Adult Content Collaborations: The In-Depth Breakdown You Need

Creators Spicy Tea believes the wisdom of the crowd will always be greater than that of the individual. This resource on adult content collaborations was created by Cinanom the creator of Creator Resources Chats and a CST team member!

Starting to make content with other creators can be a little bit scary, and its normal to be nervous. Just remember that other creators are just like you, they are likely nervous as well and collaborating can be very profitable. My most purchased pre-made content is my G/G and B/G collaborations.
We are going to go through the entire process of collaborating with other creators from start to finish, including how to find and approach another creator about collaborating, ideas for collaborations and how to market and sell collab content.

Creator collaborations vs. non-creator collaborations:

There is a difference between collaborations and filming content with a non-creator. Making content with a non-creator is great for making content and having some tantalizing clips to post on your wall and some pre-mades to sell but working with another creator has the added benefit of sharing audiences and the possibility of growing because of it. The other creator will tag you in posts and social media including the promotion of your content, letting more eyes see you.

Getting Started:

Make a Plan

Before you start to reach out to other creators, have a solid idea of what kind of content you want to make. You don’t have to have an entire script made up (your co-star might have some good ideas to add to any scripts the two of you want to do together), but you should have some ideas brainstormed so you don’t have to do some quick thinking while talking to another creator. Take a look at other creators and what kind of collaborative content they have produced, watch the trailers on manyvids to give yourself ideas and have a small list ready to discuss with your potential collaborator. Make sure the content speaks to both of your niches and brands, and do not push to do something that goes against any limits they may have.

Some super easy and fun ideas (ordered from least contact to most contact, depending on your level of comfortability):

• Competing strip show – compete for the viewers attention, both parties strip at the same time and try to outdo the other for the viewers attention. This one has a lot of re-watchability. Make sure you script this a little bit so that each performer has things that draws the viewer to them at certain points in the video to make it fair.
• Sexy shower scene – Help each other strip (bikinis/swim trunks and a tank top can be a starting point and fine if they get wet), some light touches instead of full on groping can be teasing and fun to watch. This one can be scaled up and down in terms of comfort level. Add soaping each other up to full on sex depending on the mood and vibe of the video.
• Sensual Massage – Getting into some heavier touching, let one performer massage the other, starting with a back massage and moving to more private and sensual areas. This one can also be scaled up or down depending on comfort level. Some light kisses and well placed gropes can make this a very sexy slow burn full of sensuality without the hardcore sex.
• Shibari tying – if one of the performers is skilled (or interested) in Shibari ties it could be a fun video watching the rope placed across the skin. This one is ranked higher than the massage because of the trust you need to have in your partner for bondage and restraint. Scale this up with the non-tied performer using toys on the bound partner or penetrative sex. Make sure to have a knife and/or scissors handy when doing Shibari, even when working with experienced people its smart to be safe. If your costar hasn’t done a lot of tying start with simple less dangerous ties to begin with.
• Old Fashioned Sex Tape – There is nothing wrong with a classic. Make some content that looks like partners making a sex tape. This one may require some familiarity or acting to make it seem more real.

Contract

This does not have to be legally binding but it isn’t a bad idea when money is involved to make sure you are covered financially. Write out your list of expectations for you, your costar, and the content you produce together.

• Remember to include important things in this contract
• Who has rights to any content you create between the two of you
• The pricing of the content
• Watermarks (size, placement, etc)
• The behavior and requirements expected on the day of filming
• The expectations on who is to bring lube, toys, wipes condoms, costumes etc
• Details on what information is expected before the shoot day

and any other information you think is important.

This is a copy of the one I use when I do collaborations:

Contract for Creator Collaboration

Splitting the Content

There are a few ways to split the content from the collaboration:

Both parties get a copy of the content you created together – you both edit it separately (or one creator edits and gives the completed content to the other creator) and post it to your profiles on an agreed upon date/time.
Pros:

• You have control of all of the content you created
• Potentially more content for your portfolio

Cons:

• Subscribers are less likely to subscribe to another channel for the same content

OR

You both make a list of what content you want to film and the content gets split between both parties based on the criteria you come up with together.

Pros:

• Subscribers may subscribe to both channels to see all of the content created

Cons:

• You don’t have control of all of the content
• Potentially less content for your portfolio

No matter what it is important that both creators watermarks go on all content.

Gathering Information

Another thing you may want to consider making is a questionnaire asking questions about your costar you may need to know such as

• Emergency contact information
• Schedule/Availability
• Usernames for sites (to make tagging easier)
• Kinks they are willing to do on camera
• Limits
• Physical or mental issues that may cause issues while filming and any accommodations needed (for example I have asthma, and need an inhaler. I also have a bad hip so I am unable to do some positions or stress my hip. I am also allergic to lavender so no products/perfumes/items can be used if they have lavender in them.)
• The date and results of the last STI test taken. Be ready and willing to provide this for your costar as well.

And any other information that may be important to know.

Also consider filling one of these out for your costar so they are aware of your answers. I provide this to them on the first meeting, when showing contracts.
This is a copy of the one I use when I do collaborations:

Collaboration Questionnaire

Contacting

There are a few ways to find costars to film with, subreddits specifically for content creation, discord servers for content creators with spaces to find costars, or other social media. Another way I look for collaborations is through fetlife, I sort by my city and the cities nearby and look for profiles with links in their bios.

You can collaborate with anyone you like but the real appeal to collaboration is to share your audiences and get some crossover between clients. It is recommended to collab with people around the same size following as you or with a bigger following. Collaborating with smaller sized creators can still be worth it, there would just be more of a chance of growth from a similarly established creator.

When I reach out, I reach out from my creator profile and let them know I’m interested in doing a mutually beneficial collaboration. Make sure your message is polite and professional. Feel free to reach out to anyone you like, but it is normal practice to reach out to creators in your niche who have similar branding as you. I personally reach out to Curvy and BBW women most often. Remember that you will need to feel comfortable filming together, I personally feel a little out of place when filming with other creators who are smaller than I am.

Make sure your creator profile is well established and filled out so that your potential collaborator can get a good idea of what kind of content you make, your niche and brand.

I often send a partially copy and pasted message to any potential collaboration partners. I make sure to insert something from their profile or kink list that makes me think we would be good to collaborate together. This is an example of a message I’ve sent:

“Hey there, I am a creator in the area and I was wondering if you were interested in collaborating. I love the content you posted where you are by that waterfall, I also do a lot of content outside and I think we could definitely play with that concept. I have some ideas and I would love to hear any you may have as well. We can find something we both are interested in filming and go from there! Would you be open to meeting for coffee at some point?”

Be prepared to be rejected, some creators are not looking to collaborate or already have set partners they make content with. It never hurts to ask though. You may have to message several people before you find someone to collaborate with. I’ve more often then not been ignored, I haven’t received any rude messages in regards to asking.

When you’ve made contact and have had a chance to send a few messages back and forth, its a good idea to send copies of the contract, questionnaire and your about me page, that way they have time to look over everything before your first meeting.

First Meeting

Once you have found someone who is interested in meeting with you, set a day to meet together in public. It is important you have a face to face meeting with all your clothes on first to help get rid of some of the nervousness and get all your ducks in a row. Jumping into a filming date without a clear set of boundaries and expectations is a recipe for disaster.

Pick a semi public location like a coffee shop, a public park or restaurant. Bringing along a trusted person may help with nerves and feeling safe, even if they are not privy to the conversation about content they can be in the same area. Let your potential collaboration partner know that you are bringing someone though so they are not blindsided. Bring any paperwork needed based on your collaboration partners needs/wants as well as the paperwork you expect them to go over.

Scheduling the Collaborations

Set your filming day for a date in the near future and learn a bit more about the other person during your first meeting. make sure you are scheduling a day that you have a lot of time to film and plan. if there are hiccups in the plan, having extra time to fix mistakes or refilm something can make all the difference.

I always block out at least six hours of my day when collaborating and try to get as much done as possible. Several shooting days may be needed depending on the amount of content you want to make and how long each video/picture set takes to film.

This is also the time to decide on where you are meeting. Hotels are good for the first time collaborations, especially if you do not yet trust the person you are creating content with. Hotels will be clean(ish) and decorated but wont have too distracting of a background. You can often see pictures of rooms you are booking online to see if the hotel will meet your needs (large shower/bath for shower scenes, large bed, balcony etc)

Make sure to discuss who will be paying for the hotel or if the two of you will split the cost. Don’t forget that you can bring your own decor from home as well as anything else you may need for the shoot.

Once you are comfortable with your filming partner you may want to invite them to your home or you go to theirs depending on filming space and setup. Never push yourself to do something you may be uncomfortable with for the sake of content there is always work around. You are always allowed to back out if you feel uncomfortable.

Film Day

Make sure you are showing up to filming showered, sober, with a good nights sleep and having had something to eat. You need to be ready to go as soon as possible as to not waste each others time. I often put my makeup on when I get to the place where we are filming, some setup is normal but it should be minimal. Make sure all toys are clean and ready to go, all outfits clean and de-linted (or de-animal haired in my case). Make sure any work that needs to be done is finished the night before.

As outlined in your contract you may want a trusted friend or partner to be there on the day of filming. Make sure you set boundaries on what they are allowed to do/where they are allowed to be while filming. Some co-stars may be okay with them being in the same place but not watching as the two of you are filming. Make sure you are on the same page about this. You have the right to have someone there to feel safe but they have a right to feel comfortable as well.

Filming can be awkward at first, remember both of you are probably feeling the same way. Something you can keep in mind is that filming porn together is less like having sex and more like acting. Often positions, angles and keeping your mind on putting on a good show can make it hard to really get into a scene and get a legitimate orgasm. Most of the time faking it is possible for the sake of content. It can be a good idea to research angles and have a clear idea of what you want the content to look like.

Set up and film for a few moments before checking what your playback looks like. I’ve had to scrap 20 minutes of footage before because someone’s elbow was in the way, the angle was wrong, or the lighting was causing shadows in an odd way. Its harder to watch what you’re doing in the camera while filming with a partner so make sure to do a test run.

Make sure you do not push yourself, take breaks between cuts and sets and have some water and something to eat. Stressing yourself and your body out isn’t going to help make great content.

Things I Bring to Collaborations

• Lube
• A water bottle
  Quick, easy to eat snacks that don’t make a mess
• Any toys I will need for our content
  Any lingerie or clothing/accessories I will need for our content (including backups for just in case)
• Extra condoms for toys or in case a male partner forgets theirs
• A robe to cover up between takes
• Any filming gear I will need (tripod, ring light, studio lights etc)
• Baby wipes to quickly clean up any messes
• Makeup (even if I have put my makeup on before hand, its a good idea to have it to do touch ups)
• Toothbrush/toothpaste/mints

Don’t forget to film promotional material for your collaboration. Its easy enough to chop up bits of the completed material for this, but it can be nice to have some dedicated promo.

Editing

If you are editing for both performers make sure you get your costars opinion on how things look before the project is deemed complete. Having each person edit the footage is also acceptable and may be a draw for subscribers to purchase both videos.
Always make sure that both your and your co-stars watermarks are always visible.

If you are working with faceless creators make sure any content you edit is censored or cropped correctly.

Posting

Make sure the two of you are on the same page for the day and time the content is to be released. Something to keep in mind is if your co-star doesn’t have a fansite you want to post the media on, you will need a model release form. Any fansites the two of you share, you will be able to tag them in the post. Make sure to tag each other in any social media promotional material as well as on the fansites.

Find out more about model release forms or 2257 forms here: Federal requirements when hosting spicy co-stars

Profit

Make sure you check the contract that the two of you sign to check that the pricing the both of you decided on is specified. I personally prefer to allow my costar to price however they want and I receive the same courtesy. The only stipulation I put is that the media cannot be released for free if there is nudity in it. Make sure you discuss this with your partner.

There are a few ways of splitting profit, I highly recommend each person keeps whatever profit is made on their posts without splitting the difference. Sending money back and forth can get confusing.

Make sure you have how profits are going to work figured out before you film and post content.

You can also have a plan laid out in your contract where you split the profits of the collaboration within a set amount of time. For example you could say the first month of the content coming out the profits are split down the middle and then each person makes what they make from that point on. This way requires a great deal of trust in the other person to keep track of how often that content has sold and be honest about how much money was made.

Who to Collaborate With

You are obviously welcome to collaborate with anyone you like, however some collaborations are more beneficial than others.

Things to think of when picking partners to collaborate with:

• Are your target audiences similar/the same? If you both have wildly different audiences the crossover will become smaller. If you have a girl/boy next door type look, your fans might not love content you do with a goth/alternative collaborator. Make sure you collab with people whos content compliments your own.
• Do your brand values align? If your pages are run vastly differently, you may not get much crossover or lasting subscribers. You may also get subscribers who expect things to be run differently than you run them (free content, free chatting, etc.)
• Collab with people who you can have fun with, it will show up in your content if you dislike working with people or are only there to make money. Don’t force yourself to work with people you dislike, your content will suffer.
• Has the other person collaborated before? How did it go for them? Its okay to work with people who haven’t collaborated before, just make sure you are going over boundaries and the way things work really well. If your potential collab partner has had nothing but bad collab experiences in the past, its important to know and keep in mind when deciding if you want to work with them.
• Its most beneficial to collab with people around the same size as you or bigger. Collaborating with people who have less subscribers/followers than you can still be beneficial but it is often said that staying around your same size is best practice

The Benefits of Collabing

• Having your channel broadcasted to new people. This is especially beneficial on onlyfans where there isn’t a suggestion function. People will be able to find you through the collaboration.
• Pre-made content with a bigger price attached. You can (and should) charge more for content with more than one person in it. Its more work overall and therefore the price tag should reflect that.
• Breaking up content. Its easy to feel like your just putting out the same thing over and over, collaborations are a nice way to break up that pattern and do something new and fun!
• Creating a community. Its nice to make friends who have similar jobs as you and collaboration can be the gateway for friendship. I am friends with a few of my collab partners. We like each other on social media, boost each others content and cheer each other on from the sidelines.

In the end any decisions you make are up to you, just be safe about whatever you do and have fun while making content!