Federal law says that if you are going to do porn you must be at least 18 years of age and be able to prove it with a valid Government-issued ID – this means at the very least you need a US passport, a state-issued driver’s license, or state-issued ID. You must have one of those three things. Period. No exceptions.
In addition, some production companies ask for one or even two additional forms of ID to be extra sure. As the old saying goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
This is federal law. There are no exceptions to this law. If you are going to get buck ass naked on camera you are going to have to be able to first prove you are over 18.
I’m okay with that. You should be 18 or over to film porn. And you should have to get their IDs to prove it.
In addition to proving you are 18, there are other laws that go into effect regarding the release and distribution of content – all content, not just adult. And that has to do with the model release.
Once you sign that release, which is a legal document, you are then bound by the terms of that legal contract between you and the content owner. While the details vary from contract to contract, the basics are that you agree to allow them (the owners of the content) to release it as they see fit, because you were paid for your performance in advance and you are fine with them using the content as they see fit.
In the end, you are basically saying, I accept payment for my performance, and now said performance is owned by a 3rd party to distribute at all.
A person must consent to the use of their likeness. This means they must sign a model release.
In the past, this was mostly all we needed but there are two other documents you still need. The first is a location release. If you aren’t shooting content in your own home, you need the owner of said property to sign off on a release saying they have given you permission to shoot.
You can click here to download a copy of a location release that you can customize for your own needs.
The next thing you will need is something new that most people haven’t even heard of. It’s called a performer consent checklist. This is a special document that shows you (the producer) and the performer have sat down and discussed in detail what the performer is and is not comfortable with doing on camera.
It’s a very straightforward document where the performer just goes through and checks off what he or she is comfortable with and then at the bottom lists off anything that is absolutely under no uncertain terms will happen.
We as an industry work together to stay compliant with all federal guidelines and regulations. In addition to these legal documents, we also undergo physical testing to ensure our bodies are free of sexually transmitted diseases. This testing is not free. We as an industry spend an insane amount of money on it every single month. But we do this to ensure the safety and well-being of all performers.
These steps however are not enough for Mastercard. Because of some lies – and let’s be honest here, this is all happening because some anti-porn religious zealots made up some lies.
So now Mastercard has come up with some new rules – these are THEIR rules, these are not federal regulations.
The banks that connect merchants to our network will need to certify that the seller of adult content has effective controls in place to monitor, block, and, where necessary, take down all illegal content.
Now, our requirements address the risks associated with this activity. And that starts with strong content control measures and clear, unambiguous, and documented consent.
Other updated requirements include:
- Documented age and identity verification for all people depicted and those uploading the content
- Content review process prior to publication
- Complaint resolution process that addresses illegal or nonconsensual content within seven business days
- Appeals process allowing for any person depicted to request their content be removed
Now, what does this mean?
Well, first it means that you not only have to document the age and identity of all the performers but anyone who helps you upload your content. This means if you employ assistants or work with OnlyFans management companies, all of their IDs must be included — as they are the ones uploading the content.
Next, you must set up a complaint resolution process, which is similar to the DMCA notification process, but now all of these issues must be addressed within 7 business days.
This is an address and/or telephone number where a person can contact you and say remove my content, it was uploaded illegally or I did not give consent. Even if they did — you must provide this service anyway. Once the complaint is filed, you must then review the associated documents, IDs, etc. and make an official and informed decision and notify all parties about that decision within 7 business days.
Last but not least, if you deny their request to remove the content because you found they in fact did legally consent but just want their content taken down, you must provide an appeals process allowing for any person depicted to request their content be removed.
This can be a little tricky as to how it is handled. It does not say you HAVE to remove it, just that you must allow for the request and show in good faith that you were willing to discuss viable options for them.
ie: I spent $19,117 producing said content, not including the cost of marketing it and future earnings. If the talent would like to compensate us that amount, we would pull the content.
If you are the owner of the merchant account then you must also provide monthly reports about who filed complaints and what the resolution was.
If you only offer your content on platforms like OnlyFans or Clips4Sale, then you don’t have to worry about that. They would be the responsible reporting party in that case.
The Biggest Change Of All
Earlier today an article was published in The Daily Beast, where Alana Evans, president of the APAG union talks about one tiny other little proposed change.
This was sent out via email to all merchants and will go into effect with the other new regulations on October 1, 2021.
All IDs for content (according to this article) must be current. So let’s say you filmed a scene on January 15, 2020. Your ID expires on June 15, 2020. That scene (according to Mastercard) can no longer be distributed online unless the content owner gets an updated copy of your ID.
This means if the person has died, moved away, or is no longer in porn, you (the content owner) are shit out of luck. Because if the ID for that performer has not been kept up to date, you can’t release that content online (according to Mastercard). Again this is not federal regulation, this is MasterCard rules.
So that means, you must pull the content. Because without a current ID for the performer, a customer can’t use their Mastercard to buy it.
I’ve said this before but I need to say it again … the government is the least of our worries. It’s always been the credit card companies that hold real control.
A lot of information is still coming out about these proposed changes so we’ll see how it goes. For now just make sure you are using the new above listed documents in addition to model releases and 2257s.
