(Almost) True Adventures of Johnny Ford

The hustle happens in Joel Michael Anderson’s short film Doxy.

About ten years ago Joel Michael Anderson was a familiar face in bars and clubs around Phoenix. Sometimes he’d land on top of a boy box, dancing.

Anderson graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Structural Engineering, eventually earning a Masters. After earning his diploma, he moved to the City of the Angels … and the Land of a few Demons, too. Following a series of setbacks, Anderson decided to put his moneymaker back to work as a go-go boy, then entering the world of blue movies as “Johnny Ford.”

Moviemaking always attracted Anderson. He expands and explores the seamy underbelly of gay sex work in his first major short film Doxy, slang for “prostitute.” This imagined cinéma vérité style documentary follows horny hero Johnny Ford (Anderson, using his nom-de-porn) as he hustles over the span of a single evening with go-go dancing, and–with rent due–drumming up dat coin as a “gentleman of the evening” parlaying work in the world’s oldest profession into cash.

“I wrote the script in two days after I got the idea. I shot it entirely myself on my phone. Shooting and editing took four months working on it myself in my free time,” Anderson said. “I relied on the bare-bones level of production to be able to manage it myself because I wanted the directing, editing and scoring to show exactly my own vision.”

Johnny’s sexploits help serve as a cautionary tale, exploring substance abuse, exploitation, and other issues plaguing the industry.

“I realized I could use the character ‘Johnny Ford’ and the homemade style of blogger content,” Anderson related. “Whereas most bloggers are trying to be reality TV stars and brag about their lives, I thought I could tell a vulnerable, cathartic story.”

So where does Joel Michael Anderson end and “Johnny Ford” begin?

“Johnny is a method-acted character meant to be a cocky, haphazard partying playboy who hides behind sex. It comes from real feelings that I believe many will relate to, but I’ve always had the foresight to avoid the worst that he gets into,” Anderson explained. “Johnny is, of course, an exaggeration—all himbo, no intellect.”

Trading sex appeal for money comes in many forms, Anderson posits. “It’s good work for many, but a dangerous hustle,” he said. “Hopefully, with DOXY—a fun, sexy exposé on the risks of sex work—we can talk more openly about it. Society’s inability to talk about sex work leaves many workers in the dark for resources on sexual health, warnings about drug culture and other risks, and the realities of the mental struggle of sex work.”

A 20-minute long fictional story exploring very real consequences, DOXY illustrates why it’s important to destigmatize sex work, and keep it safe. “Society treats sex workers like something is wrong with them and they’re not a normal, valuable human being. If everything was great, and everyone had their dream job, there would still be people choosing to do sex work,” Anderson concluded. That’s why we will always have doxies.

In From The Side

When an handsome injured rugby player from the A-team is selected to play with the Bs as part of his recovery, tensions are already high. Suspicion turns to physical lust and personal loyalties are stretched as they try to conceal the steamy affair, not only from their own partners but also their teammates. Emotional. Muddy. Sweaty. Hot!