IAMA Peter Acworth CEO and Founder of Kink.com NSFW

Peter Acworth! I can't explain how excited I am about this. But I'll try!

I'm a female submissive who stumbled upon kink.com years ago when I was still trying to understand my sexuality. To this day it is the only pornography site I've ever made an account with, and it's the only porn I've ever paid for. And, while yes, the porn is amazing to watch and get off to...I never would have watched more than one clip if I hadn't found BehindKink. Honestly, there is a lot of BDSM and kink porn out there that I can't enjoy because I find myself questioning whether or not the people involved are fully consenting and fully aware of their situation. But kink.com goes above and beyond - not only to show your audience what that the actors are genuine and safe, but also promoting sex positive and kink-aware information at no cost to your patrons (rope tying how-to's, disability friendly bondage, and it's thanks to BehindKink that I know what part of an ass is safe to slap!)

Seriously, discovering that you're into BDSM can be really scary and intimidating, but your company let me explore it when I was still too nervous to ask for it in real life, and to do so without a hint of guilt or shame. And after all these years watchin kink.com, I'm still short on questions to ask. But I do have a few.

http://youtu.be/XRluUWnfIsI <---This (SFW). How much fun was it to do this??? I mean, working with Margaret Cho alone must have been full of laughs, but seriously every face in this video appears to be having the absolute time of their life. And it's such a great video and song to boot.

Also, in the past the Armory has gotten a LOT of heat from different conservative groups over the years. When you guys moved in there was an issue, and I remember reading several painful articles about how you were clearly brainwashing/abusing/manipulating the female actors (ignoring of course that kink produces several male-submissive sites but hey, anything to keep stereotyping!). My question about this is, have any of those accusations and harassments ever led to legal action being taken by either party? If so, how did it conclude?

One last question, over the years, have you noticed more women coming into the business for non-acting positions (or even transitioning from one to the other? It seems that way from the outside, but it could just be me seeing what I want to see!

Thank you so much for doing this AMA, really. Have the best day!

edited for some errors.

Thanks for your post! I think there has been a shift over the last 15 years definitely. Firstly, nobody would publish bondage and sex together ... this was a reflection of how BDSM was viewed by the public partly. As time has gone by I think there has been a general shift towards acceptance of bdsm as a (usually) healthy sexual activity. Its no equated to abuse towards women to nearly the same extent.

There were so many questions I missed some of yours:

Yes, working with Margaret Cho was amazing! She is "one of us" totally uninhibited and open about who she is sexually, and you've got to admire that in her!

We have had quite a bit of heat over the years, including melissa farley holding up a picture of wiredpussy.com next to one of abu girab prison at the planning department's hearing about kink.com's armory purchase. Never any legal action - I think SF is just too progressive for the viewpoint of radical 2nd wave feminism to really take hold in people's mind. I would never consider legal action myself as the result of what someone says or objects to, and I feel melissa farley is entitled to her views, and we live in a country with free speech.

What kind of degrees do the guys who design the fuckingmachines have?

Because, unfortunately, most colleges, haven't yet offered Sex Robotics courses at the undergraduate level.

edit: also, gonna preemptively point out that my username =/= my age

I initialy put an ad on craigslist and amateur engineers send me stuff. Latterly we contract with engineers who do the builds.

Has any more famous engineer made one for the site, like from Boeing or NASA?

Someone who claimed to be a 'missle engineer' made a replica of johnny 5 and sent it to us. We never verifiied if he actually was!

You are planning to johnny 5 to fuck someone, right?!

He does, regularly. Tomcat straps a fucksall or other device to his arm... e.g.

http://www.fuckingmachines.com/site/shoot/17246-Theres-a-Girl-on-the-End-of-That-Robot-Cock-and-Shes-Cumming.html

A distinguishing feature of your sites is that you make it extremely clear that everything that happens is consensual, and that the models are treated well. Filmed consent interviews, the general shooting rules being available on the site, etc. So it's very clear that the models are into it, even if during the shoot itself it might not appear so due to the scenario. Was this focus a deliberate decision made early on to "demystify" what you show, or was it taken in response to some specific events, or something else?

I grew up quite uncertain about my sexuality. I finally started to meet other BDSM minded people through tes.org in NYC. that took me to 'novice excursions to a bdsm club', places like hellfire. seedy part of town, everyone dressed in black leather and everyone using a scene name becuase they were so scared to be outed. I felt that there must be so many people into BDSM that do not want to spend their saturday night at hellfire club, so that's really where the demystification mission came from.

I think the interviews help with that, and its important for everyone to know that these are fantasies of all the participants (not just the tops).

Just to mention, thank you for preserving the Armory. Good PR for kink, noble intentions for history, and a great shoot location. It was really cool being able to browse the Armory through the website. Please continue to keep us informed of the changes and future of this historic building. It is appreciated.

thanks for the note!

I'm a female and wanted to say thank you for the amazing time I had when taken to one of your weekend parties at the Castle. It was memorable, thank you!

no problem! Please come again!

/grins/ so I can do a screen capture of your invitation and show it at the door as a formal invite? :)

I really want an answer for this..

e-mail stefanos at [email protected].. he does the guest invitations.... he typically chooses people he things will participate :)

When its as easy as typing "the name of the movie" + torrent into google and getting at least a dozen sites that have the torrent. How do you deal with piracy of your videos?

Good question!! We are investing heavily in live and social aspects of our products and then integrating them together. I.e. in the future you will join divinebitches.com, and that gets you the material, but also live shows with models, interactivity on their blogs, etc.

Hi Peter! I recently took a tour of the Armory, and there's a painting in the upper level of someone getting blown on the couch next to you, while you sit there with with your dick in your hand looking miserable. Do you remember what was going on during that party?

Yes! I was having some technical difficulties with my cock, and thus Mark Davis (sitting next to me) was getting all the action!

Would it be possible to use some of Kink.com's images for a student film that I'm making?

sure... please email [email protected]... we almost always give away images, as we think its video people mostly pay for these days.

How much money did it take to initially fund Kink and how many years was it before it was profitable? How many hours did you work a week when starting out?

It cost $500 to incorporate, $80 for MS frontpage, $100 or so for a search engine spamming tool, plus the first month hosting fee - and it was profitable immediately - it brought in $60 in sales per day intitally and grew from there.

That was in the days when money was falling from the sky in this business - unfortuantely thats not the case any more!

I saw some of those shoots, back in the bad old days.

the initial material was stolen from newsgroups.... I later took it down when I started to shoot my own stuff.

Came to say Kink.com taught me alot about BDSM. Thank you.

That's great to hear! I taught myself to tie girls up by watching jay edwards videos, so I know what that's like!

My lawyers would tell me I wasn't covering my ass if i didnt suggest also reading books like Jay Wiseman's SM101, which covers safety aspects of BDSM too... some of the stuff we do at kink.com is quite ... theatrical, to say the least.

Why did you buy a castle instead of using a warehouse as a studio?

There is something about castles that adds to the fantasy... medieval dungeons, elegance of the upper classes, hierarchy of servant classes... castles are heavily featured in in BDSM novels such as Anne Rice's "Sleeping beauty" series as a result

... to put it in another perspective, i felt a castle would add to the brand value of kink.com for those reasons.

What happened to WaterBondage?

people didnt buy it!

The concept is still awesome but it's kinda too nichey. Shame though!

I agree!

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It was edited to look like there was more dunking under water than there actually was. However, your're right, the thought of some sort of malfunction while someone was submerged was part of the reason we shut it down.

Do you ever get models who, while of course over 18, are just too immature or clueless about what they are getting into for you to be able to use them?

Along those lines, about what percentage of shoots are not able to be finished because the model uses his/her safeword? Any thoughts to making clips of these "failed" scenes available (like "Canagirls")?

Yes, there are sometimes models who approach us without really knowing what they;re getting into. I think we;re pretty good at cross examining them and making sure they're in a good place, and that they know exactly what they're doing.

Also, you can tell if a model is really not having a good time. We'll stop such shoots and pay the model for the portion of the shoot they complete. Often, these do make it onto the site as bonus or interim updates.

Using a safeword doesnt necessarily mean the end of a shoot. We'll stop the scene and take a break and then determine whether to continue or not (if we do, its usually at a slower pace). These shoots will also usually make it onto the site.

Is there any particular portion of your website that you cannot get into, or have not been desensitized to yet?

Yes, ultimate surrender - I like it as a sport, though, but i have been unable to see the sexual appeal.

Wow, first of all huge fan of your work, your company, and every positive thing it has done for the bdsm community and the adult fetish photography industry in general! I plan on visiting the armory in the next couple years, and definitely plan on attending a party at the UF!

Now to my question, you've had some of the most talented riggers work for you, Matt Williams and Lew Rubins, big fans of their work and their work on hogtied and waterbondage respectively. I'm an amateur rigger myself, interested specifically in working in adult film. Any advice?

yes! Please send us pictures of your rigging work. however competitive it may seem, there will always be a market for people who do very good ropework and can apply it quickly, securely and safely... if you have onscreen personality and dominance, better still.

Awesome, thanks! To whom should I send it? I filled out an application to model a while back, but I don't remember there being a page for riggers!

Send it to the jobs section of kink.com (link at the bottom) and ask that it be forwarded to peter acworth. thanks!

No question, just a comment.

In another reddit thread some time back, the payscale and process of work in porn came up, and someone linked your shoot rules/site rules. I debated clicking -- do I really want to see this, do I want to know what bullshit is going on behind the scenes, is this going to ruin my enjoyment of the site -- but I decided to click. I was very relieved to see all these rules about keeping clean, using safe words, demonstrating to anyone curious or watching that this is all consensual/enjoyable (smiling pictures, before/after chats). And I've seen people get smacked down in the comments for talking shit about performers.

So, thanks, that with such a big opportunity to pander to people who would love to see some seriously skeevy shit, that you chose to be respectful and safe and, if someone were to "accidentally" stumble across your page, to not scare them away or plant distrust in their heads.

(edited to add link)

Thanks for the link to the rules.

Peter, in #55, you have:

Interviews: The pre-shoot interview must be placed at the beginning of the shoot, and the post-shoot interview at the end, unless the sub is male - in which case both interviews can be placed at the end.

I'm curious to why that distinction is made.

Thank you!

Its just that, for whatever reason, there's more shock value when a woman is submitting to a man, as opposed to vice-versa.

There's an adult star doing an AMA right now, who is against Prop B. What is your feeling on the matter? Keiran Lee is the person doing an AMA

I am also against prop B!

The last case of HIV passing from one performer to another was in 2004. Subsequent outbreaks were caught outside the industry and the performer in question was identified and quarantined.

This is evidence that mandatory testing works. If condoms are mandated, I am concerned shoots will just move out of state, or, worse, overseas where the mandatory testing is not enforced.

I.e. there's some cruel irony here - but i actually think the measure could endanger models. Not to mention why spend gov. money on fighting HIV in this context when there are other communities where it is a genuine and growing issue?

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Yes, theupperfloor.com is an ongoing set of community focused gatherings.. most of the people on this site are unpaid extras, coming into our world becuase they want to interact. Also, we just opened a bar which we hope will faciliate community of people curious about BDSM and kink.

EDIT : we are also planning 'bondon 2013' next september in the Armory. An event for bondage models, webmasters, content makers, vendors etc. around the same time as the folsom st fair

...interested to know more about the bar...name/location...?

Thank you for doing the AMA!

thearmoryclub.com ... its directly opposite the armory. many employees/models drink there after work.

Are there any shoots at this bar?

No, unfortunately not! We have a 'fake' bar in the basement of the armory which has been constructed for this purpose. We worry that patrons wouldnt appreciate knowing someone squirted on their seat earlier in the day!

Thanks for doing this AMA. I love the work on your site. I have noticed that kink.com has stayed away from the MILF and Plumper/BBW niches though. Why is this?

Ummm I think there are quite a few milfs! The prior director of hogtied LOVES milfs and he shot them regularly. I think there;s a market for Plumper, but small. We have stayed away from niches we think are too small to be succesful (pissing.com was an example )

Would you consider making a site that encompasses all "smaller" niches under one roof with some sort of voting system to determine what is posted and how frequent if the desire for such was great enough?

Yes, we're thinking of a system where models can post their own material, and this might lead to a wider variety of material, and facilitate more amateur models which we love!

Awesome to hear. Always look forward to the next expansion to the site. I can imagine its always tough to decipher between what could stick and what's just a flavor of the week.

It would, however be cool to see an all in one subsite where all the niches too small to fill a site could all be so all the ones the few people just so happen to like don't just disappear.

All the best in all your future endeavors!

We did also toy with the idea of 'kinkraw'... sites with lower budget focusing on fetishes with a smaller following. Pissing.com was an example and I was surprised it didn't go better. It's possible that the bank's restriction on how pissing could be portrayed killed the idea. Pissing with humiliation and bondage might have been more popular.

It's possible that the bank's restriction on how pissing could be portrayed killed the idea.

Could you explain what this means? What's "the bank"?

Certainly. The banks that accept visa/MC transactions, as well as visa/MC themselves have guidelines about what they will and wont accept transactions for. For instance, they have scripts which scan our pages for banned words such as 'forced' etc.

Pissing on someone while they are tied up would fall afoul of most merchant banks regulations.

What did you think of the documentary 'Graphic Sexual Horror'? Accurate? Biased?

I liked that documnentary. The biggest takeaway I got from it was that there's a limit to which one shoudl mix this business with one's personal life.. I wish I had taken greater note at the time, becuase that's a mistake I made with theupperfloor.com

can you expand on that answer a bit in how your personal life and theupperfloor.com caused an issue?

Sure... I lived on the floor where shoots are happening, and these are community shoots - essentially filmed swinger parties with BDSM.... there was an ongoing temptation to get involved regularly, but at the same time I also pay models to participate which was an awkward dynamic. My friends and sexual partners were all facilitated by an artificial world I had created. At this point I still sometimes go to the parties, but I live in a house nearby as opposed to on the floor.

Thank for your candor. I can fully appreciate how difficult it might become when the business and personal lines blend. Something like the Playboy Mansion in LA has grounds, pool; it's basically an estate with large grounds and gardens - perhaps easier to separate business and personal while on the same "grounds"

whereas you are in one big-assed lovely building in the heart of the city.

I can only imagine that it must have been hard for heff to be paying people to hang out with him all this time, and for drinks for all those people who come party. There;s something not quite natural about that dynamic, which can creep up on you.

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Good question. Our director TomCat runs the TS section of the business and he hasnt pitched this. I am guessing there is too much competition.

How involved are you in the local SF kink community are you? I've always heard the SF BDSM community described as very impersonal and sectioned off based on kink. Do you feel that's true?

Also the biggest reason I like you guys is that you have the before and after interviews so I'd just like to say thank you for that. I never understood why more people/sites couldn't do that.

I'm not as involved as I should be. This is partly out of laziness as there are good parties here on theupperfloor.com which I can go to. I did have closer ties with sfcitadel.org when they where first open (indeed they got started in a building I rented to them on 8th st).

How different is the SF community from other communities you've experienced? I'm mostly curious about how size changes things and it seems like there isn't a bigger one than SF.

I experienced the NYC scene only briefly, and have lived in SF for 15 years, so its hard to draw comparisons. I have heard the London scene is ENORMOUS! and that there is a choice of several events on weekend nights. Moreover, the laws are laxer in the UK, so there is full on alcohol, BDSM, and sex. As you know, most US dungeons are no-alcohol, so that makes for a very different scene.

PS its rather ironic that the sex club laws are so lax in the UK and yet the laws on pornography are strict. Mere posession of 'extreme pornography' is a jailable offense in the UK.

What are some of the biggest misconceptions about BDSM/the industry you are in?

How are your actors/actresses/staff health benefits?

How much will Measure B (mandatory condoms in all porn scenes in LA county) affect your industry/business if passed?

What do you think about torrenting and free "tube" streaming sites that sometimes offer your content for free? Do you actively try and shut down these sites?

What does a usual day for you consist of?

The biggest misconception is probably still that BDSM equates with abuse, and/or that people who participate in it were abused as children.

All full time staff get full benefits. The actors/acresses typically fly in for the day from LA, so they are contractors, but we do cover them with workers comp.

We've gone after a few tube sites legally, yes.

My usual day is just like most people who run a mid sized business - budget meetings, review period just starting, etc... the only difference is whats on peoples screens, and I can take a tour of the basement to see some interesting stuff!

Measure B won't directly affect us as it applies only in LA county.

For the record, I am against the law, as I think it will push productions out of state and/or underground to the point where the industry standard of mandatory condoms will no longer be in effect.

EDIT...For the record, I am against the law, as I think it will push productions out of state and/or underground to the point where the industry standard of mandatory TESTING will no longer be in effect.

First thanks for doing the AMA, I've been a huge fan of Kink.com's domains for the longest time. I have a few questions, some logistics/membership related and others random. First for reddit, who is the on staff redditor that got this AMA going? :)

I'm sure this gets asked a lot but has there ever been any sort of talk about an all access pass subscription? I know the logistic of giving someone access to all the sites for one price may cause problems for the infrastructure but enjoying MOST of your subdomains I just couldn't see paying for each one individually.

When you see shoots with 'extras' typically seen in things like Public Disgrace and some of the special events, how are those people chosen to be there? Are they members or just friends of the performers?

When shooting for public disgrace, how involved are they in making sure children do not stumble on the shoot? I've always wondered how they get away with some of the public shots they do, I know in a few videos you'll hear the 'lead' such as Donna say something like "cops cops cops, lets go" or similar. When shooting in businesses like hardware stores, etc how do you shut those down and allow the 'random' strangers in? How do you get around the legality of shooting BDSM porn in bakeries, if they're sets they're pretty convincing :P

I love the concept of BDSM with a story, such as some of the Ivy Manor series, the film Sisters (produced by Gwen Media), etc. Any interest in the kink camp to do more 'story' oriented bdsm films? Not shoots but films.

And finally, does the armory need a full time onsite paramedic? Working at Kink would be a DREAM come true, but I don't know how to do any of that fancy computer stuff and I'm not film friendly at all :P

HI! We do have bundled subscriptions coming up next year some time, although I dont know if there will be an 'all access' one.

The extras come from a variety of places, some regulars, some friends, sometimes just off craigslist. The Public shoots are often more controlled than they look in reality, or there are scouts who watch our and warn passers by what they will see.

I would also love to do mainstream films at some point. I also want to do fictional horror movies, but that's another story!

I think I placed the Reddit bug in someone's ear, and just went from there. EDIT: I'm also sirpogo in the Kink tech support forums.

HA!!! HI!!!

Fascinating IAMA, and thanks for doing it!

As a mainstream filmmaker, I'm fascinated by just how far ahead the porn industry is in monetising and distributing Web-based video. In fact, a while ago I wrote an article about the way you guys design your websites to promote your shows as efficiently as possible (and how Kink.com's design, frankly, kicks the ass of 99.99% of the rest of the Web video industry). You've clearly got some top-notch talent there (I heard that many of Kink's lighting guys are ex-ILM?) and you're obviously thinking hard about how to make video work on the Web, period.

I'm wondering what lessons you think us non-porn filmmakers should be taking from the porn world to make our own work more successful, or in general, what advice you'd give to a Web-based filmmaker?

That's very flattering...and I think accurate in some ways. The adult industry is often first to market with new ideas (affiliate programs, streaming movies, for example). I'm less sure that we do a good job of organizing ourselves to go to the next level though.

I wish I could advise you! In reality, I'd like to make some horror movies with mainstream appeal but I am not quite sure who to approach, or how to achieve this. Porn is getting more creative but still quite formulaic and doesnt seem to lend itself to being good in mainstream filmmaking

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I remember getting aroused by the thought of bondage for as long as I can remember. There were handcuffs in the window of a store on my way to school aged 7-10 which I remember finding particularly appealing. I would have an erection when watching a cowboy movie and someone got tied up. Apparently these early fantasies are pretty common

Before I even knew what sex was, I used to masturbate and imagine being tied to a chair. I knew I liked the idea of restraint, before I even knew what my vagina was. I was probably six or seven.

Yes, I can relate to that also! I only got into girls much later on into my teens. It wasnt until later still that I related my desire to be tied up or to see women tied up with my interest in sex. This revelation came when I first came when I first found magazines of bound women in seedy london sex shops (these mags were illegal in England at the time).

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most expensive contraption: probably the 'cyclorack'... a giant spinning rack that looks like ti comes from a scifi movie. It was about $50k to make or so.

I think I just thought it was quite numerous at the time!

Have you had any issues interacting with local governments? Zoning, etc. If so, how did you deal with them?

When we bought the armory that certainly raised a few eyebrows, but actually I have found local government curiously supportive. I think that the planning department ultimately wanted someone occupying the armory (which had been vacant for 30 years) and thus supported us.

Was that virgin deflowering video real?

Yes, absolutely. The poor girl had a hymen which was extremely think and so she could not be penetrated. We had an OBGYN nurse present to talk he through it.

We woudl not have done it had it not been her express desired fantasy. After it was done with, she was delighted.

Does your work desensitize you from your personal sex life?

I think it did for a long time... I became quite personally involved in theupperfloor.com, both living and working in the place the porn is shot. I now believe in a separation between work and personal life (I have a 9 month old daughter now so living in the armory is no longer really an option anyway!)

Congrats on your infant child :)

As I was once trained to ask questions when I am curious, may I ask: is your relationship with the child's mother a male dom/female submissive orientation, or mostly vanilla?

Mostly vanilla. She is a total MILF with massive natural jugs, and this is a secondary fetish of mine. My sexual drive has reduced somewhat recently due to the 9 month old baby, but as it returns and the baby gets older I am sure we will return to the upper floor for the fetish parties there.

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Yes, I am afriad we have devoted less time to BehindKink recently. Having said that we are reopening a new headcount to address it so hopefully you will see the quality return to its former status!

I don't know how much you have to do with the gay parts of kink.com, but I'd just like to say that Bound in Public is one of my favorite porn sites. I've got a slight fetish for watching guys going at it in public spaces, with an audience of strangers watching and jerking off, and BiP is probably the hottest stuff I've seen. I'll admit that some of the more painful stuff makes me uncomfortable – I'm not into CBT or other stuff like that, so I'll usually skip through it, but the rest of the gangbangs are awesome.

How much of the "public" scenes are actually filmed in public spaces? I know that the places will be cleared of people prior to shooting, but does kink.com ever rent out a real-world venue to do shoots in? Or all they all just stages made to look like the real deal?

Some are shot in the Armory, but some in very public settings such as Folsom St Fair. Van also likes to shoot in public campgrounds such as naughty pines.

The Kink.com network seems to be really trying to not necessarily push BDSM boundaries, but more present BDSM in a more positive light and really popularize it.

Do you try when shooting to ride the line between authenticity and marketability? It is difficult? Is there anything under the umbrella of BDSM that you as a company aren't willing to film?

There are various reasons why we can't push boundaries more than we do, primarily this is due to our banks.

Additionally, I believe there is a bigger market for the 'kink-curious' people who want to see something that will lead them into exploring BDSM. When you get to the more extreme stuff, there is a more limited audience.

We have found that in many ways authentic=marketable. When we have hired models who arent into BDSM, or asked a director to run a site based on a fetish that they don't fantasize about themselves, the authenticity of the footage suffers, and this shows in the sales numbers directly.

Even if the billers were ok with it, I'd be uncomfortable shooting shitting material... call me conservative, but i just can't get my head around it. They say the Germans are really into it, so I guess we'll just have to miss out on that market!

What is the idea behind The Upper Floor? I though it would be something like a mix between The Training of O and Downton Abbey (or better yet, 'You Rang, M'Lord). Whenever I watch it though all I see is a lot of people having sex. Am I missing something, perhaps?

What would you say are the main differences between operating a BDSM site and a regular porn site? Do you think the authorities or the porn industry see you differently than a regular porn site?

Thank you for doing this AMA and thank you for creating this awesome BDSM empire that is Kink!

Yes, a sexualized Downton Abbey (or Upstairs Downstairs) was the initial plan. We actually planned at one point for the slaves/servants to live on the floor, but this was fraught with problems. Now the mission is simpler, and its become a playspace that is there for the local bdsm community, facilitated by the 'house slaves'

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Yes, that is where the rush comes from. It's a negotiated change in personality in a controlled setting. You're saying "right, I am going to become this guy who is totally in control of you. I might show aggression, I might tie you up, I might put these things in your ass. If you want it to stop at any time then say "red". OK?

Thank you so, so, much for doing this Mr. Acworth. I love your site and I love your work!

1. Question about clothing: Do models bring in their own clothing from their house, one set for a shoot, and one set for after a shoot? Does the studio provide the clothing for the shoot? I know clothing gets ripped and torn, so I was curious.

2. Do you know of the proprietors of other sites like IntotheAttic or some of the older defunct sites? Any opinion on them?

3. I also have a bit of a sneaker fetish, so it is possible to see a bit more models with sneakers in future shoots?

Thanks for the question!

1 They typically get dressed in our wardrobe department, so we can tear it up as much as we like!

2 I don't know many unfortuantely. There was a time when we all knew each other better because of an event called bondcon. We're hoping to resurrect bondcon next year here at the armory.

3 I will pass this note along to directors!

How do you choose models?

How often do you have to deal with charges of obscenity? How does your company decide what is acceptable and what is too edgy to post on the site?

Can you give a brief history of how you turned an interest into such a successful business and do you have any tips for others trying to start a business?

Also, not a question, I love your site. I plan to tour the Armory next time I'm in SF and am a huge fan!

If you plan on browsing reddit in the future, I know r/bdsmcommunity would love to have you around.

The directors typically choose models. We typically decide what's too edgy based on the banks, and common sense. IMHO There are some forms of BDSM which are too edgy to be put in front of people without the right context (blood play, say)... we try to address that by having interviews before and after scenes. If you saw blood play in a bdsm club, youd also see lots of pre work and after care, but that;s not in a movie...

As a followup, how much vetting do you do in terms of BDSM skills and experiences? Have their been problems in the past with models who claim more experience then they have, for that matter, any models who are edgy enough players that they are not really reacting to the scenes?

We do a lot of vetting when it comes to tops. Indeed our tops are typically employees in whom we've made a significant and ongoing investment. When we hire an outside top, they're closely monitored by the director and crew. When interviewing a potential submissive model, they may or may not have direct experience, and we focus on making sure they know exactly what they're getting into, and then we go over an extensive discussion about limits, safeword, etc.

Don't really have a question right now, just like to say that your material is the only porn I have ever paid for. You cater to a wide variety of interests and seem to treat the models really well and respectfully. The pre/post interviews really attribute to that. I just like to say thank you for founding an outstanding company.

An Open Invitation has got to be my favorite piece y'all have made. Keep up the good work.

Oh, and please bring Bailey back (link is NSFW)

An open Invitation!! Thanks for saying that! We are planning another movie along those lines next year.!

Who's the most attractive pornstar you've met?

Who's the most friendly?

Does the castle smell of sex?

Do you plan on coming out with any new sites? I'd love to see a version with chubbier models.

I think possibly Aria Giovanni... just so incredibly sweet as well as having a giant rack...

Many of them are friendly, I'd be hard pressed to choose.

The basement probably does smell of sex from time to time! There are giant barrels of lube, after all!

Yes, we have a foot fetish site coming out next year, along with a new live site.

If somebody was interested in sending you finished, luxury BDSM / kink gear for product placement purposes or for sale to use as props, who would one need to get in touch with? Would there be any interest in something like that, provided you or they like what we can make?

[email protected] probably. He is our business development guy, and he wants to make products available through product placements.

I love your site(s)!

Kinda wish I could work for you, but living in the Netherlands that makes it quite hard.

So, what is your personal favourite fetish?

Thanks! Rope bondage is still my favorite! That and big MILF natural tits!

Some kink activity takes some skill and has some risk. At a leading provider of intense kink video, how much of the do or don't try this at home effect do you worry about?

Thank god we have never had a serious injury. Our riskiest product by far is UltimateSurrender.com as the people are doing real wrestlng, so this is the product i worry most about. Even there we have taken many precautions to prevent injury such as stopping the action when intensity rises.

Many of our scenes are less risky/intense than they may look. E.g. what look like heavy metal footballs are actually hollow. what looks like a wooden floor is actually spongy and comfortable to kneel on.

Do you see the government ever actually following up on 2257 compliance? Also, do you see any legal ramifications in not shooting content within the established porn industry mecca of San Fernando Valley (with respect to the legal protection provided by the valley)?

As I understand it, the 2257 ordinance is subject to legal attacks right now, so in limbo. I dare say an administration against porn could use it against the industry at some point in the future, so I hope it gets defeated or at least scaled back before then. As it stands, there are numerous probelms with it.