In 2004, the series intimately chronicled the lives of various performers in the
online adult industry, but for the show's second incarnation, the focus will
shift from stars to producers. Says Dorsey, "We really wanted to delve deeper
into the entrepreneurial side of the business. The porn stars are now setting
up shop for themselves and there's a dual business/performer aspect that the
online industry allows for."
Season two of Webdreams will not only branch out in terms of content but also
in terms of location, featuring porn workers from Toronto and Vancouver along
with a fresh new crop of Montrealers. The idea is to explore the nuances of
each city's industry. According to Dorsey, Montreal has the biggest industry
and it is probably the most open, whereas Toronto is "more business oriented,"
with more sites and less performers, and Vancouver "is completely unique in the
sense that it's smaller but much more tight knit."
As for Webdreams' promise to be more hardcore, that doesn't necessarily mean in
an XXX way, says Dorsey. "'Intense' is more the word." We'll see Violet Manson,
Montreal's most popular web chatter, try to get her solo show off the ground;
Diesel, a successful web performer-turned-entrepreneur, who will take a turn at
producing transsexual content along with his own; a mainstream media crew
trying to manage a virtual porn factory; and Uncle D, known as the "Canadian
Assman," a lone softcore producer who has a hardcore edge.
For Dorsey, trust was key to getting close to his subjects in season one. "For
the first two months of shooting, Dugmor, a producer, thought that I was a
policeman, that I was undercover, trying to get the goods on his business."
Season two will concentrate on more in-depth storytelling as the series charts
the latest stage of the booming online scene, in which highly specialized niche
sites rule the web and fortune and fame can be had and lost in an instant.
Being the subject of this type of documentary series wasn't necessarily easy,
explains Vid Vicious, a porn director who had a prolific career in mainstream
broadcasting under his belt but had never experienced being on the other side
of the camera. Says Vicious, explaining the difficulty of having a second
camera crew around while trying to film intimate porno scenes: "In the
beginning I was always staring at the camera, making notes to the cameramen."
Vicious, like many others in the industry, didn't have to work in porn, having
already worked as a director for the CBC and the National, as a teacher at
Dawson College and at making commercials. He chose porn because it was so much
easier to get the contracts. But for Vicious, working in the adult industry is
just like anything else. "It's getting in there and telling the story I want to
tell, whether it be about a girl going to the grocery store or a girl having an
orgasm - to me it's the same principle."
Though Webdreams was essentially the kiss of death to his mainstream career, he
is unfazed and treats his job like any other. Says Vicious, "I barely ever get
excited while I am shooting even though I am the horniest guy you will ever
meet."
Both the series maker and the porn producer share a similar vision for
Webdreams: to show that adult industry stars and producers "are very down to
earth when you get to know them," says Dorsey. Vicious hopes that "Webdreams
will trigger interest in the adult industry - and not just seeing it as
perverted the way that the Bush government is trying to push it."
