LOS ANGELES—In June of 2019, Pierce Paris set up his cell phone in a room, hit the “record” button and walked out. He ran back in and catapulted his legs into the air—flashing a quick glimpse of his sphincter for all the world to see. The clip jumpstarted the porn version of the “Running Butthole Challenge,” which enticed many of his peers to strip down and get acrobatic with their anus.
Not only was the stunt a social media phenomenon, it also catapulted something else: the performer’s burgeoning career behind the camera.
“It went crazy viral and started trending, and Men.com reached out to me. They were like, ‘This is awesome, we love this. How would you concept this into a scene?’ And I was like, ‘I’ll tell you exactly how I’d do it!’” laughs Paris, recalling the conversation that would start him on the next evolution of his career. “So I wrote them a script—and that was actually the very first script I ever wrote—and they said, ‘We love it, we’ll film it next month.’ And we actually ended up filming it two weeks early because they were so excited.”
That first scene of the project—where Paris was joined by fellow gay porn superstar Joey Mills—was one of the studio’s most viewed of 2019. Paris also wrote and starred in another entry, and came up with the concept for the other scene in the series.
“That was a big hit for Men.com, so they were pretty stoked about that,” shares Paris, noting he has another script ready for the studio when filming gets back to full capacity.
The success made the performer realize that he had a hidden knack for a skill he had never tapped into before with studios.
“l really couldn’t envision myself writing until I started coming out with the crazy little stunts on my social media. Once that happened, I was like, ‘Wow, I can take that creativity behind the camera and put it toward ideas to grab people’s attention,’” Paris says. “I did that project with Men.com, and there’s a way they shoot scenes that’s all about high energy and grabbing people’s attention just like I do on my social media. It was like, ‘Holy crap! I can totally do this all day long!’ So that’s when I realized I could really bring out creativity into actual scenes. Putting it into writing is definitely not a strength of mine by any means, but the creativity side is.”
Paris then embraced his newfound passion when close friend Ben Rush came up with a script for what became the Masqulin feature What’s Gotten Into Him? The two co-directed the project, earning a Best Director nomination at this year’s GayVN Awards.
“I had been wanting to get behind the camera,” shares Paris. “Doing 400-plus scenes, I have the experience, and I know the visual side—I know the angles, I know how it should be shot. And being able to pull my friend—who is like a huge gay porn watcher—into it is amazing. He wrote a script for shits and giggles, and I kind of connected everything together. I talked with the company and I talked to my friend, and I pulled it together and produced it. I was very excited about it all.”
The project cast Paris as a therapist to patient Drew Dixon, whose recently open relationship with his boyfriend has him considering a more adventurous sex life. Their sessions together bring heated stories to life before their lust explodes in the finale.
“Looking at it being my first film directing, I have a little bit of an analogy for it. When I go to a party, I can enjoy myself and have fun. It’s a different kind of atmosphere or feeling than if you were hosting a party, if that makes sense. If I’m hosting, I’m making sure everybody is okay. So directing to me is like a hosting a party,” Paris says.
“With What’s Gotten Into Him?, I was focusing on so many other aspects while trying to perform as well. I was trying to attend the party and host the party at the same time, and what I learned is that there’s big mental difference between the two jobs—and it’s pretty significant. It was a little bit overwhelming, but I pushed through and it was just a really positive experience. Everybody on set was relaxed.”
Paris and Rush cast the movie, enlisting the talents of Dante Colle, Nick Fitt, Clark Davis, Colby Tucker, Dillon Diaz and Michael DelRay—the latter two picking up a GayVN Award nomination for Best Duo Sex Scene.
“Being a performer myself, I had worked with most of the guys, so I know the personalities and what they like, what they don’t like. I kind of fit them into where I thought they would do the best. I feel like I did a pretty good job at that as far as how everything turned out. We did not have a bad scene,” says Paris, who also had to master performing in his own project.
“It’s like this big multitasking effort I would be doing in front of the camera, where I’m paying attention to lighting, I’m paying attention to camera angles, I’m paying attention to my energy, my scene partner’s energy and what’s getting them excited, all these aspects. Being on set, everybody knew that we had something special, because everything that we were capturing on camera was very authentic. I made sure the performers were all very comfortable with each other, and we all just really vibed well together. I think that really added to the production value and how it turned out.”
Masqulin agreed, and quickly wanted Paris back behind the camera.
“It was really funny, because they were like, ‘We’ll have you guys put one together maybe once a month or something.’ And like half a week after we gave them What’s Gotten Into Him?, they were like, ‘Let’s get you started on the next one.’ And we literally filmed the next one in four days after they gave us notice. It was a challenge,” laughs Paris.
Working off someone else’s script, Paris produced and shared directing and casting duties with Rush.
“The person who wrote the script was very meticulous. They wanted homemade cell phone footage and professional footage, and we had to integrate both at the same time in a normal scene-shooting setup. Not to mention, we had eight performers and eight locations in two days. So for my second film, I was like, ‘Holy cow!’” Paris says. “I had to reach out to them and do some tweaking to the script to make it more efficient to shoot.”
The film cast leads Calvin Banks and Paul Canon as competitors in a game of social media sexual adventure.
“We had very long days. We had outdoor car scenes, we had house scenes. It was a lot, but it turned out nice. My partner Ben was like, ‘Uh, I don’t think I want to do this anymore!’” recalls Paris with a laugh. “Ben’s doing this as a hobby. He’s got a lot of experience with other films, and him and I are good friends, and we kind of just teamed up. I’m also mentoring and learning the ropes through him, and he’s also doing the same through my experience.”
The two teamed up again for Caught Raw-Handed, which they co-wrote and co-directed, with Paris again serving as producer.
“I basically give the concept to Ben, and Ben is very good with dialogue and writing, so he fills in the dialogue and the storyline around the concept. So that was even better because we were able to work on a set with our own writing, our own ideas, and be in full control of it. If you’re passionate about creating and being able to do something that’s fully your own, it’s really rewarding, and both of us really felt that after Caught.”
The film casts Adam Russo as a police detective investigating a rise of local catfish scams. The film—whose finale was released in late January—brings together an A-list cast that also features Colle, Michael Boston, Jack Andy, Taylor Reign, Joel Someone and Aspen.
“Everybody kind of experiences this on social media these days—people that will push their fantasies on other people whether they like it or not. And that’s what Caught Raw-Handed is about—people sending dick pics on Grindr, and when you show up it’s a completely different person. So it relates to those really funny scenarios that we experience on social media. I basically took that and turned it into a mini-series of people having different situations, and then I have a detective interviewing these victims about their experiences.”
Paris is ready for more, although the pandemic has slowed down his output on both sides of the camera.
“I’m just waiting for more opportunity to shoot. I just need more companies to be like, ‘Make me a movie!’” he laughs. “My partner and I have four scripts. We have a Costa Rican yoga movie written, and we have a boxing one, which is mainly my baby. It’s a boxing feature about overcoming challenges and distractions and putting it into self-empowerment, but it’s also very sexy at the same time. There’s a little bit of a storyline to it—it has montages, very much like Rocky gay porn.”
Paris notes that Masqulin has more of his scripts, and he can see himself branching out to other studios.
“Obviously I’ve been working with Men.com, and I can come up with some brilliant things that they’ll love and that will continue our relationship. So I look forward to making more stuff for them. And I’m interested in reaching out to Tim Valenti to do a NakedSword feature film for them. I feel like I could really create a film that’s really right along their image and what they like to put out,” Paris says.
“I feel that with directing and producing, you have to really know what a studio prioritizes. You have to really know what their brand is, because if you don’t match that image, you won’t catch the viewers’ attention. So you have to make sure that’s first priority. I look forward to doing that with more studios.”
And his partner in crime will be right there with him.
“Ben and I are definitely partners. We’re not talking about doing anything solo as of right now. We’re the dynamic duo. He brings the writing and the production experience, and I bring the porn and performing experience. With What’s Gotten Into Him?, we set out to achieve something unique, filming everything in a different way and spending more time on details with the progression of foreplay and sexual experiences, where a lot of other porn sites are very cookie cutter. Ours is a little bit more foreplay, a little bit more of a real-life experience. It was what we were going for. We’re always hoping to create something new, something different from what’s in the industry right now.”
