Over the past 17+ years that our Company‘s been in operation, we’ve had the pleasure of helping hundreds of aspiring pornstars to join the professional, legal adult entertainment industry & to become highly successful in it, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. “How long am I going to be on set?… What do I need to bring with me to my shoots?… Can my boyfriend come with me?… How about my Chihuahua? Are taxes getting taken out?… Is it OK if I get a tattoo on my chest?” These are all legit questions that we’ve received & answered as professional adult film talent managers, many times over the years, but there’s one big question that money-motivated people (the kind of people we love to work with) are most interested in, and that’s “how much do pornstars make?” There is both a big picture answer to this question, as well as a short-and-sweet answer. We’re going to give you both.
How Much do Pornstars Make – The Quick Answer
For those seeking just a short and sweet answer to “how much do pornstars make?” here it is: about $1,000 (U.S.) per scene/shoot with a professional porn production studio.
The definition of a “scene” in the adult film industry is similar, but not identical, to that of a “scene” in the mainstream movie & TV show industry, which our Company also works in & our performers also get booked with. In Hollywood (mainstream), a single movie or television show comprises many different “scenes”; typically, it’s considered a new scene each time the location changes. In porn, a “scene” is usually a sex shoot between a pre-defined number of co-performers (most common is a lone male & a lone female, or two lone males in gay porn). A single porn scene will generally include foreplay, penetration, different sex positions and a cumshot. All this might be preceded by a “pickup” (pre-sex dialogue) in the case of so-called “reality porn,” or some other dialogue shot before the sex begins (think doorbell ring, then “Hi! I’m here to plumb your pipes… deliver your sausage pizza… babysit my sweet stepson“, etc.).
In porn, even if the dialogue/pickup and sex acts are shot at multiple locations, it’s still considered a single “scene” or “shoot,” especially for casting purposes. In the DVD era (the ’90s-2000s), multiple scenes, typically of a similar genre (for example, big tits, teens, ebony girls, etc.) would be published on a single DVD porn “movie.” New adult film performers typically don’t get booked to do a whole “movie” until they become super famous… they get booked for a scene or two at a time. The performer’s porn talent agency will often book her for shoots (scenes) with several production companies in any given week. A scene is usually what you’ll find when perusing your favorite tube site or premium porn site in the modern era. Each full-length video on a porn site is typically a single scene nowadays, unless it’s just a preview/trailer clip.
Remember, this $1,000 base rate is what you should expect from a professional adult film production studio like Porn Pros, Amateur Allure, Missionary Boys, Helix Studios or 8TeenBoy, not from some amateur “startup” pornographer or self-proclaimed “OnlyFans creator.” As an industry newcomer, you should work only with established professionals under the watchful eye of a professional adult industry talent management company. You should secure the talent management contract first and then pursue the shoots with production studios, not the other way around. When you buy or lease a new car, you take out an insurance policy BEFORE you drive it off the lot… not afterward (that would be incredibly stupid). It’s the same thing here (get your talent management squared away first, then go after production companies, with the help & direction of your talent manager).
Also, keep in mind that there are a ton of variables to this $1,000 per scene figure:
- Females typically get paid a little more for anal (referred to as Boy/Girl Anal)
- The size & budget of the production company (performers under our management are only booked by well-established, high-end porn production studios, not rinky-dink startups shooting out of some ghetto-ass apartment)
- The number of male costars that you’ll be fucking (Boy/Boy/Girl scenes, Boy/Boy/Boy scenes or gangbang scenes usually pay more)
- Package deals (some production companies may offer a new performer, for example, $1,500 – $1,700 to shoot two Boy/Girl or gay scenes back-to-back)
- Although not a typical compensation-altering factor, the duration of time you’ll be on set could be anywhere from 30 minutes to 8+ hours doing paperwork & legal requirements, shooting stills, hanging around waiting, traveling to the shoot location, re-shooting dialogue (multiple takes to get it right), actually shooting the sex scene, etc. That’s a relatively big difference. The average time on-set is roughly 2-3 hours. We’ve occasionally seen producers offer a lower rate (ballpark $700) to a performer for a quick 30-minute in-and-out, wham-bam-thank-you-for-the-content-ma’am style of shoot. (Of course, it’s always up to the performer to accept or reject any particular offer.)
Suppose you have the look & personality that many production companies are looking for at a given time and the proper representation. In that case, you could be hired for 5-6 scenes with various production studios in any given week. That would be an income for you of $5,000 – $6,000 per week. We’ve had models pull this off while under our management, even in their very first week in the industry.
Our Company is very grateful for the long-time special relationship that we’ve maintained with the single highest-paying porn production studio in the United States. Our performers have been paid up to $3,000 for a single boy/boy/girl shoot with that company, and anal wasn’t even required at that rate! Offering multiple shoots to a single performer, how much do pornstars make can be up to $14,000 or more with just this one production company alone! This studio also pays for the model’s airfare, rideshares, a lovely private hotel room for the performer, food, etc. Apply on our site to learn more.
How Much do Pornstars Make – The BIG Picture
Although it’s been scientifically-proven that most OnlyFans “creators” actually lose money by wasting time on the oversaturated & overrated fad platform, indeed, some (albeit very few) already-established pornstars (those that first shot for the big, well-known porn studios) can make a killing on the platform. Before OnlyFans, Pamela Anderson ($12 million net worth) & Sasha Grey ($3 million net worth) were the wealthiest pornstars. However, Mia Khalifa quickly blew both of them out of the water when she started earning more than DOUBLE Sasha Grey’s entire net worth ($6.42 million) each month from OnlyFans!
Before you go hopping over to launch your own OnlyFans account to “become the next Mia Khalifa,” you’d do well to remember what she seems to have forgotten: if it weren’t for the professional porn studios that Mia shot for before she opened her OnlyFans account (boosting her popularity, and giving her a name), she’d likely be earning just as much as the MAJORITY of OnlyFans models do, which is less than $145 per month.
Remember our example above about buying the car but getting your insurance policy BEFORE you drive it off the lot? It’s all about the order in which you do things to have Mia Khalifa-level success and beyond.
How to Become a Rich & Famous Pornstar (in this order):
- Step #1 – Secure Professional Talent Management
- Step #2 – Shoot for Professional Porn Studios
- Step #3 – Expand Your Brand on Your Website, etc.
We encourage & help our performers to start their own pornstar website (only after shooting for some big companies), instead of creating an OnlyFans account, for a variety of reasons:
- If OnlyFans decides to appease the banks & forbid adult content on their platform (which they have a history of doing), instead of their “content creators,” your precious OnlyFans income stream & all of your content that you worked so hard to create is G-O-N-E forever. How much do pornstars make off OnlyFans once the British-owned platform deletes all their content? Zilch… zero… zippity-do-da… nada!
- OnlyFans is so basic bitch. Everyone & their momma has one. Even my Rottweiler has an OnlyFans.
- Because fuck OnlyFans!
We mentioned Sasha Grey earlier. She’s another great example of a pornstar using her brand & name, which was established doing hardcore porn movies, to achieve success in other areas. Sasha went on to work in Hollywood movies & TV shows, and much more.
Unlike Khalifa, Sasha admirably & honorably took responsibility for her decision, as an adult, to choose to work in the adult film industry; she embraced it, and used it to her advantage. We’ve got a lot of respect for that. Make sure to make that decision for yourself before applying with our Company.
We’re calling this “the big picture” because it’s not just about how much do pornstars make at the end of the porn shoot when the director hands them a check for the day’s work. After all, we’re not street-corner hookers here, giving blowjobs behind a dumpster to get our next crack rock. No, we’re professional adult film performers. Yes, there is a major difference. Sure, what you get paid for a scene is one number, and it is an important one. Nobody believes this more than us. As mentioned previously, our Company has a close relationship with the single highest-paying porn production studio in the United States, which has paid our contract models (brand-new porn performers) up to $3,000 for a single boy/boy/girl scene. But also think about the big picture of how much do pornstars make: the notoriety, the fame, and the name you’re going to obtain can be worth way more than the $1,000 or $3,000 you’re getting paid per shoot. With the correct management & the right pornstar website (which we can also help you with), you can be on track to earning millions off your pornstar name, your pornstar brand.