In the UK it’s so hard for models to really make it ‘big’ and get a taste of that. “Models in the US are getting signed contracts with sex toy companies, exclusive contracts, flown around the world, book deals, shows, red carpets. Manchester-based model Mickey Taylor has worked in the industry for six years, and chimed in to point out disparities between UK and US gay porn studios. “Ultimately, I would like to see studios join together and agree that $1K will be their baseline, publicly” – Joey Mills Gay porn models in the UK, in particular, have developed a massive presence on these sites in response to notoriously sparse and underpaid work opportunities throughout Europe. Many performers now supplement studio work with their own subscription-based fan sites on platforms like OnlyFans and JustForFans. I started my own porn career with a full-time office job, with employers aware and supportive of my triple-X ambitions, and still burned through so many time off requests that I had to eventually choose between work that I loved and work that kept me secure.
Many performers do not have the skillsets or class privileges that can guarantee them tolerant, flexible work between shoots. It may seem like no big deal to complement a few days of shooting with another job, like many models and performers do, but productions often come together on extremely short notice and require extra days of traveling. There are no residuals or things like that like there are with music.” We should be able to have livable pay through porn. “The way that I see it is that as a porn star we should be able to live our lives off of it. Because we really aren’t paid that much, and there aren’t a lot of us that are fortunate like me to work that consistently or that much,” he explains. “When things started to slow down is when I started to see more issues and I began to look at stuff in the industry a little bit different in terms of the way that we are paid. Fellington has since deleted his tweets and stayed focused on his own adult entertainment endeavour, but spoke directly with me about the challenges of trying to be “a porn star 24/7”. Fellington also started performing in gay porn only three years ago, and has worked for a breadth of companies big and small, including several black-owned studios.
Last October, another renowned performer, Pheonix Fellington, similarly raised the issue to over 150k Twitter followers while announcing his departure from studio productions. I have seen some rates as low as $100,” he explains. “A lot of times they will ask my advice on offers from studios and those often include the minimal scene rate offers.
Mills noted that his current employer pays him fairly, but that he was inspired to speak up by new models who reach out to him for advice navigating the industry. I would also like to see models banding together and not only agreeing on a baseline rate but standing their ground when it comes to negotiations with their studio of choice.” If not all of them, at least the larger and more profitable studios. Speaking to Dazed, Mills elaborates: “Ultimately, I would like to see studios join together and agree that £1K will be their baseline publicly. Mills recently shook up the gay porn world by tweeting a suggestion that “no one who is performing for a studio should be getting paid less than 1k a scene”. In less than three years, Mills has climbed to the top of the industry, racking up 14 awards, over 200k Twitter followers, a published biography, and a coveted exclusive contract at gay porn juggernaut Men.com. The occasion stimulated more than a few conversations about work conditions and performer pay (in my own award presentation for Best Newcomer, I encouraged nominees to “ask for more money!”) In its wake, a few performers have grown more vocal about the subject, including gay porn wunderkind Joey Mills. Gay porn recently rung in its own awards season in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where performers from all over gathered, partied, and gossiped with each other outside of a porn set. Then there’s the necessarily smaller scale of gay companies, where an ethos of queer family can keep many models beholden to employers that value them in ways they’ve rarely experienced. For one thing, it’s difficult for us to openly express grievances about our labour conditions without being coopted by efforts to stigmatise and prohibit sex work altogether. These factors are obscure to most people outside the industry. They zone out when I talk about it like any other freelance gig – how uncertain future work can be, how bookings can abruptly eat up my calendar, or how hard it is to assess and demand your own worth. They want to know how I prepare, how long I’m on set, whether I think my scene partners are hot. When people ask me about gay porn, they’re mostly curious about the sex, not about the admin.