Studio «BAN»

3. CASTING: ARTHOUSE LEADING LADY

Like Marcus and Stavros, Barbara was a senior. But unlike them, she was a finance major. For that reason, she was more accustomed to trusting hard numbers rather than abstract stories with fuzzy phrasing. She trusted data, and Marcus had provided plenty of it: turnover, demand, growth dynamics over recent years, and so on.

Seeing Barbara up close, Stavros truly felt like he was looking at a fine wine that had been aged for an eternity before being revealed to the world. She sat across from them in the café, and at that moment, Stavros realized what the pinnacle of perfection looked like. Dark chestnut hair falling past her shoulders in soft waves; honey-colored eyes, full lips of just the right size and shape, neat eyebrows with a slight arch at the ends, thick lashes, and a physique that made the standard «36-24-36» look obsolete.

Marcus, however, was experiencing mixed emotions. On one hand, he imagined the massive breakthrough they’d achieve if they could talk this beauty into it. On the other hand, sitting at the table across from her, he was so sold on her candidacy that he knew he’d never forgive himself if these negotiations fell through and they failed.

But there was one thing Marcus and Stavros were in total agreement on. They were both already mentally picturing how stunning Barbara would look undressed on a bed, and if they were to…

«Let me guess,» Barbara said, her tone laced with suspicion. «Now you’re going to tell me I need to demonstrate my skills in bed with one of you, for the ’casting,» so to speak?»

«No,» Marcus replied. It was his first outright lie.

Knowing how masterfully his friend could conceal the truth, Stavros chimed in without hesitation to shift Barbara’s focus from Marcus to himself as quickly as possible:

«Your reputation precedes you. You don’t need to prove anything.»

Taking a sip of her coffee, Barbara said:

«I honestly don’t know whether to be proud of that or ashamed.» She looked off to the side for a moment, then continued: «Fine. But what makes you think this film will make us rich? Even insane view counts don’t guarantee a solid financial payoff. These days, porn is more accessible than mainstream cinema. And the variety is already beyond impressive. What exactly can you offer the public that’s so special?»

«Well, for starters,» Marcus began, «Pornhub isn’t even part of the equation. We’ll only post short clips on public sites as ads to drive traffic to our own website.»

«Your website?»

«Exactly. We’re launching our own platform with monetization options. Say, a dollar to watch the first five minutes, another dollar for the next five, a dollar for a replay of a specific scene. Or we could charge five bucks for the full movie. These figures are just placeholders, of course. We’ll discuss the specifics a thousand times over.»

«Fair enough. And how do you plan to motivate users to part with their hard-earned cash? What can they get from you that isn’t available for free?»

«Well… I’ve spent a lot of time digging around online, and I noticed that the ’rape’ genre is in a serious deficit.»

«So, it’s going to be a rape scene?» Barbara clarified.

«Yes.»

Suddenly, Stavros cut in sharply:

«Not exactly.»

Marcus looked at him, puzzled, as did Barbara. She asked:

«And what else?»

Stavros replied, keeping a perfectly straight face:

«A MILF rape scene.»

Picturing the scene in full color, Marcus said:

«Actually… I like that.»

«Did you guys just make that up on the spot?» Barbara asked. «Boys, you’re poorly prepared.»

«No,» Stavros countered. «I just had an epiphany.»

After a short pause, Barbara asked:

«And when are you planning to shoot?»

«In the second half of May.»

Raising her eyebrows slightly, Barbara said:

«Right before finals?»

«Barbara,» Marcus let out a weary sigh, «screw the exams. You’ve already learned enough to coast through. You’re not going to end up without a degree, but our schedule is as flexible as a crystal vase.»

Smiling, Barbara looked from one to the other and said:

«I see you guys aren’t losing any sleep over your studies.» She tilted her head back, stretching her neck tight, and began tracing it with her fingers, lost in thought for a moment. «It’s going to take some real effort. Porn actors know how to fuck, but they have zero acting skills. But if the rape looks convincing… yeah, there might actually be a pretty large target audience.» Barbara paused again, pressing her index finger to her lips, and added after a moment: «It’s just this whole «mommy’ thing that bugs me. I don’t look that old yet.»

«What are you even talking about?» Stavros cut in with a hint of indignation. «You’re a total smoke show. I mean, I’m paying you a compliment here.»

«I get it,» Barbara cut him off sharply. «My point is, we need to find someone who looks really young to create that contrast — that’s what’ll sell the «mommy’ effect.»

«Then we should look among the freshmen,» Marcus suggested. He began to bore into Barbara’s face with an intense stare, asking: «Have you slept with any of the new guys yet?»

Barbara looked down, licked her lips, and then said with a touch of resentment:

«Marcus, are you here to hire me or to dig through my private life?»

«Just answer the question.»

«What, you think I’m some kind of deviant?!» Barbara snapped, her voice loud enough to draw looks from people at the neighboring tables.

«Did you sleep with them or not?!» Marcus repeated, losing his patience and sounding a bit high-strung.

After a long pause, her eyes darting around, Barbara answered:

«I did.»

«And…?»

«You need an actor with an abnormally large piece. Or at least something massive. Those guys were all short-stackers.»

«So you’ve had a few of them?» Stavros asked.

Barbara shot them a look that was almost pure rage and said:

«Either you shut the hell up, or I’m walking out of here.»

«Take it easy, take it easy,» Marcus rushed to calm everyone down. «Stavros, that’s enough.» After a brief silence, he asked: «Well, what about the sophomores?»

Trying to compose herself, Barbara said:

«I haven’t been with anyone from the sophomore class yet.» She paused, thinking, and then suddenly remembered: «Wait, actually…»

Marcus and Stavros tensed up in anticipation.

«Pamela. My roommate. She was seeing some nuclear engineering major. A sophomore, I think. To be honest, I’ve never actually seen him, but they were together for eight months, and apparently, it was all because of his monster. At least, according to her.»

Marcus and Stavros exchanged a glance and gave a synchronized nod. Then Marcus said firmly:

«We need to get a look at this sexual titan.»

Barbara added sharply, raising a warning finger:

«But no gangbangs. The rape scene is solo.»

Suddenly, Marcus looked suspiciously deep in thought. Barbara caught it immediately and almost shouted across the entire café:

«Marcus!»

As if snapping out of a trance, Marcus muttered in a timid voice:

«No, no. It’s fine. No gangbangs.»

Meanwhile, Stavros was watching Barbara, thinking about how some truly brilliant ideas never actually make it to market. The more he pondered the commercial potential sitting right in front of him, the more he cursed the world.

After a short pause, Barbara asked:

«This is all well and good, but I’d like to know — what’s in it for me?»

«I’ll be straight with you,» Marcus began, «our budget is far from astronomical. So, we’re offering a hundred bucks upfront, and as your primary payment, you’ll get a stake in the company and a share of the total profit corresponding to that stake. Specifically, ten percent.»

By that point, Barbara had long harbored a secret ambition to open a brokerage account. The thought had parasitized her mind the moment she mastered the intricacies of stock trading in her sophomore year. It was her grandest dream. She wanted to build a massive portfolio of securities and precious metals — enough to eventually kick back and relax, only occasionally dabbling in speculation and playing with cash-settled futures and premium options. But for that, she needed capital. Massive capital.

The end goal is all that matters, regardless of the route taken to get there, Barbara thought.

She reflected once again on the fact that none of her relationships with men had lasted more than five months. This observation led her to conclude that she could stop counting on a «happily ever after.» She was starting to believe that domestic life simply wasn’t for her.

Noticing how deep Barbara had sunk into her own thoughts, Marcus leaned over the table and said:

«Barbara, are you in or not?»

Stavros didn’t take his eyes off her face, trying to determine his next move in case the negotiations went south.

Barbara snapped her head up and looked at the guys as if waking from a stupor. She tilted her head back, squinting, and traced her fingers along her neck, contemplating her future. She tried to imagine what awaited her after graduation. Thoughts of whether she had a «Plan B» began to plague her.

It took a little while longer before Barbara found her way out of the labyrinth of her thoughts. She extended her open palm across the table, shook Marcus’s hand, and said:

«Three hundred bucks.» As she said it, Barbara flashed a smile as if pouring every bit of acting talent she had left from her high school theater days into it.

Holding her hand, Marcus paused to think, then kissed it in the gallant style of a bygone era. Barbara liked that; a hint of delight almost flickered across her face. Then Marcus spoke:

«To be honest, I thought you’d ask for five hundred. But since that’s the case — it’s a deal.»

Frustrated, Barbara lowered her eyelids and whispered almost to herself:

«Fuck.»

Standing up from the table, Marcus leaned in before leaving and whispered erotically into Barbara’s ear:

«Ten percent, babe.»

Thinking once again about how badly she had undersold herself, Barbara nearly collapsed onto the table, resting her forehead on her folded arms.

Heading for the exit, Marcus felt like the master of the universe. He was more confident about the future than ever. It felt to him that even if the mountains shook and the oceans roared, and the plagues of Egypt descended upon the planet, nothing could stop him and Stavros now.

As they stepped out of the café, Stavros remarked, maintaining a degree of composure compared to Marcus:

«Do you even realize how much we were underestimating ourselves?»

Marcus was ready to scream with delight. He was already mentally counting the profits. But more importantly, it was the feeling he got from upsetting Barbara. He tasted power. He wasn’t just spending less of the budget than he’d expected — he had made someone feel defeated in a cunning game, even if this game was only one of the first steps in his ascent. And the fact that this person was such a bombshell gave Marcus an indescribable rush of ecstasy.

4. BEDROOM AERODYNAMICS

Not far from the bathroom, dozens of plastic jugs and a pile of rose stems lay scattered. Marcus paced around a bathtub filled with a hundred and twenty liters of milk, dark red rose petals floating on its surface. Barbara entered the bathroom. She was wearing a black silk robe with a length that resembled a slightly oversized T-shirt. She looked at the contents of the tub while slipping the robe off her shoulders. Dropping it, Barbara bent her entire body forward and began to slowly lower her first leg into the bath. To Marcus, it felt as if after this scene, every piece of porn he had ever watched in his life would lose its appeal. While these thoughts spun in his head, Barbara was already lowering her second leg into the water. The rose petals beneath her body dipped into the milk along with her. She lay on her back, closed her eyes, and played a look of sheer pleasure across her face. She was preparing to take a deep breath. Marcus was waiting for her breasts to break the surface of the milk, expecting the rose petals to stick to the most revealing patches of her skin, when suddenly…

Marcus opened his eyes to the sound of his phone alarm and cursed everything in existence. His worst nightmare was waking up from a dream like that. He comforted himself only with the knowledge that he was destined to see this body in reality anyway. He just needed to be patient.

The two producers and co-founders of Limit Entertainment kept tackling their staffing issues. The next task was to find a tech guy to handle the equipment. So far, the sole candidate under consideration was another senior, Vincent Lehmann, an aerospace engineering major. While the negotiations with Barbara had required meticulous preparation — since the outcome remained unpredictable until the very last moment and the stakes were sky-high — Stavros had absolutely no doubts when it came to Vincent.

Vincent had little interest in social circles and interpersonal relationships, as evidenced by his relatively small number of friends. He preferred computing systems and the components of intricate mechanisms, which behaved with maximum predictability and compliance — unlike human beings with their schizophrenic minds, where two opposing ideas could perfectly coexist. To him, it only made sense to work on things that could be measured and calculated, because then everything was clear-cut: either it worked, or something was malfunctioning. You knew exactly which part needed to be replaced to get everything running again. That was his philosophy of life.

For three years now, Vincent had been designing what was supposed to become the world’s best fixed-wing combat drone. He used the Shahed 136 as a design blueprint. He’d even built a miniature prototype in his parents’ garage during summer vacation. But for the drone to become a fully operational war machine, one final, yet most crucial component was missing: dynamite. And that had turned into a real headache, one against which even the Second Amendment was powerless.

As for his other hobby, Vincent was into shooting with video cameras, of which he had accumulated quite a collection. He’d mastered photography at an average level, but it didn’t capture his interest the way a steady stream of frames did. However, Vincent wasn’t looking for the most picturesque views to shoot. He was drawn to locations that offered the potential for sharp editing and creating simple visual effects.

Lacking their own office at the dawn of their startup, Marcus and Stavros decided to talk to Vincent in the very same café.

«You want your hobby to bring in some serious cash?» Stavros asked.

Lost in thought, Vincent said:

«Well, I’ve already got some ideas for a movie. I’m thinking of cutting the budget to a bare minimum and trying to…»

«Screw your movie,» Stavros cut him off. Marcus wanted to put the brakes on him, but Stavros plowed ahead: «We need a tech guy. Besides the video camera, can you handle the audio gear? Plus the editing and all that?»

«Piece of cake.»

Stavros looked at Marcus. Marcus gave a gesture that said, «Well, go on, since you started,» and Stavros delivered:

«Basically, forget Hollywood and mainstream cinema. We’re offering you the most mainstream cinema possible.»

«Shooting for YouTube?»

«Porn.»

Vincent almost started laughing, but seeing no signs of a prank on Stavros’s face, he instantly froze.

A waitress approached the table and set down their orders of coffee and pastries. Vincent stared at the saucer. To him, it caused the same irritation as an unnecessary part in a mechanism — something that takes up space and drives up costs while offering zero utility.

Waiting for the girl to leave, Vincent said, sliding the saucer aside and leaving only the cup in front of him:

«And you already have actors? More importantly — a leading lady?»

«We have the actress,» Stavros continued in a calm tone. «We’ll find the guy too. So, what do you say? It’s a pretty good way to bankroll the budget for your blockbuster.»

Vincent looked down and began scratching the back of his neck.

«Look,» Stavros pressed on, «Stallone started out in porn too. And he’s actually an actor. Nobody’s asking you to get in front of the camera. You just need to move around the room with the gear and shoot everything from the best angles.» After a brief pause, Stavros added: «Trust me, once you see our actress, especially with her clothes off, you’ll be begging us to shoot a sequel.»

«And what’s my cut?»

«Our budget is tight, so at first, it’ll be a hundred bucks upfront, but instead of a standard salary, we’re offering you a stake in the business. You’ll get five percent of the company, and consequently, five percent of all future profits. We’ll draft a contract, everything completely official.»

In reality, that was the only thing Vincent cared about: concrete numbers, not fluff. He dismissed Stavros’s words about the hot girl as nothing more than aggressive marketing designed to scam buyers out of their money.

«It’s a deal,» Vincent said.

That was way too easy, Marcus thought.

He and Stavros took turns shaking hands with Vincent, after which Marcus asked:

«So, let me get this straight — you have a whole arsenal of video cameras, right?»

«Sorry, man,» Vincent said with a shrug of regret. «But my cameras won’t cut it for this. We need a camera with a tracking focus feature, so the main subjects stay locked in regardless of how they move in the frame. It would also be great to have real-time eye autofocus. When the star of your film is faking an orgasm, that feature is going to come in very handy. If you’re planning to shoot in low light, we’ll also need fast lenses. And in-body image stabilization, if you want to move the camera around. But for porn, I’d actually recommend a static multi-angle setup, especially if we work on the framing and the angles.»

After the words «tracking focus,» «fast lenses,» and «static setup,» Marcus and Stavros’s brains temporarily short-circuited. The only thing they understood was that they had definitely come to the right place.

«What about the audio gear?» Marcus asked. «I heard that professional studios often dub the audio tracks during post-production because capturing quality sound live is a nightmare.»

Vincent took a sip of his coffee and said:

«That’s because the porn industry is run by degenerates. We’ll rent a shotgun mic to capture the primary audio, plus a bunch of lavalier mics that we can hide around the set so they’re out of sight. They’ll be close to the sound source and pick up everything we need. Plus, the quality of those mics these days is so advanced that they can cancel out ambient noise, making the main audio much cleaner.»

«Alright,» Marcus said. «What about the lighting rigs?»

«Now, that’s going to take some tinkering. For our purposes, we’ll need something large, capable of lighting up an entire room evenly from multiple directions. I haven’t worked with that specific gear before, but I’ll look into it. If you give me some time, I can probably figure it out.»

«Don’t sweat it. You’ve got plenty of time,» Stavros said. «Production doesn’t start until May.»

With a hint of anxiety, Marcus asked:

«Are you sure you’ll be ready by then?»

«More than ready,» Vincent replied.

But a fly in the ointment on this smoothly greased road was still inevitable. According to Vincent, launching and developing their own website would require far more cash than initially projected. However, their enthusiasm was too strong to back down now.

«We should probably get a safety net and dig up some more cash, just in case. But where the hell from?» Marcus asked as they walked back to campus.

Stavros lit a cigarette, looked at his friend, and said:

«Dude, you’re disappointing me. You donated blood, right?»

«Yeah, not that long ago.»

«Well, I’m not saying you need to donate blood again.»

«What are you getting at?»

«I’m talking about donating, just not blood.» Stavros took another drag and continued: «You’re making a porn movie, for Christ’s sake. Hasn’t that thought even crossed your mind?» He then put his arm around Marcus’s shoulders and said: «Don’t sweat it, we’ll do it together. It’s our joint studio, so we’ll distribute the risks evenly.»

«And what if even that isn’t enough?» Marcus asked, knitting his brows slightly.

Stavros smiled and replied:

«Well, it’s not like we’re going to start selling our organs.»

After his friend’s words, Marcus felt another surge of unwavering faith in their success.

That evening, Marcus dug into the internet once again, evaluating the earnings of models who monetized their photos and videos. He looked at the latest figures, his eyes already burning with the realization that he could rake in a profit several times larger than anything he was seeing on the screen.

5. WEAK LINK

«What, you want me to fuck on camera?» Samuel Green clarified, wanting to make absolutely sure he had heard them right.

They were standing in the hallway of the academic building while crowds of students, and occasionally professors, drifted past them.

Sam was well below average height and noticeably underweight. No matter how much he tried to gorge himself on tons of the greasiest, most high-calorie junk food, it never helped. In that sense, he would be the envy of anyone ready to put one foot in the grave just to lose a couple of ounces. Sam would have been glad to put on about forty pounds, but nature had revolted against the idea. On top of that, Sam couldn’t grow stubble to save his life. Whenever he went clean-shaven, his face could easily be mistaken for a kid’s.

«No,» Marcus replied. «You’re going to fuck on camera exactly the way we tell you to. Start when we tell you to. Pull out when we tell you to.»

Sam’s face twisted into a grimace of either fear or shame. He pictured it in full color: standing in the middle of a room, getting ready to engage in what seemed like a fairly common activity (and over the last couple of months, an almost daily one), while these guys stood around telling him where to stand, where to lie down, how deep to go, what position to take, and at what rhythm to work his jackhammer. In his mind, he was already comparing himself to a trained dog that obediently follows commands.