KRISTEN BJORN: A LIFE IN PORN

ROBIN SANCHEZ

In a rare magazine interview, legendary gay porn director Kristen Bjorn talks candidly to Scene magazine’s Jason Reid about starting out in porn in the 1980s, the evolution of the industry and how his own studio has had to change, surviving pandemics, hopes for the future, and much more

I imagine most people will be wondering how and why you initially become involved with the porn industry? Indeed, how anyone did in the 1980s.

Back before the internet, porn did exist in the form of magazines and video tapes, which were sold in sex shops. In 1980, I was a university student in San Francisco. A fellow student told me about the films he was shooting, and suggested I try it. It took a year for me to work up the courage to actually call the telephone number he had given me, which was that of Falcon Studio.

My career as a porn actor was very brief. I only performed in two videos, and that only took three days. What did have an impact on me was my friendship with Falcon’s photographer, Fred Bissones. I had studied photography since the age of 15; my dream was to become a travel photographer. As my mentor, Fred taught me about the gay magazine business. While I worked as his assistant, he introduced me to the editors of a group of magazines in New York called Mavety Media Group. At the time, it consisted of Mandate, Playguy, Honvho, and Torso magazines. The following year, 1982, I moved to Rio de Janeiro where I remained for eight years working as a photographer for those magazines, as well as another magazine called Advocate Men. In 1988, Advocate Men started a series of solo videos called Advocate Men Live, which they asked me to film for. This was my move from still photography to video.

What do you remember most vividly about those early years?

I worked for six years as a photographer before doing erotic, non-explicit photography for magazines before I started directing videos. And the first videos I shot were solos. My approach to erotica was as an art-form. Although I was always a very sexual person, I wasn’t too interested in porn per se. But I found a niche in the porn industry which allowed me to work doing something I loved; photography and later film work, plus being able to live where I wanted to.

How did the AIDS crisis affect your outlook on porn and life itself?

From 1982 to 1984, when the HIV virus was finally found, it was really a scary time. No one knew how the virus was spread. But once we learned that HIV infection could be avoided by using condoms, it made it much easier. When I made my first hardcore film in 1989, the models wore condoms.

There have now been two major global pandemics in the last 40 years that have seriously affected the western world, AIDS and Covid-19. Which was worse for the porn industry, and you personally?

We are not out of the Covid-19 pandemic yet, but I hope that we will be in the near future. For me personally, the AIDS pandemic was far worse than Covid-19. HIV was a death sentence until 1995, and I knew many, many people who died from it, including close friends. As far as how the pandemics affected the porn industry, many people died of HIV in the ‘80s, producers and porn stars alike. But later, gay studios started filming with condoms, while the straight studios relied on testing. So, HIV didn’t change porn after that. Covid-19 seems to have had no effect upon the porn industry after coming out of lockdown. Most porn actors are fairly young and fit, so they carry on the same as always. They aren’t at high risk of getting ill from Covid-19.

DELAN BENOBE

Do you think porn has changed for better or worse over the years?

Porn has gone through different stages over the years. When I worked for Falcon back in 1981, the films were quite crude. They were shot on 16mm cameras without sound and were sold on 8mm reels. These were called loops, which were 15 minutes long. With the invention of VHS players, the studios started compiling four loops on to VHS tapes, which were one hour long. That is how scenes got started. In the years to come, studios started making more lavish films with much higher production values. And with the invention of the DVD, the films became much longer. There was also amateur porn, of course. But the bigger studios were making big, expensive productions until around 2008. The combination of the worldwide financial crisis, plus the advances in internet technology which made it easier to pirate porn were like the perfect storm to destroy the porn industry. So in my opinion, things are worse than they ever have been for the porn industry.

How much of a threat are free porn sites to the industry and the people working within it?

Free porn sites are pirate sites. They steal their content from the producers. Piracy has caused the collapse of the porn industry as we knew it.

MAX HILTON

What makes Kristen Bjorn porn stand out from the rest?

We still maintain a high production value. The scenes are well lit, well shot and well edited. Few other studios do that these days.

How have you had to evolve in order to keep membership coming in?

We have had to downsize to stay in business. We no longer make long, lavish, scripted films, but web scenes. That is what people want to watch on their phones now.

In your experience what is the most widely held misconception about the porn industry?

That there is money to be made in the porn industry. There was a time when that was true, but it’s certainly not the case anymore.

What was your greatest fear when you started out and what is it now?

I think they are still the same; to adapt and survive the changing times.

If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?

Before the pandemic, there were times when I regretted not getting into another line of work like tourism or hospitality. But now that those sectors have been decimated and online porn has survived, I guess I wouldn’t do things differently after all. Hindsight is 20/20. It’s hard to know what the future holds.

What’s the key to being a successful porn director such as yourself?

Work hard, and be professional.

And a successful porn actor?

Porn has never been a real career for porn actors. Even in the best of times, I never knew any who managed to make a living just making porn. It’s something they can do for a while for fun, but they should really consider some other career for the long term.

In your own words who is Kristen Bjorn – the alias you adopted?

I’m a private person, I never wanted to be a celebrity. But I got a lot of satisfaction knowing that people enjoyed my work.

When you look back over your long and varied career, what stands out as your proudest moment?

There isn’t one particular moment that stands out, but several. Those were times when I felt I had achieved a greater level of skill, and the films came out as I had envisioned them.

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your work?

Some people told me that my work had helped them overcome their shame of being gay.

And can you recall the strangest criticism?

Once I was told that my actors were too handsome, and they created unrealistic expectations. He went on to say that I should work with average looking people instead. That was the strangest criticism.

There are a multitude of porn categories now available. What was your favourite category to shoot, and favourite to watch?

My favourite category of film to shoot were the big budget films we used to make between 1994 and 2008. We shot in beautiful, exotic locations, and each scene was shot over four days. But we no longer have the budget to shoot that way anymore. That would also be my favourite category of porn to watch.

How would you like to be remembered?

As a filmmaker who made some beautiful films over a number of years.

What does the future hold for you and your studio?

Hopefully, we will adapt to the times and survive. We can’t control the wind; we can only adjust our sails. D For more info, visit:

www.kristenbjorn.com

HERACLES