Day 85 - Success Story

Success Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

 Bennett had no objections to pornography; he wasn’t a prude or a moralist and certainly had no problem with sexual encounters of most any sort, but he had never imagined himself working within the industry. He wasn’t sure if there were people that actually set out to work in pornography, or if it just sort of happened to people, the way it had just sort of happened to him. Surely there were those that truly loved the industry and it was their most heartfelt desire to create and participate, but prior to collecting his first payment, Bennett would have always assumed that no one really set out to do porn.

‘A job is a job and we all need to make money.’ Bennett had told himself this on many occasions.  He had never shied away from an opportunity. He was not afraid of work. He was creative with an entrepreneurial spirit and considered himself a capitalist above all else. This was just another job. That’s all it was. Another job.

When Bennett was seventeen a talent scout had come to his high school looking to cast an actor in a small role in an upcoming Hollywood feature film. Bennett, along with several other students, auditioned for the role, and three of them got callbacks. The role ultimately went to some other student at some other school, but Bennett was hooked. He told himself that he wasn’t after fame, he was after work. He began auditioning for local commercials in his spare time. He was young and tall and handsome. He had the body of a runner and had a clean-cut smile and knew how to wear a letterman’s jacket or any other high school cliché prop and make it seem authentic. He had no problem finding small roles in local commercials.

Bennett had no ambition when it came to his career. For all his desire to make money there was some mental block when it came to truly conceiving a career path and implementing action to get him there. Sure he put himself out there. He went to auditions. He sent out pictures of himself. But he didn’t have that abstract quality that made things happen. He just let them happen instead. And when he was young and good looking and athletic, things tended to happen.

Bennett’s first real setback was when he was twenty-nine, career or otherwise. He hadn’t been rough on his body; he didn’t indulge in vices. But still, age and genetics don’t really care just how much or how little you do sometimes. Sometimes nature has other plans and there’s very little for someone to do. Now it should also be noted that a setback for Bennett was not actually much of a setback in comparison to most people. But for a person who had yet to suffer failure or defeat or loss, it certainly felt like a setback. Twenty-nine was when his hair first began to thin. Twenty-nine was when certain joints began to feel the changes in the weather before they happened. Twenty-nine was also the first year that he did not find work as an extra or an actor.

Bennett was no one to take failure lying down. He renewed his efforts, sending out more headshots, taking on additional auditions for any role no matter how big or small, attending networking events, and even working for free in student projects and internet videos. Bennett also began learning about modeling and actively sought out work for himself here as well.

At thirty-two work dried up again, but luckily Bennett had been working as an important role player for an episodic science fiction internet series. The money wasn’t great, but there was a rabid fan base. Even though funding fell through and the series was cancelled, Bennett found himself attending conventions where he charged outrageous prices for photographs and autographs. Once again, work was only work and Bennett did what he had to do to survive. He wasn’t proud of this new endeavor, but there was a pleasant thrill that came with being recognized and adored by loud and over the top fans.

At forty-four Bennett had more than his fair share of problems. He drank too much, experimented rather freely with recreational drugs and recreational sexual encounters. He did little to keep himself in shape and his youthful athleticism was all but gone. There were no acting jobs for bad actors that had lost their boyish charm. There were fewer and fewer fanatical fans for a show that had ended over a decade ago and fewer and fewer ways to monetize those that remained. Bennett was miserable.

Meanwhile a sub-genre of pornography had arisen – the parody film. Famous characters, famous movies, and famous books were all spoofed and given a sexual twist. They were sometimes humorous, sometimes playful, and sometimes graphic and hardcore. There was a large fan base that wanted to see familiar characters in fantasy situations, have a bit of story with their titillation.

Bennett accidentally discovered that someone had made a porn version of the web series he had been on, one night when he was searching the internet for fan sites, hoping to find new avenues to make money. At first he was offended and saw it as someone desecrating something very near and dear to his heart, not to mention his pocketbook. Then he saw just how many people had viewed this film. That was when he understood what he always understood – how to make money. Bennett didn’t always like what he had to do to get it, but he always understood how to make money. If people were willing to pay that much for a parody, imagine the extra excitement and sales that could come with one of the original actors playing themself in the next knockoff. Surely there were fans somewhere that had always dreamed of him and of a moment like this. If someone was going to make money off his former glory, why shouldn’t he? So Bennett once again shifted careers, as he had done many times before, although this time admittedly with a little bit more trepidation than usual.