Everyone in the adult industry has a story about how they got in. Mine’s a little different.
I’ve been a fan of adult films since at least middle school. While other kids were talking about sports stats or what was going on in the world, I was more focused on what was happening in adult video—and yeah, that might sound weird. Don’t ask me how, but at one point I was bringing Hustler magazines to ninth grade and looking at them in my locker during passing periods. So I guess you can’t really be surprised that I ended up in this industry.
Fast forward to 2003: I had been unemployed for about six months when I met Chico Wang. Actually, I first met him in 2002 when he was working at an adult film company called Extreme Associates. He was kind of a guru webmaster who made a name for himself by bringing humor and a weird perspective to adult video.
Extreme Associates also ran a professional wrestling promotion called Extreme Pro Wrestling (XPW). Around April 2002, XPW was looking for people to hand out flyers and do street team work to help promote their shows. I was interested because I could get some free merchandise out of it.
I showed up a little earlier than I should have and saw Chico digitizing video on one of his computers. It was the first time I’d ever seen anyone do anything like that. We started talking, and about a year later he was running a site called LukeFord.com, a gossip site for porn stars—kind of like a better version of Perez Hilton.
By late 2003, Chico was the webmaster for Anabolic and Diabolic Video. On top of that, he was writing for a site called Luke Ford, which, as I mentioned, was another gossip site. At one point, he posted that he needed a “minion” to help with different parts of production—setting up lights, working with internet video, and so on.
I was unemployed and looking for a way into the adult film industry, so I saw it as a great opportunity to make that jump.
We set up a meeting at the Anabolic studio. I met up with Chico and Kurt—who has since passed away, but was one of the best editors I’ve ever known. We went out for Thai food nearby and talked about what he expected from me and what I wanted to earn per hour.
Now, keep in mind: I had never used Photoshop or Adobe Premiere. I was a complete novice. My online experience was basically just browsing websites. I was a blank slate.
I didn’t hear from Chico for a few weeks after that, but that’s really where my entry into the business began.
Oh—and by the way, Kurt drove, Chico rode shotgun, and I found a bottle of piss in the back seat of Kurt’s Buick.
So I get to the office with Chico, and he’s playing trailers from a site he used to work for called MeatHoles.com. For those who don’t know, that site was known for rough sex and really pushing the limits of female talent. So yeah—this was quite an introduction to the world, and I remember thinking to myself, holy crap, what did I get myself into?
He even showed me that infamous scene where Ashley Blue gets choked until she passes out. At that point, I seriously thought about leaving—but I needed the money.
About a week later, he officially brought me on board. Another week after that, he told me to go get tested at AIM. Back then, AIM was basically the standard for talent testing—kind of like what performers use today. They tested for HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea.
I’ll be honest—I thought this was the part where I’d be getting all those perks he joked about, but I was definitely mistaken.
So I got tested—thankfully he paid for it—and then we headed out to a shoot house up in the hills. I honestly don’t even remember where it was, just that it was a pain to get to.
When we got there, I believe he was shooting a scene with Mason Storm and Tony T (I think—honestly, I don’t remember exactly who else was there). Oh, and before all this, he had me buy the largest adult Depends diapers I could find, and told me to learn the lyrics to “Danny Boy”—you know, “Oh Danny Boy, the pipes are calling…”
So there I was: freshly tested, diapers in hand, and about 18 Bud Lights deep, heading up to this shoot house with no idea what to expect.
He shot the scene with Mason Storm, and then put me through what he called an initiation—basically a humiliation ritual to “see if I had what it takes” to be in the adult business.
I won’t go into too much detail—it was pretty gnarly—but let’s just say it crossed a lot of lines I didn’t expect. When it was over, Chico wrapped it up by saying something like, “Welcome to the family—you’re part of the team now.” I might be embellishing that a bit, but he did give me some positive feedback afterward.
I went home that night smelling like urine—there was no hot water in that house—and just kind of sat there thinking, well… I guess I paid my dues.
