But that's nothing new.
“On the Internet, the average attention span is three to five minutes,” Vivid Entertainment Co-Chair Steven Hirsch said. “We have to cater to that.”
To that end, the Times reported that the adult industry has been moving en masse away from heavily scripted fare like "Deep Throat" and toward movies that feature standalone sex scenes, aka vingettes, that can be easily broken up and distributed online.
The Times article looked back to 2005 to find an era when plots reigned supreme, citing Digital Playground's "Pirates" as a prime example of the form. But in the intervening years, the Times argues that vignette-driven porn — which includes everything from straight-up gonzo to reality fare — has taken over.
Digital Playground chieftain and film director Joone noted that of his company's 60 titles in production this year, about half have "little to no" plot. Wicked President Steve Orenstein described a similar trend at his studio.
“The feature is not as big a part of the industry today,” Orenstein said, though he added that Wicked is working on a big-budget feature titled "2040," which he called “an almost Romeo-and-Juliet story between an aging porn star and a cyborg.”
Adult performer Lisa Ann is no stranger to scripted and unscripted titles, having appeared in her share of both. Although she prefers "quick, easy" titles that get straight to the "good stuff," she told XBIZ that she feels like today's industry features a good mix of both.
"You can see mini-stories on Brazzers.com, and you can see features with Wicked, Vivid or Spice Studios," she said. "And there is a plethora of gonzo out there for our short attention span viewers, like myself."
Wayne Hentai, a partner in adult public relations firm Plan 9 Media Group, disagreed more roundly with the Times article.
"Articles and coverage about the porn industry always give the impression that every company puts out features and that those movies are a big part of their release schedule," he told XBIZ. "But anyone who works in this business knows that Wicked and Vivid are exceptions, not the rule, and that features are a tiny fraction of what's being made."