Porn Valley- I spoke to Keith O’Connor earlier this week and he’s telling me a story about how Lauren Phoenix came over to his house and stripped naked in the driveway, waving her tits. O’Connor’s doing the look around as if to say Lauren, for cripes’ sake, the neighbors. O’Connor’s saying that Phoenix, who just signed a contract with Defiance Films, www.defiancefilms.com, lost maybe something like 20 pounds.
Phoenix is going, whu, stating she may have lost a couple of pounds but basically went to the gym to redistribute herself. Phoenix, being happy the way she redistributed herself, couldn’t wait to show O’Connor the merchandise. I tell Phoenix I heard from one source that it might have been as much as 30 pounds that she disposed of.
“Keith is being ridiculous,” Phoenix laughs. “I lost some weight but I wouldn’t say it was 20 pounds. I just showed Keith the goods. He has to see what his product is looking like. I’ve just been working out.” Phoenix said she had been working at such a pace that she didn’t have the time to take proper care of herself or her body.
“I would disperse all my energy in the scene, then I’d come home and I’d be completely wasted. I needed a bit of time to take care of my body so I’d look good for all my loving fans.”
Phoenix’s contract sounds basically similar to the one Taylor Rain just signed. Phoenix will be performing for Defiance and directing for Torrid Films. And Phoenix can’t get wait to get going on the directing part. “I’ve done a few titles but I’m very excited to be directing for Torrid/Defiance,” she says. Phoenix has previously directed two projects for Doghouse Digital. One was called Shut Up and Fuck Me, but Phoenix doesn’t think the second title has been released. She also directed a movie for Hustler/VCA called Lauren Phoenix’s Pussy POV. “It was an all-girl title and predominantly I shot, but I had some help from camera people because I hadn’t really done much actual, physical shooting myself. But I did have that experience on that project. I haven’t seen it yet but I would like to.”
I mention to Phoenix, O’Connor’s opinion that, despite winning Performer of the Year, she hasn’t even begun to tap her potential. Phoenix is inclined to agree.
“He’s one of my strong supporters,” she says. “And I appreciate that. He believes in me and I believe in him and the company. I think that together we really make a good team.” Phoenix is asked what if anything does she have yet to accomplish on the screen.
“In terms of actual scenes that I’ve performed,” Phoenix continues, “I believe I’ve done everything that I’d like to do. I don’t intend ever on doing double anal or double vag, unfortunately. Maybe I’ve yet to be persuaded but as far as I know, everything I’ve done I’m very happy with. I like all the scenes I’ve performed in thus far. I guess as far as what I can give more of, are more outstanding performances. And hopefully I’ll be directing something that fans could be really proud of, and so can I. I think directing is definitely my next ambition to succeed in. My goals are to succeed as a director.”
The first movie which Phoenix will direct for Torrid has yet to be announced, but Phoenix knows one of the projects coming up will be titled Lauren Phoenix’s Love Letters. “I think Justine [Joli] had done one of those through Defiance/Torrid.”
I wonder if Phoenix, as resilient as she appears to be, ever encountered a situation where she’d draw limits.
“Of course,” she says. “I’m not the kind of person to just sit back and not stand up for something that I think I should argue about or fight for. I just try to be fair and communicate with the people I work with. So if I’m having a difficulty I try and express my feelings. It’s not like I’m going to pack my bags and quit. I love this industry.” The thing that would really set her off, says Phoenix, is the maltreatment of women. “And anything that I think would be unfair. I can’t really say because I’ve not yet encountered anything that’s just made me completely outraged. But I try to address a situation before it gets to the point where I’m completely outraged.” I figure the way Phoenix is talking, she’s going to carry this over to her talent agency.
“I have,” she says. “I don’t like anybody being taken advantage of. In any circumstance [sexually or monetarily]. I expect that everybody has proper tests and I expect there’s proper treatment of talent. I just expect people to treat others the way they’d like to be treated. That’s my only beef. If I feel that somebody’s being mistreated, then I’m going to do or say something about it. Because I don’t think it’s fair or right. And I just believe that everybody deserves to be treated with respect.”
Phoenix started her agency about three or four months ago. “Over the course of my career I’ve intermittently repped myself,” she explains. “Seeing as I did rep myself for a long time, I knew all the connections. I had all the information that I thought I required. And I also had the drive and the know how to put together a business. I’ve put together several different businesses over the course of my life. They’ve either failed or succeeded, and I believe I’m a hard working person and if I put my mind to something, I will be successful at it and I will be able to do some good with it at the same time.
“I basically just decided that I would like to have a nest egg for myself or something to fall back on in case the inevitable happened or the worst happened and be able to have another means of income for myself and another outlet for my experiences and just to be able to help people, basically. That’s pretty much my m.o.”
On hindsight, Phoenix is glad she repped herself. “I can’t say that I’d go back and change anything that I’ve done because those were experiences and I’ve learned from them and they made me who I am today.”
Phoenix also agrees with the analogy that creating an agency is much like building a sports franchise, but she makes it clear that she didn’t rob other tills to create hers. “I didn’t go after anybody who was already represented,” she stresses. “I decided that I would build an agency just to represent myself. That was my original intention. I wanted to have a means for the producers and directors to find me other than just my cellphone number. Then it kind of developed from there. But in terms of going after other people who were already represented, I never took those steps at all. People came and talked to me. They found me once I put the site up.”
Phoenix has also moved to a new house in Granada Hills which is giving her more room to operate out of. Right now, four girls, basically those coming into town, are sharing quarters at Casa Phoenix. Others live on their own. Phoenix so far has 12 girls.
I ask Phoenix what additional motives prompted her to jump into the agency pool, www.laurenphoenixagency.com.
“Over the course of my career I’ve had many men and women come to me and ask me for my advice and any information I could possibly give them about getting into the industry and become successful,” she says. “I figured with my experience as a performer, I could impart some of that information to new talent so that hopefully in the future they will have great and wonderful experiences as I’ve had. Hopefully they’ll achieve some great success too.” Phoenix says she just wants everyone to have good experiences. So she put together her agency when people started e-mailing her from all over the globe.
“I figured why not. I can put together something that I could have a part in the porn industry past the point of my performing days and still be a part of this industry which I love dearly and be able to help some people.”
Phoenix isn’t repping guys as yet, but not because she hasn’t been contacted by quite a lot of them. “I’ve had a lot of interest from that side,” she admits. “I do intend to have a male portion for my agency. Right now I’m focusing on the girls that I have and making sure that I give them as much of myself as I can. I do sit down and speak with everyone individually. I try to give them all the information I can think of and help them prepare in terms of getting ready for scenes or in terms of being prepared for an anal scene which is the most common question. Everyone wants to know about the anal. And they all seem to come to me with the questions! Maybe I’ve done something right. I don’t know.”
I assume that Casa Phoenix has already been the scene of major drama. Phoenix, talking like a lawyer, says, of course. “But we manage every situation and every case individually, and we do our best to deal with it,” she says. “There’s always going to be drama and there’s always going to be problems. But that happens in any house where a lot of people live together. Like any house where there’s multiple personalities and different people all living under one roof- and people who work in porn are sort of different- we try our best to communicate openly and deal with every issue before it gets to be too much of an issue.”
Phoenix also points out that she has a lot of teenagers in her stable. “They’re growing up and still becoming young ladies so there are issues.” Phoenix says, yeah, she’s reminded of when she was growing up and was that age. “I’m 26 now so I’ve gone past those younger stages where you’re trying to discover yourself and boys- stuff like that.”