That's the problem. People act like porn requires no skill or discipline and that anyone can do it. It's not true. We used to mock Jenna Jameson on this board for being plain on the outside and dead on the inside. We couldn't understand her fame but she somehow became the prototype for the whole industry. Most of these women can't perform. They're all looks and when they're required to be producers as well (the OF biz model) they fail. They're out here filming hardcore scenes that are technically R rated because you can't see anything. The lighting is so bad that you can't see anything, the positioning of the performers is blocking penetration shots, the camera is locked in place because they won't hire a camera operator. Woman produced scenes used to fit a certain stereotype. It would be too lit up to the point of being blindingly white. The woman's makeup would be overdone. The guy would be some ripped looking dude who couldn't perform. The camerawork never showed full body shots of the woman. Now it's the exact opposite. Now it's dark, the guy is normal but still can't perform, and the shot is either so zoomed out (stationary camera) or in (POV) that you never see a full body shot of the women during the act. Somehow this shit has been so successful that the pros have decided to imitate it.
It's a race to the bottom because they no longer feel like they have to hire professionals. The women are OF models doing a few scenes to promote their pages rather than have a career and the camera operators don't know how to shoot a scene because they're amateurs too. That's how you end up with these Funsize Megan scenes that look like higher budget OF scenes that are almost exclusively POV. He best feature is her chest and producers in the past would've focused on that but not anymore because they're amateurs too. Old school BGOL memebers might remember one of my rants about producers who were into big asses filming big titty scenes and focusing on the actresses flat ass rather than her big titties. They only knew how to film one type of scene. Now they don't know how to film
any type of scene.
I think the OP was correct about the lack of "porn geniuses" nowadays. It looks like something that anyone could do but it's not. We haven't had a porn genius since Pinky. When she quit she took mainstream black porn with her and mainstream BBW content as well because she eventually joined that segment. There are more performers ODing or getting murdered than during the worst parts of the 80s. Several of them have commited murders. The thing about the golden age of porn that nobody thinks about is that they were pretty much porn geniuses. They got in early just like well known Youtube/Twitch streamers and podcasters did more recently. They took a risk to joining a new type of media with seemingly unlimited growth potential. They were self selecting and knew they were taking a gamble. These women would leave their Dominoes jobs, do some scenes, and if it didn't work go back to making pizzas*. That's where all these "one and dones" came from. They realized they didn't have what it took to be professionals. How many "one and dones" do you see nowadays? None! They don't care about performing anymore. They just lay there. These women just want a guaranteed check regardless of how small it is. The producers of the past were more like Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez but nowadays they're more like accountants at Applebee's HQ. They only care about churn rates. Bring back the porn geniuses! I have a whole separate rant about black porn nowadays if anyone is interested.
*It's a central plot point of an old movie called
"Hangin' with the Homeboys" starring John Leguizamo.