For a feature on storytelling in the adult industry that ran in the April 2014 issue of AVN magazine, reporter Jason Lyon interviewed a dozen big names in the business, including Girlfriends Films founder Dan O'Connell. AVN is posting longer versions of the interviews as separate stories online. Click here to see the digital print edition; see bottom of article for links to individual interviews online.
I’m sitting in a director-style chair across from Girlfriends Films founder Dan O’Connell, the first of my two interviews in the Girlfriends Films booth at the Joint Theater. It was a quite a challenge making my way through the crowds of fans to arrive on time—and now that I’m here, the happy noise of those fans, the music, and the stage presentations is deafening. And yet through all of these distractions, Dan O’Connell exhibits the same coolness I’ve sensed from everyone I interviewed during the Adult Entertainment Expo. He talks about the art of storytelling as if in the comfort of his own living room.
“I think seduction is extremely important to good sex,” O’Connell begins. “If one person seduces another, that person’s getting seduced, that’s much more interesting than say two girls going out and [meeting in] a bar in a movie: ‘I like you, you like me—oh my god let’s go have sex!’ Not interesting! Dullsville! You need a seduction, and that’s where the storyline comes in. Also, I think a story helps put the girls into context. We get to meet the girls a little bit. I think that fans can appreciate the girl more when they can see her do some dialog, as opposed to just putting two girls on a couch or in a room on a bed and have them go at each other without having done any dialog. We get to see what that girl’s like. We get to see her facial gestures outside of sex, and how she speaks.”
“It’s not an easy thing for girls to do,” O”Connell adds, “and I always have great admiration for the girls who do get onscreen and act. And I’ll be darned if they don’t do a pretty good job of it!”
I ask O’Connell about his creative process—how easy or difficult it is for him to write his stories.
“I’ve done a couple of thousand scenes, almost all of them with story lines, and after you expire your fantasies you’re probably at about scene number ten. So what do you do for the next couple of thousand scenes? What I have found is that writing is a little bit like working out. You know, physically working out with weights, you get a little stronger, you’re able to do more. I’ve found that now I tend to be a little more creative on the spot than I used to be. So it’s almost a skill that you pick up just by doing it time after time.”
“But,” says O’Connell, “the most difficult thing in my job as a producer is coming up with the storyline, a storyline that works, that’s not embarrassing. I don’t want the viewer rolling his or her eyes, ‘oh my god, this is so bad!’ It’s something that [must be] a realistic situation. I don’t do, like, jet fighters or that sort of thing where it’s not a realistic situation for sex. And also I don’t do parodies. I find that I would rather just do my own original thing. If I had to copy another’s work I would probably not do what I do.”
I ask O’Connell what it feels like to finish a movie.
“It’s relief! As the producer, I’m spending my own money on doing this scene, and of course we build our reputation scene by scene basically as a company. So when a scene is good, well, I’m relieved and it’s time to move on. And I’m also very thankful to the girls, because I wouldn’t have the nerve to go out there and be in front of the camera like they do, and I admire the girls and am very appreciative that they’ll do that sort of thing.”
As we wrap up the interview, O’Connell tells me how much he enjoyed speaking about writing, and he adds, “I’ve got an ergonomic keyboard and a nice screen, and I get a cup of coffee there and oh my God—for me that’s like playing the piano! I love writing!”
Links to other interviews:
Wicked Pictures directors Brad Armstrong, Stormy Daniels and Jessica Drake.
Actresses Jesse Jane and Veronica Hart
New Sensations director Jacky St. James
