How Much Do Porn Stars Make?

[herooftheporn]

I expected more !!!!
for example when they talk about a very famous and hot pornstar that has been in the biz for years and have not done Anal scene at all, and suddenly she appears in Anal scene, I don't think they are going to pay only 1500$ !!!
I mean why would The Rachel Starr gets a first anal scene after all those years ?! only for 1500$ ?!?!
I don't think so !

 

[Harley Spencer]

I expected more !!!!
for example when they talk about a very famous and hot pornstar that has been in the biz for years and have not done Anal scene at all, and suddenly she appears in Anal scene, I don't think they are going to pay only 1500$ !!!
I mean why would The Rachel Starr gets a first anal scene after all those years ?! only for 1500$ ?!?!
I don't think so !

You are mistaken my dear. Anal isn't all about money. Girls have limitations in porn for the same reasons they don't do those things in their personal lives, more or less. If a girl doesn't do anal on film, it's because she doesn't like anal, not because anal doesn't pay enough. So when a girl comes out and has a "first anal scene" type of video, it's not because they've suddenly decided, "Ok, how about $3,000 instead? Will that change your mind?" It's because she's tried anal, she enjoyed it, or she came to the point where it didn't hurt anymore and doesn't mind it, so now she's willing to do it on film.

 

[herooftheporn]

You are mistaken my dear. Anal isn't all about money. Girls have limitations in porn for the same reasons they don't do those things in their personal lives, more or less. If a girl doesn't do anal on film, it's because she doesn't like anal, not because anal doesn't pay enough. So when a girl comes out and has a "first anal scene" type of video, it's not because they've suddenly decided, "Ok, how about $3,000 instead? Will that change your mind?" It's because she's tried anal, she enjoyed it, or she came to the point where it didn't hurt anymore and doesn't mind it, so now she's willing to do it on film.

so you say they do the porn films because they enjoy it, and they get some money as well too ?!
I thought money is the most important thing, and then comes the joy !

besides the producers get more money when they have Rachel Starr First Anal scene on their movie , so Rachel deserves to get paid more ! and producers should pay more !!! IMO

 

[Harley Spencer]

so you say they do the porn films because they enjoy it, and they get some money as well too ?!
I thought money is the most important thing, and then comes the joy !

besides the producers get more money when they have Rachel Starr First Anal scene on their movie , so Rachel deserves to get paid more ! and producers should pay more !!! IMO

Well.... it's complicated. I think the reason most girls get into porn is first because they're curious, they're open minded sexually, and getting paid to do something they enjoy sounds like a hell of a time. But once you start actually doing porn, you eventually realize that in many cases, it's more work than fun and play.

But that's not what I was saying in my previous post. I was saying that girls have limitations in porn because they're not comfortable with those things, not because those things don't pay enough. For example, many girls won't do anything involving pain, anything involving feces (so no golden showers and no two girls one cup), etc. They choose not to do those things because they aren't personally comfortable with them. Not because of the pay. It's like any job. Would you apply for a job that you weren't comfortable doing? For example, a person deathly afraid of spiders isn't going to apply for a job involving finding and selling tarantulas. And a person deathly afraid of heights isn't going to apply for a job working hot air balloons.

Anal is a personal choice. For many women, anal is a no-go, period, because it can be excruciatingly painful or, for some girls, they simply think it's nasty. When a girl goes to first work in the porn business and is discussing details with the people hiring her, one of the very first things discussed is limitations. There is a very long list: g/g, b/g, bbg, ggb, anal, fisting, toys, blow jobs, double anal, tit fucking, voyeurism, swallowing, deep throat, double vaginal, double penetration in general, bondage and other forms of bdsm, spanking, and many more. If a girl isn't comfortable with something, she simply says no.

It's really not that hard of a concept to understand.

 

[herooftheporn]

Well.... it's complicated. I think the reason most girls get into porn is first because they're curious, they're open minded sexually, and getting paid to do something they enjoy sounds like a hell of a time. But once you start actually doing porn, you eventually realize that in many cases, it's more work than fun and play.

But that's not what I was saying in my previous post. I was saying that girls have limitations in porn because they're not comfortable with those things, not because those things don't pay enough. For example, many girls won't do anything involving pain, anything involving feces (so no golden showers and no two girls one cup), etc. They choose not to do those things because they aren't personally comfortable with them. Not because of the pay. It's like any job. Would you apply for a job that you weren't comfortable doing? For example, a person deathly afraid of spiders isn't going to apply for a job involving finding and selling tarantulas. And a person deathly afraid of heights isn't going to apply for a job working hot air balloons.

Anal is a personal choice. For many women, anal is a no-go, period, because it can be excruciatingly painful or, for some girls, they simply think it's nasty. When a girl goes to first work in the porn business and is discussing details with the people hiring her, one of the very first things discussed is limitations. There is a very long list: g/g, b/g, bbg, ggb, anal, fisting, toys, blow jobs, double anal, tit fucking, voyeurism, swallowing, deep throat, double vaginal, double penetration in general, bondage and other forms of bdsm, spanking, and many more. If a girl isn't comfortable with something, she simply says no.

It's really not that hard of a concept to understand.

It's really not that hard of a concept to understand I agree
I think you girls must be paid more you deserve it

 

[Roald]

It's really not that hard of a concept to understand I agree
I think you girls must be paid more you deserve it

Keep watching all the free pirated porn and soon they will get even less...

just sayin

 

[Killer B]

This is pretty much the best answer you're going to get. It varies depending on who the girl is working for, whether it's amateur, whether it's for a bigger website like SexArt, and what her limitations are. It also depends on how often and how many scenes she shoots. But the rates shown in the above post are pretty much as accurate as you're gonna get.

As far as how big her boobs are, how attractive she is, how nice of an ass she has, etc. That doesn't really factor in like you think it does. Sure, if you're one of the most gorgeous women out there, like, say, if Megan Fox were to do a scene, she'd get paid thousands upon thousands. Because she's huge, she's a big deal. But someone who is your average looker, or a little above average, it doesn't make much of a difference.

Now, when I was doing b/g videos and whatnot, if I remember correctly, it was $250 for a g/g, $250 for blowjobs, $500 for standard b/g, and if I would happen to do anal (which I didn't at the time) it would have been close to $1,000, and I believe I got $750 for b/b/g. It's not as much as you'd think. I did try a little escorting on the side. The other girls who did escorting with the same company got I believe $250 for one hour. But because I was only available so often (once a month for a few days), I got $350 for one hour and the guy booking the appointments didn't take a cut from me like he did with the other girls. Now, all of this wasn't high end or anything, this was borderline amateur, so those were all rates for that level of work. If I had gone to LA and shot videos for a bigger company, I'd have been paid at least double what he was paying me for the websites we shot for.

So to put that all in perspective, say I were to shoot... 5 b/g scenes a month. I'd make roughly $2500 per month. That's not very much. Though that is a lot more than I make at my day job. That's more than twice the amount of money I make per month at my day job.

Oh and the guys who I shot with didn't get paid at all to shoot the scenes with me. They were just in it for the fun.

:goodpost: Thanks Harley for all of your informative posts. Wish I could give you more rep but apparently I need to spread it around first.

 

[Harley Spencer]

Keep watching all the free pirated porn and soon they will get even less...

just sayin

Yes, this too. If more people would pay for porn, there would be more money going around to pay the girls with. To pay GOOD girls with.

But it would also help if people didn't make so much porn available for free. Gotta solve the problem at the source. Good luck stopping them though!

:goodpost: Thanks Harley for all of your informative posts. Wish I could give you more rep but apparently I need to spread it around first.

Haha aww that's ok And you're welcome!

 

[Mandy Flores]

I just happen to check new posts and saw this.....interesting because I was looking this up today..how much porn stars make.

I started making custom videos in December 2009. I work only for myself. I own all of my pictures and videos. I get 100% royalties except where I have them on consignment, in which case I still get the majority cut. If i shoot for a magazine or website it is only for the exposure. I broke six figures before July this year. If I stop working right now I will still be getting paid every day. Girls...be smart and control your work. You don't have to suck someones cock just to see another company get the sales for the rest of your life. Shoot it yourself, market it yourself. If people want to see you they will buy it from whoever is selling it, they don't care if it's Playboy or Disney...if you are naked and they want it bad enough they will buy it, why let someone else sell it? I have tried to help other girls get this but they would rather go hit the strip club or get paid per scene for a quick buck. If they aren't smart enough to see it I can't help them. Other ladies that do what i do get it and we work for each other in trade. We pay ourselves, and make substantially more than 90% of porn actresses.

 

[RichardNailder]

The days where porn was "easy money" are gone.

Every year it gets tougher to sell memberships so there's less money to be spent on models. Add in that more girls are willing to do porn today than ever before, partly because of the shitty economy but more so because of changes in how our culture views porn - and more specifically, the social stigma that goes along with being in the porn business.

Do the math: Less money to spend on talent + more girls looking for work = less pay for the girls (and boys).

Basically the upper limits mentioned in the rates above are are a pipe dream for 95% of the girls in the the industry and it's very easy to find cute girls to work for less.... well, provided they don't have to travel, can group a few scenes to make their time more productive, and they're not working for assholes.

Oh - and we never pay unproven male talent - tired of having 40 minutes shoots turn into 4-hour "my cock won't stay hard" torture sessions.


Bottom line is there is more talent available right now than there are paying consumers. And since models can only make as much as is left over after production, marketing and legal costs are paid, don't expect any huge pay increases anywhere in the industry anytime soon.

Don't believe me?

Try this - grab a camera, hire a model then try to sell your brand new content - my bet is that unless you're a known name and already have a buyer, you can't sell it at any price.



Also - what Harley said about average cute girl making pretty much the same as the super-hot babe is true - partly.............................. Except the super-hot babe gets booked for a LOT more shoots than the average cute girl does - especially if she is as smart as she is hot and didn't mutilate her body with a bunch of ugly tattoos and piercings.

 

[Mandy Flores]

The days where porn was "easy money" are gone.

Don't believe me?

Try this - grab a camera, hire a model then try to sell your brand new content - my bet is that unless you're a known name and already have a buyer, you can't sell it at any price.



Also - what Harley said about average cute girl making pretty much the same as the super-hot babe is true - partly.............................. Except the super-hot babe gets booked for a LOT more shoots than the average cute girl does - especially if she is as smart as she is hot and didn't mutilate her body with a bunch of ugly tattoos and piercings.

Was this really necessary? Harley will have a niche that can pay her good money if she will market herself right. Mainstream pornographers bring girls in and spit them out like they are trash. How many girls can you think of that have been all over the place one minute, and then "retired" a couple years later when the only paid scenes they can get are double anal and bukake films.

I would take Harley in a second to capture that fetish market.

Harley, if you get back to seeing this, there are legions of tatoo loving guys who will pay you DIRECTLY for your work, just BECAUSE you have Tats and are stunning at the same time. A lot of the women that are tatted up like you are way past their prime so you have a serious edge .....age and beauty wise. MARKET YOURSELF. There are plenty of examples of girls doing it on their own and making bank. I seriously only made about 1500 in video sales the first year, by year 2 I made that much a week. Be patient and aggressive and find your crowd.

 

[RichardNailder]

Was this really necessary? Harley will have a niche that can pay her good money if she will market herself right. Mainstream pornographers bring girls in and spit them out like they are trash. How many girls can you think of that have been all over the place one minute, and then "retired" a couple years later when the only paid scenes they can get are double anal and bukake films.

I would take Harley in a second to capture that fetish market.

Harley, if you get back to seeing this, there are legions of tatoo loving guys who will pay you DIRECTLY for your work, just BECAUSE you have Tats and are stunning at the same time. A lot of the women that are tatted up like you are way past their prime so you have a serious edge .....age and beauty wise. MARKET YOURSELF. There are plenty of examples of girls doing it on their own and making bank. I seriously only made about 1500 in video sales the first year, by year 2 I made that much a week. Be patient and aggressive and find your crowd.

Did I say Harley's were ugly?

 

[squallumz]

Don't believe me?

Try this - grab a camera, hire a model then try to sell your brand new content - my bet is that unless you're a known name and already have a buyer, you can't sell it at any price.

true. i had a short trial at producing some content myself not so long ago. part of the reason i got into it was because i had a partner who fronted the camera and i had a female friend who was willing to work as another partner but that whole thing with me and her went to hell on a personal level over stupid shit before i could really start filming her. i ended up with nothing decent which really sucked ass.

losing a "free" female talent was a huge loss. the only other girls i could afford were girls i knew personally. and im not gonna lie, they did prostitution type activities already before i came along.

putting up ads was pointless. id get bites here and there, but at the rates i could afford, it wasnt a good turnout. i realized i was going to have to settle for less than attractive girls to start with. but then, if i was going to be the stunt cock since my partner was still out of state, i would have to protect myself from catching anything these shady girls had. money money money, std tests, lighting, a proper camera.

it just didnt work out. i had to sell off the camera which was terrible.

my girl is encouraging me to give it another go too. she brought it up all on her own recently. but fuck.


its easier said than done.

 

[Mandy Flores]

Did I say Harley's were ugly?

No, you didn't. Just a well placed comment about tattoos and piercings to a girl with both. Perhaps I misread your intention there, I apologize.

 

[bobjustbob]

The porn industry has had to conform to the technology and market changes over time. Early in the days it was very taboo. They had a market for it but the press would never take the risk of promoting it. It was relegated to 8mm films and small theaters in hidden away locations. They got to stay in business though. Home video emerge on the heals of the Golden Age of Porn. Since the mainstream studios sought high residuals for their product, the porn industry took the smart route. Crank the same product out onto video instead of theater.

This was all good and big money was to be made, then the Internet came along. This medium would be the open space to promote their product. Since the price was so cheep everyone poured in to make a buck. Today anyone with a camera and Internet connection can produce porn. Enough of it is posted for free that there is little incentive to purchase premium product. There is saturation in the market. The prices for talent today are not much more than private encounters.

 

[Harley Spencer]

I just happen to check new posts and saw this.....interesting because I was looking this up today..how much porn stars make.

I started making custom videos in December 2009. I work only for myself. I own all of my pictures and videos. I get 100% royalties except where I have them on consignment, in which case I still get the majority cut. If i shoot for a magazine or website it is only for the exposure. I broke six figures before July this year. If I stop working right now I will still be getting paid every day. Girls...be smart and control your work. You don't have to suck someones cock just to see another company get the sales for the rest of your life. Shoot it yourself, market it yourself. If people want to see you they will buy it from whoever is selling it, they don't care if it's Playboy or Disney...if you are naked and they want it bad enough they will buy it, why let someone else sell it? I have tried to help other girls get this but they would rather go hit the strip club or get paid per scene for a quick buck. If they aren't smart enough to see it I can't help them. Other ladies that do what i do get it and we work for each other in trade. We pay ourselves, and make substantially more than 90% of porn actresses.

I've just started making custom videos. For a couple months now I've been selling my shoot items on abibids, was using ebay at first but ebay was removing some of my items saying I couldn't sell used adult products (stupid!), which is going well. I just sold my first custom video yesterday. At the rate I'm going, I'm making more money selling underwear, toys, and custom videos than I am on site memberships.

I've been contemplating whether or not to continue with my website come this Spring/Summer when it's time to renew CCBill, which costs something like $500. The 3 of us working on my site (myself, the photographer, and my web techie) have lost more money on it than made profit. I've kept at it because I absolutely love shooting for my website, it's great, it's wonderful, but it's coming to the point where there might be other things more worth my time that can bring me money. It's really, really hard to find girls who are willing to shoot adult content (photos and videos) for $30/month (which is what I've been doing for the last year and a half, give or take a few bucks each month), and it's hard to find a great photographer willing to shoot it for even less, since I get 50% of the sales, he and the web guy split the other 50%. But with the sales I make personally with selling shoot items and custom videos, I get 100% of the money. I could not be more grateful for the people I work with, and I know that if any other girl were in my position, shooting for so little and putting in so much, she would drop it in a heartbeat.

But now I'm learning that my website is more of a tool than a direct money maker. The money isn't in the website itself, but in areas branching off the website. Penthouse, Australian Penthouse, selling items, shooting custom videos, and other options are much more profitable than site memberships. So seeing how this goes continuing in the next few months, I may still stick around with it for another year to give it another chance. After that, I might be calling it quits. We'll see.

The days where porn was "easy money" are gone.

Every year it gets tougher to sell memberships so there's less money to be spent on models. Add in that more girls are willing to do porn today than ever before, partly because of the shitty economy but more so because of changes in how our culture views porn - and more specifically, the social stigma that goes along with being in the porn business.

Do the math: Less money to spend on talent + more girls looking for work = less pay for the girls (and boys).

Basically the upper limits mentioned in the rates above are are a pipe dream for 95% of the girls in the the industry and it's very easy to find cute girls to work for less.... well, provided they don't have to travel, can group a few scenes to make their time more productive, and they're not working for assholes.

Oh - and we never pay unproven male talent - tired of having 40 minutes shoots turn into 4-hour "my cock won't stay hard" torture sessions.


Bottom line is there is more talent available right now than there are paying consumers. And since models can only make as much as is left over after production, marketing and legal costs are paid, don't expect any huge pay increases anywhere in the industry anytime soon.

Don't believe me?

Try this - grab a camera, hire a model then try to sell your brand new content - my bet is that unless you're a known name and already have a buyer, you can't sell it at any price.



Also - what Harley said about average cute girl making pretty much the same as the super-hot babe is true - partly.............................. Except the super-hot babe gets booked for a LOT more shoots than the average cute girl does - especially if she is as smart as she is hot and didn't mutilate her body with a bunch of ugly tattoos and piercings.

That is all very true, except the bit about tattoos and piercings. The market for girls with tattoos is continuing to grow. The days of people being judged so negatively for having body modifications are coming to an end as the older generations pass and newer generations thrive. And hey, neither Penthouse that I was in complained one bit when they saw my tattoos.

Was this really necessary? Harley will have a niche that can pay her good money if she will market herself right. Mainstream pornographers bring girls in and spit them out like they are trash. How many girls can you think of that have been all over the place one minute, and then "retired" a couple years later when the only paid scenes they can get are double anal and bukake films.

I would take Harley in a second to capture that fetish market.

Harley, if you get back to seeing this, there are legions of tatoo loving guys who will pay you DIRECTLY for your work, just BECAUSE you have Tats and are stunning at the same time. A lot of the women that are tatted up like you are way past their prime so you have a serious edge .....age and beauty wise. MARKET YOURSELF. There are plenty of examples of girls doing it on their own and making bank. I seriously only made about 1500 in video sales the first year, by year 2 I made that much a week. Be patient and aggressive and find your crowd.

That's very kind of you to say. No worries, I'm well aware of where my niche is and that lots of people love tattoos. Anyone who says otherwise, I know they're wrong.

Did I say Harley's were ugly?

No, you didn't specifically say that my tattoos are ugly, but you made that comment in relation to me. A girl with 4 rather eye catching tattoos.

 

[Harley Spencer]

No, you didn't. Just a well placed comment about tattoos and piercings to a girl with both. Perhaps I misread your intention there, I apologize.

PS. I don't have any piercings. Not even my ears. Just tattoos.

 

[vodkazvictim]

Lisa Ann made $3000 off of Who's Naylin' Paylin?, according to the ad listing. Violet Blue said that that amount was "a lot" compared to industry averages.

I bet the producers made a lot more. Disproportionately more.

 

[RichardNailder]

That is all very true, except the bit about tattoos and piercings. The market for girls with tattoos is continuing to grow. The days of people being judged so negatively for having body modifications are coming to an end as the older generations pass and newer generations thrive. And hey, neither Penthouse that I was in complained one bit when they saw my tattoos.



That's very kind of you to say. No worries, I'm well aware of where my niche is and that lots of people love tattoos. Anyone who says otherwise, I know they're wrong.



No, you didn't specifically say that my tattoos are ugly, but you made that comment in relation to me. A girl with 4 rather eye catching tattoos.

I apologize - I should have put those those two thoughts in different paragraphs - I seriously never even thought about your tattoos when I typed it.


Yes, tattoos is a growing niche and one I shoot a fair amount of content for and market fairly well but the fact still remains - there is less work for girls with discombobulated "ugly" tattoos than for girls with no tattoos at all. I was agreeing with you on the point that the flawless model gets paid pretty much the same per shoot as the girl-next-door but adding that the flawless model gets a LOT more shoots all other things being equal, therefore she (you) make more money than the average model.


Also, when talking about income in the industry, remember that most models don't put in a fraction of the work that you and Mandy put into marketing yourselves - you're both worlds ahead of the average girl that walks through our door looking for work when it comes to "marketability" - therefore you're content is more valuable.

 

[Harley Spencer]

I apologize - I should have put those those two thoughts in different paragraphs - I seriously never even thought about your tattoos when I typed it.


Yes, tattoos is a growing niche and one I shoot a fair amount of content for and market fairly well but the fact still remains - there is less work for girls with discombobulated "ugly" tattoos than for girls with no tattoos at all. I was agreeing with you on the point that the flawless model gets paid pretty much the same per shoot as the girl-next-door but adding that the flawless model gets a LOT more shoots all other things being equal, therefore she (you) make more money than the average model.


Also, when talking about income in the industry, remember that most models don't put in a fraction of the work that you and Mandy put into marketing yourselves - you're both worlds ahead of the average girl that walks through our door looking for work when it comes to "marketability" - therefore you're content is more valuable.

I think that's what it takes to become successful in the adult business, is the ability and willingness and dedication to market yourself and put in more work than simply looking pretty and having sex. I think it's safe to say that there's more girls who come around looking to make a quick buck who end up leaving early on when they find out that it's not as easy as they originally thought, than there are girls who put in the real work to get out there and stay out there. You know, take Jenna Jameson, the biggest icon in the business. She didn't get as far as she did by just showing up and flashing her tits. No, when she got denied at the strip club due to her braces, she went home, made her brother take them out, went back and demanded work. And she continued to use what she had, she was determined, and she made it work. She knew she had skills and people definitely wanted to see them!