I hitch-hiked cross-country and directed a feature-length documentary about truck stop sex workers in America. AMA.

One of my friends (female) decided to become a trucker. I used to ask her if people thought she was a Lot Lizard, she said she had never heard the term. A few months later she calls me to tell me that at almost every stop, she was getting propositioned by the truckers. She said they got so pushy that she was scared to be in her own truck. She ended up getting a big ass dog! I will have to check out your movie! Thanks!!

I hope the dog is helping. It's not easy being a female truck driver.

What is the weirdest thing you saw on your trip?

There's so many to choose from that I don't know where to begin.

We met a sex worker who was 38 going on 70 and blind as a result of third stage syphilis. Her name was Sunshine and she was sweet as peaches.

We interviewed a truck driver after he slept with a sex worker who I was fairly confident had HIV. He said that he paid $5 extra not to use a condom. He said that he has a wife and kids back home. He said that she didn't even take her pants off--just one pant leg. His voice was calm and even throughout. We were in the desert at night. It was cold and windy. A blue backlight illuminated his contour.

dm;hs

well, i just learned some new internet slang

I was the Field Producer on the film, and the weirdest thing that I saw while filming, was a hitchhiking fashion model. She's been hitchhiking and modeling since she was 16, and, she just happened to be flying a sign for LA on the onramp by the truckstop. We were just getting back from the In and Out Burger. As a hitchhiker, I saw what she was doing, and I blocked her while we started chatting with her. She was a legit fashion model, traveling to a shoot in LA. We ended up hanging out with her that evening, while her cousin and fiance came and picked her up. It was truly surreal.

Vouching for Dan.

On a scale of 1 to Born into Brothels, how depressing is your movie?

It's on par with The Little Mermaid. Just kidding. It has its funny moments but overall its dark as hell. Even so, its still a better love story than Twilight.

I think that the movie isn't depressing. I think that it's disquieting, in that it makes you think about your role in the world that these folks live in.

That said, we could have made it a lot more depressing than we did. A lot of footage was left out because it was a bit too raw for the general public.

Examples?

A lot of stories wound up on the cutting room floor because they were simply too degrading. For example, one sex worker told us that she got pregnant after sleeping with half a dozen truckers so she didn't know who the father was. Nine months later she gave birth while using the truck stop bathroom. Another sex worker (who looked no older than 25) told us that her favorite client pays her to defecate on a plate and, here's the catch, she has to watch as he eats it. I would not be sharing these stories if Reddit didn't eat this kind of thing for breakfast.

Some of the stories were so appalling that we didn't cut them into the movie because we thought that they were too degrading.... I would not be sharing these stories if Reddit didn't eat this kind of thing for breakfast.

Thank you for recognizing our depravity.

Giving credit where its due. The other day I saw a man sitting on the street missing large swathes of flesh from his legs. My fiance freaked out and wanted to alert the authorities, call an ambulance, etc. My reaction? I've seen much worse on r/WTF. I talked to someone on the street who told me that the guy is there every day, he's fine, and he's not even homeless.

That's so sad.

Agreed. Her interview was brief but she was one of my favorite people who we met. She just seemed so normal and down to earth. Then she showed us her bullet wound.

Welcome to /r/nocontext!

Thanks!

One sex worker told us that she got pregnant after sleeping with half a dozen truckers so she didn't know who the father was. Nine months later she gave birth while using the truck stop bathroom

Why didn't she have an abortion? Did she give it up for adoption?

She kept it (along with several others). I'm not sure why she didn't get an abortion.

What were some of the scenes that were considered way too much for the general public?

One of the things that comes to mind, are the very graphic and emotional disclosures of childhood abuse by some of the women. Some of the stuff we heard was just so horrible, that it was difficult to put it into context in such a short film, and with so much to cover.

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Amen. Child abuse is much more common than people realize because most people are too ashamed to open up about it. People need to keep a better eye on their kids.

Unfortunately it's often the parents themselves who are the abusers or at least culture an environment where abuse is more likely to happen.

Very true.

I'm the field producer from the film. I traveled with Alex. My job was to make contact with the characters, get them to sign releases, and conduct the interviews. My background is that I hitchhiked around the country for 2 years before working on this film. My role was mainly to meet people and sell them on the idea of sharing the most personal aspects of their lives with us on camera.

Confirmed.

Obligatory question: Do you believe prostitution should be legalized in America?

Good question. The film lets the sex workers speak for themselves and the audience think for themselves so it doesn't explicitly answer this question. My personal opinion is that there needs to be more emphasis on rehabilitation as opposed to criminalization. This Mother Jones article spotlights a phenomenal program in Dallas that's taking this approach.

So yes?

Sorry for not making that clear. More emphasis on rehabilitation does not mean decriminalization. My personal opinion is that decriminalization is not the solution.

You dance around questions like a politician.

enjoy

So no?

Haha. No to your original question, no to your second question, and yes to your third question.

I have a trucker friend, and he says he hasn't seen too many lot lizards though he has had one interesting encounter with one. Would you say that they are common or uncommon? Any region/type of venue that seems more or less tolerant of them?

I'm a trucker. I know where the Lot Lizards AREN'T. I go there. Its an easy choice. I used to use Lot Lizards to locate drugs, about 15-20 years a go.

But now, I just want to work all day and sleep all night and its very very easy to cris-cross the country without having a lot lizard tapping on your sleeper.

Though there was one highly motivated hooker who found my truck way off the beaten path in Stockton,Ca back in April. I was impressed with her determination to search the streets for a truck driver.

This should get more upvotes. As a trucker, if you want to avoid sex workers, you can. Not all truck drivers solicit.

They're surprisingly common and pretty well-distributed throughout the country, but it varies from one truck stop to the next. Some truck stops were clean as a whistle, others had a dozen or more sex workers, many dressed in little more than lingerie, prowling the lot at one time.

Here's a youtube video (that I had nothing to do with) that gives you a glimpse of what some truck stops can be like. That being said, they're definitely less prevalent than they used to be.

I clicked on your video, and got more than I bargained for.

http://imgur.com/iVhIkZW

It's really hard to bear witness to.

Is there such a thing as a male Lot Lizard? Or is that scene dominated by women? If so, why?

We met one male sex workers and dedicated a vignette to him in the film. The scene is dominated by women because there's more of a demand for them.

Ive worked at a trucking company for 10 years and grew up in terminals with my Dad who was a dispatcher...with that said, how often do you think truckers pick up prostitutes?

Ive only known of it to occur once, and it was a local city guy.

I spent most of my time at truck stops with a reputation for sex workers, which draw truck drivers looking for sex workers. As a result, my sense of frequency of solicitation is probably inflated. Most truck stop sex workers service several truck drivers per shift and some truck stops had over a dozen sex workers so you do the math. That being said, there are plenty of truck stops with no sex workers full of truck drivers who deliberately go to them in order to avoid sex workers. It's best not to generalize.

Would you hitch from those same stops or out on the highway? I'd be nervous getting into the cab of someone I just saw paying for sex.

For good reason. Just to clarify, I hitch-hiked before making the movie, which is how I learned about the sex workers, and Dan organized an awesome ride-share via craigslist while making the movie, so I never really caught rides from the sex worker epicenters. When I hitch-hiked, 90% of the truckers who picked me up were really stand-up guys who did not seem like they engaged in solicitation.

Was there ever a time when you gave the "hitchhikers thumb", saw the person who stopped and thought nevermind?

I never really used the hitch-hikers thumb. I just wrote "WEST" on a piece of cardboard and hung out at truck stops. I did turn down a ride from a truck driver with unsettling eyes but caught a ride shortly thereafter.

What do you do in that situation?

"So big boy, I sees yous a headin' west. Hop on, er, in the truck and we'll go west all right ;D"

"Uhh, nah I'll go west with...someone...else...."

Dan has literally 100x more experience hitch-hiking than I do so he's the best person to ask these kinds of questions. In this instance, I asked about his final destination and told him that I'm looking for someone who's travelling further than that.

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The actual movie hasn't been completed yet. We are currently running an Indiegogo campaign to finish funding, and consequently editing and distributing the film. You can find out more information about that here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lot-lizard-the-movie/x/876514

Small correction: editing is 80% complete--the finishing funds will primarily go towards polishing the edit, cutting a legit trailer, sound design, and color correction.

What's probably your favorite person or memory from the trip?

I spent a lot of time with a recovering sex worker and her 10 year old daughter. My fondest memory from making the film was probably just hanging out with them, drinking tea, and watching movies. Mayhem is fun from afar. Once you're in the mix, you learn to enjoy the humble pleasures in life that we so often taken for granted.

I'm going to offer a favorite person from the trip, to compliment Alex's answer (and I think he'll agree at least that this fellow was pleasant). His name was Flea and he was a Lumper. A Lumper is someone who travels with a trucker who works for a moving company. The Lumper basically gets out of the truck when the trucker pulls up to the house (often, a mansion), and he moves the stuff in, and out of the house. Lumpers are usually ex cons who can't get a truck of their own, and they seem to work under the table a lot.

Flea was struggling with his own addiction to cocaine in a very real, and compelling way. We spent a lot of time talking with him, and I think that in some way, our presence helped him. I think that this was particularly nice in the context of being mostly observers of what was going on. Sometimes it was hard to sit back and watch things happen.

He also started free-basing in our motel room until we convinced him to flush his crystal meth down the toilet. I really hope he steered clear of it. He was good peoples.

I have never heard about truck stop prostitutes until now, although it doesn't surprise me. Is it more of a regional problem or one that is not well-known?

It's not very well known. People are often oblivious about how things get to them and what that journey entails. There are more truck drivers than any other profession in the US except for government employees. 1 in every 100 Americans is a truck driver.

Did you meet any actually attractive/downtoearth/good people there were lot lizards?

All of the above. Some of the sex workers were really beautiful, down to earth, and nice.

What motivated you to do this, or did it just fall together randomly?

A national publication is about to publish an interview that asks this question. I gave them a really thorough answer. I'll post it as soon they publish.

2nd hand high on crack? Lucky.

It actually felt really good once I got over the shock. The come down was surprisingly smooth. That being said, spending so much time with so many crack addicts was more than enough to convince me to never do it again.

You know, it's interesting. Monica, one of the main characters, seemed protective of us. She didn't want us getting hooked (though she did light up dozens of times in front of us). Still, the impulse on her part was telling.

When we told her about the film and asked her to participate, she gave us an ultimatum: she would share her story if and only if we smoked crack with her right then and there. After trying to bully us into it for five minutes and realizing that we weren't going to budge, she broke down and cried profusely. I'm not entirely sure why she cried. I think that she may have realized how immoral her ultimatum was. No matter how far gone a person is, there's a glimmer of something beautiful and unadulterated within them. She turned out to be one of the central and most compelling characters in the film.

Did you stop at the largest truck stop in the country?

Alex and I both stopped at the largest truckstop in the country in our travels (the Iowa 80, for the uninitiated). We didn't actually film there. We did some filming at the busiest truckstop in America though.

So is there Lot Lizards at the Iowa 80? I live a few miles from there, and inquiring minds want to know.

I passed through Iowa80 before working on the film and it seemed really nice and clean to me. Appearances can be be deceiving but it didn't seem like the kind of truck stop that was frequented by sex workers. You could tell that the owners took pride in their truck stop and tried to make it as nice as possible.

Be honest--did you get a hummer on your travels to these truck stops?

I wish. We did have to duck for cover near Baltimore when a pimp drove by in his cherry red Humvee though.

bless you for not knowing what he was implying

wow. that went right over my head. thanks for clarifying!

Were you yourself ever propositioned? If so, how'd that go?

Thankfully, no. A sex worker made a pass at me once but I respectfully declined.

Hope you dont mind me asking but are you two male or female? I've always considered hitchhiking and would love to, but as a girl in her early 20's I'm not sure how safe it would be.

Take my advice with a grain of salt, but I recommend against hitch-hiking in the US if you're a woman. Overall, the risks outweigh the benefits.

Did you see the film "What Alice Found"?

This is my first time hearing about it. Do you recommend it?

It's decent. It's about truck stop sex workers (fiction)

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll try to check it out. It's a tough subject to make a narrative film about.

Can we see a teaser?

Here's a link to the trailer/teaser or like us on Facebook to stay tuned for future updates.

Are pimps a very important part of the lot lizard scene? Or is it mostly girls/women acting on their own?

There's plenty of both. We saw everything from diamond grill, gem-encrusted belt buckle pimps to independent sex workers who hated pimps with a passion. It really runs the gamut.

Did you ever visit The Tower in Holdrege, NE before they tore it down?

Never even heard of it. What's the story?

I think this is a phenomenon that very few people know about. It's sad. In the hierarchy of prostitution, these women seem to be seen as the lowest of the low. Were most of them addicted to drugs?

Most of them were addicted to drugs. I think that a real solution will require helping the sex workers cultivate a sense of self-worth and self-empowerment. Most of them felt trapped by their lifestyles.

At 6:30PM EST, the makers of Lot Lizard will be interviewed on Huffington Post Live. Tune in to hear about the film, meet the film-makers, and take part in the conversation.

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/lot-lizards-alexander-perlman-truck-stop-prostitutes/51e726c22b8c2a353c000169

Where can I watch this documentary?

Like us on facebook to stay tuned for updates. We'll let you know as soon as its out!

Looks good!

Have you thought about the benefits of offering lower reward tiers?

Yes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I had thought that the lowest tier was a bit high, and that I'm severely lacking in wise ideas.

Check out the rewards other campaigns run. Not all of them apply since some aren't docs but you'll get some ideas.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-body-a-short-film-by-kenny-gee/x/695416

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ignite-the-spark-a-groundbreaking-documentary--2/x/695416

Dan just updated the Indiegogo based on your feedback. Thanks a ton!

What was the planning process like? Do you primarily only film documentaries or do you also make short films of more creative nature? What was the biggest difference between the two for you? What equipment did you primarily use?

Shit. I'm going to try and field this question. My main contribution to the film, as the Field Producer, was my ability to do dangerous things, and live to tell the tale. That, and my ability to talk complete strangers into divulging sensitive information.

From my memory, and perhaps Alex can help me out with this, we used a DVX100b.

The planning process for making the film involved a lot of improvisation, and covering a tremendous amount of ground in a short period of time. We hadn't a good idea of how likely one truckstop was to be a hub for prostitution until we got there. We would try our luck at meeting women when we got to a truckstop, and if we didn't have any luck, we might travel another couple-hundred miles to the next reported hub.

This was a first for Alex and myself in terms of our leadership roles in making such an important and exciting film. Alex spent a lot of his time freelancing and working for a production company before getting this opportunity.

For my part, I was coordinating a Food not Bombs chapter, and working for a regional Food Bank through an AmeriCorps program before coming onboard with the film.

This was my first feature documentary though I envision it as the first in a sequence of films empowering disenfranchised people to share their stories. I freelanced in the film industry for four years before making Lot Lizard. Here's a link to my website if you're curious. We shot with relatively inexpensive gear because we felt like there was a high probability that we would get robbed. We used a DVX100B with a mounted shotgun microphone. Every now and then we used a Shure wireless mic but the sex workers were so unpredictable that it got in the way as often as not. We had one light, a $25 LED work light from Walmart. Needless to say, we were on a shoe-string budget. Daniel Marracino, the EP, shot some stunning B-Roll on pick-up days with his 5DMII and top notch lenses. He's a very successful documentary cinematographer.

Any 10/10 model hot lot lizards? Or just meth/crack girls

Some of them were very physically attractive, others not so much. It ran the gamut. Naturally, the gorgeous ones were in demand and often made a killing.

My guess would have been the attractive girls would rather work at escorts, lower volume, higher price game. Any idea what motivated them not to strip or escort instead?

Not that any are better (or worse) options, but they are both more mainstream and higher per incident priced

Good question. I'm not entirely sure. For a lot of them, their frame of reference was working the street, which they claimed was a lot more dangerous. If the truck drivers engage in foul play, they're risking their livelihood. In many cases, the pimps were the ones making the decision, and I guess they were accustomed to a specific beat. Another factor might be the fact that the sex workers aren't making the most rational decisions to begin with.

Would you bang any of the lot lizards?

No. I know this is Reddit but come on, man. You're missing the whole point.

Tell the truth. Did you get a handy from one of them along the way?

No.

Consummate documentary professionals. Just like David Attenborough wouldn't kick over an anthill and would let an enclave of mammals die to a volcano.

Kudos to you!

Thanks! We definitely took a handies-off approach.