Nine Things That Gay Porn Studios Can Do To Survive
Some gay porn studios are being bought out, some are making ends meet by shooting scenes for other studios, and some have stopped making movies altogether. In the face of piracy, tube sites, and California’s inevitable “condom law,” what can a gay porn studio do to survive? Here are nine helpful tips.
1. Please do stop the music. This isn’t 1997, so please stop adding awful techno music to your gay porn scenes. No one wants to hear it, and if the scene isn’t good enough without the music, you’ve got a big problem.
2. Make scenes downloadable. If your members can’t download scenes from your site so they can add them to their collection and watch at their leisure, they’ll just download them from an illegal file sharing site instead. Your choice. (Or, maybe you figure your scenes aren’t good enough for someone to want to save forever? Yikes.)
3. Update when you say you’re gonna update. People like consistency, and if your customers know that they can expect new content every Thursday and Sunday, they’re more likely to stay loyal members. If you miss an update or let too many days go without a new scene, why should anyone rely on you?
4. Stop shooting the same guy every single week. Please, I beg of you, we do not need another scene with the same guy doing the same thing in the same room every week. Having a stable of exclusive models for regular use is fine, but if you aren’t the one introducing new faces to the gay porn industry, someone else will. Are you a follower or a leader in gay adult entertainment?
5. Get out of the same location. Unless you’re Sean Cody, your content probably isn’t good enough to be shot in the same room on the same couch. Go outside, rent a house, or at least change the fucking furniture.
6. Don’t fight with bloggers. This should be a no-brainer, but some studio heads and directors still think it’s worth their time to get mad at bloggers (or, even more pathetically, anonymous blog commenters!) who criticize their content. Stop. You’re supposedly running a business, so why are you fighting with people who, at the end of the day, are only giving you attention? Go make a movie, or take a filmmaking class.
7. Add a webcam/live show section to your site. If you haven’t figured it out yet, cams and live shows are the future of the industry. Randy Blue has managed to stay viable and relevant thanks to their cam feature, which is tied into their regular membership features, and they’ve been around forever. And Austin Wilde’s GuysInSweatpants has expanded its reach with the same thing, featuring live shows every couple of days.
8. Develop a toy line. If your content sucks or you don’t feel like making movies anymore, or if you just want to bring in an additional, reliable source of revenue, invest in a line of sex toys. Because no one can torrent a dildo.
9. Stop trying so hard. Unless you’re CockyBoys and making crossover films with artistic vision, there’s no need to try so hard. Trust me, no one cares. Tech gimmicks and disastrous parodies are a waste of your time and money. Just film hot guys having hot sex, and film it well.
I hope this helps.
