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Lance Hart: 3D Chess and the Art of Compelling Content
Posted On 14 Jun 2019
Lance Hart was in his first porn as a performer in 2007, and he started performing professionally about a year later. He also has a long history as a clips maker, with Clips4Sale updates that go back to 2011.
“In 2010, I bought a Handycam from Walmart at three AM and started my own production,” Hart explained. “I’ve never had a ‘normal’ job since then.”
Creative and prolific, Hart has made a lot of clips. So many, in fact, that he’s maybe lost count.
“I’m not sure how many clips I’ve made. It’s over 1000, but I’m not sure if it’s more than 5000,” he shared with YNOT. “For a while, I posted new clips daily on the internet. Now, I shoot about three to seven days a month for my productions. I’ve found that making less updates, but making them better, works out for more profit, in my case, at this point in time.”
From the volume of content he produces to the variable and evolving categories and genres his work embodies, Hart recognizes the need to change up his game. By being mindful of consumer desires and production trends, “deciding what content to make next is like a game of 3D chess that [he’s] gotten very good at.”
Hart took time out to share a bit of his chess playing strategies with YNOT, tapping into creating compelling content in various forms, throughout a decade of learning.
YNOT: You work in an array of content forms, but what draws you to the clips form specifically?
Lance Hart: I started with clips, so I understand how to make them profitable and the best. Currently, I actually make more money from my membership sites manupfilms.com and sweetfemdom.com than I do from my clip sales on other platforms. This is new, as of this year. I’m happy about it, but honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing with updating membership sites. I’m still learning as I go.
On clip sites like clips4sale.com, doing the updates and deciding what content to make next is like a game of 3D chess that I’ve gotten very good at. I can see what other producers are doing, how their rankings go up and down, what their top selling stuff is, what the market on that site is trending to buy more of and strategize from there.
How do you — as in “you, the performer starring in most of your content” — fit into your directorial and editing work?
I was in almost all my clips for years. It’s tricky doing sex work while trying to look sexy, while trying to direct and at the same time decide where the clip needs to go next.
I loved it, but honestly I’ve found that I make more money and everyone is just happier when I direct other people in my clips. It costs more money to just be the director, but the content is better. I had to grow into it financially.
In your view, what makes compelling content?
It has to make the viewer’s dick tingle. They have to enjoy masturbating to it and want more. That’s all.
It does not have to be “good film” with perfect lighting, continuity, character development, great sets, etc. All that stuff is for film that is made for watching. Porn is made for jerking off — huge difference.
Many content producers get mixed up, thinking they are making something for Hollywood. It does not matter if you catch the extension cord and lights or clutter of a model’s suitcase in the background. Continuity doesn’t matter. Almost no one watches a porn from 0:00 to the end, in order. They skip around. They generally watch the middle and the end first, then maybe decide to watch the whole thing the next time they jerk off to it.
You can make people’s dick tingle with about two seconds of footage. That’s what matters. Give them plenty of two second options to make their dicks tingle in a twenty minute video, and they will be happy.
Clips have been around forever, but it seems like the industry is really focusing in on that specific form lately. Have you noticed this too?
Things certainly always change and grow. Clips4Sale did us a great service by being the first platform to sell clips. The nature of their traffic is mostly fetish-based, so mainstream content makers that just wanted to film hot sex couldn’t make much money on Clips4Sale unless they sprinkled in some fetish stuff. ManyVids came along and marketed well to people who want to see “normal” sex, so now we have both covered.
The industry — in the case of this question, being performers who want to make money from home — tends to make clips because they are quick and easy to make. Also they don’t have to commit to updating a membership site regularly. They can just make content here and there, and nobody is waiting for more from them.
What industry-specific limitations must you consider when producing clips? Conversely, what opportunities do you have to be extra creative?
I make content mostly with crossover male performers, so I have to consider that when booking female talent to work with them. I just have to find agents and models who are comfortable with working with crossovers. It’s not hard these days, but I do have to think about it.
Shooting the kind of content I shoot allows me to be insanely creative. I can literally have insane plots. It’s a hoot.
Find Lance Hart on Twitter at @lancehartfetish and on Instagram at @lancehartandcats.
