Writing Porn Is Easy, But the Pay Stinks

In many ways, the life of a porn screenwriter is a breeze compared to Hollywood, Christopher Beam writes for Slate. “Your average 90-minute porn film will have between five and seven sex scenes,” he explains. “At five to 10 minutes each, that leaves only about a half-hour for dialogue,” and porn writers tend not to script the sex scenes. Of course, they get paid accordingly: only about $1,000, “even for big productions.”

Unlike in Hollywood scripts, in which writers often indicate camera angles, “porn cinematography is left up to the director,” Beam writes. Naturally, “in the porn industry, the director and the screenwriter are often the same person.” A writer might get more involved if the sex actually moves the story along. “If the movie is about a woman who has never had anal sex, the type of sex in the scene is a relevant plot point.” Also, bring your thinking cap. You might have to come up with a clever title like This Ain’t Star Trek XXX. (More pornography stories.)