Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

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Money Shot: The Story of Pornhub explores the work and challenges of the routinely marginalized and stigmatized community of online sex workers. Historically, mainstream media has portrayed their industry by over-generalizing it, passing judgment, or leaning into the more salacious elements of their work. We set out to combat these stereotypes and over-simplifications by including a diverse range of voices, perspectives and themes. Additionally, the film articulates how the pornography industry is often the “canary in the coalmine” for other marginalized groups (ie. LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC), as censorship becomes more pervasive on social media platforms and in government legislation.

The majority of individuals both in front of and behind the camera identify as LGBTQIA+. That includes 10 out of 14 interview subject, the film’s director, and the film’s editor. Additionally, freelance field teams were majority female, non-binary, and/or LGBTQIA+, with field teams on any given day being more than half female and non-binary. All interns on the project were part of Jigsaw Productions’ partnership with Reel Works’ MediaMKRS Career Exploration Program which aims to diversify the media landscape for marginalized people to pursue professional opportunities in media.