About Customs

[WonderKenna]

Hello all,

This is a message from Michael about customs,

Hi everyone, assume everything I am about to say is said with the politest intent. I just want to get to the point fast

Research the models you want us to shoot

1- Stop asking about us shooting models that are retired for your custom. If they haven't posted on twitter in 6 months, they aren't available
2- Don't ask us to book hardcore sex with a model that doesn't do it. We won't even book models that don't do hardcore unless you want to pay for their airfare, booking fees and full day rate in addition to our rate.
3- Don't ask for hard BDSM with a model that has never done it. Just type their name and "bdsm" in google under images. If you don't see anything like what you like, she doesn't do it
4-Really think about asking for XXX performers doing a custom with no sex. They are in this industry for money and sex. We aren't going to get them out here if they aren't making the kind of money they can make doing adult.

TIME TABLE
5- We book months in advance, we are unlikely to get a model added for your custom any sooner than that. If you choose a model that we are already going to shoot, we may have too many of our own videos planned with her to get yours in.
6- Models cancel/reschedule ALL THE TIME, we can't do anything about it. If you want a refund because of rescheduling, you are entitled to it. We will eat all the transaction fees and the time spent scheduling, altering costumes for her size, possibly prepping sets etc, BUT we won't take another commision from you, ever. Spending literally hours of my time, reading the script, determining cost, going back and forth the schedule, buying flights for the girl (which we aren't getting back, unless we force the girl to pay in which case, she won't wan't to book with us again) running up to the alterations shop etc and all the other multitude of things I have to do to get a custom set up, and then losing hundreds of dollars is not worth it to me to do business with the same person again. Your entitled to a full refund if the model has to reschedule beyond the agreed production date. But we just aren't going to risk going through the same thing, leaving all parties extremely unhappy, again.

So, if you want a custom be willing to let us take the time it takes to get it done, or don't commision us. We are constantly producing our own scripts. I could care less if we ever shoot another custom. Ever. I am doing it to connect with our fans.

What I do care about is giving you the best work we can possibly do when we DO take your commision. I will never cut corners on your script. I will never say "good enough" when I know it isn't. I will try to completely exceed your expectations on the finished product.

Imagine I said all of this will love in my heart. Superheroine is one of our highest grossing content themes. It is also the least profitable with costumes, sets, production time, performer costs, post production and the fact that some videos are total losses. I do this because I love the genre. So I love our fans.

[Doctor Outcome]

Good that you're letting everybody know what your expectations are, Wonder Kenna. I feel that makes for better business conduction for custom requests. I think this is something a lot of producers should get into now and post rules on their sites or on their clips4sale page so people can know what to expect (particularly with payment options).

Also, do you have a roster list of performers that you utilize? Some producers have roster lists of performers that they haven't updated in quite a spell (Anastasia Pierce still has people ranging from Akira Lane to Eden Well up on her site and these people aren't active anymore). Not trying to put Anastasia on blast or anything I just wanted to point that out in case she decides to update her roster list for future customers. If somebody's still on someone's site and they're not active anymore, it'd be good to put in parenthesis (retired) so the people will know not to attempt to ask for someone who isn't active anymore.

I'm glad to hear that you love your fans, Wonder Kenna. We need more of that in the fetish industry...it's good to know that it's not all about the money. I know this is a business and the performers gotta eat just like us fans, but its always good to know that someone with your talents and skills is ready to put the fans desires first along with the performers.

Much respect to you my friend.

[TIEnTEEZ]

I get what you are saying about timetables. My last custom from Primal took over a year and was rescheduled like 20 times. I was annoyed by it, but Michael kept me informed and offered to refund my money every time so I stuck with it and in the end, it came out great, so it was worth the wait. I'd rather wait for a great custom than get a quick one and have it be lousy.

But frankly, I don't think it's reasonable to expect people ordering a custom to know which models have retired. It seems to me that this changes minute by minute and models retire and un-retire too fast for any layman to be expected to follow. It's also not easy to track which models are willing to do what and when.

Having said that, I almost never send a custom and ask for specific models. I generally send in the script and then ask Michael for a list of who is available that he thinks would fit the roles. Sometimes I give him some criteria like "I want the villain to be a petite blonde" or something along those lines. He usually gives me a list of a few names and then I go and research them and pick who I think would be best. Casting is actually part of the fun for me.

[Doctor Outcome]

But frankly, I don't think it's reasonable to expect people ordering a custom to know which models have retired. It seems to me that this changes minute by minute and models retire and un-retire too fast for any layman to be expected to follow. It's also not easy to track which models are willing to do what and when.

Having said that, I almost never send a custom and ask for specific models. I generally send in the script and then ask Michael for a list of who is available that he thinks would fit the roles. Sometimes I give him some criteria like "I want the villain to be a petite blonde" or something along those lines. He usually gives me a list of a few names and then I go and research them and pick who I think would be best. Casting is actually part of the fun for me.

That's kind of the problem my roommate and I had when we first tried to do customs. We didn't know who was still active and we caught a lot of 'heat' because we were requesting people who were no longer active (thing of it is performers nowadays don't make any early 'retirement' posts anywhere so it's hard to know who's stepping down from the game and who isn't.)

Part of the problem comes from the 'roster' list of performers not being updated. The other thing is some performers have limitations while others don't. Cory Chase for example is probably the only producer who has pics of her models, descriptions of what they looks like (tattoos, pierced, etc.) and she gives a criteria on what the performer will and/or won't do (girl on girl only, bi, nude, non-nude and so forth). This way it makes it easier for the customer to narrow their choices down instead of the producer picking someone who doesn't fit the bill for the request and then the custom not meeting the customers expectations because the 'wrong' performer was cast.

[TIEnTEEZ]

But frankly, I don't think it's reasonable to expect people ordering a custom to know which models have retired. It seems to me that this changes minute by minute and models retire and un-retire too fast for any layman to be expected to follow. It's also not easy to track which models are willing to do what and when.

Having said that, I almost never send a custom and ask for specific models. I generally send in the script and then ask Michael for a list of who is available that he thinks would fit the roles. Sometimes I give him some criteria like "I want the villain to be a petite blonde" or something along those lines. He usually gives me a list of a few names and then I go and research them and pick who I think would be best. Casting is actually part of the fun for me.

That's kind of the problem my roommate and I had when we first tried to do customs. We didn't know who was still active and we caught a lot of 'heat' because we were requesting people who were no longer active (thing of it is performers nowadays don't make any early 'retirement' posts anywhere so it's hard to know who's stepping down from the game and who isn't.)

Part of the problem comes from the 'roster' list of performers not being updated. The other thing is some performers have limitations while others don't. Cory Chase for example is probably the only producer who has pics of her models, descriptions of what they looks like (tattoos, pierced, etc.) and she gives a criteria on what the performer will and/or won't do (girl on girl only, bi, nude, non-nude and so forth). This way it makes it easier for the customer to narrow their choices down instead of the producer picking someone who doesn't fit the bill for the request and then the custom not meeting the customers expectations because the 'wrong' performer was cast.

Yeah, I'd be willing to bet that the reason a lot of studios and producers either don't have a list of models at all, or don't keep it up to date, is that it would be a maintenance nightmare, because things change so often. And so by the same token, expecting the customers to keep up with it is kinda ridiculous. :-P

[GeekyPornCritic]

Customers should know who is available, retired, and un-retired. There are model agencies with sites and I use them before contacting Michael. Agencies have a list of what a model will do on camera. Most of the models I pick are from previous videos or sometimes he will suggest someone coming to his studio soon. I ask him for suggestions if the model will not work out or if the wait could be many months. I do not mind changing models if the model is my type.

I also recommend checking model's twitter pages. Sometimes they may not be in Vegas. They be filming in LA for at least a month. Their agency's site may also list their available location for filming.