
I recently had the distinct pleasure to chat with Howie Marks (not his legal name), a man who is living a rather fascinating double life. His one persona is dedicated to a noble cause while his alter ego (enter Howie Marks) does some not-so-honorable things. And that, of course, is exactly why I wanted to talk to him.
During the week, Howie works a 9-to-5 job in the field of cancer research at a large university in southern California. But for the past two years, his weekends have been dedicated to what some bros might consider an even more philanthropic cause than his day job. If you guessed that he has been devoted to ending famish in Africa you would be close, but wrong. If you guessed that he has played an essential role in making pornographic films, then you would be dead on.
For just over two years, Howie has been working as production assistant to
Kevin Moore, a highly acclaimed pornography director. Throughout our conversation, Howie maintained that he doesn't consider himself a card-carrying member of the porn industry, yet. Perhaps the denial of his pornographic life -- much like our pre-slumber jerk-off sessions -- helps him sleep a little better at night. In his tenure as a production assistant, Howie has worked on set with some of porn's biggest names like
Shyla Styles,
Jenna Haze,
Tori Black,
Carmela Bing,
Lexi Belle, and
Sasha Gray, just to name a few.
Our conversation went on for nearly two hours and Howie was willing to dish some interesting facts about the porn industry. From what I learned, we all basically owe him a huge debt of gratitude for giving up his weekends so us "civilians" (that's what they call 'em in the biz) can continue to teach our average-sized penises the meaning of the word "friction."
BroBible: How does one break into the porn business, especially with your background?
Howie Marks: I actually got lucky, because it's really hard for men to break into this business without knowing someone. I went to college in Massachusetts and I was big into online gaming, especially "Quake 2." Through playing "Quake 2," I met this guy Kevin Moore who also happened to have his degree in film from UMass. We wound up becoming friends and we stayed in touch. After college, Kevin moved out to L.A. and broke into the industry covering porn news. [Famous pornography director] Joey Silvera gave Kevin a shot to be his production assistant. I was so fascinated that he worked in porn so I asked him if I could visit him in L.A. and go on the set one day. When I got there, I wound up helping on the set the whole day. The scene they shot that day was an interracial scene. In the porn industry, interracial means "black and white only." Period. No Latino, Asian or otherwise, just black and white. Pretty racist, right?
BB: It sure sounds that way.
HM: Anyway, that day, there was also a snowball scene (this is when girls swap cum from mouth to mouth), so you can imagine the shock I was in when I saw this live. Since I was helping out all day, Joey wanted to thank me by letting me do a scene with another girl,
Allie Sin. I thanked him, but I declined, I just couldn't do it. After that day, Kevin knew he could place his trust in me as his production assistant, mostly cause I didn't freak out or start [to get] grabby with the female talent. Next, I basically dropped everything in Boston and I moved to L.A. without a full time Job and Kevin hired me as his PA on the weekends. So the from the nerdiest of things ("Quake 2"), I met this guy who is now my boss in the porn industry. I have to give Kevin a lot of credit, he paid all his dues to break into this business, I happen to be around to reap the benefits if I wanted to and for that I'm very thankful for the opportunity he's given me.
BB: What do your parents/friends/coworkers at the cancer research center/etc. think of your double life? Keep Reading »