EDGE Rewind: Reality Series 'X-Rated: NYC' Looks Inside Adult Film Stars' Lives
EDGE is reaching into its archive and sharing some of our favorite stories from the past.
Want to know what it is like to be an adult film star? A new reality series debuting today on the Canadian-based Canadian LGBTQ+ channel and streamer OUTtv offers viewers the inside track on the lives of four adult stars — Boomer Banks, Max Konnor, Joey Mills and Dante Colle — over six episodes. For more information, follow this link.
"The cast of 'X-Rated: NYC' is hot, but the drama is hotter. We can't wait for audiences to see them living their best lives in New York City," said Philip Webb, chief operating officer of OUTtv in an interview earlier this year with the website C21Media.
Co-founder of Daddy TV, the production company behind he series, Topher Cusumano described his company to Out Magazine as "a queer, sex-positive production company... yes, it's sex-positive but it's also sex work positive. So really giving platforms to different kinds of performers in the adult industry."
The company also produces the reality series "Hot Haus," which he says features "full-service sex workers, strippers, cam boys and girls. 'X-Rated' really was to sort of dig a little bit more into the celebrity studio porn scene."
He adds that his company aims for authenticity. "A majority of us are sex workers and a majority of us are queer. We always try to employ people of color. Actually, 100 percent of the producing staff are queer sex workers and most of our crew is queer."
He went on to emphasize how much fun the project is. " I do think interjecting as much joy as possible into these stories is crucial for the audience. Mostly because they want people to know that we had fun making it and that was a joyful experience from start to finish. It's probably not as campy as some of the other stuff we make in terms of the comedy. But I do think that by nature of who we cast on this show, some shit just went down that at the moment might have felt really intense and scary but looking back on camera, it's kind of camp."
As for his cast. "This is really the best of the best: Boomer Banks, Max Konnor, Dante Cole, Joey Mills. These are names that you don't have to be a big fan of porn to know in the queer community. You've heard their names. You've seen them in content. So I am excited that it is an A-List cast within our community. It is people that people want to know more about. And they were so well known that we didn't need to see them on set. So if you're seeing any sex stuff on X-Rated, it's in their personal life."
Check out these pics from each performer's IG accounts:
Boomer Banks
Max Connor
Dante Cole
Joey Mills