Can Porn and Mainstream Get Together/Will Models Do Mainstream?

[BDBionic]

My surfers seem to have found a pretty comfortable slot for themselves and don't often venture outside of it, according to my referral stats. So mainstream hasn't been all that remarkable for me. Different sites have different traffic, though, and I'm sure there are a great many folks out there who'd do well with both adult and mainstream. I've spoken to adult site webmasters who make bank on Amazon referrals, so there seems to definitely be a place for mainstream with many adult sites.

And yeah I'll have to echo the comments others have made about goin' after big name pornstar models. Get some cute and yummy friends. New faces will be refreshing to the eyes of surfers and a lot easier for you to get ahold of and work with. Whereas something in my subconscious might make me feel inclined to buy Air Jordans cuz Jordan's name is on em, I'm not quite sure pornstars have that same degree of appeal. I'll buy a porn flick cuz Joe Fuckalot Porn Star is on the cover, but that doesn't necessarily translate to tshirts.

[gaybucks_chip]

We at Boyfunk and 18West/Cuteboyvideos have occasionally done deals where we'll have our models wear promotional materials for other sites... I don't know about other producers.

One thing you'll find is that producers who are up on copyright law will be leery of having a model wear anything that's trademarked or otherwise identifiable with a specific brand... it can get the producer into hot water if the trademark or brand owner decides to press the issue. So you'd want to use only original materials that are your own design, and provide the producer with written permission to use the trademark/logo.

[crescentx]

Another advantage of amateurs as opposed to "hot porn star" types - in my experience, a good photographer can get better results with an amateur. To be frank a lot of the porn star types might not know what to do with a pose if they're forced to wear clothes and not handle vulgar objects (look at Billy Zane's acting for example). You don't need to fly all over the country. Pick a good location. If you're lucky enough to live somewhere like L.A., you can do just about anything from scenes that look tropical to winter (yes, there is a ski resort in the mountains above LA). The setting isn't what the shoot is about - but it is the tone of the shot. This is what mainstream photographers do. I'd recommend trying some shots with the zoom on - that way you get the model in focus, shallow depth of field, can give crisp results. Shoot outdoors if you can in any case - studio lighting is great but a lot trickier to get professional results with than the sun (tip: light the background, not just the model, if you use studio lighting, and never use a simple on-camera flash unless your theme is dungeons).

-doug