LOS ANGELES — Lust Cinema, the U.S. studio launched by Barcelona-based Erika Lust last year, will release tomorrow the first episode of “Primary,” an original series conceived and directed by Casey Calvert about “real millennials navigating a life of love and lust whilst breaking stereotypes about non-monogamous relationships.”
Calvert has been working on the project for several months, shooting all six episodes of this limited series with leading adult performers like Ana Foxx, Derrick Pierce, Kira Noir, Small Hands, Penny Pax and Michael Vegas.
Calvert and co-screenwriter Mark Logan conceived of “Primary” as a serial in the model of Netflix’s limited-run productions like “Easy,” showcasing hip, professional Los Angeles twenty- and thirtysomethings living only a few miles, but culturally galaxies away, from the white-leather couches of the typical Porn Valley McMansions.
An extra layer of drama is provided by the fact that two main couples — played by Kira Noir and Small Hands, and Ana Foxx and Derrick Pierce — are in polyamorous relationships, though they are each other’s titular “primary.”
A Streamable Experience to Help With Isolation
Calvert spoke this week to XBIZ about the unusual situation she finds herself in, having to promote and launch a high-profile, labor-of-love project in the middle of the current pandemic crisis. XBIZ had covered the "Primary" shoot set during the series' production.
“It doesn't quite feel real that ‘Primary’ is coming out,” Calvert told XBIZ. “I was just watching the supersoft Instagram trailers that Lust Cinema cut for me, and also these interviews with my cast that I hadn’t seen yet, where they’re saying the sweetest things about me and the project — and it doesn't quite feel real.”
“And I find that strange, considering I've spent the majority of my quarantine time being ‘Casey Calvert’ on the internet, trying to pay the bills,” the director, also a noted performer and clip maker, continued. “You would think that this very ‘Casey Calvert thing of mine’ would feel like it fits right in, but it doesn't, and I think that's a testament to how I approached this project.”
For Calvert, “the one benefit of quarantine right now is that I have a lot more time to promote ‘Primary,’ and I have an audience captive and hungry — the numbers on my OnlyFans have skyrocketed, after all — to watch. I hope that I can provide a few moments of distraction with the show.”
The showrunner’s aspirations for this very special project — it is quite rare for studios to splurge at this level for a mainstream-streaming-network style production, and it is a testament to Erika Lust and her company’s faith in Calvert’s talents — are multiple.
“I hope that people who might normally just watch the sex scenes watch the whole thing. I hope that people who might normally watch by themselves watch with their partner, and that people quarantined alone who wouldn't normally share porn with partners share it in the same way people are sharing all forms of media right now,” Calvert told XBIZ.
Calvert mentioned that she recently posted a quote on Instagram that read, "If you think artists are useless, try to spend your quarantine without music, books, poems, movies, paintings and porn."
"I know, for me, I couldn't do it," she said "and I hope that 'Primary' helps fill the space created by isolation for a lot of people. I'm incredibly excited for everyone to see it."
Raw, Intimate and Eclectic
Producer Erika Lust could not have been happier with the six episodes Calvert and her production unit turned in. “I’m amazed by the talent of Casey as writer and director,” Lust told XBIZ from Catalonia. “I’m so proud of having her onboard for this and many Lust Cinema series and films to come.”
Lust thinks Calvert “has a lot to say and that she will be a relevant figure in the future of adult entertainment.
"Casey — if you read this, start thinking about Season Two!” Lust added.
According to Lust Cinema’s press officer Sara Marrone, each episode of “Primary” shows “the beauty of contemporary romance through genuine storylines and incredibly arousing sex scenes. You follow two polyamorous couples who share passionate sex with their partners whilst also engaging in steamy relations with other characters as the simultaneous storylines coincide and connect.”
Marrone calls Calvert’s directorial debut "a raw, intimate and eclectic cinematic adult series that shows the pleasures and complexities of modern love."
Back during the series' production, Calvert had told XBIZ that being "a performer-turned-director" she had been "honored by the complete creative freedom I got from Erika, and how amazing and committed all of my actors were. Having primarily a mainstream crew who’s never worked in adult before, who all came in with open minds and learned a lot, was amazing.”
For Calvert, everything about "Primary" felt like a dream project.
"I got to write my own script and tell my own story, got to work with the people I wanted to work with, got to do something with my own artistic vision.”
For now, Lust Cinema is sticking to the original, pre-COVID-19 rollout schedule, with the first three episodes coming out every Friday — April 3, 10 and 17 — and the last three appearing in intervals through July, exclusively on Lust Cinema.
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