Confessions of a Gay Porn Writer: You Get Writer’s Block?

So, something that shocks people about my job is that I sometimes do, in fact, get writer’s block from time to time. “But Dalton, it’s porn! You can use your own sex life as inspiration.” “But Dalton, how hard can it be? It’s just porn!” Trust me, I’ve heard every retort in the book. The thing is, I really want to make porn that’s not only sexy but also ORIGINAL. So, theoretically, yes I could just half-ass it and give you the same plots you’ve seen eighty times but I want to make something new, something that I could be proud of and show as an actual sample rather than something I did just to get paid.

Shane Cook and Luke Truong in "A Dick Too Big"

I write an average of about ten (give or take one or two) scripts a month so it makes sense that I won’t be filled to the brim with original ideas all the time. But holy shit when I get writer’s block it feels so… frustrating. It doesn’t help that we have budgetary constraints either. I’m confined to writing for a certain amount of sets and spaces, so unfortunately I’m not able to write something that takes place in a gay club or out and about in the city really. It’s funny actually if I ever talk about this people will say “well can’t you write about [insert idea here]” and about 90% of the time I have to say it’s impossible due to budget constraints, being unable to film in public, or something else.

There are a lot of things going against me producing really original gay porn scripts. That’s not to say I don’t do it, obviously; I might be biased but I tend to think that some of the scripts I’ve written are pretty unique. “How Do You Know?” with Evan Knoxx and Cody Viper is a personal favorite of mine that was limited to a car and a bedroom. And “12 Feet Away” with Jayden Marcos and Ryan Jordan? Oh man, I was so proud of that one when it came out. Porn has always had stories about guys experimenting and coming to terms with their sexuality but I was really proud of the depth I provided to both of these scenarios.

Evan Knoxx and Cody Viper in "How Do You Know?"

But going back to the main point, I put a lot of pressure on myself to write some really enticing and unique porn and I think that makes my writer’s block worse sometimes. And listen, I KNOW it’s just porn. I know you’re not logging on to NextDoorStudios.com to see if your favorite pornstar is about to be in an emotional rollercoaster of a movie. But, again, I hate half-assing things; if I’m going to write a script, I want it to be a great one! That’s definitely something that my boss (the lovely Jeremy Babcock) and I have in common; we want to make the best porn in the business.

Now how do I deal with writer’s block is the real question. Well, besides all of the typical distracting yourself until you randomly come up with something, one of the main ways I'm able to skirt around this is by collaborating and talking to the porn stars about ideas they’d like to see come to fruition. The extremely popular “Service Station” series? That’s all Jayden Marcos’s idea. I just asked him on a whim if he had any ideas he’d want to see happen and he hit me with that gold mine of an idea. I love being able to collaborate with some of the porn stars I work with (and maybe there are more ideas from porn stars in the works? 👀) and I love just collaborating with people in general on my writing.

But long story short, yes, I do get writer’s block. And also, if you think my ideas aren’t original or even just good, hit me up on Twitter! Challenge me with an idea that you think would be spectacular and I’ll see if you’re right ;).

Dakota Payne and Jayden Marcos in "Love is Payne - Service Station"

Trailers courtesy of Next Door Studios.

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