An average day in the life of a porn star is never really average.
That said, each day is still a pretty full day; some shoot days can even be up to 10 hours long, award-winning former adult video star Siri wrote on Quora.
In her post, she detailed the hour-by-hour breakdown of what a "best case scenario" day looks like in the life of a female porn star shooting a heterosexual porn scene.
9 A.M.: "Wake up, get my suitcase together."
"Female talent always arrives several hours before male talent," Siri writes, "but we finish the scene at the same time…
"IMO it's only fair that female talent is paid more than male talent, if you look at it on a per-hour basis."
10 A.M.: "Drive 30 minutes - 1 hour to set, arrive for my 11 a.m. call time."
"PHYSICALLY, we depend on our bodies staying healthy to even be able to work. If I just get a cold, I might be sent home from a shoot because my nose is running and I'm sniffling a lot, for example. If I shoot a bondage scene one week that results in bruises on my thighs, then my B/G [boy/girl] scene the following week will likely be cancelled, because I cannot appear on camera with bruises on my skin. The studio would send me home and call in another girl to substitute in my place."
11 A.M.: "Do my paperwork, get in hair/makeup for 1.5 hours."
Hair and makeup aside, "it's also important to have a large and loyal fan base clamoring to see new scenes," Siri notes. "Doesn't matter how hot a girl is, if there aren't devoted fans writing to studios and posting on message boards saying how badly they can't wait to see her next scene, the girl won't be getting hired and she will disappear."
12 P.M.: "Shoot a set of solo stills, which usually takes about an hour."
"MOST OF MY WORK takes place on the internet — on social networks like Twitter, via blogging and posting on message boards, and via email communications with my fans. I get 100+ emails every day, and I read and respond to every single one (even though it might take me a week or two in some cases). In order to retain my loyal fan base and create new fans, I have to keep myself out there in front of them."
Sex educator Dr. Emily Morse (left) interviews Siri in 2014.
1-2 P.M: "The male talent arrives between 1-2, and does his paperwork while crew re-sets lights."
"A lot of male performers can and will book two boy/girl scenes in a day," Siri writes. "Because there is a smaller pool of male talent, guys who are in-demand can easily shoot 10-15 boy/girl scenes a month, while it's almost unheard of for female talent to shoot more than 4 boy/girls in a month…
"I cannot film more than 1 boy/girl scene in a week, because the sex is so intense and usually with a much-larger-than-average sized penis. My vagina needs a few days to recuperate."
2 P.M: "Shoot intro video for scene; may take up to 2 hours depending on complexity of scenario and setups."
"New girls can get $600-$1000 starting out for a boy/girl scene… A desirable, popular male performer will be paid $500-$1000 for a boy/girl scene, depending on the studio and what their budget is."
4-5 P.M.: "Shoot boy/girl sex stills" and "boy/girl video, including cum shot."
"There is less competition among male performers than females. Their job is hard — they have to get hard on command, stay hard as long as the director needs them to in order to finish the scene, NOT cum early, and cum on command. All in an incredibly hot room, often with no A/C, and bright lights all around. And often with multiple other (clothed) dudes (crew members) watching."
6 P.M.: "If there IS a softcore version to be shot, then we'd shoot the softcore photos and videos now."
"That would take another 1.5 hours," Siri writes. "If there is NO softcore stuff, then we're done for the day; talent collects their checks if it is same-day pay, otherwise the check is mailed after 2 weeks."
