LOS ANGELES—The boilerplate that precedes today's Guest Editorial on CraveOnline says of the author, "Bryn Pryor is an award-winning screenwriter and director whose credits include ‘Corruption,’ ‘Icon’ and ‘Cowboys & Engines.’ His latest documentary, ‘X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Time,’ premieres on Showtime on February 6, 2015 at 11pm EST/PST." That would be this evening.
Priming the premiere with a rather nice promotional coup, Pryor, who helmed X-Rated, was published today on not one, but two prominent websites, in pieces that each expound upon themes developed in the documentary, which was produced by Paul Fishbein and Darren Roberts of Plausible Films. In the CraveOnline editorial, Pryor offers relatively brief commentary about "five films which prove that porn is an art form," and on IndieWire.com, he describes "the evolution of micro-budget filmmaking through the adult film lens" in a detailed narrative titled "How the Porn Industry Set the Stage for Micro-Budget Filmmaking."
The CraveOnline editorial is basically a shortened version of the same argument made in the documentary, which Pryor explains thusly in his short prologue: "When we started shooting our documentary, X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Time, our goal was to prove that there are exceptions to the rule that all porn films are embarrassing, cheesy shlock. Okay, most of them are; but there are a few examples of real excellence. We narrowed it down to 32 for the final film, but of those, the below movies are my personal top five:"
His five favs are The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976), Blonde Ambition (1981), Café Flesh (1982), Latex (1995) and Upload (2007). Of the last movie, Pryor discloses, "I directed this movie, but X-Rated producer Paul Fishbein insisted I include it, so I’m going to let him describe the movie and stroke my ego."
Pryor also is quick to point out that his "list is as subjective as the entire documentary," but it's likewise true that few could argue seriously with his final point that, "Porn is considered a disposable genre, but behind the scenes, you’ll find there are people who are every bit as dedicated to their projects, their work, and their craft as in any other art form. The movies in our documentary prove it."
Pryor's IndieWire piece expands upon that theme to explain in detail how, "as we got deeper into shooting, and especially when I starting assembling the movie, we realized what we had actually created was a shorthand history of the modern adult industry. From the birth of theatrical porn features with Deep Throat through the HD epics of the mid-2000s like Pirates and Upload right through to Submission of Emma Marx, and similar small, 'romance' features, the whole story is right there in our documentary."
As significantly, he adds, "It's also a microcosmic view of the bleeding edge of micro-budget filmmaking, dating back to a decade when that term hadn’t even been coined."
What follows is a concisely explained history of "the evolution of micro-budget filmmaking through the adult film lens," that Pryor, who was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame this year, is particularly well-positioned to provide.
But the piece is also a commentary on the current state of adult filmmaking, about which Pryor forthrightly states, "Today, the production innovation all rests on the shoulders of the directors and videographers rather than the companies. The rampant piracy and ubiquity of the internet era has changed the face of the porn industry forever. Contemporary XXX shoots make the average student film look expensive and over-staffed. A crew of three with a handful of lights and a 5D MkIII do the best they can to adapt and overcome, shooting 20-hour days in unpermitted locations."
He adds, somewhet pessimistically, "On the distribution side, the big ideas have nothing to do with the 'content.' They’re about traffic and conversions and making sure the girls are wearing colors that sell. It’s tough for pornographers to justify working harder to tell a story in the era of clickbait."
About his documentary, Pryor adds, "X-Rated ends on a bittersweet note as we acknowledge that our list of the greatest films might, in fact, be the last if its kind," and of course the same can be said of his editorial.
On the bitter, he surmises, "With the current state of the adult industry, it's tough to imagine too many more truly exceptional films being made," while musing, more sweetly, "But maybe there are still pieces of the puzzle waiting to fall into place."
AVN's coverage of December's industry screening of X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Time, filed by Senior Editor Peter Warren, is available here. More information about the movie, its Showtime screenings, and access to the trailer, can be found here.
