Beyond the professionally pornographic atmosphere of studios with blinding fluorescent lights and cum-stained casting couches, the adult entertainment industry has found a creative way to keep their clips from becoming stale:
Film them in private homes!
You know the drill – your “step-sis” just happens to spill milk all over the kitchen table and slides under the table for a quick apology BJ.
Once she finally decides to stand up and spread her legs like a pair of eagle’s wings, a Johnny Sins clone presses her up against the dresser before getting down to business. Have you ever stopped to think about who owns the furniture you’ve seen in countless porn videos?
Hint: it’s definitely not the porn studio, and it just might be your next-door neighbor depending on how flexible their morals are for the right price.
Renting private homes for porn shoots is big business.
If you are looking for a weird business opportunity to bring in some extra cash in 2024, and you happen to own a vast gated mansion with plenty of parking, strap in tight…
Yes, You Can Actually Rent Your McMansion for A Porno Shoot
As America continues to keep the poor poor while the rich get richer, another unusual way to make money has come to the fore: renting out the family home to porn studios.
It’s not quite as grotesque as Jeff Bezos adding $70B to his net worth since 2020, and it’s a little more hands-off than shooting your own porn, but it’s definitely something that’s only available for home-owners with a decent pad.
If you were lucky enough to get approved for a 30-year mortgage before the housing market became untenable for most middle-class families, you can get some extra spending cash by renting your home to adult studios.
(Just don’t shine a black light once it’s all said and done.)
Adult film studios are paying very well for the ability to record pornstars fucking like jackrabbits on the family mantle, and you don’t have to be based in Porn Valley to qualify.
Sure, you might come home to semen stains on the couch where you and your children took Christmas pictures over the years, but you (probably) won’t have to worry about little Tommy finding a Yo Gabba Gabba themed French tickler underneath the DVD shelf, as happened to one unlucky couple.
As they say…once is a mistake, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a pattern. Luckily, I couldn’t find any other examples of toddlers in upper-middle-class families finding “dog toys” with no pets anywhere in sight.
I dug around to find some more information on what it’s like to rent your home out for a porn shoot. To my surprise, there was no shortage of examples (and a few gory horror stories).
What Qualities Do Porn Studios Look For When Renting Houses?
“Why would a porn studio want to film content in my house?”
It’s a valid question.
The advent of webcams and (subsequently) amateur, independent porn has posed serious competition for the porn industry in recent decades. Still, when horny viewers shell out $$ for an expensive Naughty America subscription, they’re expecting to see the quintessential American porn shoot.
That means playing up the quickly evaporating American dream with a NSFW twist. You might not be able to afford a home, but porn studios are resorting to renting spacious McMansions where Mom and Dad can sit in the living room, TV blaring, while amateur stars have raunchy sex upstairs.
Almost every porn video features oral and penetrative sex, which means the only way that porn studios can stand out is by changing the “setting” in which they film. In other words, the plot is the differentiator between successful shoots and duds that get relegated to page 25 of PornHub.
Unintentional voyeurs Greg and Laura stumbled upon this little-known financial hack when they desperately needed money to keep their Silicon Valley McMansion from getting repossessed by the bank. After the housing crisis hit in 2009, they hopped on Craigslist looking for a wealthy tenant to pay their mortgage for them rent a suite. After all, they couldn’t exactly use AirBNB.
Laura said it best – “we checked every box in a what-house-makes-the-best-porno list.” They had plenty of spare bedrooms, lots of room for camera crews to park their trucks, and even a basement that allowed porn studios to set the stage.
Think along the lines of the naive pool boy coming up the basement steps for an ice-cold glass of lemonade before his MILF-y boss turned hotwife bamboozles her fresh-faced conquest with her own juices. According to Greg, “[porn studios] like pretending the house is in the Midwest.”
They even go so far as to sprinkle fake snow outside the windows, especially if Santa is getting more than milk and cookies this year. Unsurprisingly, porn studios are very selective when they choose the perfect family home to accompany their latest hedonistic filming session.
Greg told Cosmopolitan his home is gated, private, and a little over nine acres in size. He also has a pristine infinity pool, enough parking space for 40 vehicles, a volleyball court, and even a little vineyard where Jesus can turn water into semen.
In other words, his home is a versatile arena for all kinds of stereotypical porn scenarios. Pool boy? Check. Athletics turned sexual? Check. Step-daughter visits Daddy for some tender love and care after having a nightmare? Check.
Farmer takes a break from plucking grapes to pluck the virginity of a lost traveler? Also check.
What’s The Process of Renting Your Home to A Porn Studio Like?
In comparison to other passive sources of income, the process of renting your home to a porn studio is almost too simple.
Greg and Laura connected with their first studio on Craigslist, signed the paperwork, and got out of Dodge for a little while until film production ceased and the studio’s clean-up crew erased the evidence of sweaty sex from their private residence.
Nowadays, porn studios disguise their true intentions on AirBNB and other home rental sites using the old movies & entertainment excuse.
Once they did the initial work of finding their first porn studio and getting their foot in the door, it became easier for them to schedule even more rentals. Word-of-mouth spreads fast in the adult film industry: it wasn’t long before Playboy, Wicked and Penthouse were blowing up their inbox.
When he’s not busy raking in the cash from endless porno shoots with My Girlfriends and other big-name studios, he also rents out his home for TV shows like Investigation Discovery’s series Blood Relatives.
It’s not known whether he’s accidentally booked both studios on the same day, but it’s funny to imagine! At his day job, Greg Thornhill is a grading and excavation contractor slowly inching his way towards retirement.
How Much Do Recognized Porn Studios Typically Pay?
He often centers his work schedule around film days, which start between 10 AM – 12 PM.
In his exclusive Cosmopolitan interview, Greg quipped, “I guess porn stars don’t get out of bed until 10 or 11.” Depending on the number of scenes being filmed, a typical day ranges from 10-14 hours.
According to Greg, “the adult studios come around and do these 10-to-12 hour shoots, paying anywhere from $800 to $2,000 for the day, depending on the size of the crew and so on.”
Not bad for an effortless side hustle that pays more than some full-time jobs!
Considering the ongoing basis of his work with popular studios, you might have already seen his McMansion in your favorite porn flick. Greg leaves for work in the morning and comes back late at night, but he will occasionally “stick around and make them lunch” (it’s the least he could do).
He also gave Cosmo a glimpse into the lavish lifestyle that sacrificing the sanctity of his home has afforded him. “If it’s a long shoot I take a little vacation and use the money to stay at a hotel on the coast, or head down to Channel Islands Harbor and spend time on my boat.”
Still, it’s not all peaches and cream for Greg and Laura – from nosy, Puritanical neighbors to errant condoms and sex toys scattered across the living room, a few unavoidable cons come with the territory.
The Downsides of Renting Your Home To Porn Studios
Where do we even start?!
While Greg and Laura made it fairly clear that the money outweighs any concerns they might have, they were forthcoming about some of the worst things they’ve been through as a result of renting out their home.
1. Sharing Your Home With Studios
Porn studios were interested in renting out Greg and Laura’s basement, but the married couple were adamant that the upstairs portion of their house be left alone – understandably, they don’t want to find bodily fluids in the master bedroom.
As a precautionary measure, Greg and Laura stayed in the house during their first few rentals to make sure that valuable items wouldn’t go missing. They tried to ignore the sounds of rough sex emanating from their living room, but even noise-canceling headphones can only help so much.
“Hearing faint moans from downstairs can distract you,” said Laura. “I never got used to it.” To make matters worse, Greg and Laura couldn’t drown out the sounds from upstairs lest the film be contaminated with their background noises. They also have to deal with parking problems.
“If they are shooting when I pull in, that sometimes means my driveway is blocked and I need to park outside until they’ve left,” says Greg. “If they’re filming outside, then that means I can’t grill tonight or use the patio.” Thankfully, they’ve learned to trust their repeat customers over time.
2. Thinking About The Aftermath
In order to maintain at least a semblance of their sanity, Greg and Laura “don’t really think about it.” They mitigate the weird factor by controlling what kind of porn content is filmed in their home.
They don’t have anything against fetish play but they “wouldn’t allow anyone to shoot something that wasn’t straight up normal.” Laura and Greg use slip-on covers to protect the integrity of their furniture, but she admits that they “don’t know how many people have had sex on our couches.”
Greg follows the out of sight, out of mind mantra by summarizing: “We don’t use a black light.”
3. Messes, Spills, and Clean-Ups
Although Greg and Laura will sometimes find other liquids spilled on their rugs and carpets, the porn studios they work with are very diligent when it comes to cleaning up bodily fluids. “Semen they’ll clean fast…wine, not as urgent.” At least Greg gets to bill the company for dry cleaning!
At the end of a long filming session, some studios will also forget trash, lingerie, and sex toys in their apartment. However, they did narrowly avoid a major fuck-up made by a particularly errant porn studio. Greg and Laura’s faces went pale when their young son made an announcement:
“They have Muno toys!” Muno might be a character from the show Yo Gabba Gabba, but their son didn’t find an action figure underneath the DVD shelf. Instead, Laura snatched the used French tickler (ribbed condom) out of her son’s hand, threw it in the trash, and explained the entire situation away by telling her son that it was a dog toy. It’s not known if they have pets.
4. Getting Calls From Your Friends
Greg told Cosmopolitan that he’s had friends call from Texas and say, “My God I was watching a movie by Girlfriends and I saw your house! What’re you doing these days?” He prefers to let his friends put two and two together with a slick reply. He says “well, isn’t it obvious?” Cue mic drop.
That’s not the most embarrassing encounter Greg and Laura have ever suffered through. They invited friends over for a Fourth of July celebration. Two of their party guests looked sheepish. Once curiosity finally killed the cat, they asked Greg, “So, um, do you have movies shot here?”
One of the guests finally revealed his knowledge of their home being used for a Playboy shoot, and Laura’s secretary announced this pesky little detail to the remainder of their party guests.
“Oh yeah, happens all the time!” Famous last words. It’s unclear if she got fired for that incident.
In another instance, a pizza delivery guy did a double take of their home and said, “I think I saw your house in a movie.” Once Greg paid for the food, the delivery guy elaborated on the specific Penthouse porno he saw their house featured in. At the very least, we hope Greg tipped well.
5. Getting The Cops Called On You
Most neighbors aren’t nosy snitches, but a certain Mrs. “Lovejoy” (odd pseudonym for the matter at hand) called the police on Greg and Laura after calling them and whining about their personal business didn’t stop them in their tracks.
Thinking she had a “gotcha” moment lined up, Mrs. Lovejoy was unaware that Greg and Laura’s porno rentals were entirely legal. After being humbled and silenced, Ms. Lovejoy nursed her ego by declaring war – every few months, she called the cops on them again. And again. And again.
Finally, Mrs. Lovejoy’s tattletaling turned on her when a police car showed up to address her BS. Greg must have been quite satisfied as he watched the entire scene unfold from his front lawn.
Mrs. Lovejoy yelled at the police in futility: “It’s filth! They’re shooting filth in this neighborhood, and you’re doing nothing about it!” She eventually realized that calling the police wouldn’t get her anywhere, but she still holds a grudge and refuses to speak to Greg and Laura full-stop.
In other words, it turned out to be a win-win situation for the married couple! Apparently, this isn’t an uncommon occurrence – every film producer they’ve told about Mrs. Lovejoy has smiled and said “There’s always one.” TL;DR: baby boomers need to learn how to mind their own business.
When Porn Studios Are Dishonest: The Obligatory Horror Stories
We’ve saved this section for last because it’ll stick with you the longest. You can never be too careful on the Internet, and some porn studios in California are renting out homes on AirBNB under dishonest pretenses.
Unwitting renters believe they’re speaking with an individual until they return home to find that pornstars were fucking in the master bedroom. Kristina Knapic found the courage to speak with NBC News after making the shockingly clear discovery that porn was being filmed in her home.
Really, the producers didn’t even try to hide it – they were so careless that they left a business card with their identifying information alongside a bottle of lube, several enema kits, dildos, fecal matter, urine, semen, and even steroids sitting in the fridge.
Michael Lucas, pornstar and owner of Lucas Entertainment, was the culprit. He owned up to his deeds but denied any wrongdoing, stating to NBC News that “she’s correct in saying that I didn’t tell her.”
He followed up this admission of guilt by saying “we rent houses all the time…never did we run into this problem.” One of Kristina’s attorneys backed up Lucas’ statement by saying that she spoke to two other people who had porn filmed in their homes without their explicit consent.
Kristina slapped Lucas with a lawsuit, leading him to call her a professional extortionist. He booked the house as a “summer rental” under the fake name “Anna”. When Michael showed up to grab the keys from Kristina, he told her he was Anna’s brother in law. Anna doesn’t exist.
According to the lawsuit, Kristina returned to her home five days later and was horrified to find, “urine, semen, and fecal matter on the linens, carpets, upholstery, walls, ceilings, and in the hot tub.” As the cherry on top of this disgusting ice cream sundae, the lawsuit also alleges that “the hot tub water was brownish in color.” Needless to say, Kristina demanded $30,000 from Lucas.
She also sued to stop him from selling or distributing any content that was filmed in her home. He eventually settled the civil lawsuit out of court, but the terms he agreed upon are unknown.
All this adds up to the big question: is it really worth renting out your private home to a porn studio?
The evidence suggests that you’ll need a very open mind to make this side hustle work, regardless of the economics and how much a porn studio is willing to pay you.
My mind goes back to that famous quote: “Don’t shit on your own doorstep.”
It could surely be expanded:
“…and don’t let random strangers fuck on it, either.“
