Evan Daniels: Porn Editor By Trade, Song and Dance Man at Heart

Big-breasted womenrn
With erasers for nipplesrn
Round perfect assesrn
With skin that won't ripplern
Long legged strippers who are wearing G-stringsrn
These are a few of my favorite things...rn
- sung to the tune of "My Favorite Things"rnrn

Evan Daniels has the soul of a song and dance man. rnrn

He may be a veteran porn editor by day, clothed in nice slacks and peering from behind thin-rimmed glasses, but make no mistake about it - Daniels was born to strut the stage. It's evident by the way his eyes light up when he talks of his time in theater and his tenure at Boston University, where he graduated with a degree in acting. It's evident by the way his face flushes when he discusses his desire to perform on stage at the AVN Awards. And if it wasn't crystal clear by the time we finished our interview, he drove the point home when he broke into a soft shoe number called "If I Only Had a Shaft," sung to the tune of "If I Only Had Brain," right in the middle of the AVN conference room. rnrn

I would let you suck penis, if you kept it just between usrn
But you might think me daft.rn
I would watch my reflection, just to see my big erectionrn
If I only had a shaftrn
- sung to the tune of "If I Only Had A Brain"rnrn

For his encore, he belted out his above-referenced porn parody of "My Favorite Things."rnrn

Born and raised in New Jersey, Daniels moved to Hollywood after college with a dream in his heart and a glimmer in his eye. He wanted to be an actor, but like many up-and-coming thespians, he learned that the road to stardom is a rough one filled with potholes and shattered dreams. Hence, he settled by default for working in Hollywood's parallel universe - the adult video industry.rnrn

"I came out here to be an actor in the real movies," says Daniels. "I got involved with agenting and worked for Disney, Universal, Carsey-Warner, and then became a golf video cameraman."rnrn

"I got married and the people that did our wedding video did such a good job that I went to work for them," he continues. "They did weddings and bar mitzvahs by day and edited porn at night."rnrn

"I overheard a conversation from an editor saying he was looking for a PA. I said, 'What does a PA do?' 'Anything you're asked. It pays $150 a day,' they said. 'That's triple what I'm making here. I can do that.' He gave me the number to Vivid Video."rn rn

Eventually Daniels became a production manager at Vivid and worked with director Paul Thomas for a year. "When my wife got pregnant I went to the owner, Steve Hirsh, and asked if I could get something a little steadier," Daniels recounts. "He asked if I could edit and I said, 'Yeah.' I lied." rnrn

"I started doing the night shift doing gay comps," he says. "After about four months I became the night manager, and then the day manager, and I managed the post production at Vivid for three years and saw their editing crew grow from five editors to 17 and brought them into the non-linear era."rnrn

In 1995, he migrated to Metro and began to edit features, having a hand in such fare as director James Avalon's Pink.rnrn

"Eventually James Avalon tapped me to do his high-end features," Daniels says. "When I left that company to (become a freelancer), I was doing high-end features, but the money was in the gonzo stuff - quick and easy."rnrn

Which brings us to the present. These days Daniels often edits Red Light District's hard-edged gonzos and Wicked's high-end features, which gives him a unique overview of the vast difference between the two genres and budgetary restrictions.rnrn

"With the high-end features (such as Wicked's Falling From Grace, which was edited by Daniels, nominated at this AVN Award Show for Best Film and took home Best Screenplay and Best Actor honors), there's a lot of people that put a lot of thought into these things," he says. "Then there are fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants directors that just dump the stuff on the editor to deal with and make some sort of cohesive piece of work out of it. In gonzo they are shooting scenes and cranking 'em out. But the higher budget films can take weeks or months."rnrn

Along the way, Daniels has learned a thing or two about what makes for good porn, and has no qualms about sharing his beliefs. rnrn

"Good editing should almost be unnoticeable," he says. "If you notice the editing, chances are it's not good. You want continuity and fluidity, so things looks seamless and you don't notice the hard cuts."rnrn

Despite the wonderful challenges during his years in the porn industry, Daniels still seems like he'd give it all up just to get up on stage and perform. His dream of performing one of his blue musical numbers at the AVN Awards goes undaunted. rnrn

I could schtup them 'til they spasm or multiple orgasmrn
And leave them if they laughed.rn
All my films would get raves and thenrn
They'd win awards from AVNrn
If I only had a shaft ...