What a kerfuffle! The British porn studio, Blake Mason describe themselves as 'the biggest British hardcore video download site on the web!'. Launched in 2005 by Brits Jason Blake and Adam Mason, the company takes the Lucas 'clean' porn philosophy to a new level describing themselves in the following glowing terms:BLAKEMASON is about more than just making great films. You see, we treat everyone involved with the site with absolute respect at all times. We don't offer our models drugs of any kind (Viagra included!) and we don't try and touch them up either. This makes the guys feel welcome, relaxed and very uninhibited ;-) That makes us known as being some of the nicest people in the business and we pride ourselves on making each film shoot as relaxed and fun as possible. And we also donate 5% of all profits to charity – almost unheard of in most companies!
I must confess that regular performer Luke Desmond (NSFW - porn link!) is a compelling reason to watch at the best of times, but it seems Blake Mason has had a bit of a shine taken off their quality twinky/chavy brand this week thanks to Twitter.
On Monday an interesting series of tweets and allegations from Blake Mason regular (NSFW), JP Dubois offered an insight into the sometimes imperfect world of porn, and the workings of BlakeMason on this occasion. He apparently travelled down from Manchester to Plymouth for what proved to be a disastrous shoot thanks to an unknown player. It got off to a troubled start as JP tweeted:
This was later followed by:
It was from this tweet that things seemed to kick-off. JP Dubois is in a relationship with fellow porn star Sam Barclay who didn't hold back in his valiant defence of his boyfriend. He asked his twitter followers:
He went on to complain that his 'poor baby' didn't get the chance to shower before he left and arrived home from the long journey in the early hours of the morning, having apparently been required - according to Barclay - to sign a release in order to get his travel money. He noted that there appeared to be some decline in conditions working with the company too, noting that he had previously been better looked after and better paid than JP was apparently now being treated. It also seems that a fee was paid, but not was expected.
Barclay raised an interesting point of contract law in his exchange, stating that:
Well, there is always likely to be a contract. It may or may not be written but there is, as any first year law student will tell you, a contract. This exchange from experienced, porn business savvy players says much about their own understanding of the porn world and the apparent operations of one - respected -porn studio. It left me curious as to how widespread this experience was, and the level of legal consciousness (and ethics) in the industry. I'd welcome any thoughts in the comments section.
Curiously, all seems to have been forgotten on Twitter as JP and Sam get on with their lives, suggesting this was a flash of anger and ultimately accepted with an air of acceptance.
I think if you showed tweets /comments about anyone's working lives in any arena (that has freelance/casual workers) you'd come across similar issues. I just think people don't normally talk about the working conditions specifically in porn that often, apart from sexual health issues.
Yes, I think you're probably right :-)
i am inclined to sympathize with the poor unpaid porn star. but then again, maybe it's an isolated case. maybe it does not happen to everyone. and it was jp's bad day. having said that, blake mason still needs to see to it that it takes good care of its employees. like any good company would.
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