Interviews Brought to you by ...
And Now... Sean Storm ...
Keith: Hello JRL Fans, Its a sizzler today because we are joined by the hit maker and Actor extraordinaire Sean Storm. Sean thank you for hanging out with us here on JRL and I just have to ask right up front. How do you keep that body looking so hot?
Sean: Thanks, Keith! First, I want to thank you for this interview. JRL has given Cre8tive Juices some great exposure right from the get-go. And we appreciate you guys helping to get our brand name into the gay man's psyche. As for my body, gosh, I don't know. I really haven't done ENOUGH to keep it looking so good. I think I'm at that turning point in my life where I can let it all go to hell, or I can step it up and really put some time and effort into making it really desirable. And since I absolutely LOVE getting fucked on film I've decided in the last few weeks actually to step things up a bit. I've done a great job in the last year of watching the foods I eat. I have my occassional binges where I pig out, but for the most part I'm eating a lot healthier. But that alone doesn't create a porn star body. Exercising and working out are the key elements that I have not done a great job with in the past. But that's all changing now that I am running with my dog in the mornings and doing weights in the afternoons. So I'm really excited to continue working out so that I can show it all off in a near-future production.
Keith: Okay enough of my personal thoughts, tell me how did you decide you wanted to be a director?
Sean: I've always been a creative person. In junior high and high school I used to write scripts to television shows and even had a 1,000-episode soap opera that I created called REFLECTIONS. Then during summers off in college my friend Carol and I would get the video camera out and make our own movies - really cheesy spoofs of horror movies and comedy skits like you'd see in Saturday NIght Live. I've always been drawn to entertainment, and if I could do things over again I would have applied to film school after graduating from high school. But for 5 years after college I was working in hospitals and law firms doing nurses aid and law firm runner work. Nothing was holding my interest, so I decided to go back to school and study computer science. It was while in college a second time that I answered an ad for porn models for a movie for Citiboyz in 1999. I performed in about 20 more adult films before I decided to direct. And my decision to direct really stemmed from a frustration of not getting to do the kind of acting that I saw other guys doing. The "director" role carries a weight of final-decision-making that a performer just doesn't ultimately have. For years I had this idea of starring in a series of movies that were plot-driven that centered around a hurricane. And I wanted there to be elements of humor to mix in with the sex. And so when I started up Cre8tive Juices we decided that these STORM CHRONICLES would be our flagship series of movies. So getting to finally express my non-performer creativity to porn films has, literally, been a dream come true for me. Everything else I do from here on out is just icing on the cake. And I'm having a fantastic time doing it.
Keith: Bare backing features such as Hole Milk [2006] and your sizzling hit of 2005 Direct Deposit are continuing to arrive in retail stores for the first time which shows that your product has long life. What makes your bareback features different from the rest in the Gay Adult Film Industry?
Sean: Thanks, that's encouraging to hear! Before we released DIRECT DEPOSIT there certainly wasn't any guarantee that our films would be successful. What makes our first three releases so different from the competition is that Cre8tive Juices decided to try some new things: we used solid plotlines to tell a story that continues to build with each successive film; we inject humor into our movies; we have an extremely talented videographer and editor in the form of Ian Rawlings; our production values and finished product look and sound great and I personally feel that any one of our first three movies could and should be nominated for a Gay Video News Award. But of course bareback films aren't honored.... yet. But you know, winning awards aren't important to me. If I wanted to do that I could have played it safe. But that just didn't feel like I was being true to myself. So instead I made the decision early on to put 110% into a film and make it the best I can so that people who watch bareback films can have an alternative to the all-sex titles that are so popular. Cre8tive Juices's next release will be an all-sex movie. And we'll be producing both scripted and all-sex movies in the future. But for us to stand apart from the many bareback companies already out there we needed something different to capture that initial curiosity-factor. And the scripted films seemed like a good gamble to make. If I can't entertain someone, then I don't feel like I am doing my job. I want to leave my creative stamp behind. I think it would be awesome in 10 years or so to know that people are having a STORM CHRONICLES movie marathon, quoting lines from the films or acting out their favorite scenes with a sex partner. I don't know, that's probably a silly thought, but what I am doing right here and right now with the films that Cre8tive Juices is making means a lot to me. My heart has been in it since the beginning, and I think as long as producing quality films remains my top priority, Cre8tive Juices will continue to thrive.
Keith: How did you first get in front of the camera Sean? Men Across the globe you want to know!
Sean: I used to videotape myself jacking off on camera since I was 16 years old. I copied over all those first experiences because I was afraid my Mom might find the tapes. Things heated up with my first boyfriend when I was 25, and I continued doing homemade stuff like that up until 1999 when I did that Citiboyz movie. I've always been an exhibitionist and have always been more than happy to do a show on camera. My first sex scene in a retail product was THE ORGY for Sam Dixon's now-defunct studio Boiling Point Productions. Even when I am having sex for my own personal pleasure I have never said no to someone else who has asked to get the video camera out and film it. But now with YouTube and XTube and all of these my space-type websites I have to be a lot more careful with things.
Keith: I see that you recruited one of the superstars of your first Gay XXX Project Direct Deposit, Austin Shadow for your Top 10 hit Storm Surge [2006]. How did that come about?
Sean: My business partner and partner in crime, Ian Rawlings, and I first met Austin at Parliament House in Orlando during Gay Days 2003. So when it came time to cast DIRECT DEPOSIT I remembered Austin's huge cock and realized we had to get him in front of our camera. Ironically, Austin shot two scenes for us in the same weekend. The first scene was the one that paired him with Erik Austin in DIRECT DEPOSIT. Then the next day Austin fucked me for the scene that appeared in STORM SURGE. We had to keep my scene with Austin on the shelf for almost two years until STORM SURGE got released - which was really frustrating because I knew it was a fucking hot scene, but couldn't see the light of day until we got to it in the storyline. We then hired Austin again about 6 months later to shoot his scene for HOLE MILK, which was the follow-up to DIRECT DEPOSIT. So Austin has been very good to us and it's good to see his career has taken off ever since. Since Austin's character stole a private sex tape of mine in STORM SURGE we probably haven't seen the last of him yet. I have plans to bring him back in Episode 6 of the series. And just to put it out there, there will be seven episodes of THE STORM CHRONICLES series in all.
Keith: How has the industry treated you with your bareback genre?
Sean: When I first made the announcement that I was doing a bareback movie I received quite a few emails from other producers and performers in the industry, most of them supporting my decision. But it was still very clear from their comments that it would be very difficult for me to continue making safer sex films - at least for a few of the high-profile studios that had policies not to hire models who have done bareback work. But since I was launching my own company and going to be doing my own videos, I really didn't need to worry about not getting roles for Condom Studio X, Y or Z. But one company did come to my defense right away: Raging Stallion. I had already agreed to work with Michael Brandon prior to my barebacking announcement. After the announcement, I told Michael that I would totally understand if he still didnt want to use me. But he and Chris Ward were AWESOME. They said they didn't care what I had done before. They were most concerned about being giving them a great performance. And I actually made four movies for them after all was said and done. Doing the Raging Stallion movies gave me a great opportunity to show the industry that my autonomy to choose to do a bareback movie didn't have to hinder my chances of doing condom movies. And perhaps other condom studios would have hired me, too. I just don't know because I never pursued looking for other condom movie work after doing the movies for Raging Stallion. Ideally I would love to do one condom and one bareback movie a year. My next condom movie will be for Centaur Films, which has supported me since 2000 by employing me in 8 movies, including last year's SEAN STORM'S COLLECTOR'S EDITION. So, initially, the industry's reaction to me doing bareback movies was, I guess, news-worthy in 2004. But I think all of the dust has settled since then. My name is pretty synonymous with bareback now. But I've never turned my back on the condom side of things, even though I am not as active in that genre of film.
Keith: You have a lot of hard competition in the marketplace these days and yet, your features seem to hold strong in both rentals and sales. Do you attribute it to good marketing or just great gay porn?
Sean: Yeah, there is a TREMENDOUS amount of competition out there. Every week it seems like another bareback company is starting up. It can be a little daunting because one of the things I worry about is an oversaturated market. There is a lot of crappy product out there that gets filmed, edited and released almost overnight. Our films are very labor-intensive and we take the extra time to get it right, because you're only as good as your last product. The downside is that we don't get very many titles released as quickly as some of the other studios do. But the fact that our titles sell and rent well is a testament to our dedication. I have gotten emails from customers who tell me that they can see how much hard work we put into our films. So for a layperson to tell me this speaks volumes on how we're perceived in the marketplace. Good marketing has also contributed. By running full-page ads in magazines, we have created awareness. By you guys at JRL running our banners and announcing our films and INTERVIEWING me right now creates even more awareness. So the marketing and the quality of the films contribute to our success, definitely.
Keith: What's coming up next from the Cre8tive Juices Label in 2007?
Sean: Our next release is going to be our first all-sex film. We hope to get that out before Xmas in direct mail order, and it will be our first retail film for 2007. After that we will begin production on the fourth STORM CHRONICLE, which is going to be AWESOME! Everything in Part 3: STORM SURGE has led up to Part 4, meaning that Hurricane Oliver has slammed into Ft Lauderdale and various performers will be fucking their brains out while the storm is in full gear outside. I have Part 5 of the series written and Part 6 is still gestating in my head. I haven't quite figured out how it will all end in Part 7 yet, but I do have a few ideas brewing.
Keith: How about the fabulous http://www.cre8tivejuices.com/ website. What do you have up your sleeve for gay consumers?
Sean: We've just added Cre8tive Juices TV which is webstreaming of our first two titles, "Direct Deposit" and "Hole Milk." Members can purchase time to view whatever portions of each movie they desire. Coming next is the Cre8tive Juices Theatre which will offer downloads of those same titles, thereby significantly improving their quality, and the titles of other studios. I should also point out that we've recently obtained the equipment to begin taping all of our new titles in High Definition. We also just added a Model Search feature to the site so models can now apply directly online to us. We will also be adding photo galleries and pix and bios of all of our performers to date. I'm also in the process of starting JUICE magazine back up, which is my monthly online magazine that talks up all of our movies and the performers that are in them.
Keith: I have to tell you Sean, thank you for taking the time out to hang with us here on JRL. Do you have any shout outs for anyone today?
Sean: Absolutely. I want to shout out to Chris Ward and Michael Brandon for sticking by my side in the aftermath of my barebacking announcement. I want to shout out to Chip Daniels at Centaur FIlms and Steve Shea at Citiboyz, both of whom helped get my foot in the door in this business. I want to shout out to Gus Mattox because I think he is hot as hell. I want to shout out to Drew Warner and Sam Dixon in LA: I MISS YOU GUYS! And I want to shout out to my fans and say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
Keith: JRL Fans there you go, the one and only Sean Storm. Sean can you tell everyone reading our interview today just what is your No. 1 source for Info and Entertainment on the Gay Adult Film Industry...
Sean: Absolutely, positively, and without a doubt: JRL!!!
Keith: Thank you Sean and for you, our devoted JRL Viewer, check out the Mega Hit in America...Ranked No. 3 on the JRL Weekly Top 50 Chart......The Full Length Movie Trailer....Exclusively here on JRL
