A version of this article was featured in the June issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition.
LOS ANGELES—Jessa Rhodes envisioned a fight for survival in the year 2419 for her upcoming web series Fury Rhodes. Then she added a sexy twist.
Rhodes not only performs in the episodic drama that will debut this summer on her official website, JessaRhodes.com, she is also the executive producer and director. At press time in April she had the first two episodes in post-production.
“It’s a takeoff of my name and Mad Max: Fury Road,” Rhodes explains, referring to the action/adventure film from 2015 that won Academy Awards for production design, costumes and editing. “It’s from the same time period in the same setting. We’re just different characters in that world. … The quality of it is insane.”
A native of Oregon who is in her eighth year in adult entertainment and recently moved from Las Vegas to Miami, Rhodes worked closely with rising videographer Chris Alessandra on the production that was shot with a RED digital cinema camera somewhere deep in the Mohave Desert. Abigail Mac and Damon Dice—a pair of seasoned fan-favorite performers—co-star with Rhodes in the first episode in which the girls go in search of food and water and end up devouring Dice before leaving him stranded.
“We fuck him and rip him off,” Rhodes says with a grin. “So it leaves the whole thing open for a bunch of other storylines.”
Rhodes donned many hats for the project, coming up with all the wardrobe herself, not to mention spearheading several other pre-production duties.
“It was an extremely stressful couple days, but we all nailed it,” she tells AVN.
Once the series rolls out Rhodes plans to unveil a new episode bi-weekly. She says the crew encountered plenty of challenges during the filming, including racing the daylight and shooting the sex while attempting to remain out of sight from the various tourists in the area. At one point Rhodes had to switch their location completely because of a couple was having wedding photos taken not far from where they were situated.
“The first two episodes are a little rushed and a little short because we were fighting so many technical issues,” Rhodes admits. “We had some good laughs for sure because of it. …As a new producer and director I’m happy.”
In spite of the hiccups on set, she learned a lot that she’ll improve upon as she embarks on future installments.
“At the end of it I talked to my team and asked them, ‘What could I have done better?’” she says. “You need people to tell you that you can’t be handling 20 hats at the same time. I’m such a micro-manager. Then in front of the camera your stress shows. It’s definitely a learning lesson for me and I’m super excited going forward to take all those lessons.”
She met Alessandra through Adria Rae in September and they have become close—even launching a podcast together that is available on YouTube.
“He’s been my go-to guy,” Rhodes says, adding they got some fun footage in Mexico for her birthday. “All of my content is posted on my website. We have shot music vide-type stuff, porn, lifestyle stuff and we’re doing the podcast. I chose him as my co-host.
“He’s 23. He’s extremely talented and funny as hell. He’s one of those people I have so much respect for. He always gives his truthful honest opinion about something.
“That’s something I look for when I’m trying to make a good product. I need that input from people and I love having that.”
Meanwhile, Rhodes says she has focused a lot of energy on maintaining positive mental health.
“I’ve done a lot of different forms of meditation in the last year,” she says. “I’ll sit quietly with myself and not think about anything and just focus on breathing. Other times I’ll focus on something specifically. Other times I’ll micro-dose shrooms. And journaling a lot has been a very rewarding thing for me.”
Rhodes continues, “Anybody in the entertainment industry can understand the stress we all face. There is a lot of energy thrown around and ups and downs, uncertainty and high and lows. Things could go wrong or right. So taking 30 minutes out of the day to keep my phone inside and my headphones on helped calm me.”
Rhodes says there were moments last year when she considered leaving the adult industry.
“I worked through all that finally in the last two years and now I feel like I’m re-entering the industry as a different person,” she says. “I don’t have to give this up. This is not something that’s ruined my life. I’ve chosen who my people are and who my people aren’t and what aligns best with my goals.
“Luckily this industry is very forgiving.”
She also revealed plans for a new Dom-inspired site that would be aligned with JessaRhodes.com.
"I’m actually very excited about this alter-ego and turning it into something more,” Rhodes says.
Her wardrobe will be central to her Dom persona—which is right in her wheelhouse. She has designed her own red carpet looks for the AVN Awards for the past five-plus years and is going to create custom pieces such as a whip, paddle and leather corset for her rollout.
“I’m also designing some dresses and some workout gear and bikinis,” she adds.
Rhodes says selected this cast for Fury Rhodes because she knew they would deliver.
“My thing with this is I’m paying everybody. It’s not content trade. I want to get what I’m paying for,” she reasons. “Abigail is a big-name girl. She does a great job and she’s a great performer and a solid friend. She’s willing to get up at 5 in the morning. I know I can count on her. Damon is the same way. He can keep his dick hard and be with two girls on the back of an ATV.”
She also is producing a three-part feature called What Happened in Vegas starring Nathan Bronson, Dice and Jane Wilde.
Photography courtesy of JessaRhodes.com
