Behind the Scene: Roo the porn star

‘Wow, this is huge. And I thought it was too expensive. You certainly get your money’s worth, don’t you? I’m going to have to take a picture of this. I always take a picture of impressive meals. Are you just going to get squelching and munching when you play this interview back?’

The person asking So So Gay this question as we sit in a trendy Soho cafe is Roo, a slender 20-year-old with cheekbones that could cut glass and a surprisingly deep voice. In front of him is an enormous plate of falafel and chips, which he’s contemplating with a mixture of awe and trepidation. Within minutes, he’s posted a photo of his food to the 375 people who follow him on Twitter.

A child of the YouTube age, Roo is incredibly social-media savvy and slightly crazy. He’s been blogging since his teens and has recently re-launched his website HCTV, which he calls ‘his baby’. Packed with funny, fast-paced and slickly edited interviews, reviews and musings, watching its content is like getting an adrenalin shot. Roo makes So So Gay feel very old.

But we haven’t arranged to meet him to discuss HCTV or even to argue with him about his dislike of Doctor Who. No, we’re here to talk about his online exploits in a different field. Because in the guise of baseball cap-wearing über-chav ‘Sonny’, Roo (not his real name either) has stripped off and had sex with a succession of formidably well-endowed men for major gay porn companies such as Blake Mason, Eurocreme and HardBritlads. And recently he’s switched from studio work to start Nekkid, a pay-per-view channel on Xtube, which he edits and presents like HCTV with a hard-on.

In between mouthfuls of falafel, the thoughtful and drily witty Roo explains to So So Gay how he started in gay porn, why he’s not embarrassed to admit to it and what it’s like when the cameras roll.

SSG: When did you first consider doing porn?

Roo: I’d finished college and I was in the land of Maidstone struggling to find a way into the land of London. I was digging deep into my overdraft to pay rent for a shitty flat. I’d always flaunted myself on webcam and I’d always had a fascination with porn. I thought it would be a fun way to make money and I was comfortable with my body, so why not?

To be honest, I don’t get why more people don’t do it. We’ve all got the dangly bits and we’re all naked under our clothes. I don’t think we should walk around without anything on the whole time – I’m not a nudist! But we all see someone naked at least once a day, even if it’s just ourselves. I’ve come to realise that I’m a bit of an exhibitionist.

Once you’d decided to take the step, who did you approach?

I sent an application form to Blake Mason because I recognised someone on there, which made it seem possible. Little did I know that they were so fucking far away. Five hours’ train journey! I didn’t think they’d get back to me, but they did.

How did you feel before your first shoot?

I was nervous. Because with a webcam you’re on your own; and then there’s the fear that anybody would have, which is: ‘Will I be able to function correctly?’ I also had a boyfriend who wasn’t sure about it, although he’d known I’d wanted to do it. I always told him that I’d never do a duo unless he was completely comfortable with the idea. But by the time I started doing duos, we’d broken up.

How did you end up for working for more than one studio?

I hadn’t intended to. I did the first one, enjoyed it and just kept on applying. And by the time I was doing Adam Jacks, I’d met [fellow porn star] Tyler Johnson who knew Simon Booth at HardBritlads and put me in touch with him. Simon had contacts at Eurocreme, so it led on from there.

You filmed a locker room scene with Tyler Johnson for HardBritlads. What was that like?

We did that after midnight. It took about three hours and it was boiling hot. I was sweating and getting dizzy. It was mental. There was a lot of stopping and starting, mainly because of the positioning of the cameras and the pictures they take halfway through filming. ‘Hold it there! Show me some leg!’

Where did the name ‘Sonny’ come from?

It was what the robot in the film I, Robot was called. We brainstormed it. Some people use their real first name and change the second; other people do it the other way round. It’s a bit of a game. In the end, though, it’s all a bit pointless; it’s clearly you. I had to come to terms with that when my real name was used in a film. But if you sign a contract, I do think that – out of principle – the studio should use your model name. Otherwise, why have a contract?

Has doing porn affected your personal life? Does people’s behaviour change when they find out?

Yeah, but I enjoy combating that. I like that people are surprised by the fact that I’ve done porn. It’s a bit like, ‘See, everyone does naughty things’. And you can have a laugh about it rather than be sleazy about it. That said, a lot of porn models also escort. I can see why. The money is reason enough. Who’d ever get a normal job when you’re getting paid enough for a quick shag to, say, be able to buy a new laptop with new editing software? But then there’s the thought of old men and disease and that, in the end, you’d switch off and not be able to have genuine sex. That’s why I’d draw the line at that.

Does your family know that you make porn movies?

That’s an interesting question. There’s a hell of a lot of story to be told about my family and my history, but let’s not go there. It would surprise me if my parents didn’t know that I do porn, though, because I have other family members on Facebook and I mention it there. I wouldn’t mind them talking to me about it, although it would be weird.

Do you enjoy the filming? Or does it feel like a job?

It’s not a job. Well, I suppose it depends on who you’re paired with. Sometimes you go for a beverage and a chat with the other guy beforehand. But you can’t completely lose yourself. It’s never going to be a replication of your actual sex life. And sometimes you’re put into positions that you just wouldn’t do naturally, so often you’re concentrating on getting it right rather than enjoying the moment.

Having said that, you can definitely see when the models are actually partners or have got to know each other. The Bel Ami stuff is really passionate, for example. In the UK, it’s usually two naked men on a bed who say hello to the camera and then fuck over and over again – sometimes on a sofa.

Do you have a say in who you’re paired with?

Not always. Basically, you’ll be offered parts with people and told the amount and if you want to do it, you can. In a way, you have a choice because you do it or you don’t. A lot of people haggle over how much they’re going to be paid. But, to be honest, there’s not really very far that they can go with paying the models at the moment. No one’s making any money. Models have told me that they used to be paid £600 for a solo in the past. And they had premieres for their films! This all stopped before I started, conveniently.

It’s probably because of the Internet and things like torrents. Also, if you’re going to try to make it look amateur on a paid site, well, you can get that for free somewhere like Xtube.

A lot of sites do promote their films as amateur productions. Is this really the case? Or is it just a marketing ploy to feed a certain kind of fantasy?

I definitely think that it’s on purpose sometimes. But it’s also an excuse not to spend too much money or time; to just pump out the videos. It’s difficult to do a lot of good quality videos in a month. If you want to see a really good quality video, look at picturethis-studios, who I’ve worked for, and the amount of effort they put in. They edit their stuff like you’d edit a short movie. But it can’t all be done in an editing suite.

Have you had any bad experiences making porn?

I hope the guy doesn’t read this! On the advice of a friend, I applied to this big site, which put me in touch with this guy that owned a little site. His flat was filled with antiques. It was very brown and beige. He gave me a big speech about how porn is a mug’s game and that no one makes any money. He was doing it for free, for fun. And then it was time to go down into the basement. He opened this big, creaky door and we went down this spiral staircase. When it was time to strip off – I’d shaved because it was some twinky solo thing – he asked to see my arse. And he proper went for it, to part it and go in! I told him to fuck off and he seemed really shocked and said, ‘Don’t you want me to touch you?’ I said no, not really, that’s not how it works!

But, strangely, the fact that he obviously wanted to touch me – and the fact that I wasn’t allowing him to – made me feel empowered. It made it easier.

I felt bad because people like him are probably a lot of the reason why porn is seen as seedy. And I also felt bad because a lot of other people have probably had to go down into that basement and do some weird things. If it was their first experience, they might think that’s what all porn is like. It isn’t.

So what’s been your best experience?

None of the experiences have compared with that first one with Blake Mason. On the way home I wasn’t thinking about the dosh in my pocket; I was thinking, ‘Wow, that was fun. That’s something I can tick off my list of things to do in my life.’

An interesting difference between your studio work and your Xtube channel is how much you talk in the latter. Was it a deliberate move to make your personality such a prominent feature?

Yes, because I’ve got to try to sell some movies on Xtube and that’s not something you really see. I thought: I’ve done porn, I’ve got my face plastered across DVDs and it would be silly not just to be open. Although, I think that for something like HardBritlads, talking would spoil the illusion. People like the illusion. A lot of models don’t speak because it ruins the whole ‘hard-man’ look.

That said, I’ve always thought that if I were to start a porn studio – which would be nearly impossible in this climate, so I’m in no hurry! – I’d approach it in a way that would combine those two elements: funny, with personality, but also sexy. That’s the feedback I’ve had on Xtube. People find it sexier when they know that the person they’re watching is a person, not just a fuck-machine. And I think that the best sex you have in your personal life is when can you have a laugh and go for it.

You can follow Roo on Twitter.