The first time I watched porn was with my mum and my aunt in Birmingham. I was a teenager. My aunt found her husband’s porn on videotape and decided to make an event of it, and brought the popcorn in. We then watched and laughed our heads off as my mum and aunt did funny commentaries throughout the scenes. Since then, I have always seen porn as comedy.
The next time that I can remember watching porn again was for work purposes, in the role of production co-ordinator on a short film when I was 26. I’d been in the industry for a few months or so, having recently left book publishing.
I did some running on set (where I learned how to make proper British tea and coffee), when I bumped into a friend, and he asked if I would like to help out on the short musical film he was directing. The producer was the legendary Rob Small.
One of the scenes was set in a sex dungeon in a nightclub with the full cast wearing black leather and PVC bondage gear. But since I hadn’t been to one before I decided to watch some porn set in sex dungeons, to get an idea of what everyone was talking about.
And I laughed my head off.
We arrived for the shoot. It was late at night, at a club in South London. The scene was set with the actors in and then, action! Camera moving in and out of shiny bodies dancing and swaying to music.
I was standing at the back of the scene and looking at the actors, but they looked kind of off to me. So, when they paused, I looked at the 1st AD and said to him, “They are not doing it right.”
Then I added, “I’ve been researching, and they are not doing it right at all. It should be more like this.”
He stood open-mouthed as I stepped into the middle of the set and started showing the actors how they should move to get the scene looking right. “Let me show you.”
The scene got reset, shot, and all went well I thought.
Several months later I got a call from Rob asking me to come into Factory Films, on Wardour Street, for a meeting with a director to chat about her first music video.
Carrying my notebook, I wrote down practical things. “Ah, you want the singer to be spinning on a table. Cool.”
After the meeting ended, I looked at Rob and said, “So, where do you want me to start?”
He looked at me and laughed, “We want you to produce the job, Sherry.”
I’m like, “What! Sure, why not.”
Best wishes,
Sherry Collins
Yes, the short musical film is available to watch on Pitch TV. It’s on the homepage, after logging in.
