Adult Film Insiders Reveal Industry Confessions

While most people are well aware of the content that the porn industry creates, many don't know [...]

By Hunter Miller

While most people are well aware of the content that the porn industry creates, many don't know the full extent of what goes on behind-the-scenes. A group of employees from NSFW site ManyVids are speaking out about what it is like to work in the adult film business, and it is nothing like you would imagine in many ways.

A team with Buzzfeed spoke to a handful of writers, graphic designers, videographers, and others from the pornographic website to learn what it is really like on the job. Check out their responses below:

Despite appearances, working in the porn industry isn't as seedy as one might think.

"I was worried that working in the adult industry would be a lot more seedy. l thought the owners would be clubby bro-types and the staff to be just out of school. Yet the professionalism is very high, with top talent and excellent management. The owners at ManyVids are extremely respectful and nice people. I just did not expect that at all," the UI/UX lead said.

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Many porn industry workers had similar jobs before switching over.

"The art director used to work in fashion, but moved over because he found that he could have more freedom to express his creativity than previously. The support agent and the CSR (customer service representative) used to work at a bank as support agent and CSR," a copywriter/PR person said.

For some, the job can be a straightforward task. However, there are a list of responsibilities that are quite explicit.

Some Jobs In Porn Are Pretty Basic. Others...Not So Much.

There are bizarre jobs...such as photo-editing anuses.

"Photo-editing an anus is an art. There is definitely a right way to do it," a graphic designer said.

When asked what "photo-editing an anus" involves, a copywriter said: "It depends on the anus, but most of it has to do with brightening the 'area'."

There is a such thing as butthole-tracking software.

"I made a butthole-tracking software to make my work more efficient. Basically video consists of a sequence of images. To modify or colour-correct part of a moving image, you cannot do it frame by frame because it would take an eternity! So you need a 'tracking device', which is something that will automatically isolate part of the image for you, like a butthole. That means that even if the butthole is moving onscreen, it will be tracked. Once isolated, you can then start to colour-correct it. Usually, I make it lighter and a bit pinker. You can track almost everything, from a mouth and eyes to a nipple or a mole," a videographer said.

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What is the need for butthole-tracking you ask...

"It's one of the parts that needs most color correction, along with vaginas and faces."

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More Odd Jobs In The Porn Industry

Sometimes you have to ID a person by just seeing their private parts.

"I once had to complete a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown request, but there were no faces involved in the video. So instead, I had to ID the guy based on his penis (skin colour, shape, etc). I've never taken such a serious look at a penis other than mine," a support agent said.

There are restrictions on stealing XXX-rated videos.

"Our videos are all paid for, so when users buy and download them, they may upload them to other tube sites (which are free). This is illegal, so we have a team that searches for those videos to take them down. It happens a lot due to the popularity of tube sites," a copywriter said.

ManyVids allows customers to pay for a custom video...which can lead to strange requests.

"Let's just say a LOT of interesting stuff happens, particularly with Easy Cheese for some reason," a customer service rep said.

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The Most Challenging Part About Working In Porn...Telling Your Family

The porn stars set up mini-stores to sell their used items.

"Once, a user who bought 'c**my panties' off a model complained that the c*m didn't taste real. I mean, how are we going to test that?" a customer service rep said.

The porn copywriters compare penning promo pieces to writing cheesy erotica.

"There was this one time I had to write a promo article for a Wonder Woman parody video, and it just sounded like erotic fan-fiction. For example, 'The powerful super babe tenderly s***ing a d**k and having the bad guy's c**k slide into her wet p***y.'"

The workers don't necessarily want to tell their family that they've in the porn industry.

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"The most challenging part for me after I got the job at ManyVids was coming up with a clever answer for my friends and family when they asked me where I work. I used to have a long sales pitch but it only led to more and more questions. At some point, I just had to lie. So now I just say, 'You know YouTube? Well, we're better than them,'" a senior business analyst said.

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Office Conversations Can Get Explict Really Quickly

It's totally normal to have porn on your search history at work.

"I love seeing the faces on visitors when they walk in and we have porn on our browsers. Just a regular day, you know," a UI/UX designer said.

Business meetings go from professional to explicit in a hurry.

"We'll have a product meeting, which is very serious, and then someone will say something sexual. Like this one time when we were talking about a feature and then one of the development leads said, 'Can you click on the custom t***y f**k?'" a QA lead said.

The industry is surprisingly transparent and straightforward.

"I actually prefer working in porn. What you see is what you get. There are no complex relationships that involve deceptive business maneuvers. It's surprisingly transparent," a development lead said.

For some people, working in porn isn't a huge deal.

"I do code," a front end developer said. "It's business as usual."

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