Читать книгу: «Studio «BAN»»
© Erick Poladov, 2026
ISBN 978-5-0070-8103-0
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
The title is set in Neoneon, a typeface designed by Bakoom Studio.
PROLOGUE
«THE $12 BILLION PORN INDUSTRY HEIST,» read the headline in The Wall Street Journal. As he read it, Marcus Duff, a senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology already disillusioned with his chosen path as a history major, found himself genuinely wondering why there were people out there willing to pay for a static photo or, at most, a two-minute clip of plain nudity where nothing actually happens. The internet was flooded with free adult films of every imaginable genre, style, and subject matter — enough to ensure even the most seasoned deviants would find something to pique their interest. The article cited figures for the total annual turnover of monetized platforms where creators post their explicit photos and videos. By the most conservative estimates, revenue over the past year alone exceeded $12 billion. The more Marcus read, the more convinced he became that it was all just a glorified tease.
Look, but don’t touch.
The watch on his wrist, featuring Usain Bolt on the dial, showed 12:30 AM, but curiosity proved stronger than the urge to sleep. Marcus climbed out of bed and sat down at his computer. Unlike those with money to burn, he had no intention of paying for content on those platforms. He decided to investigate the phenomenon, to dig for the truth and find the answer to one sacred question: what is wrong with modern porn?
Coffee and energy drinks allowed him to cut his daily sleep down to three hours. His roommate was away on a tournament with the basketball team, and the dead silence — which Marcus failed to notice, unlike the Sydney Sweeney poster on the bathroom door — became his only companion. Two trips to the supermarket were the extent of his contact with the outside world during those days.
For exactly one week, Marcus gathered statistics from every open source available; he scoured the interfaces of the most popular adult sites, collecting data on ratings and view counts across a vast array of categories and assessing the variety of clips. Ebony, Asian, doggy style, gangbang, missionary, 69, blondes, the boss, in the kitchen — all these words and thumbnails flashed past Marcus’s conscious mind. Ignoring the algorithm’s suggestions, he focused solely on the numbers, titles, and tags.
After organizing his findings into a compact spreadsheet, Marcus began cross-referencing data from the major porn sites with data from monetization platforms. These figures clarified the picture far better than any abstract reasoning about the obvious or the illogical.
And that was when Marcus began to wonder: how much would users be willing to pay if something truly unprecedented hit the market? And it seemed he knew exactly what the world was missing.
1. SAFETY LINE
As his time to enter the university approached, Marcus found himself growing increasingly interested in politics. To him, it seemed obvious: politics was the breeding ground for all the scumbags who set the rules of the game in this life. Becoming one of those scumbags seemed like a perfectly reasonable goal. Easy money, power, impunity, indiscriminate licenses to kill, the top-tier hookers, a global map instead of a chessboard, and surface-to-air missile systems instead of pawns. Furthermore, Marcus was convinced that only a lunatic who didn’t value real power and room to maneuver would ever actually strive for the presidency. Thus, his ultimate ambition was to become a gray eminence in a world of liars and harlots. Granted, in the modern world, things had become a bit more complicated, considering how much a single mention in certain kinds of files could ruin your life. So much so, that merely mentioning the name of those files was already dangerous.
First and foremost, of course, Marcus was interested in the big money. He didn’t believe for a second that a massive fortune could be amassed through honest labor. It seemed obvious to him that behind big money, there is always filth, machinations, crime, corruption, and violence. Once you gain power and influence, the money inevitably follows. Based on this worldview, Marcus pursued a simple goal: to reach the level of the high-stakes political game where massive cash flows start drifting past you. In this sense, he agreed with Marx and Engels that major capitalists were the ultimate bastards exploiting humanity. However, that was where his sympathies for Marxism ended.
Marcus was certain that to succeed in politics, one had to study the dirty laundry of the past as thoroughly as possible to avoid repeating others’ mistakes and to understand what made those who managed to climb to the very top — becoming the chief bloodsuckers on the body of humanity — successful. History was the perfect tool for this.
However, over time, the contact in Marcus’s mental wiring began to loosen, until finally, someone had to flip the breaker. He wasn’t entirely sure himself what had caused him to lose interest in his political ambitions: whether he was going through some sort of age-related crisis, turning into a sociopath, or if he had simply dug up too much historical shit to keep from getting covered in it. Regardless, Marcus’s plans for a career as a gray eminence began to rot as rapidly as the belief in the Immaculate Conception after one’s first time having sex. Marcus decided to finish his final year just to check the box, so that all his previous efforts — and a mountain of his parents’ money — wouldn’t go to waste. Who knew how many more times the switch in his brain would flip? Consequently, he put the absolute bare minimum of effort into his studies.
As a result, «Big Politics» in Marcus’s head was replaced by «Big Sex.» That was now his American Dream. After analyzing the figures he’d gathered over the week, Marcus spent days on end watching thousands upon thousands of minutes of top-rated porn, aiming to identify all the flaws in the current mainstream and to find the opening for an unprecedented hit.
But Marcus knew that doing this alone would be difficult. He needed someone else.
Nine students, all preparing to become media and communications specialists, sat in a small seminar room. The professor, who bore a certain resemblance to Einstein, was showing slides in the darkened room, lecturing on the heavy footprints that random events sometimes leave in human history.
«But before we go any further,» the professor continued, turning to the students, «let’s pause for a moment on the things, events, and ideas that were planned, or that humanity strove toward for a long time. In your opinion, what three things have most significantly influenced the course of human history? Stavros?»
With his characteristic nonchalance, Stavros Reims didn’t bother overthinking his answer:
«World War II. The Internet. And the airplane.»
«Interesting,» the professor said thoughtfully. «The first two are obvious. But why did you include the invention of the airplane in that list?»
Stavros possessed a rare talent for formulating detailed explanations and building arguments on the fly. In many ways, this was the result of his habit of speed-reading. It saved him time — something he valued immensely — and he preferred to fill in the gaps of information himself, constructing a logical sequence as he went. He did the same this time:
«Before the airplane, intercontinental communication was handled by maritime shipping. Goods, resources, and weapons moved across the world thanks to ships. They carried literally everything across the globe: from feminist propaganda to venereal diseases and cocaine.»
Laughter filled the room.
Stavros continued:
«But the airplane accelerated all these processes a thousandfold. The rate of racial blurring in many countries spiked sharply simply because traveling the world became faster, more affordable, and safer. If it weren’t for the airplane, maybe Pepsi and Playboy wouldn’t have conquered the world so quickly.»
The professor spoke highly of Stavros’s answer, despite certain parts of it being somewhat provocative.
Soon the seminar came to an end, and Stavros headed to the campus’s North Quad, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder. He was of average height and not overly lean, having packed on a bit of muscle back when he did gymnastics in high school — a hobby he’d quickly grown bored with. Stavros wore a short, artsy haircut with horizontal stripes shaved into the sides, and a silver hoop had been dangling from his left ear for three years now. Frequent use of an electric razor was a must for him, though he never shaved down to the skin, making sure his face didn’t look like a child’s.
His best friend was already waiting in the yard. He was of a similar build but sported a much lower-maintenance haircut.
«So, how’s it going?» Marcus asked, shaking his hand.
«Heaven isn’t in a hurry to see me yet, so I’m managing.»
They sat on the grass under a tree, facing a green lawn bordered by a concrete sidewalk. The yard was framed on all sides by the brick and concrete buildings of the lab departments. Crowds of students loomed everywhere. Some were passing by, while others, like Marcus and Stavros, were sprawling on the grass. The weather was the kind you’d expect in the first days after the creation of the world, before the upright parasites had a chance to ruin anything — not a cloud in the sky, warm sunlight, and a dead calm. This part of the campus looked so picturesque that no one would have suspected that here, among the greenery, the people passing time included hackers who’d breached a crypto exchange, eight swingers, a weed dealer, heavy metal devotees, radical leftists, and the lover of a physics professor’s wife, who was currently demonstrating the real force of friction to her.
At the sight of this scene, Stavros took a deep breath, feeling the effect of a natural antidepressant. And the weather had nothing to do with it. It was all about the way a skirt had hitched up on the hip of a girl lying not far from them. Catching a glimpse of the southern pole of two squeezed hemispheres, Stavros stared for a while until his head was cleared of all the junk that had accumulated since morning.
«What’s new?» he asked Marcus.
«I actually called you out here for the sake of something new.»
Stavros spread his arms, inviting him to lay it out.
In a few words, Marcus described his observations and showed Stavros the printout of the erotic content market data. While Stavros analyzed the spreadsheet, Marcus continued to talk about everything he’d managed to learn about porn production, weighing their chances of starting such a venture. Marcus repeatedly emphasized the potential for growth because, despite the abundance of genres, the porn industry hadn’t covered every gap in the market.
Like a man possessed, Marcus said:
«Dude, just imagine the kind of bank girls with zero analytical skills are making. Now imagine what we could achieve if we just aim properly before taking the shot. Screw office work. The days of putting up with a boss’s shitty attitude are over. This is the field where we need to rake in the cash.»
But as he studied the printout in his hands, Stavros wasn’t thinking about his friend’s words; he was thinking about something else. His attention was drawn to Marcus’s disheveled hair, his overgrown stubble, his wrinkled T-shirt, and the slight bags under his eyes. He asked:
«I see you’ve been working your ass off to put this analysis together.»
«Yeah, well,» Marcus replied, «took a little bit of tinkering.» Before he could finish his last few words, he let out a wide yawn, which brought a slight smile to Stavros’s face.
«You should get some rest; you look like you’ve been run through a meat grinder.»
Marcus’s face remained stone-cold, once again betraying a clear lack of sleep. He scratched his temple and asked:
«So, what do you say?»
Returning the paper, Stavros replied:
«Looks like there is a vacancy in this market, but the question is how to fill it. Lust squeezes money out of people better than any threat or gamble. We just need to figure out how to make users shell out for a film.»
«Any ideas?»
«Give me a break,» Stavros said calmly. «Millions of women play crowds of fools for everything they’ve got with nothing but a pair of tits and an IQ below a hundred. Our main task is to shoot the porn. The rest won’t be a problem. Besides, there are plenty of monetization platforms these days.»
«So, you’re in?» Marcus asked, spreading his palms. «You’ve got a cold, calculating brain. I need a sharp mind on board in case I miss something. You’re my safety line.»
Without getting up from the lawn, Stavros bent his legs, rested his elbows on his knees, and said:
«And let you flush an idea like this down the toilet? Who else is going to watch your back if not me?» Marcus gave his leg a solid punch with his fist, making Stavros wince slightly, and then added: «In the end, if we’re met with shame and failure, at least you’ll know you’re not the only loser. There’ll be at least two of us.»
They shook on it, and then Stavros asked:
«What’s the budget looking like?»
«Well, it’s a bit thin. Just a little over three.»
«I’ve got a stash,» Stavros said. «I can chip in another fifteen hundred or so.»
«Actually, I was going to offer you a stake in the studio.»
«All the more reason. Consider it a buy-in.»
Marcus punched Stavros again, but this time on the shoulder and much more gently. Stavros continued digging for details:
«Have you hammered out any of the specifics yet?»
«So far, I’ve only looked into what documents we need to file to incorporate the studio.»
«Seriously?» Stavros said, surprised. «And what are you planning to call it?»
«Limit Entertainment.»
«Limited edition porn,» Stavros quipped sarcastically, making them both laugh. «Alright, what else?»
«Just some minor stuff for now.»
«Have you thought about where we’re going to shoot, for example?»
«At first, I wanted to rent a house for a few days, but there are risks involved. In the end, I figured we should wait until mid-May.»
«Yeah? What’s so special about May?»
«My parents are going on vacation. Same time every year. I doubt they’ll break the habit this time. We’ll have about ten days, give or take.»
Stavros said thoughtfully:
«Well, at least we’ll save some money there. What about the, uh, labor force?»
«From what I’ve gathered about production, and given our budget, we need someone who knows their way around high-end cameras. I even found a place where we can rent them. The only question is how to actually operate the damn things. I’ve watched a ton of videos, and it seems straightforward enough, but who the hell knows. Ideally, we’d find someone who knows how to shoot, but if it comes down to it, we’ll figure it out as we go. But as for the audio — that’s a whole different animal. We’ll really have to put in the work to solve the equipment issue there. Even the pro studios use post-production to dub in moans, slaps, and all the rest, because whatever the mic picks up live usually sounds like crap.»
Stavros squinted, thinking for a moment, then said:
«I know a guy. I see him around quite a bit.»
«How savvy is he?»
«He definitely knows how to handle a camera. I think he even owns a couple. Pretty sure he does editing, too. Maybe he can help with the sound. We’ll have to talk to him about it.» Smiling, Stavros added: «He even manages to pull off some visual effects using whatever he has on hand.»
«Well, look at us, we’ve got ourselves a qualified cinematographer. Now we just have to talk him into it.»
«Talking him into it won’t be a problem. He’s a good kid.»
«But the lighting rigs… those are going to be a pain in the ass.»
«Yeah, I’ve heard that’s a real headache too,» Stavros added after a short pause, scanning the campus yard. «On the bright side, I know where to look for actors.»
Marcus replied as if reading his friend’s mind:
«Yeah, they’re everywhere here.»
2. BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Having reached a final decision, Marcus and Stavros immediately tackled the most fundamental task for any venture of this kind: the budget. Realizing that their current funds might not cut it, they went to donate blood and put some of their belongings up for sale. Yet, as they tallied the proceeds, the guys were still dissatisfied with the size of their seed capital.
After nearly a month of searching for ways to fund their mega-project, they found themselves sitting in a lecture hall at Boston University. Besides them, forty-seven other people were present.
«I’ve got a bad feeling about this,» Marcus whispered, turning his head toward Stavros, who was sitting next to him.
Unlike his friend, Stavros remained dead calm, preferring to focus on solving problems rather than falling into the arms of panic.
«Relax. It’s huge money, especially considering the spot we’re in.»
A professor entered the room wearing glasses from the George H.W. Bush era and a white lab coat cut much like those worn by people who conducted experiments on POWs in the Third Reich. His gray hair grew only around the edges and looked like it hadn’t seen a barber in a couple of years. He looked exactly like a prototype for a comic book supervillain. As is always the case in such situations, the professor began by lecturing on the vital mission — perhaps for all of humanity — that those gathered in this room might fulfill. He rambled on about a scientific breakthrough and a looming revolution. The last time humanity got inspired by a revolution, it ended with millions killed and sent to labor camps. And something suggested that the revolution this professor had in mind risked the same result, albeit without weapons or prison cells.
«And now,» he moved to the second part, «let’s talk about the risks you will assume should you agree to cooperate. Primarily, this section covers the potential side effects the drug may cause. These include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, drowsiness, insomnia, dizziness, itchy armpits, dry mouth, rash, heartburn, speech impairment, hair loss, hemorrhoids, hiccups, erectile dysfunction, visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, and involuntary erections.»
Out of the forty-nine people in the hall, only six remained — the bravest, or perhaps the most desperate test subjects willing to undergo a medical experiment.
Under the pressure of circumstances, yet following Stavros’s lead, Marcus signed the contract, becoming a participant in Phase I clinical trials for a new drug. Stavros had signed the same form without a moment’s hesitation.
Apart from a few bouts of heartburn and mild diarrhea for Marcus, and an eight-day stretch of insomnia for Stavros, the two months of the experiment didn’t go too badly.
And so, having finally pocketed their cash, they reached a unanimous conclusion: they could now definitely afford to make their own porn.
With the financing settled, the guys kept the momentum going. First, Marcus invited Stavros to his parents’ house, where he’d occasionally retreat on weekends to swap the dorm atmosphere for something more low-key. Marcus lived in North Cambridge in a two-story house with a two-car garage. But this time, he showed up on a weekday while his parents were at work. He led Stavros to the second floor and showed him his bedroom, which he proposed as the film set. The room contained a queen-size bed, two nightstands, a couple of bookshelves, a desk with a computer, a built-in wardrobe, and posters of Bill Goldberg and Che Guevara, along with a dartboard on the door.
Stavros scanned the room from the doorway, lit a cigarette, and then asked:
«Where’s your parents’ bedroom?»
Marcus’s reaction was instantaneous:
«No. No way. That’s not even on the table.»
Stavros took another drag and said:
«Marcus, we don’t just need porn. We need premium porn.»
Trying to convince himself that these sacrifices were all for the cause, Marcus reluctantly led his friend into the master bedroom.
Stavros stepped inside and began meticulously inspecting every detail. The room featured a set that included a king-size bed, two nightstands, an ottoman, a vanity with a mirror, a bed bench, a dresser, and a wide wardrobe with two full-length mirrors. All the furniture had an ivory gloss finish with a chocolate pattern stylized after Ancient Egyptian motifs. The walls were painted a creamy shade, and a Rococo-style chandelier hung from the ceiling.
«Now this is what I’m talking about,» Stavros said, nodding approvingly from the center of the room.
«Look,» Marcus said, his tone bordering on a plea, «maybe we could check out the guest rooms? Just in case?»
But Stavros kept insisting that they wouldn’t find anything better than this room even if they went to a five-star hotel.
They went downstairs to the living room. Marcus headed to the kitchen, grabbed two beers from the fridge, and came right back. Handing one to Stavros, he said:
«I propose a toast.»
Hearing those words, Stavros realized he’d almost made an unforgivable mistake. They clinked bottles and drank to a successful debut.
Hardly after the first sip, Marcus pulled his laptop from his backpack, and they got down to planning. Their first priority was the most fundamental staffing task: finding the leading lady. To do this, they brainstormed and jotted down a list of every sexy girl at the institute they knew of. In the next stage, Marcus suggested evaluating each girl based on various criteria: face, hair, height, chest, glutes, hips, and proportions. They rated each criterion on a five-point scale, then totaled the points and calculated a grade point average. Then Marcus sorted the list by score, from the top priority candidate down to the backup options. The final list consisted of thirty-two girls.
Pacing back and forth in the living room as he mulled over the task at hand, Stavros said:
«Alright, look. We don’t just need a bombshell; we need a lady with significant experience, and ideally, one who is, if not promiscuous, at least someone with loose morals. It’s not just that it’ll make negotiations easier — it’ll save us a ton of time because we won’t have to waste our breath on some Puritans.»
Listening to Stavros, Marcus felt a rush of enthusiasm as if he’d just taken a horse-sized dose of stimulants. He was in a state of pure ecstasy because they were moving so confidently and rapidly toward the practical stage of production. He was more convinced than ever that he’d made the right call with his business partner.
Running through the list, they decided to scrap six names.
«Sorry,» Marcus said, «you didn’t pass the audition.»
Next, Marcus suggested calling up friends and acquaintances who had slept with at least one of the girls on the list. They planned to ask about the girls under the guise of wanting to get to know them. Stavros liked the idea. Marcus dialed the first number, which seemed the most obvious given that Nicholas Roth had earned a reputation as the campus’s top-tier dog.
«Seriously?» Marcus said into the phone after thirty seconds of conversation. After talking for a bit longer, he said goodbye.
«And?» Stavros inquired, staring at Marcus with an obsessed look.
Marcus took a deep breath and began to speak with his eyes shut tight, trying not to scramble the massive amount of info Nicholas had just dumped on him:
«Basically, Janet is seeing someone, Carla is knocked up, Rebecca is in the hospital with an ulcer, Raquel is knocked up, Sharon has a ton of moles on her body, Pamela has an appendectomy scar, Anna is knocked up, and Lily is knocked up.»
«Our list has gotten pretty thin,» Stavros noted. «So, who’s at the top of our rankings?»
Marcus looked at the first line.
«Barbara Farr. Seven out of seven. A goddamn masterpiece.»
«And what do we know about this masterpiece?» Stavros asked, pointing at the laptop screen. «Or rather, what do you know? Personally, I’ve only seen her a few times, and even then, from a distance.»
«I know her, but we haven’t exactly been close. Just „hello,“ „how’s it going,“ that’s about it. We’ve chatted about small stuff a couple of times. But from what I know, there’s reason to believe she’s pretty uninhibited and, apparently, single.»
Stavros spoke up, his tone decisive:
«Then let’s not waste time. We start with the top-shelf stuff.»
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.
