some studios quietly continued producing throughout the industry shutdown. For the most part, however, the industry appears to have embraced the guidance not to produce content with those outside their household bubble.
Asked how she has been coping with the shutdown, performer and dominatrix Lita Lecherous told Peepshow, “I have been working on some really cool socially distant projects! I’ve been working with a small producer to commission paid 4K solo shoots from performers at home, and Chelsea Poe and I worked with Trouble Films to organize a sexy truth-or-dare game via Zoom. Also, I’ve stepped up my solo POV game. Hope is not lost. Get creative!”
Similarly, award winning filmmaker and performer Bella Vendetta has come up with creative ways to safely create content. She told Peepshow, “I have also invested in a telephoto lens for my camera to work on a distance shooting photography project, in which the models are still mostly masked, and shoots take place outside, and models will be solo.”
Director, performer, and Peepshow Media marketing coordinator Courtney Trouble said, “I’m finding ways to be positive about remote content making and honestly, as a performer—I cannot wait for the reunion orgy I’m imagining with all of my former and future costars. But I guess I’m OK with a lockdown. The world felt so messed up before this too, you know? I’m not excited to go back there, really. I want to see what’s next.”
Independent clip producer Destiny Diaz told Peepshow, “I have actually been thinking about a new series that would require me to travel for filming, and I was starting to set dates up right when these lockdowns started. It’s been frustrating, but I’m trying to see the silver lining. With everyone home, eyes online have been through the roof, so I’m hoping with my viewership going up it will just make my content later more successful and lucrative.”
With the lifting of state restrictions, performers and directors now face a choice about returning to set. The tone among performers seems to be one of caution.
Jiz Lee, an adult film performer and marketing director at Pink & White Production, told Peepshow, “As a performer, I also don’t have any plans to film with a co-star at this time. The risk is too great. In the meantime, I’m updating my OnlyFans account with solo posts and promoting my past studio work through referral links.”
Performer Alex More shared a similar sentiment, stating, “I understand that the industry, both staff and talent, are wanting to make money to live. However my health and the health of those around me is more important than maintaining a pre-global pandemic lifestyle. I’m going to rely on my Onlyfans and SextPanther, and be broke for a while. Hopefully my application for unemployment is approved.”
Artist, porn performer, and sex worker Arabelle Raphael told Peepshow, “Honestly I’m not comfortable going back to shooting with other folks so I plan to just shoot with my husband. I’m pretty much going to just be working with him until we have a vaccine or possibly if I open up my bubble to like one other person but at this point I’m not willing to go and shoot with other folks.”
Diaz, who has a popular “Tinder Tales” series shot with local amateurs, added, “I’ve had a lot of my local Tinder matches ask to film through quarantine which definitely wasn’t going to happen. I’m way too paranoid. It’s really hard for me to say when I might pick up collaborations again. Knowing how fast it spreads and how contagious it is is making me very hesitant.”
Trouble commented, “Personally, I will not be shooting anything as a director or performer until at least 2021, unless it is a virtual shoot.”
Some directors, however, are looking to an earlier time horizon for resuming production.
Director Jules Jordan told Peepshow, “Although it’s a great sign that production can resume in Los Angeles, we have not, as of yet, booked any shoots, or have a scheduled start date. We are hopeful for July, but are very comfortable pushing depending on the local health situation and outlook.”
Lust said, “We are planning to come back to shoot over the summer here in Spain where the government allowed us to do so as soon as we entered phase 1 of the reopening plan. Same in Germany where things are already gradually coming back to normal.”
Will the Adult Industry Return to Business As Usual?
A return to production does not necessarily mean a return to the pre-pandemic norms though, and in fact, if the FSC’s guidelines are taken seriously, the US-based arm of the industry cannot return to this status quo, at least in terms of health precautions. LeBlanc said bluntly, “Don’t think of it as, how am I going to get back to where I was? We need to start from where we are and build up in a new way.”
“Don’t think of it as, how am I going to get back to where I was? We need to start from where we are and build up in a new way.”
MICHELLE LEBLANC, FSC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jordan suggested some changes are already underway, saying, “The initial plan is to cover testing fees for talent and crew (our crews are very minimal), and shooting within a 24 hour period or less of the COVID test, amongst other safety protocols.”
However, some industry insiders are skeptical that studios will make sufficient changes to ensure safety, or that it is even possible to achieve an acceptable level of risk during a pandemic. More said, “I’ve already seen a big-name director express concern about not having a budget to enact these health and safety guidelines.”
While much of the focus has been on testing and PPE, there are other, less immediately obvious safety concerns that potentially carry significant expense. One example is makeup. “The guidelines state that makeup should not be shared,” More explained. “There are some makeup artists in the industry that do follow sanitation guidelines; however there are so many in the industry that don’t.”
“A makeup artist cannot buy a whole new set of make up after one application of one person,” More said. “Is the sanitation process that was used (sometimes) previously effective in Covid prevention? We don’t know!”
Another concern is sanitation practices at shooting locations. More commented, “Many times we are shooting in someone’s home that has been rented. We don’t know if the person who rented the home has been wearing a mask in public, has been social distancing, has been washing their hands, has been cleaning their home up to par.”
Dutch/American filmmaker and performer Chelsea Poe told Peepshow, “I feel like we need to prepare for the worst, because it’s extremely likely there will be positive tests in the adult industry, I don’t know how we would handle if there was a full blown outbreak or even if a performer passed away due to complications from COVID.”
Jordan acknowledges the concerns that many performers have, saying “Talent should also have their own set of protocols and guidelines for producers to follow as well, especially on larger sets. Talent, if you are uncomfortable shooting please don’t, just because there is work happening doesn’t mean you have to if you’re uncomfortable with the current standards.”
More agrees that, for performers, “Ultimately, it’s your body, your choice.”
However, she also noted that performers may feel economically pressured to return to work even if they feel it is unsafe, saying “For some people it’s risk their life or be homeless, which is not fair, but the reality for some folks.”
Berg echoed this concern, “I think a lot of performers, like workers in every other industry, feel pressure to return to work in spite of safety concerns. They know from the industry’s handling of STIs and workplace injuries that directors are comfortable with putting people at risk and that, if they do get sick, they won’t get workers’ comp.”
Yet Berg also observed that COVID has catalyzed changes already underway in the industry that may actually improve working conditions, saying “Performers are, in some ways, better off now than they would have been ten years ago, since it’s easier to produce and distribute your own content. As sex work tourists go back to their straight jobs or realize that sex work is actually really hard, I hope the market will become less glutted. Then, a lot of studios might have a hard time finding performers who are willing to work on a risky set if they can make a living safety, from home, maybe with a pod of friends they shoot trade scenes with.”
Whether performers continue on with studio work or increasingly move toward independent production remains to be seen, but LeBlanc says, “We are in a really unique moment. This is an opportunity for the industry as a whole to change and innovate. We have seen so much innovation through this pandemic, creating content on their own and in a new way because they are forced to. There is no reason for the industry to go back to how it was.”
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