Outside a warehouse on a scorching, treeless frontage road in Compton, there is little to suggest that a movie is being made behind its nondescript walls. Similar buildings across the Southwest frequently house adult productions, their unassuming exteriors concealing carefully lit sets where crews labor over every visual detail.
At the door, muffled moans signal that filming is underway. Inside, performer Little Puck is shooting a scene for Digital Playground's "The Tribunal."
Inside the sprawling warehouse, director Ricky Greenwood sits behind a monitor, separated from the set by a curtain, where Puck works alongside industry veteran Van Wylde.
Wylde fashioned his stage name from the National Lampoon comedy "Van Wilder" and the surname of Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde. In "The Tribunal," he joins a band of sex soldiers navigating a dystopian future ruled by corporate oppression and artificial intelligence. Yet even as civilization crumbles around them, its survivors still find time for human connection and, of course, plenty of sex. Some human impulses, it seems, will outlast even the apocalypse.
The ambitious production represents the latest chapter for Digital Playground, a pioneering studio that has repeatedly evolved alongside the industry. Founder Ali Joone was mastering adult CD-ROMs on a Macintosh Quadra in his garage when the 1994 Northridge earthquake struck, leaving him fearful that the computer would topple from his worktable. At the time, most major adult studios had little involvement with the internet, instead shooting primarily on videotape and, for more prestigious productions, film.
Three decades later, Greenwood is bringing Digital Playground's futuristic vision to life with a story that places human sexuality and artificial intelligence on a collision course.
Since entering the industry in 2017, Greenwood has directed approximately 500 adult productions. Originally from Montreal, the bearded filmmaker bears more than a passing resemblance to Stanley Kubrick as he oversees the action from behind his monitor.
Onscreen, Abigail Morris now commands the frame as Kansas, a character whose dramatic proportions reflect the performer's carefully cultivated aesthetic.
"The body I have is not attainable naturally," Morris acknowledges.
A Grim Future With Certain Perks
When Greenwood calls a break, the warehouse continues buzzing with about 15 cast and crew members. A production of that size may have been de rigueur in the 1990s and early 2000s, but it represents a massive production these days. Many members of the veteran crew bring decades of industry experience to the set, including several award-winning former performers.
In the midst of the chaos, Greenwood settles onto a well-worn couch beside Morris, who stands approximately 6-foot-3 in her wardrobe boots. Her commanding physical presence suits Kansas, the formidable hunter at the story's center.
"'The Tribunal' is set in a future where reality TV and corporate control have merged completely," Greenwood explains. "Kansas is a legendary 'hunter' on a live broadcast that turns state executions into entertainment."
When corporate insider Kora, played by Little Puck, steals evidence exposing the truth behind the system, Kansas is sent to track her down. The pursuit brings Kansas face-to-face with Bruce, played by Robbie Apples, a former partner and fellow hunter whom she believed was dead.
"As Kansas, Bruce and Kora's paths collide with a rising star hunter named Bomber, alliances shift, and the group uncovers a way to shut down the algorithm controlling their world," Greenwood says. "It builds to an uprising against the system itself, ending with the characters seizing the airwaves to broadcast their own defiant, unfiltered finale."
Backstage at "The Tribunal"
Between scenes, Morris prepares for her turn as Kansas. She launched her independent content career shortly before the pandemic and began working with studios in 2021. Since then, she has devoted considerable care to developing a physique that supports the increasingly physical demands of her performances. For a role like Kansas, a formidable hunter at the center of an uprising, that work becomes part of the character.
"This version of me is a lot easier on the body," Morris says.
Her commitment feels especially fitting given Greenwood's cinematic influences, which include action heroines played by Linda Hamilton, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss, Michelle Yeoh, and Cynthia Rothrock.
"Honestly, I don't have one physical type," Greenwood says of his favorite leading ladies. "What I'm into is strong women. I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s when women in movies actually kicked ass instead of just standing around."
Little Puck brings a different kind of experience to her role as Kora. Before entering studio adult production at 37, she spent a decade independently producing and managing her own content for clip sites and OnlyFans. That background gave her a firm grasp of the technical and performative demands of a shoot before she ever stepped onto a studio set.
"Even though I was a fresh baby on this new scene, I knew my angles and my lighting," she says.
Her theater training has also proved useful, particularly when scenes require performers to improvise or help one another navigate unexpected challenges.
"I was already good at dirty talking, but porn sets are places where you need to learn to improvise," Puck explains. "Someone's having a bad day 'down there,' so I'll talk dirty. Of course it is a job, and we are all professional, but I want the person I'm supposed to be having sex with to want to have sex with me."
Puck says that collaborative instinct sometimes includes offering to fluff a scene partner, though Wylde quickly emphasizes that the responsibility doesn't belong to her.
"That is very kind of you, but that's not your job," Wylde interjects.
The exchange opens a broader conversation among Wylde, Puck and Apples about the psychological pressures male performers can experience on set.
"What you don't want with guys is to hit that downward spiral," Wylde says.
Apples points to his head. "It's all up here."
"Every guy has to find his own edge," Wylde adds, crediting veterans including Mick Blue and Manuel Ferrara with supporting him throughout his career.
According to Apples, that support becomes easier to find once performers establish themselves as dependable colleagues.
"Once people in the industry know that you're cool, working for the team, they look out for you," he says. "But bad days bring up all the old insecurities."
By the end of the shoot, that mutual respect is evident in the easy rapport between Puck and Wylde.
"You did a good job today," Puck tells him.
"You're the hot one," Wylde replies. "I was just the guy lucky enough to be there."
The End Is Coming
Greenwood says "The Tribunal" will debut in four parts on DigitalPlayground.com beginning in September, followed by the complete movie on DVD later in 2026.
With filming ready to resume, he returns to the monitor as Kansas and Bruce prepare for a reunion. Careworn and concealed beneath a hood, Bruce looks as though he has stepped out of a Blue Öyster Cult video, adding another layer of retro influence to Greenwood's dystopian world.
On the monitor, the camera closes in on Morris as Greenwood considers the composition.
"Is that the tightest you can get?" he asks the camera operator.
From the set, Morris answers with a perfectly timed double entendre.
"Oh, you have no idea."
