Kayleigh Winston was laid off two months into the pandemic. She had been an administrative assistant at the California Film Distribution company which just couldn't keep its doors open thru the close-downs. But they promised she would be one of the first to be rehired.
While that sounded encouraging, it wouldn't help pay the excessive Marin County rent on their one-bedroom apartment, with her husband Guy only in his first year as an EMT with the Fire Department. Well, that was not precisely accurate, they could scrape together the rent without her paycheck. It's when they wanted groceries that things would get pretty dicey.
The Marin County Independent Journal and San Francisco Chronicle had been strewn over the kitchen table for days as Kayleigh scoured the classifieds looking for a new job. Slim pickings; either they were not real jobs paying a living wage, or would have been beyond her skill sets. She had already applied for the few that seemed possible but wasn't counting those chickens. Then she dragged herself into the 21st Century and began employing the online search options. She had put together a careful resume that was perfectly typed and painstakingly organized, but utterly unimpressive in its content. She emailed it to half a dozen possibles without a whole lot of optimism.
All of which led to exactly five job interviews over the next 3 days. Three were ruled out at the interview, one other put her on a waiting list that they admitted had a long wait time. One offered her a job at minimum wage with hopes for an increase in 6 months if the economy improved. Since it would have meant a long Bay Area commute, she and her husband calculated that it just would not be worthwhile financially.
She could net more just doing some private babysitting. Since they probably would not bother to clue the IRS into that job, that would net as much as those entry-level minimum wage jobs. But not enough to buy good groceries.
Kayleigh kept on slugging; googling ever more remote possibilities. At last, she struck something that looked a bit promising, and a lot scarifying. 'Careers in Adult Film Industry'. What was she thinking!? A few things became clear over the first several sites she read.
Pay in porn had taken a big hit from the glory days when very few good-looking women were willing to take it all off for the cameras. But nowadays, due to the 'normalization' of skin flicks, there were oodles of hot females willing to undress for a role in a low-grade porno. But one could still make a good deal more than the $10 to $12 an hour an entry-level store job might pay.
I became clear that the industry was, in fact, an industry now, if maybe second class. More liberal laws and practices meant that the days of casting prostitutes in seedy roles in back room flicks, were passe. There really were some good-looking young females doing some half-way reputable full-length films where they just happened to get all of their clothes off before the first reel ended (being figurative of course, movies haven't come on reels in decades).
The actors in these skin flicks were struggling with some real business issues, like pay and benefits details that would have been laughed at a few years ago. California's liberal worker protection regulations seemed to apply equally to a female worker who was giving blow jobs to fellow actors, as they did to someone playing a bit part in an academy award production.
Still, there were some descriptions that seemed a bit disguised in detail, with what might be euphemisms or just plain obscurations. Her nerve endings tingled a bit, but never mind. She damn sure wasn't about to tell her beloved husband that she was going to become a porn star.
When she got home, she plied him with his favorite spaghetti and meatballs and share a freshly opened bottle of red. After a nice, relaxing start to the evening, she sat down next to him on the couch and said, "I really need to get your advice about something, super-smart man that I married."
Now Guy is nobody's dummy. When his spouse addresses him as super smart, he is smart enough to know he needs to be on his guard. He smiles and says, "Lay it on me, love."
"Well, I have an appointment for a job interview tomorrow, but I'm not sure I should go, or that you would want me to. It is a bit out of the ordinary, but I know I could qualify, and it starts at $20 an hour with big possible upsides if I do well. It's a pretty well-known San Francisco company." She leads out with.
"Name of?"
"Loving Films," she says.
"Not well enough known for me have heard of it, dear. But a damned provocative name if I do say so myself."
Kayleigh looks down shyly "I know honey, but it is a straight company. They do Adult films."
The expected explosion was only one or two decibels lower than she had expected. "Are you crazy? Adult as in X-rated? Skin flicks? Featuring my precious wife's skin?!"
"Just script writing and editing I think, hon. At first, that's all I think it is." She puts on her pouty face.
"You THINK that's all?"
"Well, that is what the ad suggests, but it is kind of open-ended. I just want to do the interview to learn more about it, Guy. You have to give me some credit for brains and caution. Here's a print copy of the advert." Handing him same.
"Wanted: Attractive young woman with writing skills to join our SF-based Casting Development Group. Working on 'Loving Films' productions to produce sensuous and sexy scripts for short and full-length films. $20 per hr. starting, with generous benefits package. Huge upside potential for the right person. Award-winning production company. Call Walton Fitzgerald, 555 546 7777."
He calmed down another decibel. "Wow. So, you think you are the right person to get that huge upside, huh, my dear?"
"Well, I have no way to know unless I do the interview. Have some faith in me, honey. I think I will know a solid opportunity from a scam. I can't get close to the $20 and hour with anything else I have been looking at."
Guy put his hand behind his wife's head and pulled her near him. "God, you are so hard to resist you know. I am not the first man to say you are the hottest thing since French Toast. There is a reason they are asking for 'attractive young women', but I am sure the interviewer will love you to pieces and want you to appear naked in your very first script!" Smile.
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww JOB INTERVIEW wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Kayleigh hesitated in front of the nondescript 4 story stone building on Pine Street. She had an appointment for a job interview with a Manford Hutton on the 3rd floor and was scared shitless. Excuse the dirty word. Let's just say it scared the crap out of her.
The directory pointed her to room 312 on the 3rd floor where the nice lady took her name and she had to wait about 15 minutes to get in to see Mr. Hutton. He turned out to be a very outgoing and friendly middle-aged man that quickly put her more at ease.
"Welcome, Miss Winston. So, you think you might like to work in the Adult Film arena?" He began.
"It's Mrs. Winston, Mr. Hutton. And yes, I have never done anything like this before, but wanted to get more information at least."
"Information is my middle name, mam. But is there still a husband in your life and is he aware you are applying for this position?"
"Oh yes, there very much is a mister, and he and I talked about this at some length. He has some reservations, as do I, but was happy to let me check it out for myself." Kayleigh said.
"Great to have his support, Mrs. Winston. Honestly, we usually do not hire married women because of the potential for interference with some of our ... er, plans. Would he be likely to pose such a problem?"
She was more than a little puzzled "I don't think so. Guy is a very trusting and open-minded man, and I will have told him the plans beforehand. I guess."
*Bzzzz* Hutton reaches for the phone that was buzzing, "Yes sir?"
"Manny, is that woman the goddess she comes across as over the monitor?"
"Every bit sir. Over the top, for sure."
"Then pass her on to me right now. I want to press her on the husband thing, and then, hopefully, put her right into the second stage interview myself. Hear me?"
"Woow, OK, you're the boss! That has never happened that I remember, but I completely share your enthusiasm."