When I first started working in adult films back in 2013, I was like any other enthusiastic amateur. I’d heard there was money to be made and being a bit of an exhibitionist, it seemed to be an excellent new career choice. Unfortunately, being 54 years old as I was then, I couldn’t afford the luxury of “dipping my toes” and easing inch by inch into the industry. I had a ton of catching up to do and a comparatively limited shelf life!
I’ve never been one for doing things half-heartedly, so I was determined from the start that if was going to do this, I was going to do it well. I was aware that my content would never compete with the more mainstream or glamour type product already out there, so I started researching (watching porn!) the mature niche and seeing exactly how I’d best fit in.
I laid out a plan for brand development in early 2014 that not only utilized social media platforms, but also raised awareness beyond clip sites.
I noticed that there was already a small market for GILF porn, but was interested to note how few “porn stars” it had created. It seemed that while the ever-popular 18 to 25 range and MILF categories had literally hundreds of big name performers, with hordes of dedicated fans and high-quality branding, the GILF side of things was only offering a very generic acknowledgment of its female performers, aside from one or two U.S. performers, who — if truth be told — were still very much aiming for MILF dollars.
That is why once I started making movies and found I enjoyed it very much, I decided to try to change the game a bit. See, early shoots were a real eye-opener. It was apparent that as a mature woman, there was a certain checklist for what one was supposed to do and how one was supposed to do it once the cameras were on. Within a few weeks of starting, and gaining invaluable experience with those producers, I realized that I was going to need to start producing myself, if I was going to get the most out of this industry. I needed to go hard, then harder. I needed to create content with such a hardcore intensity, that it compared to anything younger performers were making.
I needed to develop this whole “Lacey Starr” thing. So, I started shooting and selling my scenes and clips, initially on the clip sites and early attempts at my own website, and though sales were encouraging, I knew the best way forward was to start and promote myself as a brand. Social media played an instant part and it wasn’t long before I’d established a healthy Twitter following and started using the platform to promote, as well as reach out to other performers.
By now, I was marketing content across a dozen or more sites with multiple profiles on the same platform at times. I found that not many people had heard of Lacey Starr, so I tweaked the edits and dropped the same scenes into another profile aimed at fans of certain other sub-genres. For instance, I have a Lacey Starr ManyVids and Clips4Sale profile, and others as well — by doing so, I’m widening my net for attracting new buyers and increasing the potential revenue for each scene.
As with all genres of porn, certain scenes in GILF are better sellers than others, and that is often based on contrasts in my experience. For instance, my scenes with young guys sell better than my scenes with other mature men. My scenes with black guys sell better than my scenes with white guys. Being a mature white woman, the contrast of myself with a fit, young, black guy has always proven popular with my fans (as well as myself!). But for some reason, most mature performers were shooting with other mature performers, and I tried, but just couldn’t sell that stuff.
So, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I’m stuck with the terrible burden of having to have sex with lots of gorgeous young guys and girls. I do get asked occasionally by other producers and performers, “Oh, how do you get to work with her/him?’” It’s simple — I pay them! I’m fortunate in some ways to now be able to predict pretty accurately how much a scene is worth to me. I know where I can sell certain things and how much I can charge for them, so booking performers to shoot is no longer the risk it once was for a small independent studio like my own.
These days, so many more young models are aware of the “content is king” mantra, and have become high-earning, self-made entrepreneurs through their OnlyFans and ManyVids profiles and the like, but you still have those who choose not to do content shoots or are very selective with whom they’ll do it. So, paying good talent is an essential part of investing back into the industry, and also affords you exclusivity with the resulting content, which is another factor to consider once your branding is established.
I laid out a plan for brand development in early 2014 that not only utilized social media platforms, but also raised awareness beyond clip sites. I figured I’d need to put more in if I wanted to take more out, so in addition to upgrading equipment, I started sponsoring industry events and sure enough — momentum began to grow! In 2016, a well-known content distributor eventually approached me at one such event and having agreed to collaborate, I signed a two-year contract with him the very next day. He was impressed by the sheer volume of content I had accumulated in just three years and offered to market me internationally to video-on-demand companies, broadcasters and even take them to hard copy DVD distributors, and that led to my next investment in the quest to launch my brand.
I contacted Greg at Red Roxy Studios with a view to designing my DVD cover artwork. Choosing Red Roxy was a no-brainer and after several chats with Greg, he produced an initial 10 covers for my debut series of DVDs, “Granny Extreme” volumes 1 to 10. When volumes 1 and 2 hit the sex shops in late 2017 and received a fantastic response, this success was mirrored in the U.S., where Juicy Entertainment handled my DVD releases. Within a few months, and having uncovered the demand for GILF products, I packaged together “Filthy GILF” volumes 1 to 10, also with Greg on design duties. So far, Red Roxy has gone on to produce the covers for all 34 of the releases on the Lacey Starr Productions label.
In late 2018, the Lacey Starr brand was finally completed with the launch of the definitive and official website, LaceyStarr.com through ARL Cash, the team behind the phenomenally successful PascalsSubSluts.com. The extra demand this caused for content production was instrumental in my deciding to open my very own purpose-built studio complex just outside of London, near Gatwick.
It’s hard to put my finger on exactly why my content and brand has been so well-received. It’s still a genuine and wonderful surprise and it’s probably down to a number of things. I am a strong and intelligent 60-year-old woman. I have absolutely no hang-ups or illusions about my look, age and place in the scheme of things.
I work really hard at being Lacey Starr. I give people what they want and always try to put a little back into an industry that’s been very good to me. I’ve never been afraid to take chances in business, but always try to minimize those risks by working with great people and surrounding myself with creative minds.
I’m very proud to have created my own distinctive brand, and to have played a part in giving U.K. GILF porn its own identity, not only on the store shelves and at the award ceremonies, but also helping to change the porn buying public’s perception of a genre which, after all, was maybe once really only regarded as a guilty pleasure.
