HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (or maybe MONTREAL) – If I were to tell VICE one of my fellow adult industry-focused freelance writers and I soon will start writing Hunter S. Thompson-inspired children’s books, would they publish a feature calling this an industry-wide trend?
I ask because, apparently, all it takes to convince VICE “Porn Companies Are Pivoting to Non-Porn Content is two adult companies suggesting they’re maybe, kinda/sorta interested in producing mainstream entertainment ”
As VICE acknowledges in the same article, however, this “pivot” is more aspirational than operational, as the FBI might put it.
The notion of the industry’s mainstream shift appears to stem from one of the approximately 478,000 press releases published in the past 18 months by xHamster, a company that apparently has decided it needs to do something more creative than offering ridiculously low-paying jobs to a bunch of famous mainstream actors, directors and producers.
“xHamster is currently one of the most trafficked websites on the internet,” xHamster Vice President Alex Hawkins wrote in an open letter to the creators of the recently cancelled Netflix series Sense8. “We have the eyeballs, and the revenue. Unlike Netflix, you wouldn’t be competing for part of our production budget –- it would be yours. We know we’re an unlikely home, but five years ago people laughed at the idea of Netflix producing original series. We think that our time, like yours, has come.”
Yeah, never you mind the budget of the show is reported to be $9 million per episode, or that it was shot in 13 different countries. Clearly, if a porn website is sufficiently popular, money is no issue.
It’s not just xHamster that may be, possibly, at least a little interested in entertaining the idea of pivoting away from porn to mainstream content, either.
“In terms of the production of a mainstream film or television piece, it’s a possibility we won’t rule out,” Pornhub’s Corey Price (or perhaps “Core” Price) told VICE.
Wow, it’s a “possibility” Pornhub won’t “rule out?” Clearly, this is an earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting megatrend sweeping the adult industry like wildfire.
So, when does the xHamster-produced version of Sense8 hit the small screen? In its trend-spotting new article, VICE puts the date at approximately … never.
“Will fans get a third season of Sense8 on a new site run by a porn tube? Probably not,” the article conceded. “Netflix still owns the show’s rights and may not part with them easily. The Wachowskis likely have other options as well.”
Really, the same people who produced one of the most popular and successful sci-fi movie trilogies ever made have options that go beyond pornographic websites? Color me stunned!
I don’t doubt many porn companies will, at some point, test the waters of mainstream entertainment. I’m sure some already have, for that matter. I just have a feeling if it ever becomes a trend worthy of calling a pivot, it’s more likely to involve relatively low-cost endeavors to produce, like mobile apps, relatively simple videogames or low-budget horror flicks.
In the meantime, maybe the porn industry should focus on fulfilling the promise of another industry-saving big new thing, before it tries to move on to the next one.
Image: Trailer screen grab from the Sense8 website.
