I really don't think that people can fully appreciate just how much OF changed the industry. Someone mentioned that there's no way that the prices tripled - when in reality - I'm surprised they haven't gone up by ten times. The porn market used to be uncontested when it came to the talent that was available to shoot at all the studios. OF suddenly came around and told all of the 10s and 9s, "Hey, you girls could make millions." And then, all the 8s followed them onto the platform as well.
This had a double effect. Suddenly a girl's "worth" had gone up by multiples of a thousand. So, if there would be a Nikki Hill somewhere out there today, she would be busy shooting shitty fully clothed content in a dimly lit messy room with a 720 camera, and there would be not just one, but a league of losers lining up to pay her an exorbitant amount of money for, essentially, nothing. So ... all the 10s and 9s are pretty much ... off the market.
But! It gets ever worse. Because, now, that all that are left are the 8s, 7s, and 6s, (and sometimes a 9, and even a super rare 9.5), that, when they show up, have essentially become the new 10s. Meaning, they charge 10 prices. But! Not even! Because with OF, the girl's there are getting so much more, the girl's now that are at the top of their respective fields can charge even more than the traditional 10s, 9s, and 8s would back in the day.
So, essentially, you're left paying 12, 11, and 10 prices for girl's who are at the most (typically) a 9.
Now - it gets even better. With these new girls, you have to go up against the 11s, 10s, and 9s who migrated to OF, and are essentially sucking in billions of porn dollars that used to go to the traditional studios. Ever wondered why so many of them are shutting down? It's not by accident.
Feel like another kick to the groin? Well - how 'bout this. All the traditional buyers were used to getting serviced 10s and 9s for a much cheaper rate - and now are being asked to pay much more. Want to know why these projects and studios are flopping? Because of all of these factors. Not only this - but - a traditional AV/PB buyer sees someone he would've seen on the site a while back on OF, sees her taking a massive dildo, and figures, what the heck ... go check out her content. Suddenly, after a small while, he's not coming around here as often anymore ...
Now - you'd be correct in thinking this is the absolute end of the World. But ... but!
The content that's been getting released on AV/PB has been fantastic as of late. Like, did anyone see Sweetie Fox getting anal'd yesterday? That girl is someone who's a genuine certified OF beauty.
Or - how 'bout Lina Shisuta on Valter Karo getting a mean DP. I never thought I'd see her here again.
Karina Rose getting her first DAP? What a beauty!
And last, but certainly not least, Giorgio gave us a Monster of QUAP with Rebel Rhyder that was, all things considered, one of her best scenes of all time.
This was all released ... in a single fucking day!
The past days here have been really solid as well. As have the past weeks and months(ish).
So, as much as we might like to Doom 'N' Gloom it here on the forum, the truth is, AV/PB has really upped it's ante over the past few months.
I remember there were days here in the early spring when 75% of the content were greasy, unshaven, fat Mexican MILFS getting ploughed by what looked like a human square mold of lard, in the darkest and poorest lit of places (no doubt on purpose), in the dirtiest of locales.
Compared to that, these days are looking pretty fucking good if I don't mind saying so myself.
So, all things considered, despite the numerous set-backs all the enterprises here may have encountered, they're still coming out with an absolutely solid selection of content and girls.
The next thing I'm going to say, I'm going to be very careful about.
You have to remember - it was everyone here on the forums that were going on and on and on about the Russian girls and how the loss of NRX was so tragic. That was more than true. But, while we definitely have to accountability for this (as I am willing to do), we also have to get the full frame of what was meant and actually said.
I don't intend to take any liberties through which to make us look better - but diving into the reasoning behind what we said - why we said it - and how reality could turn out to be so horribly different for Giorgio would make a lot of sense here.
When we lost NRX - the shock of it - and the immediate fall-out of not getting that kind of porn anymore - created a two-tiered situation. On the one hand - the withdrawal of those girl's led to a longing for any kind of content that was similar to it (and likewise, upset feelings at the content that was like it) - and on the other hand - it made people leave the "not so good" by the way side when overemphasizing the legitimately fantastic.
When people were, like me, literally claiming NRX to be breaking new ground into porn, this was in no small part due to the girls. But! BUT! Not all of them. A girl who showed up at the NRX studio wouldn't immediately become a sensation just because she was there - she wouldn't produce incredible content just because she was there - and her scenes wouldn't be better than other scenes on the AV/PB platform just because she was there. What did happen though, was ...
There was a small collection of girl's who were 11 out of 10s. Your Sasha Paige's. Your Eva Barbie's. Your Lina Shisuta's. Your Kira Viburn's (who went on to work with other studios and produced much amazing content). They carried the platform. But ... not just this ... but every girl had content that was written specifically for and specialized entirely in their strengths.
Remember the first 3-hour porn shoot video? What was that one for. That was for Sasha Paige's BBC DAP breaking. And I mean ... brav-fucking-o!
Other shoots always tried new things - whether it was how they told their stories - the stories they did tell - the camera work - or just how the scene proceeded. Eva Barbie's BBC DAP and piss, with almost 40 minutes of relentless DAP action, with the majority carried out by the biggest cocks nonetheless, was an extension of what Giorgio had mostly invented himself.
But they kept other things in the clear as well. Their scenes were almost always perfectly lit. There was always a ton of space around the performer, so they it didn't feel like everyone was fucking cramped in a hallway trying to figure out who the fuck goes where, when, and why. And the girls, and this was essential, were treated like pieces of meat as they got brutally thrown around like an extra pair of holes, when in reality, they were still incredibly new to both the industry and the act of porn shooting itself (re: defiling innocence).
As a side-note, there's usually (re: usually) nothing more anti-climatic than a girl having a chuckle and treating the whole scene like it's an afternoon out on town. It becomes a mild gym exercise. I don't watch porn to watch a girl laugh at the guys who are fucking her. I watch porn to watch a girl get properly fucked like she's never been fucked before.
Not even funny how much hotter Baby Kxtten's scenes would've been if she just shut her fucking yap and made some sounds and facial expressions like she was actually having trouble taking the cocks. Ever notice how often so many men try to shove their fist into her actual mouth, or cover it up, during a shoot? Not by fucking accident.
Going back to NRX, though, this made the perfect brew of top notch porn that was energetic, exciting, and Goddamn filthy.
So, bringing a few of the lesser known NRX girls wasn't going to, in and of itself, be a game-saving touchdown.
Easy to fucking say that now, seeing as we all made NRX (and the girl's who were there) seem like they were the saviors of porn itself, but ... this clarification does need to be made.
As does the following one. Now - I'm certainly not talking like I know how to produce porn - but I sure as fuck know how to consume it. And after, pretty much, a lifetime of doing so, I think I can spot a few of the things that made the latest GIO scenes ... maybe not particularly the most well received.
I'm just going to list them off in no particular order.
Don't bring the following things into a porn shoot: dark light, dim light, red light, shadows, blinking lights, colored lights, any fucking kind of weird light. Want to know the reason the Amsterdam Red Light district is bathed in red light? Because a lot of the hookers there are old and ugly. When you've got a bright, young, pristine, Caucasian beauty on your hands, you should bring out the bright white crystal clear light and shine it on them, so that every gracious curve gets highlighted, every facial expression gets emphasized, and the audience isn't squinting whilst trying to figure out what they should be focusing on.
Small shooting places are the worst. The old-days of the pure white Legalporno sets were a high-point that, seemingly, isn't desired to be reached for again. I don't want to see girl's banging in fucking hallways. I don't want to see them getting banged in the dressing room. I don't want to see them getting scrunched in any weird place where I'm just uncomfortable fucking looking at it. This also goes for beds. If you're shooting porn on an actual bed - what the fuck are you doing?
Beds are made to relax on. They are also where performers (anyone) lose the power of their feet. The main driving (hard fucking) engine of the male crew. The minute I see someone's going to get fucked on a bed, I know all the energy is going to go right out of the scene. That's why couches are always used. Because guys can still use their feet - and the girl has the mobility to get picked up and tossed around and repositioned quickly.
Next up - dark backgrounds. Sorry to say it, but the only thing that should ever be black in a porno shoot are the actors. Here's the thing about blackness in general - especially with backgrounds - and how it absolutely fucks with the subconscious. Blackness, like nighttime, suggests the unknown. It also suggests the undefined. It suggests mystery. It suggests a whole bunch of fucking shit that the viewer shouldn't be having to deal with when trying to concentrate on the scene at hand. That's why the white locales were the fucking best - it highlighted the girl's whiteness - and then made the black cast completely pop out - so you knew where your eyes were supposed to be - you could focus easily - and that focus gives the scene energy.
Last, but not least, are the scenes where there is more than one girl. ... Why? Why pay four girl's in a scene? All of those group scenes fucking suck. From the Christmas Gonzo ones to ... just fucking all of them. It should almost always be just one girl. Two is permissible - but you really have to know what you're doing - the camera man has to have his absolute A-game - and you can't get into the spot where you wish you were watching one but are actually forced to watch the other. And the camera man almost always fucks up that selection.
Not only does this make no sense from a cost perspective - and complicates things entirely for everyone involved in the shoot (especially the camera-man, but especially the audience) - it often ends "everybody just doing the same thing at the same time." Not always - there are ways to do a scene with two girls really well, but to have the simultaneous spontaneity of a one-girl shoot where the guy's just trust their instinct alongside the carefully planned out choreography and camera-timing needed for a multiple girl shoot, is really fucking difficult to pull off.
But, yeah ...
Don't feel bad about the sales of the aforementioned shoots you did with the Russian girls, Giorgio. You tried. I think you kind of hit the nail on the head - you're getting tired of doing the same thing over and over again. I don't necessarily blame you. You are an artist, after all.
If you want - let me know if you want to see a shoot that would be ... well, different from all porn that's ever been shot before. This would create a new porn category - and it would be a one-off that would create a new benchmark in porn. Easily. The actress I have envisioned for it is Baby Kxtten, so I'll write it and send you the script if you so desire. It'll make all the aforementioned "porn-shoots" have the emotional energy of a quiet day at the gym compared to what I'll cook up. And I'll keep things such as cost in mind as well. The only provision I have for it is that, if you can't get Baby Kxtten for it (and she should be excited to do it once she sees the script), then you allow me the final okay on the actress you choose.
For a work of this caliber, you need the absolute best. I mean ...
If you want to go out - sure - go out. But ... wouldn't it be great to leave with a ...
Bang?

Just look at the script. I mean ...
What do you got to lose, right?