I Receive An Email: “How Much Do Porn Stars Really Get Paid?”

Is doing gay porn just a way for gay porn stars to increase their visibility, and thus their escorting rates? One reader wants to know.

“Joe The Bastard” writes:

I just have a general porn question, so here goes:

How the hell much do these porn guys REALLY get paid? I’m sure there is a wide $$$ range, but from what I’ve heard from the actual pornbots I’ve asked (and I have asked) they all complain that they maybe get a coupla hundred bucks or so, like day-labor at Home Depot…sometimes more for the fresh-face, hotty of the moment…but basically it seems like the porn is merely a great way to raise their prostitution rates…?

I’ve heard pretty much the same thing, with rates for some amateur studios (and even one dying former major DVD studio) running as low as $150 per scene. Based on several accounts, the highest paying studio is probably Sean Cody. Multiple models have claimed to have earned over $4,500 per scene there, and this was before the long-running site transitioned to shooting mostly bareback scenes (which pay even more, hopefully). Of course, if you’re an exclusive or a well-known star, you can always try to negotiate an even bigger deal, but don’t hold your breath. All that being said, The Sword is NOT a place for rumors and conjecture—especially when it comes to something as delicate as a porn star’s salary—so I’ll leave it to any gay porn stars reading this to share their scene rates themselves in the comments below.

 

20 thoughts on “I Receive An Email: “How Much Do Porn Stars Really Get Paid?””

  1. I know 3 ex pornstars, 1 – CF – was paid $1000 for bottoming scene, he is straight and was first time. 1 – SC – he was paid $2500 for a few top duos (again straight) he has wanted to do more work with other studios, but as he is known he is only ever offered a bottoming scene for $1000 (inc CF). 1 – Fratmen – Is offered $2000 for a Fratmen Sucks scene. 2 of the 3 tell me that others they know in the industry suffer from substance abuse and generally work to sustain their habits, 2 of the 3 escort and do quite well and the other does ‘meets’ but no sex. I know none of this to be factual, just what I was told.

  2. I spoke to this one lower-rung porn guy who copped to only being paid in swag for privilege of doing porn: Freebies included an injection into his penis of some ‘Weenie Hardener’, a ‘FREE’ DVD…and a T-Shirt [Hopefully printed with something like “Dawson got 50-loads and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt”, but probably not]

  3. Pay is based on how hot the model is, and I’m sure a hot fresh face like Brandon on SC is making more than a average looking kid on any other site.

  4. The norm is more like anywhere from as low as 200 to 1500 a scene. Very few people are making more than 2000 dollars a scene especially in this economy. all those porn stars who go around saying they make substantially more are full of crap.

  5. A couple of years ago, I was an exclusive for RSS. 10 scenes a year, first 5 for $2,000, second 5 for $2250. But that was a while ago, who knows that it is now.

    1. By a couple of years, do you mean 2, or more than that? Also, do you mean 5 for $2,000 EACH, or 5 for $2,000 that averaged to $400 each? I would’ve expected more than that from a studio like RSS, but it’s not bad for a few days work. Plus it’s a great supplement from what you already make from your real job, that is if you had one.

  6. Most of those high rates for Sean Cody and other sites were from scenes shot around 4 years ago. No one is paying that kind of rate these days.

  7. When Dakota Cochrane was claming to have made $80K from his 12 scenes at Sean Cody, I think Brady Jensen (Jonah at SC) said that he was paid something like $2K-2.5K for a hardcore scene.

  8. From working at a certain bank, and having a certain porn model/actor as a client of mine, I know that a certain site pays around $3,500.00 per scene. But that’s all I can really say… ;-)

  9. For me its to increase visibility and promote my escorting. I enjoy doing it but its not something you do solely for the money or “fame”.

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