Walden Woods’ decade-plus career began with SeanCody.com during its initial bout of megafame, and has included a wide array of jobs, from directing and camerawork to managerial positions. Today he is the director of production for Alpha Studio Group, which includes Disruptive Films and Next Door Studios, among other brands, as well as a number of upcoming projects; for example, he and his team are working with Adult Time to increase its presence in the gay market.
As an empathic and passionate filmmaker, and also a business executive, Woods straddles two very different perspectives. From the very start of his career, he has funneled his talent, experience and interests into model advocacy, but it was during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown that Woods found himself newly inspired by the hands-on ways he could effect change in the adult talent community. He cites as inspiration the pioneering advocacy work of Free Speech Coalition and Pineapple Support, as well as fellow filmmaker-exec Bree Mills at Adult Time.
The models need to know someone is looking out for them. They’re not just dollar signs. If we don’t stand up for them and take care of their safety, then why are we doing this?
After 13 years in adult, Woods did find himself exploring an alternative career path — but today, he says, he feels freshly inspired and reinvigorated in his adult career.
“Years ago, when I had my first interview with Sean of Sean Cody about joining their production team, he literally said, ‘Tell me why you’d be good at this job,’” Woods recalls. “And my response was, ‘I used to bartend and I used to work with children.’ I feel like the psychology of trying to manage porn stars falls somewhere in the middle of what those two jobs require. You take care of people, you listen to them. Yeah, a lot of this job is herding cats, but I realized I’m good at it.”
ADAMS: I don’t hear a lot of people say, “I’m herding cats, and I like it.” What was Sean Cody’s response when you said that?
WOODS: He brought me on to shoot a solo scene. And I was told, “Make sure you show no personality, just keep it straightforward.” But I just put my camera down, and I got the model to giggle for the first time. Then we started filming and I made him laugh. And later, Sean was like, “That was perfect. You nailed it, 100%.” And I jumped on their team. I was never that person who wanted to be a robot. As long as the talent gets to laugh and feel comfortable, that’s all I ever really cared about.
ADAMS: That’s a nice segue into the topic we’re discussing for XBIZ, which is model advocacy.
WOODS: This is one of the big things I care about, the crown jewel of my career in this industry over the past 13 years. I joined the Free Speech Coalition as a board member and that was my Willy Wonka Golden Ticket, because I work with models on the daily. I talk to them. I know that sometimes they feel like they are not treated fairly, and I see how they’re not being given the resources that could help them with everything from their health to conflict resolution. I’ve been able to bring what they tell me right to the FSC, and I can also come back to these guys and tell them directly, “Here’s how the FSC can help you.”
ADAMS: This is vital information. What are some of the things you regularly hear from models?
WOODS: They’ll often say to me, “I’m not getting paid” — by their agent or from past jobs.
ADAMS: There’s not any real preparation in life for how to deal with something like that.
WOODS: “My agent is treating me unfairly. What can I do?” Well, I’m the right person to talk to. Another issue is consent. They’ll say, “I’m not sure I fully gave consent on my last shoot.” The first thing we’re going to do on our sets is make sure your consent is 100% valued and verified, so you feel protected. The talent aren’t cattle. I hate the idea that some companies treat models like they’re interchangeable. They’re not replaceable to me; they’re people.
ADAMS: That notion can easily get lost in the push to churn out product for those weekly or daily updates.
WOODS: You can’t know if the model is okay with what’s going to happen unless you talk about it. So that’s been my boots-on-the-ground work: just to make sure we’re doing right by the people who are doing right by us. We ask them to show up on set and put on a show, so we need to make sure they feel protected and respected.
ADAMS: I’m curious about how models respond to all of this. Are they generally eager to have this conversation? Reluctant?
WOODS: Some of them will literally sit down and say, “No one’s ever asked me that before.” They show up on our sets without any expectation that the director is going to care about their mental state.
ADAMS: I think sometimes directors or producers don’t even bother because they don’t want to intrude on someone’s privacy.
WOODS: Just check in. That’s all it takes. Just acknowledge they have feelings. Just say, “Hey, do you need help? Do you need five minutes before we continue?”
ADAMS: It’s not an intrusion.
WOODS: You know, sometimes they just need an adult in that moment. Sometimes they just need a hug, you know? So I’ve really been trying to make sure these guys — men, women, trans, nonbinary — get their voices heard, because sometimes you’re going to feel like this industry is taking advantage of you, or you’re going to have a bad day and feel like everything just sucks. And then you show up on set with all of this emotion stuffed inside you and you do your job and leave, but what you really want is to just talk to someone.
ADAMS: And something as simple as a checkin can really make a difference.
WOODS: You just want to feel safe and welcomed. Models need to hear this: Your body, your choice. We don’t want to force you into doing anything. I stand by that idea pretty hard.
ADAMS: Can you speak to how we got to this place in the industry? And don’t worry, I don’t expect you to solve systemic issues in 30 minutes!
WOODS: Thank you! It’s a big problem. I mean, it took something like COVID-19 to reorient everyone to the idea of models’ mental health and safety. Everyone had the carpet pulled out from under them with COVID. There’s this idea that I hate, which is that consent is assumed because the model shows up on set. Take that whole thing out of your dialogue. There has to be mutual respect. Somewhere along the way, over the years, we took that away from the models. And then COVID came along and studios ran out of content pretty quickly. Suddenly everyone was begging models to sell them content. What we saw from this experience over the past few years is that if you treat models better, you’re going to get better content and they are going to want to be around you more frequently. They are going to tell other performers it’s okay to shoot with you. I’ve been doing this for 13 years, but the biggest thing I learned from COVID was to just turn the cameras off for a minute and treat performers even better than I did before.
ADAMS: Presumably sometimes a model will say, “You know what? Now that you’ve asked, I don’t really want to do this.” That’s not what a producer wants to hear when there’s money on the line and a schedule to keep.
WOODS: Yeah, it does happen. That’s where preparation comes in. On every shoot day, we have a checklist of stuff to go over with the cast and crew; the models get to write down anything they do not want to do. Right before we hit “record,” we speak to the models and start a public conversation where they get to be as honest as they want. Sometimes they’ll say, “Oh, on my last shoot someone pulled my hair too hard,” or “I asked him not to come inside me, but the director let him do it anyway and now I’m nervous about that.” We start with, “Are you comfortable with a handshake? Are you comfortable with a hug? How about oral?” And we’ll keep going from there.
ADAMS: It’s interesting to hear that you start with something as simple as a handshake.
WOODS: We need to know where they draw the line. Sex work is work; we want to make sure they feel heard and respected about that. I’ve really been pushing this hard and I’ve been seeing some great responses. Models are literally saying how it changes the way they speak to directors. For example, we’ll be filming and I’ll need to reposition one of the models because his leg is in the way or something. I’ll literally ask him, “Can I touch your ankle?” I will not touch any part of his body without his permission. If you’re going to ask someone to give you their trust, you have to follow through. So if they’re not comfortable with a handshake, we’ll go with a fist bump.
ADAMS: You’re setting boundaries.
WOODS: That’s it, exactly. The models need to know someone is looking out for them. They’re not just dollar signs. If we don’t stand up for them and take care of their safety, then why are we doing this?
ADAMS: I want to pivot for a moment and ask you about monkeypox and what you’re doing to address it. I know Next Door and Disruptive are among the small handful of studios taking it seriously right now.
WOODS: We are currently erring on the side of being uber-aggressive about checking for it. Heck, we’re even looking at the spread of polio right now. We’ll ask a model one week out from a planned shoot, and then on the day, or the day before, if they’ve been experiencing any symptoms. When they arrive on set, we’ll do a full-body inspection and a temperature check. If we see something, we say something. I absolutely refuse to potentially put talent in harm’s way because we’re maybe running behind on our shoot schedule. If something seems questionable, we don’t put it on camera. I’m not going to ignore warning signs because I’m in a rush that day. And we make sure the models get whatever testing and care they need, of course. We have had to replace some talent. We are prepared to cancel a shoot. That means extra work for me as the producer because I have to replace the model, I have to change the script and go through the consent and testing regimen all over again. It just sets everything behind. But this is what model advocacy is all about. You can’t just half-ass your way through it. These performers need to know someone is looking out for them and I am more than willing to be that person.
