Exciting story? Gay Porn With a Plot: Female Producer Tells All. ABC News has called her the “Queen of Romance Porn,” a sort of dirty “Downton Abbey” for the discerning viewer.
Seeking real emotions, real sex positions, and an overall better product for gay male viewers, porn producer Nica Noelle has formed Rock Candy Films (NSFW), a production house focusing on gay male erotica. She has already had success with her straight porn counterpart, Hot Candy (once Hard Candy, but was changed due to a lawsuit from Hard Candy cosmetics), but now seeks to produce gay porn that includes seduction, intrigue, and even, well, talking.
Below, she took questions from TheBlot and even some submitted by our readers and gives us some candid and thoughtful responses. We talk everything from HIV, meth, racism in the business, fluffers, and how she talks about what she does with her teenage son.
TheBlot: How did you get into the business?
Nica Noelle: I was a journalist who sometimes wrote about the adult industry, and at one point I took an assignment where I had to perform in a spanking fetish video and write an article about it. It was supposed to be a onetime thing, but that video brought me other offers to star in other adult films. I was increasingly curious about the adult film industry, so I decided to do some lesbian scenes for Girlfriends Films, which was a little start-up company at the time — very niche. But the owner liked me, and when he found out I could write, he offered me a job as creative director of the studio. His dream was to make Girlfriends Films the biggest lesbian porn studio in the industry, but he felt he needed a woman to steer the ship. Even though it meant taking a big pay cut, I saw it as a great challenge and a unique opportunity. So I took the job and began my career as an adult film director and builder of studio brands. I realized I had a lot of ideas and philosophies that the adult audience and even the performers were eagerly responding to.
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Tell us about Rock Candy; how did it come about and how does it differ from other studios?
Rock Candy differs from other studios in that it features very elaborate story lines, a lot of emotional content, and very passionate sex scenes where the body language and positions are realistic and authentic. The sex scenes mostly take place on beds and you’ll notice a lot of full missionary positions, lots of body-to-body sex, with no “opening up for the camera.” There’s a great deal of kissing and foreplay. Apparently these things aren’t typical in most gay porn films.
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ABC News has called you the “Queen of Romance Porn.” Your new series, “Tales of Victorian Lust,” begins this week. In the age of the two-minute clip, do you think gay man have the patience for a story arch, the appreciation for costumes, and characterization in the porn they choose to view?
I don’t find gay men any less patient than straight men or even women, for that matter. I think the gay audience appreciates the variety, because traditionally there’s been little variety in gay porn. As long as we stick with themes that strike a chord with our viewers, and portray relationship dynamics they find erotic or can relate to, we have every reason to believe they’ll keep watching.
You speak of a renaissance of male eroticism, is it culture-wide? Simply within the business? What has brought this on?
Obviously in the past few decades we’ve seen gay and lesbian communities become more visible in the news and media, and discrimination against gays is increasingly frowned upon. It’s clearly only a matter of time before gay marriage is legal everywhere. So, as society becomes more accepting of alternative lifestyles, more people are admitting to experimenting with bi or gay sex — including straight men.
I think it started with the trend toward female bisexuality about 10 years ago, when it suddenly became very socially acceptable — even desirable — to be a bisexual woman, or a straight woman who enjoyed lesbian encounters. Lesbian sex was probably less threatening to society than sex between men because it’s this one special area where male and female fantasies kind of dovetail. Sex between men, though, was definitely not viewed the same way.
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But now, that’s changing. These days men are more comfortable admitting to bisexual or gay desires. Also, many straight women have publicly expressed a preference for watching gay (male) porn, and that was an eye-opener to a lot of men, who assumed women were turned off by gay sex. I think our increasingly honest conversations about sex have allowed men to feel more comfortable opening up about fantasies they wouldn’t have admitted to even a few years ago.
I don’t identify as a feminist in the slightest. I think I might identify more as a gay man.
In your fan mail, what do people ask and suggest, and what are they curious about?
I’m always asked to go further in terms of realism. Fans want to see an extremely realistic scene from start to finish, and they want to see the same couple featured throughout an entire feature story. They ask to not see the “pop shot,” and to let the couple have sex to completion without disconnecting at the moment of orgasm. They ask to see a variety of sex scenes in the same movie: gay, straight, bi. I still have a very hard time convincing those on the business side of porn that the audience is ready for these things, but my fan mail tells a different story.
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What do you see as the future of porn?
Less separation between genres. More realism. More emotional content. Better conditions for the performers. More artistry. Less of a separation between mainstream cinema and adult cinema, and a lot of coming together, or blending, of the two.
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Given the rise of X-Tube and myriad other sites like it, what makes porn people will pay for?
If a viewer identifies as a “fan” of a certain thing, he or she will want to support it by paying for it. Most people cannot consistently find their preference of porn on tube sites without a lot of searching, so when they find a studio that consistently gives them what they’re looking for, they’re happy to support it. Also, on another note completely, many people don’t feel comfortable stealing “free” porn online. I think it’s mostly the younger crowd, people with very little money, who steal it. Older people, and by older I mean those of us who identify as grown-ups, don’t have the time or inclination to search multiple tube sites looking for random scenes. We’d rather pay for something we know we’ll enjoy, and have a quality erotic experience. Fans want to keep their favorite studios in business.
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As a woman, do you find doing male gay porn less morally problematic because it doesn’t have to deal with power dynamics between men and women?
Not at all; I don’t have any problems depicting power dynamics between men and women. I don’t have any issues with rough sex or even with depicting rape scenes, although we’re not allowed to do that on DVD. A lot of women fantasize about rape and would like to see it depicted in an erotic film by a skilled director and consenting performers. Once again, I’m not a “feminist porn director” and I don’t approach my work from a perspective of gender politics. I don’t identify as a feminist in the slightest. I think I might identify more as a gay man.
Questions from TheBlot readers:
Are fluffers still a thing?
Not that I know of. The performers who are doing a scene together generally “fluff” each other.
What makes you uncomfortable?
Performers who don’t take any pride or joy in their work, and who are only in it for the money. Same goes for producers and directors.
How has the Los Angeles condom law affected the industry?
A lot of producers have gone underground, stopped applying for film permits, or simply left Los Angeles. Others, like me, are obeying the condom law and viewing it as an opportunity to improve safety across the board on our film sets.
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A lot of gay porn seems very, very white. How can you include more minority representation?
There is a great deal of racism in porn, and a lot of racial discrimination. As producers we have to make an effort to cast performers of all ethnicities. There’s a strange belief that audiences only want to see minorities depicted as cartoonish stereotypes, but I haven’t seen evidence of that with my own audience. I find most viewers just want to see attractive performers of all ages, races and body types, engaged in passionate, intimate sex scenes.
How do you take on the gay porn industry’s role in the proliferation of bareback sex and the rapidly increasing rates of crystal meth addiction in the gay community?
There seems to be a belief among some gay male performers right now that if they take the drug Truvada, also known as PreP, that they will be immune to the HIV virus. As a result, we are seeing a sudden, dramatic increase in performers willing to do bareback porn. From what I’ve read about this drug, it’s not anywhere near as effective as people would like to believe, and it can have some very dangerous side effects, including liver damage. So this is a huge worry for me and I’m not sure how much to say about it publicly. But I’m continuing to shoot with condoms, and so far it hasn’t hurt my sales. My view is, if the sex scenes are passionate and real and the storyline is engaging, condoms won’t make or break the movie.
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As for crystal meth, I don’t see or allow any drug use on any of my sets. I’ve never personally seen anyone using. But from what I understand crystal meth use is common among a certain number of straight performers too, both male and female. So, I don’t think it’s just a gay thing. Most of the performers I’ve worked with seem incredibly health conscious and are in fantastic physical shape.
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That said, the entertainment industry is famous for attracting a certain number of partiers, and people who abuse drugs. This goes for the mainstream side of entertainment too, and certainly the music business. But I’ve never done drugs in my life, and I’ve never allowed drugs on my set, including marijuana. Even if you have a medical prescription for marijuana you can’t smoke it on my set.
You have a son; how do you talk about your work with him?
My son is a teenager, and he knows what I do for a living. I don’t discuss the intimate details of my work day with him, but my job is not a taboo subject in our household. Honesty is the best policy.
WELL SAID!
