Another blog post and another national lockdown here in the UK. We’re still not able to shoot content, but we have been busy working behind the scenes on lots of new projects and distribution deals for the Milf-Mafia and Pornomedics brands.
We recently attended the virtual Xbiz show for the full three days. The seminars and key note speeches were invaluable for anyone working in the business and the insight into the industry and in particular the American side of the industry was fascinating. I personally gained so many nuggets of useful information and advice that I’ll be digesting and deploying within the Skullfuka Films brands over the next few months.
The expo floor was set up as a number of chatrooms sponsored by different adult brands. Once you joined a room it had a similar feel to joining a zoom call, with the other patrons and usually a representative from the sponsored company available on webcam. The industry chat was fantastic and I was able to talk to the CEO’s of companies that have been ignoring my emails for months!
We were able to do a number of distribution deals with some of the largest VOD and distribution sites in the world as well as gain some time with our competitors to talk about new production processes and how we’re all dealing with the current pandemic situation.
It is an odd feeling being able to negotiate a deal whilst sat at home on the sofa in your boxer shorts but these are odd times at the moment and I guess we’re all adapting. Over all I would highly recommend anyone looking to gain more knowledge and contacts in the business to attend an expo, even if it is a virtual one.
So we’ve been lockdown again here in the UK and as before production has stopped for us. We are grateful for the few months of socially distanced shoots we managed to achieve but alas its back to a month of Netflix and Chairobics for me.
The socially distanced shoots have been an odd experience for us and I wanted to share my thoughts with you on these.
For anyone that’s ever been to one of our porn sets, you’d have probably noticed how relaxed and informal they are. Lots of cups of coffee and long discussions about the state of the industry and sharing ideas on how to benefit more from content. The rules now in place have completely put a halt to this. The first really big change is that we’ve only been able to shot solo content to ensure the minimum amount of people are on set at any time. The second change is the isolation, meaning models have their own dressing room whilst the camera crew set up the remote control cameras. Once everyone is ready and prepared, the camera crew retreat to another room where the monitor systems are set up, the model enters the main set and…. “ACTION”!
The cameras are on a remote control gimbal, so we are able to monitor as well as pan and tilt the angles from another room, but there is a limit to what you’re able to shoot. From the content we have put up so far, the feedback has been great and in all honesty I don’t think anyone’s noticed, I just feel there the intimacy side of the productions is missing. The feedback from the models is mainly positive and the experienced cam girls say its just like performing a private show.
Lets hope we’re able to get back to real production work soon.
Over the past two months we’ve had a massive influx of models and content creators engage with us looking to grow their adult persona, and increase online sales. This seems to be a direct response to the mainstream media highlighting platforms like Onlyfans, the content creators that have gone viral on them and the life changing amounts of income being earned.
Branding and marketing is a dark art we have mastered over many years of mainstream media campaigns. Whilst we obviously don’t want to give away all the secrets and tactics we use for our premium service customers, the Skullfuka team want to help the newbies starting out establish themselves and stand out in what is now a very crowded market. So here are a few hints and tips that could help you gain a foot hold in the adult entertainment business.
Why Do I Need Branding?
The first step is having a brand identity. This will help your customers recognise your content in the sea of generic Twitter and Pornhub posts constantly being uploaded. Your customers will get to know your brand and over time will learn to trust that the content they are buying will be consistent with previous sales.
Choosing a Logo.
Keep it simple, memorable and eye catching. Take McDonald’s for example, when you see the golden arches you know exactly what that means. The fast food giant have got their brand so embedded into popular culture they don’t even have to show the logo, just that five note jingle ending in “I’m lovin it” and you instantly identify it with their brand (can you hear it in your head now?).
Check out other successful performers logos, find something that stands out and ask yourself why? Take some of the logo attributes you like and either make one yourself or get a friend who can use Photoshop or Illustrator to help design your own unique logo, or (WARNING SALES PITCH INCOMING) get in touch with us and we can help design you something.
Where Should You Post Your Logo?
The simple answer is “everywhere”. Whenever you post an image or video online make sure your logo and brand is there somewhere. Even if your content is behind a paywall, brand it. This is the porn business and piracy is rife, if content is stolen at least its advertising your brand and can work as an advert. If you don’t have the software to add your logo to your pictures then the google and app store have free apps that will do this for you.
Keep It Consistent.
Once you have a brand, stick with it. Even if you fall out of love with it yourself hang on in there. Changing your logo every three weeks will just confuse your customers. If you absolutely must change it then try and keep some elements the same, like the colours or the font type.
We hope you find this blog useful and will be posting some more over the next few months with other hints and tips to help establish your online persona. If you’d like to discuss how we can help you with your branding and marketing needs, drop us a message via the contact page.
Skullfuka.
Another few months on since my last blog and we”re shooting content again, albeit wearing PPE and using a remote camera system to ensure we adhere to the governments new health and safety guidelines. The new rules are actually very easy for us as a production company to work to but for obvious reasons almost impossible for models wanting to create duo content.
As a company we did consider requesting a clean covid19 test to go along with the usual sexual health certificates but the information we received from UKAP was that these test would only be done privately and would cost performers £225, as you can imagine we we’re met with a wall of silence from the performers.
The current global health crisis has seen a huge number of new models and content creators enter the business. To ensure they stand out from the crowd, we’ve been delighted to welcome a host of new performers that have commissioned us to work on their branding, marketing and social media. The feedback we’ve received so far has been excellent and our clients sales platforms seems to reflect this with one in particular jumping from 80 paid subscriptions to over 500 in just one week.
We have also been engaging more with the adult studio’s and producers to offer our unique services to them, this seems to be a an area we will pursue more over the next few months and will hopefully have an exciting announcement coming over the next few weeks.
The MILFMAFIA and PORNOMEDICS brands are now picking up pace and the monthly subscriptions are reflecting this, and have plans for the KINKBIBLE brand to launch early in the new year.
As always thanks for reading through the blog and we hope you enjoyed the update.
Another few weeks of lockdown but things seem to be starting to ease. The recent announcement by the government is giving a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel and with the recommendations coming from UKAP (UK Adult Producers), it looks like we will be shooting solo content very soon.
As I mentioned in previous blog posts, this time has given us the opportunity to launch new services we’ve had on the burner for a while and with the current extension its now given us the time to launch our own adult websites.
For anyone that’s started an adult website, they’ll know it takes time, effort, money and content for a successful launch. Whilst most of these have not been the issue, dedicating enough time to create what we really wanted has been. Even choosing whether we self host and take our own credit card payments or use established platforms that handle all that for us has been a sticking point.
After numerous emails and phone calls with content platforms, and established producer friends, we were offered a special deal that would give us the time to create content without having to spend too much time on the daily running of the sites. We also negotiated a percentage rate that we were extremely happy with and would enable us to let each website stand alone.
The first two sites will be launched over the next few weeks with a further three before the end of the summer depending on how quickly we can collate the content needed. This will give us enough content to see if the websites are a viable option for us.
To enable us to do this we are making a few changes to our work practices and will now be offering models a content share option to work with us on our new brands. If you’d like to work with us please contact us via the contact form or our Twitter page @skullfuka .
We’re still locked down here at Skullfuka towers but have taken this time to test the waters on a part of the business we were looking to launch next year. The adult industry has always been a trailblazer in marketing and advertising since the birth of the internet, but us Brits seem to lack finesse compared to our American counterparts.
I talk to lots of successful British models and always like to ask where the majority of their customers come from, the usual answer will almost always be the UK. Now this can come down to many factors including time zones for cam girls, the platforms they use to sell their content or that they’re using “Comic Sans” font over a badly lit selfie and customers have seen that same shit for the past 15 years.
So as an experiment we’ve dusted off Photoshop, put on our branding and marketing hats and made some Twitter headers and flyers for some of our regular models. The feedback we’ve had so far is that it seems to be making an impact. The models have said that engagement is up and that they’re attracting followers from further a field including Europe and America.
Yes, the British adult entertainment business is miniscule compared to America’s multibillion dollar porn economy but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try to make an impact and get some of that income flowing this side of the pond.
If you’d like to discuss your branding and marketing requirements with us please get in touch via our contact page, alternatively we will be adding another page to the Skullfuka website to offer this service over the next few days.
But please, stop using Comic Sans!
We have now been in lockdown for three weeks due to the current global health crisis. Working in adult entertainment does give you a heightened awareness on how your personal health can impact on others you work closely with. As an industry we’re used to self governing ourselves, ensuring the models we work with have a clean up to date, sexual health certificates to keep our industry safe. Its great to see the majority of adult industry are sticking to the governments advice and self isolating to ensure they do their part on limiting the spread of the virus.
We know how resilient the adult entertainment sector is and its great to see how models and performers have adapted to ensure their businesses still continue to provide them with an income, either through webcamming or making self shot clips.
This situation has given the skullfuka team an opportunity to catch up on a backlog of content that we’ve shot over the past few months to ensure the models we work with regularly still have enough content to keep going. We’ve also invested in some new cutting edge camera equipment to give us more options to make creative clips once we’re allowed back out to play.
Keep safe everyone and please continue to support the British adult entertainment business by paying for your porn.
Skullfuka x
After years of producing content for other people, I have decided to star creating clips and scenes that will be available on our new Manyvids/Clips4Sale/Onlyfans sites. I will start to populate these platforms over the next few weeks and I hope you enjoy the FILTH we have lined up for you 😉
Today I got to work with the amazing adult industry legend Misty Mckaine. Misty has been in the business for 30 years and is an AVN winner and these really showed on set. The chemistry between Misty and Mia was electric and really shows in the content. Full fetish and BDSM scenes as well as some really naughty girl/girls scenes. You need to check these two out!
One of the questions I get asked all the time when I tell people I work in adult entertainment is “What’s it like behind the scenes on a porn set?”. I think for most people they think its a crazy party with everyone indulging in all sorts of debauchery. Unfortunately for those individuals your image will be shattered as its very much the opposite. Respectful, professional and a lot of hard work is what goes into making good quality adult entertainment. Hopefully this blog will show you what really happens and will give you a sneak peak behind the lace curtain!