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CONTENTS
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Adapt and Adjust: The Adult Industry’s Response to the Pandemic Gene Zorkin
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Flirt4Free’s Pandemic Response: Hope for Best, Prepare for Worst Gene Zorkin
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Jacky St. James, a SFW OnlyFans and COVID-19 Mallory Hall
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Cherie DeVille Is Worried About Testing in Adult LynseyG
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Stripchat Navigates Pandemic with Professionalism, Empathy Gene Zorkin
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Mike Quasar: How Porn’s ‘Everyman’ Weathers a Pandemic Mallory Hall
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The Show Must Go On: Paxum and Clickadu on Navigating the Pandemic Gene Zorkin
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Let’s Meet Up… Online! Roxana Chirila and Pandemic-Era Event Organizing Mallory Hall
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Featured Article
Adapt and Adjust: The Adult Industry’s Response to the Pandemic By Gene Zorkin When businesses of all sorts shuttered all around the globe in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies, individual entrepreneurs and performers in the adult entertainment industry worked quickly to adapt to the enormous challenges presented by the worldwide outbreak. Despite an early industry-wide voluntary production hold on “traditional” content production, cam shows continued to occur on schedule and many performers continued self-producing content in a safe and responsible way. Unsurprisingly, traffic increased to many sites and networks as a function of the widespread “stay at home” orders under which much of the world’s population found itself in the first few months of the pandemic. This is not to say the adult industry was untouched by the pandemic, or that all was smooth sailing for adult businesses, particularly among brick
and mortar businesses that shut down. Many companies that have continued to do brisk business through the pandemic have been forced to make major adjustments, including having some or all of their employees work from home, cancelling and postponing business trips, and delaying trade events or product launches. YNOT reached out to a variety of companies and individuals to find out what they’ve done in response to the pandemic, their plans for the immediate future and their thoughts on the pandemic’s impact on the adult entertainment industry. From directors and performers to advertising networks and payment service providers, no sector of the industry has remained untouched by the ongoing public health crisis and it’s both instructive and reassuring to hear the nimble, proactive steps people took to protect and maintain their businesses,
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even as they prioritized their own health, as well as that of their employees, coworkers, business partners and customers. As countries around the world and states around the U.S. began to slowly ‘reopen’ their economies and broader societies, it became clear a return even to relative normalcy was going to take time. In the meantime, what have these people and companies done to sustain themselves in the immediate term, while planning for a brighter future?
about how the industry should and could respond. There are those who work to resume shooting, and others who think it’s unsafe to do so. Both in the U.S. and outside it, there are those who passionately want to see President Donald Trump re-elected and others who just as fervently want to see him out of the White House. Come this November, there will be the election which decides which of those things happens. Here’s hoping that even as we in the industry may disagree on and bicker about the particulars, public policies, corporate best practices and general howto of dealing with the pandemic, we continue to do what we can to help each other emerge on the other side not just with our health intact, but poised for our businesses to thrive, as well. In any case, hearing how industry leaders have responded so far might help light the path in terms of where we go from here.
It’s also true not everyone has been in the same position when it has come to their financial ability to ride out work stoppages. Even if a subscription adult site with a large existing content archive is continuing to make sales and turn a profit, that doesn’t mean the people who normally provide new content and updates to that site are sitting pretty. How does it feel to be a director who is eager to get back to work, but faces shaming and vitriol for even voicing that desire, for example? The adult industry’s challenge in navigating the pandemic is far from over. Our collective success in sustaining our businesses will rely in part on what we learn from the adjustments that have already been made. Naturally, along the way there are disagreements
About the Author Gene Zorkin has been covering legal and political issues for various adult publications (and under a variety of different pen names) since 2002.
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Interviews
Flirt4Free’s Pandemic Response: Hope for Best, Prepare for Worst By Gene Zorkin In the weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the globe, the mainstream media published numerous articles about live adult webcam networks seeing a spike in activity during the widespread shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders that were in place around the world. Along with that increase in traffic, there has been a surge in new performers and models taking to camming platforms, with some expressing concern that on platforms like OnlyFans, the sex workers and models who were instrumental in building the popularity of the platform might be getting pushed out by an influx of celebrities and mainstream social media influencers. Overall though, the camming industry is being depicted
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as a space that’s thriving in the midst of the pandemic, as millions of suddenly idle hands seek out ways to kill time or experience a bit of remote, social distancingfriendly intimacy. Regardless of traffic spikes and engagement metrics, the companies behind the camming platforms have been forced, just like everyone else, to make extensive adjustments to how they operate, particularly where employees who normally work in-office are concerned. “We all switched to WFH (work from home) and Slack has kept us all connected,” Jeff Wilson, Director of Business Development for Flirt4Free told YNOT. “We’re hoping to open the office back up soon when Los Angeles County opens up, but we’ve made some adjustments.”
been stepping up the video calls and video Happy Hours.” Where Flirt4Free’s models are concerned, Wilson said he hasn’t seen much change in the way cam performers operate over the course of the pandemic – other than an increase in their number. “I don’t see a lot of changes with the models, there are just a lot more of them,” Wilson said.
Among other things, the company will not simply return to its full in-office staffing levels overnight, even once Los Angeles County has reopened. “We will return in waves of people, hands-free sanitizing stations have been installed, people will wear masks, and we’re installing plexiglass dividers between each desk,” Wilson said. He added that returning to working at the office under such conditions is going to be “weird,” but also “hopefully makes the most comfortable working environment, all things considered.” Under normal circumstances, among many employers mainstream and adult alike, one of the factors which has made companies hesitant to transition to a workfrom-home model is concern that doing so will cause a drop in productivity across its workforce. Wilson said in Flirt4Free’s recent experience, the question of workfrom-home productivity is a bit “hit or miss.” “Some people are more productive, some less,” Wilson said. “I think we all miss the team interaction, but we’ve
Like the other cam platforms and networks who have commented publicly, Flirt4Free has seen an increase in traffic and activity “on all fronts,” Wilson said, adding that the trend “seems to be in-line with online foot traffic overall.” “More people are on their computers and phones, more people purchasing online, etc.,” Wilson observed. “When it comes to entertainment and you can’t go out, those verticals will rebalance. Strippers and other adult entertainers are a natural fit for webcamming.” One of the open questions about the spike in traffic to adult sites and webcam networks is how long the phenomenon will last. While limited entertainment options and social distancing doubtlessly combine to push more surfers online seeking diversion, there may be a lingering point of diminishing returns on that combination, especially as the pandemic lingers and significantly more people experience the pain of unemployment.
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Does Wilson see a downturn on the horizon for Flirt4Free and other cam platforms? If so, will that decline simply be to pre-pandemic levels, or might it cut deeper than that? Like so many questions related to COVID-19 and when a return to some semblance of normalcy might be possible, these are questions for which Wilson doesn’t see any clear answer at the moment. “I honestly don’t know,” Wilson said of the prospect of a downturn. “I think it remains to be determined.” One thing which does seem likely to Wilson, however, is COVID-19 reasserting itself as a source of public health concern, as a direct function of communities around the country and the world trying to get their economies back on track by resuming some aspects of pre-pandemic life. “I will say that we are expecting this surge to return to normal levels once [the economy is re-opened],” Wilson said. With so many imponderable questions looming, it can be a challenge simply to remain focused on the task at hand – whether you’re trying to run a business, or just get through the day working for one. It’s also
an environment in which risks and costs that might normally seem nominal or trivial take on a greater significance. Ultimately though, this is where Flirt4Free has been most successful in navigating the pandemic, according to Wilson. Despite the uncertainty, the company has found a way to forge ahead, planning for the future even as it pilots a path through a somewhat chaotic present. “Along with more traffic comes more costs,” Wilson said, so the company has been “upping our game with promotions and contests for the models, discounts for customers, etc.” Difficult though it may be to keep the wheels of a business turning as the world around it drags to a pandemic-driven halt, that’s exactly what Flirt4Free is doing. “We’re pushing full steam ahead with our Flirt Summit promotion, which will be held in Cancun in November,” Wilson said. “Models have been really engaged with the Flirt Summit contests.”
About the Author Gene Zorkin has been covering legal and political issues for various adult publications (and under a variety of different pen names) since 2002.
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Interviews
Jacky St. James, a SFW OnlyFans and COVID-19 By Mallory Hall
Jacky St. James is an award-winning writer, director and producer known for creating high-end, scripted erotic content ranging from romantic comedies to edgier all-sex releases. All of her work is great, but some of her key titles represent the best of what the adult industry has had to offer at particular points in its production history. Interestingly, St. James is currently working in a new realm within the space – premium content sharing via OnlyFans. She shares pictures, clips and stories about her successes and debacles as a woman in adult entertainment, as well as arranging Skype and Zoom conversations with fans. And it’s worth noting that this new OnlyFans endeavor is due, at least in part, to the ongoing COVID-related industry production changes.
You see, St. James is not currently able to work in her conventional writer/director/producer capacity, though she’d like to. She’s in favor of — for herself — getting back to work. “I know that a lot of people assume that if you are in favor of getting back to work you don’t care about the health and wellbeing of others, but that is 100 percent not the case with me,” St. James explained to YNOT. “I don’t want anyone to be harmed by [COVID-19], but the harm extends far beyond the elderly and those with compromised immune systems fearing for their health. This is a much more complex issue than that, and I wish people would not see it as black and white.” “Sadly, we live in a very all-or-nothing world now,
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and it seems that nobody looks to the gray areas or analyzes every aspect anymore. Opinions are basically clickbait now,” she continued. “I prefer rational thinking and doing what is best for the greater good — whatever that may be.” St. James spoke to YNOT about the impact COVID-19 has had on her work, as well as the wider adult industry community (as she has observed it) in the following powerful interview. — YNOT: Work wise, what were you doing moving into the pandemic? In, say, February of 2020, could you have anticipated where we are today? Jacky St. James: Moving into the pandemic, I was getting ready for my March productions and was in a pretty good financial place. This is why I decided it would be a good time to upgrade my kitchen. The day before California’s stay-at-home orders, I demoed my entire kitchen. Yep — I went into the pandemic with no kitchen and since then have gotten used to doing dishes in the bathtub. As much as I laugh about it, the financial aspect of the pandemic has been incredibly fear-invoking. You’re supposed to save for a rainy day, which I did, but that rainy day wasn’t supposed to last an entire summer. As of right now, I am not sure when I’ll ever be able to prepare for rainy days again because I’ll be spending at least the next year or so getting right on all the bills I’ve had to leave unpaid due to the pandemic. Where it is concerning is knowing that if something
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unexpected happens to me or my family or my pets, I won’t have money to pay for it. That is insanely alarming and that, singlehandedly, is why I need to get back to work asap. On a personal level, how weathering the pandemic?
have
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Financial fears aside, I am completely fine. I’m a homebody, so this has been like “just another day.” I have been as busy as ever (I’m not somebody who has EVER uttered the words, “I’m bored”). Let’s be honest: There is always something people can be doing, even if it’s grouting their bathroom, which is something I’ve done during the pandemic. What about working moving forward? Performers and models seem to have options online, but what options for work or support do directors and other crew have at this moment? Government aid for my business didn’t happen. They discriminate against the adult industry, so I don’t have any small business funds. I did finally — after two months — get unemployment, but it’s not enough to pay all the bills. I am thankful for it, and I’m
also thankful for my accountant, who always urged me to payroll myself through my business, which helped me to qualify for [unemployment]. Directors and crew have limited options, and the industry seems to be rallying behind the performers and less around the crew and directors. I’m very lucky though because Mile High and Bellesa have gotten creative and offered me some work-fromhome opportunities. Most people behind the camera have been furloughed, and a lot of the crew are just trying to get by on their new normal. The Free Speech Coalition offered some financial help. It wasn’t enough to even pay your electric bill, but it was the gesture that meant a lot. Knowing that some organizations do care about their people means a lot. Apparently, some tube sites are helping performers, but from what I know, that doesn’t include the crew. It seems like many performers are faring better than the crew right now. Fortunately, some performers have been really awesome and allowed me to interview them on my OnlyFans. Damon Dice and Reagan Foxx actually gave money to my crew to help. I will never forget the performers that have stepped up and done nice things during this pandemic. You learn a lot about people’s character during times like these. Speaking of your OnlyFans, has this been financially helpful at all during these times? You know, it’s been okay. I don’t get naked or sell sex, which is what most porn fans want, so a lot of my subscribers are people who have been fans since I started and literally are just doing everything they can to help me financially. Is it helpful? Absolutely — every dollar counts — but is it paying all my bills? Not even close. Relative to other directors, do you feel you are in a unique position to access to this particular revenue stream? A few years ago, I stepped away from the limelight and distanced myself from social media and fans. Fans are so important to success, and I think I lost touch with that a few years ago. I was really wanting my privacy again and time to just decompress when I could. But now, I don’t think I’ll ever take any of that for granted. The fans have been donating money when they can and really being the emotional support to get me through the stresses of the financial strains.
Fans are the greatest. They really, really are. And knowing that you’ve made a difference in people’s lives — there’s no price you can put on that. I will now always be as active as I can be in the porn community with regards to fans. Many people in the Los Angeles-area, California and across the country have resumed shooting. What are your thoughts regarding this? If I’m being honest, I really get annoyed by a lot of grandstanding happening in our industry and the judgment passed on people who are shooting. Why? Because, while there are a lot of people who can survive on their OnlyFans and donations, there are even more that cannot. People are in positions where they need to survive. I don’t hold a lot of stock in someone’s opinion about this particular issue who is making $20,000 or more a month from their OnlyFans and simultaneously criticizing performers
or crew that literally have nothing for trying to work on the DL. There isn’t a lot of consideration for those who have nothing, and I think it’s so easy to take the “high road” when you don’t have to worry about where your rent check is coming from. I have crew members with children. I have people that literally make $20,000 a year, which is basically poverty level in Los Angeles, that cannot afford months with no income. I don’t think we should judge people that need to work. I think we need to look at the bigger issue of why they need to work and maybe make changes in the future. Most everyone I work with would work tomorrow if we could, regardless of state mandates. A lot of people are sniffing out opportunities in other states. And yes, I know of a few studios shooting and I get it. Some companies will not survive the pandemic — both in and outside of porn. Of course, a lot of people rush to judgment on those secretly working, as if those people don’t care if other people die. That’s just not the case. It comes down to risk verses reward and the greater good. There are a lot of people that believe that economic destruction, both on the personal and national level, will have far
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more detrimental effects. Only time will tell whether they are right or not. For me? I want everyone to be safe, but I also want everyone to be able to make an income and I think there are ways of doing that. What are your thoughts going forward? What impact will this have on the industry? On consumers? On you?
there. I hope the trend of paying for porn continues! For me? This is the first time in a decade I have contemplated changing careers. I have submitted my resume to corporate jobs and am open to the possibility of absolutely anything right now. I have to survive and, if I can’t have a steady income until the end of the year (or later), I need to figure something out. Let’s not forget there is talk of more quarantining and stay at home orders during the winter. So, this might not even be close to being over yet.
The performers surviving on their OnlyFans will be fine. Crews will likely be traveling to other states to work — and that’s something I am considering, as well. A lot of people will be crippled by this, and there will be people who will not recover from this ever. I know that there has been an overwhelming amount of people reaching out due to mental health concerns over loss of income and financial future. Consumption of porn actually may increase during this time because there are no new tube videos to be illegally uploaded. Now it forces consumers to pay for OnlyFans and watch solos and scenes happening
About the Author Mallory Hall is from Central Texas. She has worked in journalism since her university years and enjoys exploring unexpected occurrences in ordinary places.
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Because
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Featured Article
Cherie DeVille Is Worried About Testing in Adult By Lynsey G. Multiple-award-winning MILF performer Cherie DeVille is so concerned about testing in the adult entertainment industry that she took to the Daily Beast to write about it, encouraging performers who have gone back to shooting for studios to be very, very careful. And to use PASS-compliant testing facilities. PASS, the adult industry’s long-standing testing system, has recently been touted as an example for screening and tracking outbreaks of infectious disease by The New York Times. But now that it’s needed more than ever to screen not just STIs but the novel coronavirus too, according to DeVille, the venerable testing protocol is losing steam, and infection tracking in porn is losing coherence. “When some porn production resumed in the summer, performers were happy to learn that PASS had added a COVID-19 test to the test panel,” wrote DeVille for the Daily Beast. “People needed to work,” from performers to directors, crew members, and other BTS folks who hadn’t earned
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paychecks in months. But, when shooting resumed, everyone learned that Talent Testing Service (TTS), had left the PASS system for undisclosed reasons. “This decision turned the adult industry into the Wild West” when it came to testing, declared DeVille. The vacuum that TTS left behind opened cracks in the industry’s testing system for both STIs and COVID-19—and people started slipping through them. On July 31, FSC announced, “Three performers have reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 in the past few weeks, resulting in on-set exposures and in one case, the quarantine of a crew.” But, the announcement continued, “Because the testing was done outside of PASS, through production companies that are not members of FSC, there has not been adequate accounting of the incidents.” Nevertheless, in the ensuing month and a half, wrote Deville, “Many performers have continued to get tested at Talent Testing Service.” That’s at least
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would have worked in the ’90s,” suggested DeVille. “Back then, the porn industry consisted of a hundred people in the San Fernando Valley… But today, porn is global. Girls are shooting everywhere from Paris, Texas, to Perris, California. Porn insiders can’t monitor tens of thousands of people the way they once monitored a hundred blondes in the valley.”
in part because “it offers cheaper COVID-19 tests” than its PASS-compliant competitors, and because many performers have been using them for years. But testing at TTS now means that performers’ results aren’t entered into the system and can’t be checked by everyone who needs to access them. “A few performers have brought printed test results to set,” Deville reported. “Some directors have forced performers to log in to their online medical performer [sic] and show their results, but not every director works with a conscience.” And, she added, “According to accounts I’ve heard, a few directors aren’t checking tests at all, leaving it to the talent to navigate.” The FSC has encouraged people to report COVIDrelated incidents outside of PASS to the FSC so it can spread the word. “The specifics will be kept confidential,” they promised, “but it’s critical that the community is aware of the volume of incidents and the affected regions.” But the FSC and agents haven’t reported any new outbreaks since July, which seems unlikely to reflect reality and points to the possibility that people are not, in fact, reporting. An honor system sounds nice, but in difficult times like these, it’s a lot to ask. “Perhaps, this approach
Meanwhile, FSC reported that it “met with major agents to institute a more formal process for reporting positive tests and possible exposures outside of PASS.” But DeVille ponders, “I wonder if they have ever met a porn agent? Most porn agents’ interest in their clients begins and ends with how much they’re bringing their agency every week.”
So, for now, what’s a working performer to do? Try to work with people who have used a PASS-enrolled provider, or stay home, suggested DeVile. “People can take risks. People are allowed to gamble. I am not advocating for shutting down porn, but I want to educate workers on the dangers of relying on a test outside of PASS,” said DeVille. In the end, it comes down to this: “If an STI outbreak brings down the porn industry, none of us will make money.”
About the Author Lynsey G. is an adult industry hanger-on who’s been writing about her obsession with porn for over a decade.
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Featured Article
Stripchat Navigates Pandemic with Professionalism, Empathy By Gene Zorkin When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, Rick Morales, the Business Development Manager for Stripchat, said one of the big adjustments being made by a lot of other people was not one he faced himself.
Joking aside, Morales says of Budapest, “I love everything here” – but that doesn’t mean the pandemic hasn’t disrupted his life, both personal and professional, just as it has everyone else.
“I am more of a business development guy, you know, so I was already used to working remotely,” Morales told YNOT. “So, for me the main problem was when I realized that I was stuck in Budapest.”
“When the pandemic started I had around seven trips planned, and all were canceled,” Morales said. “While I enjoyed catching up on my emails and old tasks, I’m not always totally aware of how it works for those in the office.”
“And you know what? I am still here,” Morales added with a laugh.
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Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic
Interestingly, Morales said that he believes the process of adjusting to the realities imposed by the pandemic “helped Stripchat give the site’s users a more personal touch during the isolation (because) we were experiencing it ourselves.” “It was tough at first, but soon we really got the hang of it,” Morales said of the new working conditions under which the company operated. “Due to the isolation, more and more users went to Stripchat searching for ways to communicate and interact with others.” and the public health/public policy response to it, Stripchat “adapted to the new circumstances immediately,” Morales said. “It took us only a couple of days to switch our company to work from home after the virus was confirmed as a pandemic,” Morales explained. “With the help of management and an excellent technical team, I’d estimate that over 70% of our employees were working from homes within two days.” It was a quick adjustment that Morales credits, in part, to the day to day working environment presented by being in the fast-moving adult webcams sector. “Thankfully, our industry has taught us to immediately to new circumstances,” Morales “And we didn’t have any negative feedback either our users or performers, which is a indicator of how smoothly things went.”
Despite the distractions, concerns and stresses piling up around them, the productivity of the Stripchat team has been “possibly higher during the pandemic, since our platform saw massive growth in consumer traffic, as well as increased signups from models.” “We actually used the pandemic to release multiple new features, including chatbots for models and various index page improvements for users,” Morales added. “We also onboarded thousands of new users and performers. Our productivity was
react said. from good
Now, like so many businesses and people around the world, Stripchat is in the process of slowly and cautiously returning to something approaching ‘normalcy’. “Currently, our offices are already fully operational, and our employees are starting to return to their regular offices,” Morales said. “We’ve employed required safety measures like frequent sanitizing of common areas, social distancing, and other advice from the World Health Organization. It was a new experience for a lot of the staff — many of our workers had not tried to work remotely before. But everyone was game, and we adjusted well.” Morales added that the company “even had a successful online team building exercise.” “Our HR team got over a hundred of us to spend time together playing an online game,” Morales explained. “It was hilarious and showed better potential for improving communication between the departments.”
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probably somewhat higher than normal, because the challenge made us strive for the best.” As the company staff adjusted on the fly, so too did the platform’s models, forging ahead with their work and doing their best to stay focused despite the chaos of the pandemic. “Of course, it was as difficult for models as the rest of us,” Morales said. “From a professional perspective, it was quite challenging to remain positive and interact with users when all the world seems to be collapsing. Performers had to change their schedules and adapt to users’ new online activity patterns.” Morales added that knowing what the models were going through made him even more appreciative of their continuing hard word and the amazing professionalism they displayed. “It’s hard to stay in a pleasant mood and spread good vibes while everybody on social media is obsessing over COVID-19,” Morales said. “I’d like to use this opportunity and thank them for doing their best!” In another positive development, Stripchat has,
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like many other adult sites and platforms, seen an increase in traffic over the course of the pandemic, along with an influx of new model signups. “We’ve seen considerable growth in traffic during the pandemic, with the US leading the list of countries by traffic growth,” Morales said. “We’ve also seen the increase in models’ daily signups, which had tripled in Italy when pandemic began.” That said, the increase in traffic and signups unfortunately has not been matched by an equivalent rise in sales – but Morales offered a simple and sensible explanation for the discrepancy. “As far as sales go, it was less of a dramatic jump,” Morales confirmed. “People were desperate for an emotional, personal connection, but at the same time were concerned about paying bills.” Still, any added user engagement presents an opportunity to be mined – and Stripchat didn’t squander the increased activity it observed. “We saw this as an opportunity, and created a ‘Free Date with a Model of Your Choice’ campaign, giving every new user enough free tokens for a 10 minute
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private session,” Morales explained. “It was great for both users and models, since the latter got bigger tips. We also saw considerable growth in crypto payments. Our users are slowly getting used to this method of payment.” Morales also said that while sales may seem like the ultimate bottom line, for Stripchat “increased traffic and interest in our platform is the most important metric right now.”
the future,” Morales acknowledged. “Recently, we’ve taken part in multiple online conferences. I realize that many hope these new online conferences will be game-changers. However, I miss our regular offline conferences with their exceptional spirit, awesome parties, and enormous opportunities to do business.” Like many other adult industry companies, Stripchat is also finding ways to help others deal with the
“We do not use any external ads on our site,” Morales explained, “it’s part of creating a better user experience. We love having users think of Stripchat first when they want to connect, blow off some steam or have some fun. We’re growing rapidly by focusing on building an open-minded community, not just driving sales. We believe that the latter comes naturally from the former.”
pandemic, including an effort to help business owners increase the visibility of their brands, without emptying their pocketbook.
“We know that, as a free site, we’ll always have some users who pay and who don’t,” Morales added. “But the key to success is helping every user get the most out of their experience, rather than focusing a more short-sighted effort to only attract and satisfy those with cash.”
On the Stripchat platform itself, “we are planning new campaigns to support both our users and performers,” Morales said.
“We have one excellent campaign running right now helping small business owners struggling from the financial crisis to get promoted on our platform for free.”
To build on their successful adjustments to life during a pandemic, Stripchat is looking ahead and developing new features and campaigns, while remaining cognizant of the limitations imposed by the ongoing public health and safety challenges. “Some of the biggest industry events have been postponed until 2021, so it’s been hard to plan for
About the Author Gene Zorkin has been covering legal and political issues for various adult publications (and under a variety of different pen names) since 2002.
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Featured Article
Mike Quasar: How Porn’s ‘Everyman’ Weathers a Pandemic By Mallory Hall Mike Quasar has been directing adult content since the nineties and has amassed almost 1,000 title credits as a result. He’s also Canadian, in a band and apparently acted in a film once, playing a stable boy sporting a romantic ponytail. Quasar is extremely well respected in the industry. He does not have a laundry list of awards to his name, which is a shame, but his voice epitomizes a sort of real-life community awareness that few others embody – much less express so eloquently and publicly on social media.
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Like everyone else in the adult industry, Quasar has been sidelined by the Coronavirus. The “Reluctant Pornographer” spoke to YNOT earlier this summer about the current state of the community in the wake of COVID-19. — YNOT: Work wise, what were you doing moving into the pandemic?
to make idiotic videos to put on Twitter. There are many more to come by the way! Performers and models seem to have work options online. What options do directors and other crew have at this moment? This is a tricky subject for me because of course I’m happy that the talent are still able to make money — in many cases, more money due to the explosion of new sign-ups for OnlyFans — but it does leave some of us a little bitter because it feels like we’ve been forgotten. A lighting professional who was working every day can’t gaff a set for OnlyFans. It’s not exactly compelling content to watch someone climb a ladder with a C-clamp. Same for camera operators and directors. Our skills don’t transfer to other platforms unless we are performers as well, which in my case would be a tragedy perhaps on par with Coronavirus.
Mike Quasar: Prior to March 16, I was shooting at my usual record clip and supplying the world with an absurd amount of step-porn. When California was shut down, I think the consensus among all of us was that we would return to work in a few weeks. That has obviously turned out not to be the case.
Some very generous performers have been helping out some of the crew behind the scenes, and I know they are forever grateful. Hopefully by now, most of the crew has figured out how to get unemployment and are no longer in such dire circumstances. As for myself, once again, my only other skill is thinking that I’m funny. Sadly, I don’t think enough people would agree with that for me to monetize it.
I remember speaking with several colleagues at the time that the solution would probably be as simple as adding a COVID test to the standard panel. That still seems plausible to me but I understand it is also controversial at the moment. On a personal level, how have you been weathering the COVID storm? On a personal level, I vacillate between dangerous self-medicating and optimism, with a focus on personal growth. I’ve never been good at managing free time, and I never realized how much this industry was a part of who I am personally. For almost thirty years I’ve been begrudgingly picking up a camera. Now I realize that I should have balanced my disgruntled nature with a degree of appreciation for what I’ve been doing since I was 21 years old. I’m exercising a lot more on the days. I’m not hungover, although It seems my new focus has been
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…but some people have returned to shooting. What are your thoughts regarding those who have resumed shooting in spite of the community-mandated production hold? I completely understand people wanting to go back to work, both out of financial necessity and their own mental health. My personal opinions aside, I think we need to respect the integrity of the system that we have in place and move forward together. I think the resumption of porn production probably falls somewhere in phase 26 of the reopening plan, but I also think we are poised to do it safer than
Hollywood can — and they are apparently working on a plan for Phase 3. We already have small sets and small crews. If we can agree on some protocol regarding COVID testing, I don’t see why we can’t resume in the next few months somewhere. On a personal level, I think the Governor and the Mayor are enjoying their newfound power a little too much, so maybe we do have to shoot elsewhere when it’s safe to do so. At this point I’d be willing to shoot in Afghanistan. I just want to go back to work.
About the Author Mallory Hall is from Central Texas. She has worked in journalism since her university years and enjoys exploring unexpected occurrences in ordinary places.
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Featured Article
The Show Must Go On: Paxum and Clickadu on Navigating the Pandemic By Gene Zorkin The COVID-19 pandemic and public health response to it has created a disruption the likes of which the business world has never seen – and certainly which the adult industry has never seen. The only relatively recent historical precedent for an epidemic on the global scale of COVID-19 took place in 1918 – an era when, I think it’s safe to say, the term “adult entertainment industry” wasn’t yet part of anyone’s lexicon. While the adult industry has, in some ways, been impacted less severely by the pandemic and related
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business shutdowns that have happened in many other market sectors, COVID-19 and the public health response have certainly been extremely disruptive. The industry experienced a widescale, if “voluntary” production hold. As directors and producers recently interviewed by YNOT have detailed, film crew members and other behind-the-scenes players struggled to make ends meet and were eager to get back to work. Fans everywhere are doubtlessly thirsty for new content featuring their favorite
Later as the scope and severity of the pandemic began to become clear, the company took more extensive measures in response – as Mash put it, “when the situation became ugly, the Clickadu team decided to stay at home for good.” “I guess, it’s not an extraordinary practice, as all the communications within the team and the clines can be realized via the net,” Mash added. At Paxum, which has offices in a variety of locations around the world, each office is “observing and following the local guidelines and regulations for best practices during the pandemic,” Paxum’s Ruth Blair told YNOT. “For many of our employees this means working from home with enhanced security protocols in place,” Blair added. “Our staff continues to assist clients and verify new accounts and all payments continue to be processed in the usual time frames.”
stars — and not just the kind of content those stars can shoot while respecting social-distancing recommendations.
For both companies, having employees work from home wasn’t too radical a departure from the norm, since both have certain employees who already worked from home, either in full or to supplement the time they spend in-office. This doesn’t mean there was no adjusting or adapting to be done on
While the focus of our attention is understandably on those who produce and perform, no less crucial to the online sector of the adult entertainment industry are service providers like advertising networks and payment processors, who have faced challenges from COVID-19 at their operations, as well. YNOT spoke with representatives from the Clickadu advertising network and payment services provider Paxum, and discussed how their companies have been navigating the challenges of the pandemic while continuing to provide their mission-critical services. “The Clickadu team has been through a bunch of adjustments due to the COVID situation and I guess all the companies do,” said Demian Mash, Clickadu’s Head of Marketing. Mash said that early on in the crisis, “the epidemic seems off somewhere and the amount of afflicted was insignificant, so the measures weren’t that striking: no handshakes and constant sanitizing. Besides, employees were able to work from home by choice.”
the part of their employees though, especially as the days wore on. “It may sound easy in the very beginning. You shouldn’t go anywhere, the dinner is just around the corner and you can work in a tank top with a food spot,” Mash joked. “After a month of stay-at-home mode, I believe that people are happy to get back to the office. Everyone has his own story and reasons here.” What the company hasn’t observed, Mash added, is any drop-off in productivity.
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“I guess, going to a home mode is expected with an efficiency loss because there are so many things to distract you,” Mash said. “But, I have to admire our team’s productivity, they are doing really well. Exactly the opposite; it looks like we work even harder.”
where our Colombian staff gave a presentation and Q&A session live on the first day of the event.”
Blair noted that at Paxum, having a mix of home workers and in-office staff has always been the way of things and echoed Mash in saying there’d been no dip in the company’s productivity or efficiency – or in its core mission.
“We can’t tell when the situation will be solved and it will be safe to travel again,” Mash told YNOT. “We do like that the conferences are now held in the ‘hub’ format so there is no need to go somewhere and still can meet each other virtually.”
“During the pandemic we have not noticed any real change in productivity levels as our staff continues processing payments and handling queries promptly, with user experience the priority,” Blair said.
As for live events, Mash added, “we hope to see you at TES Prague or Affiliate World Asia.”
Going forward, both companies see themselves making further adjustments on the fly, adapting to the new reality imposed on them by the pandemic and finding innovative ways to keep things rolling, including by staying virtually connected to others in the industry at a time when in-person gatherings like trade shows and webmaster gatherings are on indefinite hiatus.
YNOT also hosted its own virtual YNOT Summit event in July.
As referenced earlier, many reports from both mainstream and adult media outlets have noted an increase in traffic to adult sites and networks; is this consistent with Paxum and Clickadu’s observations over the last several weeks? For Mash and Clickadu, the answer is a resounding yes. “Just in [one] month we have boosted from 2 billion to 3 billion impressions daily and that’s incredible,”
“Some industry events and tradeshows have made the move to a Virtual platform during the pandemic crisis, and we are proud to continue supporting, sponsoring and attending these shows and events,” Blair said. “AW Summit was the first to produce a virtual event which we attended and hosted a virtual booth. We also recently sponsored Virtual Lalexpo
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Mash told YNOT, adding that the increase was “not just about the lockdown[s],” because the company is “always in search of new partners.” He also said the boost in traffic “doesn’t affect the traffic efficiency much.” “People are trying to save money as we don’t know how long the situation will last,” Mash said, suggesting that any increase in traffic and sales adult sites are seeing may wane as any economic crisis related to the pandemic deepens and worsens – which is why the increase in new partners is so important from Clickadu’s perspective. “The good way to earn money at home is traffic
hypothesize that the volume increase is a result of the pandemic.” Looking ahead, both Mash and Blair noted the great deal of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, including questions of when an effective vaccine might emerge, affording a return to some semblance of normalcy. Companies have little choice but to forge ahead as best they can, of course – so while the months ahead may not bring a return to normal, the “show must go on,” as the old saying goes. And for both Paxum and Clickadu, this has meant continuing to pursue new business, develop new offerings and build their businesses, just as they would have been if there was no pandemic in progress. “We launched the Paxum Unionpay Card earlier this year for all global clients, and we will soon be issuing the Paxum Mastercard to all EU countries and Switzerland (in addition to the countries that already have the Paxum Mastercard available),” Blair noted. “Plus, after the success of our personal account interface rebuild, a new business account interface is in the final stages of development and we anticipate the first phase of testing to begin soon. We also regularly enhance services by introducing additional currencies and country options, and that will definitely continue.”
monetization, so we had a huge boost of new publishers,” Mash said. “However, the advertisers’ signups remain the same. It doesn’t go lower, so that’s a relief.” While Paxum has seen data that corroborates the media reports of increased activity on adult sites, Blair cautioned that a raw number of transactions doesn’t tell the whole story, so she’s hesitant to offer a definitive interpretation connecting the rise in transactions to the pandemic.
At Clickadu, there’s “always something going down” on the business development front, Mash said – emphasizing that they’re both looking to connect with new partners and to bring back in those who may have used Clickadu in the past, but didn’t get the benefit of the full suite of options and tools the company has introduced since then. “If you never had the pleasure to work with us, we look forward to a fruitful partnership,” Mash said. “Have you already worked with us? Hey, come back. We have so much cool stuff for you.”
“Transaction volume has definitely increased,” Blair said, “but since we don’t have the same data as the companies using our service, we can only
About the Author Gene Zorkin has been covering legal and political issues for various adult publications (and under a variety of different pen names) since 2002.
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Featured Article
Let’s Meet Up… Online! Roxana Chirila and Pandemic-Era Event Organizing By Mallory Hall Everyone has an online event happening in 2020! It’s because of COVID-19. When you think about it, though perhaps not “ideal,” online trade events are not awful either. In many ways that extend beyond the pandemic, an online event may be physically healthier and mentally less exhausting than a conventional trek to Las Vegas, while also being super productive. An online trade event is also less expensive and time consuming, as well as better for the environment (perhaps).
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By this point in 2020, we’re all sorta warming up to the idea of online trade events. People are working the kinks out of programming and are actually figuring out ways to create meaningful human interactions and business opportunities within the confines of strictly online exchanges. But mark my words when I tell you that not long ago, this concept sounded absolutely outlandish. Except that it didn’t sound outlandish to the folks behind AWSummit. They jumped into the pandemic-
do business and improve their knowledge. This was the main idea, and to attend this show was totally free, the possibility to have a booth was free and the chance to be a speaker was free. Everything was for free so anyone could benefit from it. We just used our experience to make it possible. How successful was the show? We managed to organize this Meetup in less than three weeks, and it turned out to be a great success. We had over seventy booths with companies from the adult and mainstream industries and almost 1,000 attendees. It was incredible how people supported this and started promoting the event themselves making other people join too. The work volume is different when it comes to a virtual summit. Everything is digital, but it requires of course attention and time to put everything in order and make sure people find what they need in there. We received very good feedback, and people even requested another AW Meetup in the next months. Will you hold similar events in the future? Yes, we are planning to do it. We will do two separate virtual shows this year: one in mainstream and one in adult. We will announce it soon, so stay close. era online trade event space with gusto, pulling together their AWMeetup event — which happened in late April of this year — in record time.
Though you probably can’t fully answer this, how will the pandemic impact AWSummit?
We spoke to Roxana Chirila, AW’s Event and Sales Director, to learn more about the processes (and boldness) behind being first-to-market with the pandemic-era online trade event.
The situation is uncertain in the next months, and honestly I really think there will be no events this year. Even if there would still be possible to travel, people would be afraid to do it or companies
— YNOT: You announced AWMeetup in early April, which was very early in terms of the pandemic. What was the thought process behind that move? Roxana Chirila: When the quarantine situation started, we needed to postpone the real AW show because of safety reasons. For this reason, we thought it would be nice to do something for this industry, especially because most of the people worked from home. AWMeetup started before any other virtual events of its type. It started like an idea to connect with the industry while we are struggling with these hard times without any possibilities to travel for business or any shows around the world. Its purpose was to give back to this industry, help people to connect,
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wouldn’t allow their employees to travel because of safety reasons. So, unfortunately, I don’t think we will be able to host the AWSummit this year. Do you see online-form shows as being viable and as useful as in-person events? For the moment, online shows are the best solution to keep in touch with the industry and do business. If you are doing it right, you can have the perfect online business environment. People are spending the same amount of time on this kind of events as they are spending at regular shows. The only
had the possibility to connect and describe what they are doing and a session area where we had experts from the industry sharing their knowledge. The great thing here was that people could create sessions themselves and share ideas there. We also had the expo area where more than seventy companies asked for exposure and had the possibility to share a video presenting their company or actually go live and speak with their clients. What we loved about this was that people even branded themselves and took all of this very serious creating an AWesome experience.
[Editor’s note: Chirila wrote “AWesome” exactly as rendered above, and it’s the best thing we’ve ever seen.] Any suggestions or cautions for people thinking about holding an online event of this nature in the near future?
disadvantage is that you cannot meet in person the people you are talking to. The interaction is different, but still you can see each other by sharing your camera. At the same time, there are a lot of advantages too. For example, people are not in a hurry as they are at real shows when they are running for meetings. People actually spend more time with each other, connecting online and doing business. We had people who spent the entire day on the platform we used for the AWMeetup, ending the day with many social and networking events. It was really AWesome.
Technical issues might appear when you’re doing an online event, but these kind of things can happen in reality as well. The most important thing is to detect them and solve them as soon as possible. We are very happy we did the first online event. If we managed to put all the concept in order and gather almost 1,000 people in such a short time, just imagine what we are able to do for a real summit.
The AWMeetup had a main stage where my colleague Thomas Skavhellen hosted a talk show every day. It had a networking area where people
About the Author Gene Zorkin has been covering legal and political issues for various adult publications (and under a variety of different pen names) since 2002.
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