Above, Jacky St. James
LOS ANGELES—When Michelle Shnaidman decided to begin producing original content for her female-friendly adult entertainment site, the Bellesa CEO turned to director Jacky St. James. That choice has proven to be a successful one, both commercially and critically.
On the commercial front, Shnaidman says, she’s had proof of the concept that women will pay for porn. “It’s been a very exciting and nice thing to see. It’s very validating for everything that we’ve been working on.”
And critically, one could point to the five AVN Award nominations garnered by the new Bellesa Films imprint—including two nominations for the vignette-style sex scenes directed by St. James.
So when Shnaidman wanted to launch a new initiative called Bellesa House, she once again turned to St. James. But this time she presented the consummate storyteller with a different challenge, one that St. James quickly embraced—and then tweeted about, creating a ripple of excitement that spread through Adult Twitter.
Shnaidman explains the concept: a performer-driven style of shooting in which performers pick their own partners and retain control over the style of the shoot. “We’re going to get performers who really, really want to work together—who really want to have sex with each other,” the Bellesa CEO says. The shoots are meant to be “really fun and natural—no makeup, no pretty girls, no dialogue, none of that. Just get in there and have real, passionate sex.”
St. James says that as soon as she heard the idea, she was all in. “I was like, ‘Dude, I’m totally down.’ It’s so far removed from anything I do because I do all scripted stuff. … I can get behind this if people are enjoying it.”
The beauty is in the simplicity, St. James says. “Let people choose who they want and fuck how they want. How easy can it be?”
Excited to share, St. James posted a series of three tweets announcing Bellesa House, concluding with this: “You have to REALLY want to have sex w/ that person. We want to see something real. We'll book you w/whoever, whenever, however many … there are no limits. Our NO list: No sex stills, no softcore, no dialogue, no hair/makeup, no long days. Just good sex and $. Who’s in?”
The response was positive, immediate and infectious. When AVN talked to St. James two days later, the director said, “As of today, because I’m shooting, I have not read all my DMs. I have over a hundred requests right now and I haven’t gone through them all. It’s great.”
And the response has been broad. Female performers, male performers, all ages, all preferences. Even some amateurs have hit her up, as well as retired performers whose interest was piqued. And famed non-binary adult star Jiz Lee of Pink & White Productions tweeted a question: “Will there be restrictions in regards to gender (ie cis/trans/nb), body (race/size/age/ability), or sex acts (ie, does one have to get naked, have to be penetrated, etc)?”
After checking in with Bellesa on the company’s larger vision, St. James said, she was happy to report that Bellesa House will be open to “anyone and everyone.”
It’s even an option for performers to choose someone who isn’t working in the adult industry, “providing they will adhere to testing protocols, etc.”
She adds, “The only caveat here is we don’t have enough days in the year to get everyone’s story. So it’s really trying to figure out how we’re going to handle the volume.”
St. James will be joined on the project by performer Jake Adams, who will be shooting camera, and her frequent collaborator, Shawn Alff, who will do PA work, interviews and still photography. But the focus will not be on polish and technical perfection. “It’s not going to be this pretty little thing. Two people who want to fuck—that’s what matters,” she says. “It’s capturing the raw passion without having to worry about all the bells and whistles that often come with other productions.”
Even doing the short vignettes for Bellesa, rather than the full feature movies that initially cemented her reputation, St. James says the days are still long. “We spend a lot of time on it. They care about the story. It’s not something you rush through to get to the sex.” And all that focus on creating a narrative takes a toll. “I’m exhausted as a director and I’m not even having sex! So I can’t even comprehend what they have to deal with,” St. James commiserates.
The idea of fostering chemistry between performers is not something new for Bellesa—or for St. James. “You make sure everyone is happy with whom they’re working with. But they’re still not working with that person in the manner they might want to.”
With Bellesa House, the performers will dictate the tone of the scene and the actual sex that they’ll be sharing. And they’ll also control the wardrobe. “They’re going to wear what they want. Obviously, I’m going to say things like, ‘Don’t wear logos.’ But for the most part there’re no pretty-girls; it’s not like they have to buy new underwear. Come as you are. If it’s in stiletto heels, more power to you. Or if you wanna wear sweats, that’s fine too,” she asserts.
Shoots for Bellesa House aren’t scheduled to begin until the end of January, after the AVN Show. There are still some potential kinks to iron out, particularly in how to navigate what will and won’t happen during a given scene: “the yeses and nos.” St. James and her team are still talking about how to handle such discussions. “Do they communicate it on camera, which would be really fucking cool? … Then we’re seeing it in action, and people don’t usually see that,” she says. But she also doesn’t want to do anything that feels too clinical: “The beauty of this is that it’s so organic.” She explains that she will most likely work more directly with the female performers and Adams and Alff will deal with the men. “We will be discussing privately with them when they get to set if there’s anything we need to be aware of, like a ‘no.’ And going over the parameters.”
Asked if she’s had much response from real-life couples looking to work together, St. James confirms that many did reach out to her. “I had one today where they said they had such intense sex off camera, but then when they get on set it’s very stylistic. … They said, ‘We want everyone to see in 4k how magical this can be between us.’ … I have high hopes. But it’s going to be interesting and it’s going to be a learning curve for everyone involved.”
Though the scenes will be completely unscripted, this inveterate talespinner admits that she will be drawn to interesting backstories between the performers she chooses to shoot. “Everyone can say, ‘This person’s hot,’ and we’re more than happy to shoot that. Of course. But if somebody has a really captivating, interesting story of why, of course I’m going to give precedence to that person because that’s what people want to see—and I think there’s more magic if there’s a story behind it.”
But the bottom line will be people connecting sexually—pure and simple. “There’s something really cool in just stripping everything down. A lot of people bitch about all of the nonsense of porn,” St. James reflects. But the point here is to get away from the campy dialogue, the choreographed acrobatics, the relentless proliferation of step-sex. “Two people fucking, which is really what our business is. Obviously, there are many people elevating the game, but maybe it’s time that we see a return to something that brings a level of control back to the performer, where they’re … actually enjoying themselves and picking who they want and nobody’s ordering them around and telling them what to do, and they can just have a really great time. And if this feels like a day off to them and they’re still getting a paycheck, then we’ve succeeded.”
To inquire about shooting for Bellesa House, email [email protected]. Specify your prospective scene partner’s name and why you want to work with that person.
Follow @BellesaFilms and @JackyStJames on Twitter.
