Digging Deeper with Dillon Diaz: Where Did All The Guys Go?

Have you been missing some of your favorite gay performers lately? I have.

At first, I thought it was just me who wasn’t getting booked. I thought maybe the industry had grown bored of me, or my body had changed too much, or I wasn’t pulling the numbers that I used to, but then I started noticing that a lot of the guys that you could always count on seeing were missing so I started asking around.

One long-time industry professional told me that this has been the slowest gay porn production cycle in over 20 years. One uber-popular performer that we all know and love told me that he has only had two bookings this year, TWO. Another highly respected and awarded performer that I know picked up and moved out of the West Coast because he was so frustrated with the industry. Some of our directors are moving on too. They may be working in other areas of the adult industry or going mainstream. Producing exclusively gay porn has not been lucrative enough as of late to be sustaining.

Where is everybody going and why?

There is always a demand for new talent, sometimes at the expense of established talent, but the guys who financially drive the business will not be unequivocally abandoned — at least I hope not.

Some have also speculated that the rise of the Fans sites has had a detrimental impact on studio-produced porn — the money just isn’t there anymore. Some of the fans have suggested, if not directly but with how they choose to spend their money, that the porn industry is too elitist and lacking in diversity. Performers who have been rejected by studio producers have found a following and a living producing their own content. Performers who refuse to ride off into the sunset with all of their clothes on have taken production and marketing into their own hands, and they are winning!

Personally, I think there is a place for all of It. I love what some of the content creators are doing and I’m happy that they have connected with their audience, but I am a self-proclaimed studio boy — even if they don’t always love me back. I love working with a team of professionals, all working together to turn out a product with high production values. I want to work with writers, lighting directors, multiple camera operators, hair, makeup, wardrobe, and catering. I  love the production of it all. I’m definitely a performer. There are some that do this for the love of sex and that is great. I do it for the love of a production. I realize that means that I walk away with a smaller piece of the pie but I’m willing to make that sacrifice.

Another “trend” that I have been noticing is that performers who used to work exclusively in gay porn are now branching out to Bi and Trans porn. Again, the money just isn’t in gay porn right now and if you want to continue to be an adult entertainer you have to adapt.

Let me just clarify that there is no agenda behind this. Those of us who have chosen to branch out are not trying to tell the gay community to go Bi or Trans, we are simply trying to pay our bills and eat every day. Mutual respect for our Bi, Trans, and Non-Binary brothers, sister,s and thems would be great but we are not implying that being exclusively cis-gender gay is bad but that is another article that I have already written.

In addition to being adaptive, one needs to be persistent. I believe that gay porn will make a comeback and I intend to participate. If the studios won't have me then I will do what so many others have done and refocus my energy on creating my own content to market. In fact, that is always part of the plan but I still want big productions back. Give me storylines and interesting locations other than my guest bedroom, give me photos that aren’t selfies taken on my smartphone, and give me cover art to post on Twitter. It seems that to be successful you have to be comfortable and proficient in both the studio platform AND self production.  

This year has been challenging for me professionally but I have been fortunate enough to work on some really awesome projects, and I have a few more coming up. In addition to being an adult entertainer, I have become a PA and I’m taking acting classes. As I said earlier, I am a  performer who loves a production. I have discovered my love for performing through my time working in porn. I don’t think my time in porn is up yet but I will adapt, I will persist, and you will see me. I think you will see some of my colleagues too. We just need to help the studios adapt and persist.