Directing Porn: A Filmmakers Alternative to the Typical Day Job

Many independent filmmakers find it difficult to balance filmmaking with a typical day job. In these circumstances, the filmmaking is done on the weekends while the indie filmmaker waits tables at a restaurant or works in customer service at Best Buy. Movie theaters may offer more fun time for filmmakers, since they are working where their movies will hopefully be shown in the future. While day jobs offer some financial security, they can potentially drain the energy out of independent filmmakers. Restaurant and movie theater jobs usually pay minimum wage.

It can be difficult to make the next Napoleon Dynamite off of a theater concession worker's salary. This is where alternative jobs come into play. The porn industry offers another option for filmmakers who want to obtain more income. Filmmakers can make hundreds of dollars by directing porn movies for adult film studios. As controversial as the porn industry may be, an independent filmmaker can make a decent living by directing porn. Working on adult films can offer more experience in making movies, than operating the cash register at a local Best Buy store. It also offers the flexibility of working more preferred hours.

Directing porn offers filmmakers a chance to get paid to make a movie. While it may not be a typical movie that you may see at the local multiplex, it is still a movie. For many independent filmmakers, it is the other way around. Filmmakers pay to make movies. We pay to make our own movies that we hope to be picked up and distributed by a major Hollywood studio. Making films are usually a huge expense for independent filmmakers. The porn industry can provide income to cover the cost of living as well as the next independent production. A filmmaker can charge his or her own day rate or accept an offer from an adult film production company.