LOS ANGELES—Lily LaBeau considers Cam_Girlfriend a project that was “just meant to be.”
“This experience was three years in the making,” LaBeau, the exclusive Chaturbate broadcaster, tells AVN. “I feel like we all connected. It was just so beautiful.”
Today LaBeau & Co.’s labor of love comes to fruition as the first of 10 episodes debuts on the Camming Life YouTube channel.
The original comedy series follows LaBeau’s character Chloe Cables—a rising cam model—through her struggles to maintain a relationship with her live-in boyfriend Mike (Dave Keystone) as she navigates the unique challenges of her profession.
Their complicated romance unfolds in various light-hearted, often outrageous scenarios based on real-life cam girl dilemmas, while the series explores the modern-day intersection between sex, tech, connectivity and love.
"Cam_Girlfriend creatively mixes the real-life struggles of what it is like to be a cam model and the comedic addition of intimate relationships,” says Shirley Lara, chief of operations at Chaturbate. “Each episode uncovers a new comedic element of what a cam girl goes through in their day-to-day and lets the public see behind the curtain of the internet’s hottest trend.”
The first episode, titled “The Registry,” sees Chloe and Mike hatch a scheme to use Chloe’s camming registry to buy wedding presents for their friends. But when a pricey espresso machine is purchased, things take an unexpected turn.
CAMGF1 Productions shot every episode over a 12-day span in February 2018—with a four-day break in between—in Toronto. The series was made possible thanks to the Independent Production Fund.
LaBeau, an established adult star with more than 520 performing credits since 2009 who has also been camming on and off since 2013, reveals she originally was only going to be behind the scenes for Cam_Girlfriend.
“One of the creators contacted me to be a story consultant and we bounced around ideas for about a year and then finally it came down to picking the lead, but we couldn’t find the lead,” LaBeau explains. “So when we couldn’t find the lead, I kind of had to convince them. I had to fight a little bit, but I told them, ‘You hired me because you want authenticity for the story, but so many people will write our stories and pick some mainstream actress for the role and then you’re selling yourselves short.’ And it worked. I’m so glad it did.
“It’s all improv, too. These guys—I love their spirit.”
LaBeau is referring to what she calls “the dream team” creative force behind Cam_Girlfriend that includes creator/writer Ethan Cole, producer/director Daniel AM Rosenberg, writer Michael Goldlist and producer Jason Kennedy. All are seasoned pros with a breadth of experience in scripted and non-scripted television, film, music and other entertainment projects.
The charismatic native of Seattle drew on her decade-plus career in adult, showcasing her natural acting talent, quick wit and comic flair “to give it this really authentic feel.”
“I knew a paragraph of each episode going into this,” LaBeau says.
She notes the majority of the mainstream production crew was female, which she says brought “such a beautiful feminine energy” to the set.
“It was really family vibes,” LaBeau continues. “Because they don’t get to work on adult stuff normally. It was all so respectful. We all had a fun time with everything.”
She developed strong chemistry with her versatile co-star Dave Keystone, who is the 2018 Canadian Screen Award winner for Best Host of a Web Program and who has a knack for comic flourishes himself.
Keystone’s character Mike doesn’t have an issue with Chloe’s career choice. He is even turned on knowing his significant other is adored by men from all over the world through their computer screens. But some of the couple’s squabbles arise when Mike feels like he is coming second to her career—and also because he wants Chloe to be as comfortable around him off cam as she is when she’s online.
LaBeau remembers watching Keystone audition.
“They had to pick a guy that complements me and Dave was just…he was the most energetic,” LaBeau recalls. “You can tell he’s very intelligent. He’s funny. In the audition he wasn’t my favorite—he was almost too much for me—but that was part of the beauty of what happened. Because I’m very expressive and we just had a good harmony.
“He was great with improv. We did a lot of laughing on set. He just ended up in some really funny situations like, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this right now.’
“And if I could do a shoutout to the wardrobe stylist as well. She was amazing. I wore all her clothes. She had these custom cute outfits, so shoutout to her—Madi Styles! She does like custom dancer wear, club wear; she does so much.”
LaBeau says it was a conscious effort on her part to keep her acting performance safe-for-work and relatable to her peers.
“I wanted something the industry could watch and also a mainstream person could watch,” she explains. “It’s not explicit. But there are lots of dildos—there are so many. WeVibe was a sponsor. Chaturbate was our big daddy with this whole project. Without them it wouldn’t have been possible. And with their continued support they’ve taken me under their wing with combining of the two worlds. That always feels good. It just worked so well.”
LaBeau says each member of the creative team contributed to the episode development.
“I shared a lot of stories with Ethan,” LaBeau says. “There was a lot that didn’t make the cut, I think the ones we chose were the most solid. It was just a year-long of sending ideas, telling stories and sitting together laughing. I can only imagine how they wrote these.”
Future episodes of Cam_Girlfriend include: the couple fight for Chloe’s right to retain her intellectual property after her orgasm gets sampled by a world-famous DJ; a mishap at a waxing salon puts Chloe out of commission, and she and Mike must find an anatomical double; and Mike feels insecure about his relationship with Chloe after her fans accuse him of getting her a thoughtless birthday present.
The season continues with episodes such as what they must resort to when Chloe’s WiFi signal cuts off mid-show; a beef between Chloe and a rival cam girl; Mike facing an “existential” moment after he checks out Chloe’s competition when she’s away; the aftermath of a troll interrupting Chloe’s show; Chloe raising money for Mike’s nephew when Mike is unable to run in a marathon due to an injury; and Mike going on a quest for the truth after he suspects his boss is one of Chloe’s biggest fans.
“It’s a full cast and crew and they did such a great job,” LaBeau says. “Everybody is just genuinely excited for this to be out finally. We put so much heart into this and we are hopeful for a Season 2 of course. That’s always a dream. I think it will be good for the industry and a healthy thing for us. It was really meaningful to me to do something that the industry can be proud of.”
LaBeau started her adult industry career when she was 18, warming up to camming as a supplement to her porn performing about four years into her industry journey.
“Camming gave me the ability to have a lot more control,” she says. “Because you’re at home, you can make your own schedule and if you don’t feel like working you just don’t go to work. I really like the freedom it gives you.”
She grew up about 30 minutes from downtown Seattle, living there for nine years before moving to the cozy mountain town of Payson, Arizona. She loves to travel, globetrotting since she was 19 “for work and for pleasure.”
Now LaBeau—who can speak French—has a second home in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she has been going back and forth for the past four years.
“And it’s just been just amazing,” she says. She rooms with French performer Lou Charmelle in Lausanne. “I have no schedule, no routine.”
“I love Lou Charmelle, I think she’s my soul sister. I’m sure she and I are soul sisters,” LaBeau adds. “When you’re in the industry and find people like that you hold onto them. It’s hard to find people who get it. She has lived there over 10 years. We met through [agent Mark Spiegler] in 2010-11.
“I probably won’t go back until August at this point because of the coronavirus. I’ve been gone since February. It’s actually been very, very hard for both of us and also really challenging in a good way. I have no complaints. I go back and forth every month or two.”
LaBeau’s first job was as a sandwich artist at Subway; she also bagged groceries, worked at a gym and dabbled in modeling before breaking into adult.
“I loved working at the gym. I would workout at 5:40 every morning,” LaBeau says. “Now I cannot go into a Subway without having these memories because of the smell, putting the pickles in. Like yeast and pickles. I love Subway, but no…”
LaBeau is still open to performing in porn scenes but remains selective.
“I took a break after filming this show,” she says. “It was so much fun being this mainstream actress and pursuing mainstream endeavors.
“I don’t need to do porn right now. I feel like I love porn and it’s nice to know I can always come back and be welcomed and feel even hotter, more mature and sexually empowered. But also that I can take the time off that I need.
“So it’s whenever I feel like it. That’s something else that I’ve been more public about it—my mental health journey. Being in this industry is difficult. Another thing I love about camming is my fans are very understanding. I try to cam once a week—and sometimes I can cam five days in a row—but I encourage people to sign up so they can get notifications about when I’m online.”
To see the first episode of Cam_Girlfriend, click here.
